RISkier
Active member
Date(s) Skied: 12/30/06 - 1/1/07
Resort or Ski Area: Bretton Woods
Conditions: See trip report
Trip Report:
At the last minute my wife and I deceided to go skiing over New Years weekend. Opted for Bretton Woods because they appeard to have as much or more open terrain than other options and we thought the mellow terrain at BW was a good bet for two intermediates looking to get their ski legs back.
We drove up Saturday morning and opted for the afternoon pass. Holiday crowds combined with limited terrain created pretty marginal conditions by the time we got started. The main groomed trails were very scraped off and the high skier density combined with the wide mix of skier abilities made these trails feel like accidents waiting to happen. We ventured up to the top of the mountain hoping some of the "blacks" on the East side were in good shape. Riding the lift up we saw very thin cover combined with what appeared to be icy moguls. Just wasn't enough cover to get any of that in decent shape and we passed. We did find a couple of ungroomed blues with marginal cover and no skier traffic. I really suck in that kind of crud but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. But, we had fun picking our way down and I experienced binding ejection crossing one of the water bars. Another bit of good news was that it snowed all day. Don't know the snow totals but it must have been in the 4" to 6" range.
We were among the first at the Chair on Sunday and the groomers were excellent early, things started crowding up around 9:30 or 10:00. Conditions held up pretty well till we decided to leave about 12:30 or so. At one point I slowed down to avoid a beginner who was traversing and a guy came flying past just missing me and then just missing the skier who was traversing. Again, too many people at too many skill levels on too little open terrain.
We're not big on New Years Eve celebrations so our plan was to be at the mountain bright and early on Monday. We were staying in Glen and had quite a bit of sleet/freezing rain during the night. The morning drive from Glen to BW over 302 was interesting but we were the third car in the lot. Early on the groomers were fast with a bit of ice/sleet on top, but breakable and edgeable. Not what I'd call icy, just a little noisy. Except for ski patrol and few classes, we largely had the mountain to ourselves. The biggest issue was keeping the frozen precip off your goggles. As temps rose the snow turned to sugar. Except when we happened to arrive at a lift whan a class was loading it was ski on/ski off all day. While we would've liked to have had some more challenging terrain available, it was a glorious day to find our ski legs and work on technique. We left just before 1:00 to drive home. The drive home wasn't quite so glorious with the traffic on I93 being very congested.
As an asside, we stayed at the Bernerhof Inn in Glen. It's a "haunted" Victorian lodge that offered a decent ski and stay package. The Inn itself is very charming. It's cozy and warm and nicely decorated and you really feel like you're a guest in someone's house. Before dinner we went to the Black Bear Pub which is right at the Inn, very nice spot for an apres ski drink or two and the folks that work there are an absolute hoot. The package included one dinner for two which is described as a $75 value. And I'd say it's easily a $75 value. The dinner included an appetizer for two (we chose a hot artichoke dip with toast points that was fantastic), choice of salad (we both had Ceasars which were very good), my wife had lamb (fantastic) and I had Jeager Schnitzel. All of the side dishes were terrific. We both passed on desert cause we were just too full. I've certainly paid more for dinners that were not even close to being as good. Based on that, we had New Years Even dinner there as well. I've never had a good experience going out for New years Eve dinner. In actuallity, the food was once again absolutely spectacular but service was not that good. I think basically the staff just gets overwhelmed with the crowds on New Years Eve. So I can forgive the service that evening. Our only real complaint was that the warm was too warm. So we opened the window a bit but then had quite a bit of road noise. We wanted to ski and skipped the included breakfests. But as we were leaving early on New Years Day, June, one of the owners, popper her head out and said coffee was ready. She brought coffee and some freshly made coffee bread out to us for our drive through the notch. So, with the exception of the room heat, it was a very charming place for my wife and I to spend the holiday. Oh, and Claire the ghost, is friendly, I chatted with her both nights, though my wife doesn't seem to believe me.
Resort or Ski Area: Bretton Woods
Conditions: See trip report
Trip Report:
At the last minute my wife and I deceided to go skiing over New Years weekend. Opted for Bretton Woods because they appeard to have as much or more open terrain than other options and we thought the mellow terrain at BW was a good bet for two intermediates looking to get their ski legs back.
We drove up Saturday morning and opted for the afternoon pass. Holiday crowds combined with limited terrain created pretty marginal conditions by the time we got started. The main groomed trails were very scraped off and the high skier density combined with the wide mix of skier abilities made these trails feel like accidents waiting to happen. We ventured up to the top of the mountain hoping some of the "blacks" on the East side were in good shape. Riding the lift up we saw very thin cover combined with what appeared to be icy moguls. Just wasn't enough cover to get any of that in decent shape and we passed. We did find a couple of ungroomed blues with marginal cover and no skier traffic. I really suck in that kind of crud but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. But, we had fun picking our way down and I experienced binding ejection crossing one of the water bars. Another bit of good news was that it snowed all day. Don't know the snow totals but it must have been in the 4" to 6" range.
We were among the first at the Chair on Sunday and the groomers were excellent early, things started crowding up around 9:30 or 10:00. Conditions held up pretty well till we decided to leave about 12:30 or so. At one point I slowed down to avoid a beginner who was traversing and a guy came flying past just missing me and then just missing the skier who was traversing. Again, too many people at too many skill levels on too little open terrain.
We're not big on New Years Eve celebrations so our plan was to be at the mountain bright and early on Monday. We were staying in Glen and had quite a bit of sleet/freezing rain during the night. The morning drive from Glen to BW over 302 was interesting but we were the third car in the lot. Early on the groomers were fast with a bit of ice/sleet on top, but breakable and edgeable. Not what I'd call icy, just a little noisy. Except for ski patrol and few classes, we largely had the mountain to ourselves. The biggest issue was keeping the frozen precip off your goggles. As temps rose the snow turned to sugar. Except when we happened to arrive at a lift whan a class was loading it was ski on/ski off all day. While we would've liked to have had some more challenging terrain available, it was a glorious day to find our ski legs and work on technique. We left just before 1:00 to drive home. The drive home wasn't quite so glorious with the traffic on I93 being very congested.
As an asside, we stayed at the Bernerhof Inn in Glen. It's a "haunted" Victorian lodge that offered a decent ski and stay package. The Inn itself is very charming. It's cozy and warm and nicely decorated and you really feel like you're a guest in someone's house. Before dinner we went to the Black Bear Pub which is right at the Inn, very nice spot for an apres ski drink or two and the folks that work there are an absolute hoot. The package included one dinner for two which is described as a $75 value. And I'd say it's easily a $75 value. The dinner included an appetizer for two (we chose a hot artichoke dip with toast points that was fantastic), choice of salad (we both had Ceasars which were very good), my wife had lamb (fantastic) and I had Jeager Schnitzel. All of the side dishes were terrific. We both passed on desert cause we were just too full. I've certainly paid more for dinners that were not even close to being as good. Based on that, we had New Years Even dinner there as well. I've never had a good experience going out for New years Eve dinner. In actuallity, the food was once again absolutely spectacular but service was not that good. I think basically the staff just gets overwhelmed with the crowds on New Years Eve. So I can forgive the service that evening. Our only real complaint was that the warm was too warm. So we opened the window a bit but then had quite a bit of road noise. We wanted to ski and skipped the included breakfests. But as we were leaving early on New Years Day, June, one of the owners, popper her head out and said coffee was ready. She brought coffee and some freshly made coffee bread out to us for our drive through the notch. So, with the exception of the room heat, it was a very charming place for my wife and I to spend the holiday. Oh, and Claire the ghost, is friendly, I chatted with her both nights, though my wife doesn't seem to believe me.
