Backcountry skiing in New England?

[Drew Chainz]

Can anyone recommend a good place to get started doing some light backcountry tours in New England? Does anyone know anybody that guides tours or offers avalanche training?

 

[C-Rex]

Eastern Mountain Sports does avalanche classes up in New Hampshire. And Sugarbush offers cat serviced back country tours. It's pretty difficult to get people to tell you about back country spots. Most are closely guarded secrets.

Huck_It_Baby just recommended this book to me:

http://www.amazon.com/Backcountry-Skiing-Adventures-Vermont-Snowboard/dp/1878239708

 

[noreasterbackcountry]

Here's a map of some of our tours. Make sure to buddy up and get some avy training before heading out though.

Mt. Cardigan (NH), Greylock (MA), and The Sherburne Trail (NH) make excellent first time tours. There's usually enough traffic that even if you go solo there will be others around to hear your cries for help. Two of them even have a place to warm your toes at the top.

Have fun and be safe!

 

[David Metsky]

Huck_It_Baby just recommended this book to me:

http://www.amazon.com/Backcountry-Skiing-Adventures-Vermont-Snowboard/dp/1878239708

That's been replaced by http://amcstore.outdoors.org/amcsto...Northeast&pf_id=PACOADFKJLOBHDIM&dept_id=3021 which is updated and better, IMO. It's started life as a single book, was split into two volumes, and is now back as a single book.

I will second Cardigan and Sherburne is good places to try things out.

 

[snowmonster]

Another vote for Cardigan and the Sherburne. If you go to Cardigan, take the Duke's Trail. I think it's a litle easier to follow than the Alexandria.

EMS has information on some avy classes. Check these out: http://www.emsexploration.com/ski/avalanche/

Or these: http://verticalrealms.com/programs/avalanchecourses.html

 

[Drew Chainz]

Thanks for all your input guys. I picked up a copy of Goodman's book and look forward to exploring. I definitely will always go with a buddy. I appreciate the tips. Hope you all have a good season this year!

 

[abc]

Can anyone recommend a good place to get started doing some light backcountry tours in New England? Does anyone know anybody that guides tours or offers avalanche training?

I'm an AMC member so I'll put in a plug for their Winter Workshop: http://activities.outdoors.org/search/index.cfm/action/details/id/65033

"Tired of the crowded lift-served areas? Leave them behind and explore the solitude of the backcountry. This course is designed for the down mountain skier who wants to jump the gap from the lift served area and "side" country to the backcountry..."

The workshop is at Cardigan. I know they do the Duke's trail on one of the days and often do the Alexandria the second day. Avi training is definitely touched on too.

The best part of the course is you might be able to hook up with future partners to go out with on other trips!

 

[skiur]

The thunderbolt trail on greylock is a great place to get started on backcountry. Also check out NELSAP, alot of the closed ski resorts around can still be skiied, while not truly backcountry it will introduce you to earning your turns in a more controlled enviorment.

 

[David Metsky]

The NH Chapter trip is a good one. We usually run a weekend there from the Boston Chapter but we couldn't book the weekend this year for a variety of reasons so we're doing a day at Cardigan and a weekend at Pinkham.

http://activities.outdoors.org/search/index.cfm/action/details/id/65541
http://activities.outdoors.org/search/index.cfm/action/details/id/65544

We also run 3 ski trips out of Harvard Cabin (the one off Rt 16) in Feb and Mar.