Black Mountain, NH Friday 12/21 - Powder Day!

[billski]

Conditions: Powder, powder, powder, powder. Did I mention powder?

In my advanced age, I sauntered into Black at about 9:00AM, greeted by an unplowed parking lot, with a good 6-10 inches of freshly fallen stuff. This is goodness. Looks like some cars had been practicing slalom. I spied 8 cars in the lot and said to self, "oh good, still time to make some tracks." I knew I was onto something. Little did I know I would be the first one on the hill save for the lone ski patroller.


The entire day felt like a first date, where everything goes right, the excitement and anticipation simply continued to build the entire day, not knowing what suprises lay in wait.

- 12 to 24 inches of powder everywhere.
- A total, I mean total, of about 15 skiers on the mountain all day
- Ropes dropped on everything except one or two trails where snowmaking hoses were laid everywhere
- Temps in the low 20s
What more could one ask for $18? (I did have a discount ticket - window rate is $29.)

The drive in, through the covered bridge, through Jackson common is simply bucolic, passing by pasturelands and meadows with dramatic mountainscapes behind.

The first pic is of the parking lot, which they started to clear about a half hour after opening. Cars on the right are workers, cars on the left are customers. I parked in front of the lodge and got my skis later. Commute from car to lodge, ten seconds.

My objective for the day was to spend as much time in powder as possible. I needed to practice and it seemed that this could be the last, best opportunity for the foreseeable future (measured in days.) I became intrigued with Black after my experience with Berkshire East last week (see other report.) combined with the Thursday snow drop which was hitting more to eastern New England, from the NH seacoast and north. My not so hidden agenda to hit every ski area in New England was also in play. It then occured to me that the Cranmore $3.30 and all the Wildcat talk may be the perfect decoy to get me a near-private reserve.

A call to the resort didn't leave me entirely clear on how much grooming they do or how liberal they are about off-trail skiing, that being my only reservation.

At small areas, patience is a virtue. Black is a family-owned ski area in the very, very truest sense of the word. Passed down now to the second generation, run by locals. The guy behind the grill learned to ski here 50 years ago. No foreign worker exchanges.

Black is focused on skiing. Period. Not lots of amenities, save for a small gift shop, a small bar area, rentals, lessons and stables. Yes, stables. more on that later.

I gear up, in my laxidasical fashion stroll out to the triple lift, which runs about 3/4 to the top. The liftie says "looks like you may have the mountain to yourself" Woah. It's about 9:30.

I spied some black diamond powder stuff under the lifts, so I headed over there. The snow was deep, but it was denser and heavier than last week. It also seemed to compact as the day went on, and the turning actually became harder. I probably should have picked somewhere else to start the day on, only because it wore me down early.

Approach to "down under"
http://www.iabsi.com/ski/2007_dec_black/bm02downunder.gif
Amateur measuring device (not the deepest spot, but it seemed everytime I stopped, I would get hung up. Lots of air pockets beneath the snow. Never hit bottom all day. Ever. You just glided along.
http://www.iabsi.com/ski/2007_dec_black/bm03poles.gif
The hardest thing all day was getting back up after a fall in the deeps.
I'll let the pics do the talking now:
http://www.iabsi.com/ski/2007_dec_black/bm04.gif

http://www.iabsi.com/ski/2007_dec_black/bm06downunder.gif

Overcast, looking toward Cranmore
http://www.iabsi.com/ski/2007_dec_black/bm07towardscran.gif

Black is old fashioned. I think I've found my true love. I've searched for 30 years for trails that are narrow and winding. Most areas have buldozed them into oblivion, creating broad boulevards, which I detest. I enjoy not knowing what is around each bend. It was like a hike in the woods. The scenery was some of the best.

Freshies

The bottom of Black is pasturelands as a runout back to the lodge. The lodge is no frills, probably one of the smallest I can recall, save for the place in Haverhill, MA.
http://www.iabsi.com/ski/2007_dec_black/bm10pasture.gif

OMG how did I miss these glades. Heading in!

More First Trax

These horses, available for trail rides, are located steps from the lodge, and steps from the lift. You could ski right up to them!
http://www.iabsi.com/ski/2007_dec_black/bm13horses.gif

It was so hard to go in for a break, which I desparately needed. The first and last hour, I was the only one on the mountain. Just as well, given some of the tumbles I took in the deep. By this point, there were about 8 other people on the mountain. Entirely addictive.

By 1pm I decided it was time for some glades. I wish I wasn't so worn down. There were several water bars, which I wasn' able to successfuly span. Too much work, a little to flat in places.
http://www.iabsi.com/ski/2007_dec_black/bm15water.gif
back on the trail:
http://www.iabsi.com/ski/2007_dec_black/bm16greenglade.gif

http://www.iabsi.com/ski/2007_dec_black/bm17.gif

places for freshies everywhere. This pic was at about 2:30pm.
It was so scenic, I expected to see Santa and his sleigh drop down at any moment. Kudos to the Ski patrol for dropping the lines everywhere. Even if niar comes, this base ain't going anywhere.

I will say that when I stopped,there were a lot of air pockets, so you would be floating, stop and then sink down. That's what made getting started so difficult.

As the day went on, the snow packed down, I'm beginning to understand that snow packing is really important to a good ski experience.

This is hard to see. Entirely UNTRACKED!
http://www.iabsi.com/ski/2007_dec_black/bm20untracked.gif

Sun shows itself. Now you can really see:

more
http://www.iabsi.com/ski/2007_dec_black/bm24deep.gif

I didn't realize it, but this is a southerly facing mountain. We had sun until about 3:45 as it set over another mountaintop.

This was exactly what I was hoping for, untracked powder and opportunity to work at powder form, such a near impossibility in New England.

As Scott says, "you never get tired of powder". He's spot-on. Even if you're on the same trail or area, every run is a new adventure. New lines make it feel like an entirely new run.
http://www.iabsi.com/ski/2007_dec_black/bm25runout.gif

http://www.iabsi.com/ski/2007_dec_black/bm28sunset.gif


Winding it up. I took one run on the "platterpull" (I used to call them Poma's) for nostalgic reasons. My last time on one was about 25 years ago at Okemo. Guy comes out of the shack (and I mean "shack" in the literal sense.) Full blown yankee - red plaid wood shirt, workboots, hunter's cap. And, it was my only run on corduroy all day.

Oh, I forgot to mention - a majority of the blues and some of the greens were groomed corduroy. Probably about 30% of the place, but I don't care for cord, so I don't have a lot to say. I will note that there are a lot of options for beginners and intermediates, and places to try new things like powder and glades at very low risk (lots of places to bail out.) In some respect, the mountain feels a lot like one big glade.

I did notice later on, "Mr. Rew" looked like one steep, serious trail - it didn't have much cover on it, either that or the obstacles on it are huge (probably the latter). I was having too much fun in the pow.

And, as usual, with nobody skiing, nothing was bumped up.

The staff was very, very friendly and helpful. I really enjoyed myself tremendously. I will be going back and probably real soon.

If you're a beginner, this too is a place for you. You don't have to worry about yahoos coming down from behind and clobbering you.

That's it for now, I have some domestic duties to attend to. I'll add more color to the narrative later. Hope you enjoyed the pics.

 

[severine]

LOVE the report! My cousin lives minutes from there in Jackson and I've been meaning to get up there and try it out (last time I saw it was during the summer). Beautiful little town, too.

 

[eatskisleep]

Best report I have read from Black... Ever? I love Black Mountain, one of my favorite mountains; shh... it is great after a powder day. Hopefully this snowfall will help them out this season.

 

[snoseek]

I now feel a little homesick for the first time in almost two months after seeing that. nice pics, good choice in quest for pow. Black is one of the few areas that I don't bring my own beer, instead i'll support the cause by spending some money. Someday there may not be good local areas like this, that would be ashame.

 

[riverc0il]

Is the secret finally out? I hope so!!! Doubt Wildcat had untracked top to bottom all day. That picture under the Triple just says it all. Nice.

 

[wa-loaf]

Wow, Bill your on a real tear with the skiing lately with (as they say) taking path less traveled. Nice stuff, keep up the good work of making me jealous.

 

[Mildcat]

From now on I'm just going to follow billski wherever he goes.

 

[billski]

my "secret"

From now on I'm just going to follow billski wherever he goes.

My "tear" actually began about two years ago, after the internet services matured enough to make good ski day forecasting realistic. Last year, as lousy as the year was, I hit every powder day, not just by picking the day, but picking the best places to be. I can't think of an outing last year when I had "bad" conditions.

Granted, this takes schedule, travel and monetary flexibility which many don't have, It also takes a general awareness not only of the weather, but of what events are going on where, the general tendancies of the broad skier public, deals, past and predicted conditions. I put a lot of energy into picking places. Some of you know I am a wanderer, I get bored at the same places, so I move around. I also am quick to reset my expectations as conditions change. For example, if the hill is recovering from rain, it might be just the time to hit Loon and spend all day working on my race technique.

Generally, I target a date/date range and begin watching conditions. I have drawn together quite a collection of resources, which, while not pretty, get me quickly to my answer. Often it involves a phone call or two, since the web info is often out of date or omits key elements.

I also have a boatload of discounted vouchers in my pocket right now, based on my recent skiing interests. This is the only way I can reasonably manage costs. That doesn't stop me from going to other places. I will pay full fare if it's the best conditions. My days are too limited and the season it too short not to.

When we get within 2-3 days, I've got a short list, but keep looking for the best conditions. On the final 24 hours, I am usually down to 2, 3 or 4 choices. I disconnect from the internet at about 6pm, and go on gut and live info after that. I often don't make a final call until that morning, sometimes even when I'm in the car.

I am also fortunate that in my quest to ski "everywhere", I've gotten to know the strengths and weaknesses of each resort. this has been my absolute strongest, controllable factor. Who's windy, icy, crowded, grooming policy, etc. has been a lifesaver when the weather changes quickly. A cell phone will every possible winter contact imaginable is important and helps while away the drive time.

In the end, my number one criteria is having fun. If I'm not getting to the bottom with a smile on my face, then something is wrong. I not only had a smile (HUGE GRIN) on my face at Black, I was SINGING! If you knew me, you would know it takes a LOT for that to happen! My daughter was appalled to hear I had been singing. I honestly was having so much fun, but was so tired, but I did not want to go home. Now that's a GREAT day.
PM me a day or two ahead of your trip, send me your criteria and I'll give you my best bets.

 

[JD]

OMG what a great looking place.