And Crotched *finally* posts their season pass prices

[threecy]

I think if they're able to get it to say 500 vertical feet, or even more depending upon what the property situation is going into the bowl between the two areas, it'd be a worthwhile expansion and fun to ski. The additional vertical would be runout, since it looks like the steeps end just above the t-bar terminal, but at least you'd be able to get a few turns in.

 

[Angus]

somewhere I think I was told that the town of Francestown was not being particularly helpful in terms of re-opening the old east (crotched mtn) - the new crotched (old bobcat) sits in the bordering town - name escapes me at the moment and I'm too lazy to google!

 

[threecy]

Lit for night riding of course.

You mean night skiing

 

[tcharron]

somewhere I think I was told that the town of Francestown was not being particularly helpful in terms of re-opening the old east (crotched mtn) - the new crotched (old bobcat) sits in the bordering town - name escapes me at the moment and I'm too lazy to google!

Well, they DO own the land there, and they're paying taxes on it. But Francestown is more like a village then a town. Besides the little cottage hotels and the such, really no one in the town would benefit from it being opened. Granted, they'd make more tax income.

Chris Bradford has in the past said that if the people come, then they will provide. Hopefully, numbers continue to climb in the future, and give them a reason.

I did notice by the new trails this winter, one of the original cross-side connector trails was actually partially cleared.

 

[Angus]

OK - then I'm guilty of spreading unsubstantiated rumors b/c the issues I was obliquely referring to involved the pmt of back taxes (& other liens against the property) that the town was unwilling to forgive/negotiate - therefore, holding up any sale of the property to another owner! didn't know the east side was owned by the ski area.

I think I've previously written that my son and I hiked up the closed ski area (and down that cross cut trail you referred too earlier - to the boundary of the galaxy trail) the day after thanksgiving in 2005. At that time, I noticed that a good amount of surveying (I saw lots of ribbons in trees) had been done between the two areas.

 

[tcharron]

OK - then I'm guilty of spreading unsubstantiated rumors b/c the issues I was obliquely referring to involved the pmt of back taxes (& other liens against the property) that the town was unwilling to forgive/negotiate - therefore, holding up any sale of the property to another owner! didn't know the east side was owned by the ski area.

I think I've previously written that my son and I hiked up the closed ski area (and down that cross cut trail you referred too earlier - to the boundary of the galaxy trail) the day after thanksgiving in 2005. At that time, I noticed that a good amount of surveying (I saw lots of ribbons in trees) had been done between the two areas.

You might be right. I can't find the actual quote from Crotched regarding paying taxes on it. But Chris Bradford did say in last years Ski Challenge:

Just for the record, Jonni asked me this question in person not too long ago and I wouldn't tell him because he's a spy for Sunapee I guess I have to answer it now though -- this question actually comes up quite often. There are a lot of people who would love to see Crotched East re-open, but that's not something that will be seriously considered until "Crotched West" becomes fully utilized.

On a side note, there HAS been development on a few parts of the old Crotched East, in the form of housing. Heck, there's a road going past where the old lodge used to be now, granted with giant 'Local Traffic Only' sign.

Maybe I'll hike out there this year, check out what it looks like.

 

[Angus]

as the target demographic, metrowest boston with young family (and a big fan of the hill already) I think the place has issues ever reaching the big-time given the available terrain (1,000' of relatively gentle vertical) and access - getting there is a pain from 93/3. I always tell friends and neighbors to by-pass Wa-Wa and go to crotched - less lines, better snow & terrain for the additional 30-40 minutes of drive time. Not sure if Crotched can ever be anything more than a day trip destination. if I'm doing an overnight, I can go further and get more of a complete ski experience. don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan. I just think they understand their market segment and trying to be a more inclusive type of resort won't work.

anyone here live/work in Manchester/Nashua and know the time difference to reach crotched versus Pat's Peak? Never skied myself at Pat's.

 

[hammer]

as the target demographic, metrowest boston with young family (and a big fan of the hill already) I think the place has issues ever reaching the big-time given the available terrain (1,000' of relatively gentle vertical) and access - getting there is a pain from 93/3. I always tell friends and neighbors to by-pass Wa-Wa and go to crotched - less lines, better snow & terrain for the additional 30-40 minutes of drive time. Not sure if Crotched can ever be anything more than a day trip destination. if I'm doing an overnight, I can go further and get more of a complete ski experience. don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan. I just think they understand their market segment and trying to be a more inclusive type of resort won't work.

anyone here live/work in Manchester/Nashua and know the time difference to reach crotched versus Pat's Peak? Never skied myself at Pat's.

From just south of Nashua the travel time is about the same to either.

 

[tcharron]

as the target demographic, metrowest boston with young family (and a big fan of the hill already) I think the place has issues ever reaching the big-time given the available terrain (1,000' of relatively gentle vertical) and access - getting there is a pain from 93/3. I always tell friends and neighbors to by-pass Wa-Wa and go to crotched - less lines, better snow & terrain for the additional 30-40 minutes of drive time. Not sure if Crotched can ever be anything more than a day trip destination. if I'm doing an overnight, I can go further and get more of a complete ski experience. don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan. I just think they understand their market segment and trying to be a more inclusive type of resort won't work.

anyone here live/work in Manchester/Nashua and know the time difference to reach crotched versus Pat's Peak? Never skied myself at Pat's.

Yes, time is about the same. And both are gated by the smaller state highways required to get there.

Actually, from Manchester, I'm going to say Pats is maybee 10-15 minutes quicker, because you can cut accross. Nashua, the same time to either.

 

[Angus]

so, from the major population centers - metro-boston, nashua, manchester - you have wa-wa, crotched, pat's, sunapee and a soon-to-be upgraded ragged - heck throw in gunstock too - all a legitimate 45 to 120 minute drive (folks living off 93 around andover talk about sunapee being driven in 75 minutes) -that's a good amount of terrain and options (& competition). wachusett, crotched and pat's are day-trip areas for the novice/low intermediate skier and ragged (in the master plan), sunapee and gunstock are an overnight/day trip with advanced skiing terrain.

start to think about it - given restrictions of sunapee and gunstock based on land available for development - maybe the place to really watch is ragged - any ability to go up beyond the 1,250 vertical feet?

 

[tcharron]

so, from the major population centers - metro-boston, nashua, manchester - you have wa-wa, crotched, pat's, sunapee and a soon-to-be upgraded ragged - heck throw in gunstock too - all a legitimate 45 to 120 minute drive (folks living off 93 around andover talk about sunapee being driven in 75 minutes) -that's a good amount of terrain and options (& competition). wachusett, crotched and pat's are day-trip areas for the novice/low intermediate skier and ragged (in the master plan), sunapee and gunstock are an overnight/day trip with advanced skiing terrain.

start to think about it - given restrictions of sunapee and gunstock based on land available for development - maybe the place to really watch is ragged - any ability to go up beyond the 1,250 vertical feet?

Well, they just borrowed a cool 2 mill for fixing the golf course and upgrade snowmaking. But they also have said upgrades could be over a period of 10 years.

And they went strait for 'how to put housing on the mountain', which could be positive, could be negative.

 

[hammer]

There's an interesting detail on the $199 midweek pass...I noticed that there were no blackout dates. I'm guessing that means one can use the pass during vacation weeks and MLK weekend as long as you go M-F.

This may be a good deal for those closer to Boston...Crotched can get busy during vacation weeks but never as crazy-busy as other nearby places like Wachusett can.

 

[thetrailboss]

Too bad that Crotched was not closer for me...it would be a good alternative.

 

[thebigo]

I hiked crotched on memorial day weekend. Went up the access road to the summit then down the 'new' trail then down the old connector trail back to the base. Nothing going on but thats probably not indicative of summer work because I doubt anybody has done anyting yet.

Once at the bottom I sat down on the deck of the little house near the quad to get changed and it turns out there was a caretaker of sorts living there. I got talking to the guy for a while and a few interesting things came out of the conversation.

-from my brief conversation i got the feeling that peaks is an extremely well run company, reinforcing my experiences at crotched and everything i have read

-they have plans to relocate the park that was under the triple to the lower 'new' trail, this trail has lights that looked new but i did not see snowmaking

-francistown has resisted development of crothed, in fact peaks had to make consolations with francistown to build the maintenace building at the base and part of the snowmaking pond

-the bennington/francistown line runs up the skiers right side of the resort and the area of the old summit t-bar is in francistown

I got the impression that atleast for this year the only way to ski off the summit will be under your power. I also learned that one of the signatures of peaks is to groom as close to opening as possible, something I had never heard before. Also I was suprised to see a ton of new looking quad chair parts behind the maintenace shack. Hope crothced does the challenge because there appears to be a ton of interest.

 

[Newpylong]

I like the idea of that grooming plan. One problem I saw with Mount Snow this year was by the time the lifts opened you couldn't even tell what runs had been groomed. The corduroy was either chatteroy or covered in windblown, etc. and so on. Would be nice to see it done closer to opening.

 

[threecy]

I like the idea of that grooming plan. One problem I saw with Mount Snow this year was by the time the lifts opened you couldn't even tell what runs had been groomed. The corduroy was either chatteroy or covered in windblown, etc. and so on. Would be nice to see it done closer to opening.

Depending upon the weather, its often better to groom earlier than later - if the snow doesn't set up, it deteriorates rather quickly.

 

[tcharron]

Depending upon the weather, its often better to groom earlier than later - if the snow doesn't set up, it deteriorates rather quickly.

You have to bear in mind, however, even without natural snow, they can blizzard the entire mountain with several feet of snow within 3 days. So they are certainly not letting the snow sit there for long periods in time. They are simply building up a good base, and don't want to constantly compress it.

 

[tcharron]

I hiked crotched on memorial day weekend. Went up the access road to the summit then down the 'new' trail then down the old connector trail back to the base. Nothing going on but thats probably not indicative of summer work because I doubt anybody has done anyting yet.

Once at the bottom I sat down on the deck of the little house near the quad to get changed and it turns out there was a caretaker of sorts living there. I got talking to the guy for a while and a few interesting things came out of the conversation.

-from my brief conversation i got the feeling that peaks is an extremely well run company, reinforcing my experiences at crotched and everything i have read

-they have plans to relocate the park that was under the triple to the lower 'new' trail, this trail has lights that looked new but i did not see snowmaking

-francistown has resisted development of crothed, in fact peaks had to make consolations with francistown to build the maintenace building at the base and part of the snowmaking pond

-the bennington/francistown line runs up the skiers right side of the resort and the area of the old summit t-bar is in francistown

I got the impression that atleast for this year the only way to ski off the summit will be under your power. I also learned that one of the signatures of peaks is to groom as close to opening as possible, something I had never heard before. Also I was suprised to see a ton of new looking quad chair parts behind the maintenace shack. Hope crothced does the challenge because there appears to be a ton of interest.

I was considering hiking up sometime soon. Which access road? I didn't know there was one that went up that high.

Also, moving the park to the new unnamed trail would, in a way, suck. The park would be MUCH smaller in that case, and would mean that all of the boarders using it would need to go all the way back down to get back up top. Not only that, but the newer black trail would really have no runoff area at all. :-(

 

[thebigo]

I cant comment on the park placement I have only skiied there early and late season since they reopenned. My guess is that they want that triple to be available to beginners and also to seclude the park from skiers/boarders passing through on their way down.

If they are going to reinstall the summit T-Bar someday that runoff for the new black trail wouldnt be necessary.

By access road I meant the gravel path up the hill, its really a combination of green/blue trails that winds up the skiers right and then over under the summit quad.

 

[Angus]

there is a trail that takes you up the backside of the mtn - never done it, but the ski area(s) are on the other side. I think the children's school - for kids with disabilities? - is near the trail head - memory serves me right there is state/town park at the trailhead - I recall you can google pretty quickly and find information about that...quick search gave me this

Crocthed Mountain - Bennington Trail
Location: 3 miles north of Greenfield, Rte. 31 sign marked "Crocthed Mt. Top - Bennington Trail"
Trail climbs to the summit of the 2055' mountain

if you are coming from Francestown - take the last left hand turn prior to the ski area (mountain road) and drive up to the end and park (if you turn left mid way up that brings you to the base of the old ski area but I think there are a bunch of signs telling you it's private). you can hike up the path and if you turn right, you go to the ski area and if you turn left, you go up up to the old ski area- now with foliage, it's probably difficult but when the leaves are gone, it's fun to look at all the old signs, lights and other paraphernalia hung on the trees, etc.