Nashoba Valley MA 2/16/2010

[polski]

Powder night! Probably 6-7" of medium-density snow* - I think we had more back here at home, near Newburyport, but it was wetter closer to the coast. My first time at Nashoba in probably 10 or more years (that time was right after a Thanksgiving weekend storm and 22" ...). Genuine boot-deep to be had particularly off the edges of Tomahawk at far skier's right, where wind probably assisted the accumulation.

Took the boys, who both rode snowboards (2nd time on lift-served for the older boy, 1st for the younger - who did great, even without a lesson), and a friend of theirs, and skied with another neighborhood family who also made the trip. White-knuckle drive there on 495 but pretty smooth return.

I found myself making comparisons to Bradford, my local hill, which supposedly has slightly more vert. I thought parts of Nashoba had steeper pitch, and generally there was a little more trail variety, namely on either edge of the hill (down the middle it was much like Bradford with big, wide boulevards everywhere). Much better lodge and we had good appetizers afterward at the Outlook, with its great views of the slopes.

Good times. No pics or video though, forgot the cameras.

* edit: Nashoba website reports 8". We had moderate snowfall pretty much the entire time we were there, approx. 6:30-10 p.m.

[frozencorn]

Damn. I was gonna swing by and daycare issues came up. Damn, damn, damn.

[billski]

Bradford is less convenient and gets far fewer people. Nashoba gets pretty mobbed most of the time, due to the lessons factory they run. Very, very convenient for the western burbans. You may have picked a good day to go, since it's school vacation week.

[polski]

Originally Posted by billski

Bradford is less convenient and gets far fewer people. Nashoba gets pretty mobbed most of the time, due to the lessons factory they run. Very, very convenient for the western burbans. You may have picked a good day to go, since it's school vacation week.

I dunno, I've seen Bradford get pretty mobbed on weekends/holidays, and on a Wed the week before last I was in lines of ~5 min with busloads of schoolkids (including my own). Yes it is harder to get to from Boston but they get a bit of a SE NH contingent to make up for it.

I figured Nashoba might not be too crowded last night mainly because driving conditions were so poor. No lift lines to speak of all night. OTOH, not a lot of untracked pow either, though I found enough stashes to make me quite happy.

Bradford claims uphill capacity of close to 10k skiers/hr, Nashoba 11k+. Then again, uphill is only 200' or so vert so one skier could get in the neighborhood of 10 runs in an hour if you hustle.