Least crowded - opinions?

I'm thinking about doing a day trip this Sunday (3/5/06). I'm wondering which mountain will have the best combination of least crowds and best conditions/most open terrain.

I'm skiing mostly with my kids so green and blue cruisers are what's under the consideration. My possible targets are Waterville, Sunapee, Ragged, Cannon.

Anybody who skis/rides these areas often can possibly render their opinions - I'd be most grateful. I haven't skiied NH this year at all, so I'm a bit clueless.

Waterville & Sunapee will have good conditions, but be too busy for me.

Ragged will be uncrowded but has a low open trail count - only half of their blues are open. Nearly all of their blacks are closed (in a good year I would recommend their blacks to intermediate skiers) I like Ragged ordinarily, been there many times when my kids were young, but not this year, sorry.

when a resort has only half the blues open, it's a formula for a bad time - that is where the bulk of the skiers will be, and you'll all be on the same trails. bad vibes...

Cannon & Bretton Woods - best of the bunch.
Cannon - Almost all their blues are open, 80% coverage. Hardly ever a crowd. they have excellent grooming. No need to worry about "ice" on the blues.

Bretton Woods - 20mins further than Cannon, you've got an intermediate's delight. ~80% open, nearly all greens and blues open, many blacks are closed. Par for the course. Plenty to choose from impeccable snowmaking and grooming. Can get busy on a weekend, but nothing like Loon or WV.

I've kinda stayed within the same sized mountain you are considering. If you want to go West, consider Mt. Snow, VT, for a tad more travel time.

If you're happier with a smaller area, Crotched will be the closest, least crowds, best grooming. Pat's Peak isn't bad either. I wouldn't consider Tenny, only because you're not that far from Cannon at that point. Another small area worth checking out (in a good year) is Berkshire East - never a crowd, but - not this year, only half the blue trails are open.

It goes without saying that the Green trails are in great shape just about everywhere.

billski said:

Cannon & Bretton Woods - best of the bunch.

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Agreed

I'm skiing mostly with my kids so green and blue cruisers are what's under the consideration. My possible targets are Waterville, Sunapee, Ragged, Cannon.

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out of those options, the you have listed those areas in order of most crowded to least, imo. i suspect they will all have all of their groomed snow making greens and blues open. out of those mountains, i think cannon is the only one that stands a chance of getting much if any of the snowfall. that could mean cannon could be a dream or still in the weather effect pattern or blown off. you never really know till you get there.

Out of the Mtns. listed Cannon will be your best best in terms of no crowds...I am skiing Wildcat this weekend for the same reason, I HATE lift lines!

I love Cannon and I agree that it will be the least crowded but I'm not sure that I would expect great conditions. Anything exposed is going to be pretty blown off and I saw some pretty hellacious ice in a picture accompanying a recent Cannon TR on another forum.

If you are up for the drive I think BW will have the best mix of conditions and smaller crowds.

MikeTrainor said:

Out of the Mtns. listed Cannon will be your best best in terms of no crowds...I am skiing Wildcat this weekend for the same reason, I HATE lift lines!

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call the snow phone before you go. Today, just about every lift is on wind hold and I heard it is supposed to be windy all weekend, too. I'm considering heading up to Wildcat myself, if the winds and this potential lingering cold can cooperate.

kickstand said:

call the snow phone before you go. Today, just about every lift is on wind hold and I heard it is supposed to be windy all weekend, too. I'm considering heading up to Wildcat myself, if the winds and this potential lingering cold can cooperate.

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Yeah Attitash or Black is the back up plan. I just wish Black had a little more open. Winds look like they will be a little less tomorrow according to weather.com, so I can only hope

Thank you all for suggestions. Very helpful, especially the extensive anlysis from Billski.
You got me thinking about Bretton Woods. I'd always stop at Cannon, but the extra 20-30 minutes up the road, if time allows, maybe worth the trip.

I have to admit, I've never been up there.
I hope that todays' wind isn't going to scour the mountains dry to the ice and rocks. If so, we're hiking to see the frozen waterfalls up in Franconia Notch.

Thanks again guys !

Bumpsis,
You didn't state how old your kids are. For a day trip out of Boston I would recommend Crotched and Pat's Peak. Both are less than 2 hours away and the lift line will be quite manageable. Both are open 100% or close to it and have received snow over the last 8 days. Ragged is barely open as is Tenney. Pat's and the Crotch are great for kids. The boarders in my house prefer Pat's Peak. Trails at Pat's can be more interesting but they do have flat run outs. Crotched will probably be bette in the snow arena.
PS The Intervale Sugar House at the entrance to the access road to Pat's is a great breakfast place.

They're 6 and 10. The 10 year can actually manage easier blacks but feels much more comfortable on blues. The 6y is transitioning onto blues.

I'll check out your suggestions- thank you !!

Both Pat's Peak and Crotched are within easy driving range. It's good to have choices

One other place to consider is Gunstock...lots of good intermediate terrain and some great views. I haven't been there this season but when I went late last season there were no lift lines, even for the HSQ.

I also agree with the comments Bkroon9175 made about Pats and Crotched...they're smaller but great for families, and even when they are busy the lift lines are small.

Good luck.

Bumpsis said:

Thank you all for suggestions. Very helpful, especially the extensive anlysis from Billski.
You got me thinking about Bretton Woods. I'd always stop at Cannon, but the extra 20-30 minutes up the road, if time allows, maybe worth the trip.

I have to admit, I've never been up there.
I hope that todays' wind isn't going to scour the mountains dry to the ice and rocks. If so, we're hiking to see the frozen waterfalls up in Franconia Notch.

Thanks again guys !

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It looks like Bretton Woods had the powder prize of the week, in your selection of candidates. Where did you end up?