Best low angle glades

[Greg]

I'm just getting into trees. What are some of your favorite low-angle glades? Blizzard Island and East Glades at Berkshire East are two of my favorites and they're about the best Southern NE has to offer. What other glades do you recommend for tree-newbs?

 

[hammer]

The beginner glades at Pats Peak are great for newbies...plus, they make snow on them.

 

[2knees]

i'm with you in that i dont ski trees much at all but i would say, through limited experience, that the Trials at Mt. Snow and The Glade and Avalanche Glade at bromley are pretty mellow. I remember some short easy ones at Loon also but snow, or lack thereof, is frequently a problem there. Killington has one over by Rams Head. Squeeze Play or something like that. It also is nice and easy.

 

[kbroderick]

Lost Princess (er, I think that's it--the one off of Lollapalooza in Jordan Bowl) at Sunday River. Darn near flat, fairly open, and it does get some snow by virtue of wind carrying manmade in from Lollapalooza. Last Tango at Sunday River has a little more pitch but still isn't steep.

(Caveat: I haven't skied either in a couple of years, but I would expect them to be fairly similar; I don't have any low-angle recommendations at the places I've been skiing more recently).

 

[Greg]

Darn near flat

By low-angle, I guess I mean, typical Northern New England intermediate blue square pitch and not very tight. I've been on some really flat glades that are not that challenging.

 

[hammer]

Darn near flat

By low-angle, I guess I mean, typical Northern New England intermediate blue square pitch and not very tight. I've been on some really flat glades that are not that challenging.

OK...if that's the criteria then the novice glades at Pats are not for you...

I haven't skied them (and likely won't for a while) but I saw some glades near the Sunbowl lift at Sunapee that may meet your criteria, although the pitch may be a bit on the steep side...

 

[RuffusCorncobb]

minor correction

Lost Princess (er, I think that's it--the one off of Lollapalooza in Jordan Bowl) at Sunday River.

The trail off Lollapalooza on Jordan is called Blind Ambition. Lost Princes is on Oz and is normaly a bump run.

going by the updated description of a glade on pitch that would be blue square material I would put Last Tango on Barker, Celestrial on Arora and Wizards Gultch on Jordan in that catagory.

Saddle back had a nice trail that would fit the bill. Nightmare Glades, starts out as a narrow trail but turns into a glade a short way down. Bretton woods there is one I think it was John Graves Glade that would be what you are looking for too.

 

[ctenidae]

The pitch on the glades off the Sunbowl is fine, and the spacing's great. Good luck skiing them, though- in the 5 or six years since they were cut, they've been open and skiiable I think twice, at least according to a patroller I talked to about them.

 

[snowmaker4191]

Crotched has some good glades

 

[Joshua B]

"Glades" off the Northeast Peak chair at Ragged is a nice, long, intermediate glade.

 

[riverc0il]

crotched doesn't have glades. they have a trail with a few trees in the middle. seriously.

another vote for ragged mountain for great glades to learn in. perfect pitch for learning.

twilight zone at magic mountain is a phenomenal glade with sparse trees and decent pitch. one of my favorite not too challenging glades that would be good to learn in when the cover is good. fortunately, twilight zone has some of the best retention of good snow on the mountain.

burke has some great not too challenging glades to duck into (marshland glade maybe? boss, help me out here). can't remember their names, but you would want to avoid birches and jungle which are much tighter and steeper.

and of course, jay peak has glades of all varieties. though the only one's i got into when i was there were not too sparse. i guess timbuktu wasn't too bad for learning.

i think angle is less of an issue than how tight the trees are. though control is the name of the game and you don't want speed distracting you from what you really need to be working on and that is looking for lines between the trees and getting the feel for timing and turns.

 

[kbroderick]

Re: minor correction

Lost Princess (er, I think that's it--the one off of Lollapalooza in Jordan Bowl) at Sunday River.

The trail off Lollapalooza on Jordan is called Blind Ambition. Lost Princes is on Oz and is normaly a bump run.

And this is why I should have taken the five minutes to open the Sunday River trail map.

:dunce:

I do think Blind Ambition is still a pretty good starter glade, though. It can actually be quite a bit of fun, particularly as it doesn't need a whole lot of snow and it encourages you to keep the tips in the fall line (because you may just come to a complete halt if you don't).

 

[Greg]

twilight zone at magic mountain is a phenomenal glade with sparse trees and decent pitch. one of my favorite not too challenging glades that would be good to learn in when the cover is good. fortunately, twilight zone has some of the best retention of good snow on the mountain.

Ah yes. Twilight Zone at Magic. Fantastic run:

Does TZ really count as a glade though? I had no problem handling that run. It's really just a trail with a few trees on it. same with Goniff Glade, but it's steeper and has a funky double fall line:

 

[NYDrew]

Jay got this nice blue glade, forget the name but there is a shack hidden inside which they challenge you to find.

Nice wide trees, great for getting used to the psychology of tree skiing, by that I mean the fear of hitting a tree.

The trees the the skiiers left of the Jet is also a great acclimation. Its really just a beaten shortcut, but its wherere I learned

 

[riverc0il]

Does TZ really count as a glade though? I had no problem handling that run. It's really just a trail with a few trees on it. same with Goniff Glade, but it's steeper and has a funky double fall line:

:lol:

with comments like that, you are already starting to sound like a tree skier! :lo: sure, why not. the trees are definitely sparse but it's a good intro for the non-tree skier. you definitely need to give burke a shot after a comment like that

 

[riverc0il]

i can't remember if a thread was discussed about this in the past, but i think there iss a need to differentiate between skiing 'glades' and skiing the trees. trails like twilight and goniff to me are quintisential glade trails. compared with something like say kinsman glade which is more of a tree run. i know it is only semantics, but the word glade conjures up runs that are fairly sparse by definition.

 

[thetrailboss]

The beginner glades at Pats Peak are great for newbies...plus, they make snow on them.

I concur. Some of the ones on the Valley Area are lit at night as well. Not too challenging, but lots of fun. They've done a lot of work there.

The Hurricane Glades (I think...just off the middle of the Triple Lift Line) are really, really good for a "beginner area." See my pics in here. Nice and narrow. Good pitch.

The FIS glades suck.

Burke's "Enchanted Forest" is a blue glade, but it is not easy...good challenge for beginner glade skiers.

 

[NYDrew]

My way of defining...i think it is good.

Glades: Marked trails that are cleared in the off season. You are on-piste, but surrounded by trees. Not to many things to get snagged on cause it was cleared out.

Brush: Uncleared zone near the edge of a trail. Still trees, but easy to get out of.

Trees: Your in there, but your betweed trails. Not marked, not cleared, worthy of a lift ticket clipping unless your at a resort that allows it. (ie. the trees between trails on caslerock at sugarbush..but its allowed there)

Backcountry: As Kirk says, where no man has gone before. Back sides of mountains or not accessable by lift. Can't get your ticket clipped cause the mountain has no authority there. Anything that would require an airlift for rescue (ie, backside of jay)

 

[Greg]

i can't remember if a thread was discussed about this in the past, but i think there iss a need to differentiate between skiing 'glades' and skiing the trees. trails like twilight and goniff to me are quintisential glade trails. compared with something like say kinsman glade which is more of a tree run. i know it is only semantics, but the word glade conjures up runs that are fairly sparse by definition.

Never thought much about it. I use tree-skiing and glades interchangeably, but what they hell do I know. I guess I'm asking about marked or otherwise maintained glades. I'm not ready for serious backcountry or off-piste stuff yet. Here are a few other glades I've been on which are marked on the maps:

Upper East Glades at Berkshire East
Pretty steep and thin that day. Pretty challenging for me.

More East Glades at the B-east
This section was a bit mellower.

Blizzard Island at the B-east
Flatter, but fun.

Two more shots of Twilight Zone at Magic

Mike's Way at Loon
With Charlie S. This one kicked my ass.

Scaler at Loon
This one's down towards the base and is usually well traveled.

Kickback at Sugarloaf
Spring skiing glades.

That's about the extent of my tree skiing experience. Thanks for all the suggestions. Keep them coming...

 

[riverc0il]

mike's way at loon *drools*... and i don't even like loon! that run for me was 'just right' so that i wasn't having to work it hard, just sliding down and enjoying the forest. knowing that kicked your butt certainly helps with the recommendations, heh!

tenney has some good low angle glades you might find interesting. when next you do your week long trip to loon, tenney might be an interesting diversion for an afternoon at about 30 minutes south of loon.

i hear bretton woods has lots of good low angle learning glades too.

i am trying hard to think of the glades i learned in when i was first getting into the woods. i think i did trial by fire by jumping into moderately spaced glades right away. i got my feet wet at sunday river, though nothing stands out from my memory as being great for learning.

unfortunately for the topic of discussion, i generally don't take pics inside glades and tree runs as there really isn't much to take pictures of besides the trees themselves :lol: but here is one of my previous recomendations: myself in timbuktu at jay peak