medfordmike
Member
With the cold temps this weekend my plans got redirected. I was planning on Pico all weekend but on Saturday I got a late start and didn't get up to the Upper Valley area until just before lunch when the temps were dropping. (My spouse was not all that excited about a frozen weekend in NH so we took our time getting up there). So I decided to hit Whaleback for their $18 "last two hours of the day" deal. Not my first time at Whaleback. Smaller mountains have had the roughest time this year so very little was open. However, what was open was pretty good and nicely groomed. They were even blowing snow in the bitter cold yesterday and based on Facebook all last night. So I give them a lot of credit for doing what they can during a difficult season. Each year I notice improvements too and this visit was no exception. Definitely a great local hill with some great terrain when conditions allow. Not surprisingly it was empty aside from the Cardigan Ski Team.
On Sunday most lifts at Pico were closed in the morning and the summit lift never opened. Website said -11 so I decided to hit something closer to my weekend place for the last half the day. That left Ragged or Sunapee and i chose Ragged since I have not been there in a few years. -2 to at noon with blue skies and only a little wind mercifully. All open trails were firm packed man made snow. No boilerplate to be found. Closest I came to a line was waiting for one chair a time or two on the six and nobody was on the quad. First time at Ragged since they replaced the triple. Definitely a nice improvement particularly on a cold day. The glades were not open and i didn't attempt them. Overall not a bad way to spend a few hours in the middle of the day. Two hours+ was more than enough to ski everything open. Both pictures are of Ragged.
On Sunday most lifts at Pico were closed in the morning and the summit lift never opened. Website said -11 so I decided to hit something closer to my weekend place for the last half the day. That left Ragged or Sunapee and i chose Ragged since I have not been there in a few years. -2 to at noon with blue skies and only a little wind mercifully. All open trails were firm packed man made snow. No boilerplate to be found. Closest I came to a line was waiting for one chair a time or two on the six and nobody was on the quad. First time at Ragged since they replaced the triple. Definitely a nice improvement particularly on a cold day. The glades were not open and i didn't attempt them. Overall not a bad way to spend a few hours in the middle of the day. Two hours+ was more than enough to ski everything open. Both pictures are of Ragged.
