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Attitash 03/16/2013

dlague

Active member
Joined
Nov 7, 2012
Messages
8,792
Points
36
Location
CS, Colorado
Date Skied: Saturday 3-16-2013
Resort or Ski Area: Attitash
Conditions: Thin layer of Packed Powder on Frozen Packed Powder
Trip Report:
This day was going to be a new skiing experience – Attitash with the Ride and Ski deal! Excited about this trip we headed out early in the AM but …… the 93 was ridiculous almost as if they did not salt it the night before when the blinding snow squalls hit. Luckily we got off at Exit 23 and headed through North Conway. Planning to be there at 8:30 we actually got there about 9:15. Oh well, still have plenty of time! When we did arrive, it seemed a little weird having the resort’s building so close to the road even though we have driven by many times and seen it!

We got our gear on and head out to meet others at the Bear Peak side – so up Flying Yankee we went and headed down Upper Highway -> Far out -> Bear Notch Pass -> Bear Necessity -> Bareback to the base area. One mention: I do not like flat trails that include slight uphill sections - that is Bearback! Oh and Bear Notch Pass is a blue? It is flat and you cross a bridge! Anyhow, we arrive at the base, low and behold – long lift line to the summit! So we did a couple runs off the Kachina Triple. Kachina basically serves up easy trials but since the trails were so hard with a 1” cover our skis ran fast! So the second run we opted to head down to the Abenaki Quad and take a run for a little higher up and making a run down to the base again using Myth Maker to Cub’s Cut to Trillium and Bearfoot - So it was ok! Not too intrigued by that side the resort we toughed it out in the lift line and went to the summit on Flying Bear Quad. From the summit, we headed down Morning Star, Snowdance, Stoney Brook to return to the Attitash base! I hate flat trails that require skating that is Stoney Brook! Tired of skating we took East Double and made a quick run down Thad’s Choice – though it was quick, this felt like the best run of the day so far since there were fewer people on it and it was fast! Next we decided to head up to the summit on Summit Triple – no lift line? Well there is a reason – that chair was slow! However, the run down was great! We took the trails far to skier’s right and we found a thicker frozen granular that skied like heavy powder. In fact we liked this run so much we decided to do it again later! For now though, it was lunch time and we ate in the pub upstairs in the main lodge (name escapes me) where we had a couple apps and a couple Tuckermans. The food was not particularly good, the bar area was too crowded, service was slow and it seemed to miss that ski area vibe.

We were not there to eat so back out on Flying Yankee and decided lap it for four runs – these runs were very fun and hard charging! We took a different path each time on runs like Spillway, White Horse, Moat and Middle Highway! Since the runs were fast and the Flying Yankee feels like there fastest chair, we cranked out these runs fairly quickly. We wanted to head back up to the summit to do that outside run again and this time I decided to add in Ammo Pitch to the path which was another mistake but not the flat kind. The ungroomed surface kind, and the bumps were frozen solid from the rain earlier in the week. Our edges would not take and getting down became a slow careful decent working the edges 100%. Am I glad I told my wife to go the other say! I met her at the bottom where we watched our other boys make it down! Well, to say the least, that was entertaining. With that behind us, up we headed back down for a final run off Flying Yankee and down White Horse. Did I mention the trail conditions were fast? The surface was covered with about an inch of snow (probably from the groomers) and the surface underneath frozen, yet enough to carve on most of the time!

Overall, the day was nice with nice conditions where they groomed! Basically, skiing at Attitash is lapping Flying Yankee since it reaches about 60% of the trails on the Attitash side and all other chairs seem slow! The summit chair gives you access to about 4 or five more run patterns, but I would not take it up that many times! I would have skied more on the Bear Peak side but the lift line on the Flying Bear was always long – I recommend skiing over there either very early or later in the day for shorter lines.
This is not a resort that I identified with – at least not on this day. This was my first time and tough we had many good runs – that was due to lapping Flying Yankee! Will I give it a try again – maybe! Up next is another Peak Resort’s mountain – Wildcat! We love Wildcat!

Another shout out to Ride and Ski for another discounted tour stop! Sorry we did not stick around for the Apres Ski Party but North Conway is nearby and some of our favorite ski shops are there!

One thing I found that was interesting! A pair of chair lifts cross one under and ther other over (obviously). Did seem strange while on either lift!

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Last edited:

xwhaler

Active member
Joined
Nov 26, 2007
Messages
2,943
Points
38
Location
Seacoast NH
Nice comprehensive report----I grew up skiing Attitash as my folks had a condo 1 mile from the base of Attitash. I agree that the layout of getting between Attitash and Bear can be annoying.
 
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