Bretton Woods, Thursday March 21, 2013

[billski]

Well, I won't bore you. I'll get right to the point.

First an observation - if you are looking for "intermediate glades" this is clearly your place. And all the snow snakes have been weeded out. Great place to learn and boost your confidence without much risk (a lot of bail outs).

All the groomers skied like butter. Not a bad groomer on the hill(s). You kind of had to look for some pow, I was a bit disappointed they only left a few slivers on the sides. But on to the real fun.

Mount Stikney glades were one happening place. The whole area is brand new only one groomer from the top, the rest is all glades. It's serviced by a BRAND NEW T-BAR. When's the last time you saw that? Well, it served to sort out the wheat from the chaff, leaving only a few folks over there. So the woods wasn't beat. In fact, I was finding boot deep lines all the way until closing. Kind of cool. It's so new that the trails don't have names, only numbers (like the old CCC days). I did lots of other stuff including glades on the other mts, but Stickney was the highlight of the day.

 

[BenedictGomez]

if you are looking for "intermediate glades" this is clearly your place.

I've dont think I've ever seen glades that flat, it's like my yard. Do they have more challenging ones too? Looks like they have plenty of untouched snow still, glad you had a nice day.

It's serviced by a BRAND NEW T-BAR. When's the last time you saw that?

Seriously; that an oxymoron like "Jumbo Shrimp". There's honestly only been a few times in my life I've ever even seen a non-bunny T-Bar, Lake Louise comes to mind as the last time I think. They had one (maybe still have) that didnt go very far, but it took you to the top of the mountain after the regular chair took you 98% of the way.

 

[Bene288]

Looks like a whole lot of pushing through those woods.

 

[billski]

Not at all. These are not shallow glades. It's the poor photography. I was trying to show the snow depth. I was honking at a pretty good clip. No pushing, no flats. These pics = FAIL. Go see for yourself!

 

[BenedictGomez]

Looks like a whole lot of pushing through those woods.

Anti-Snowboard glades.

 

[skiking4]

Seriously; that an oxymoron like "Jumbo Shrimp". There's honestly only been a few times in my life I've ever even seen a non-bunny T-Bar, Lake Louise comes to mind as the last time I think. They had one (maybe still have) that didnt go very far, but it took you to the top of the mountain after the regular chair took you 98% of the way.

They have tons in Europe. In Val D'Isere there's a nice t-bar that goes up a 30+ degree ungroomed slope/peak for 350 vertical or so.

 

[xlr8r]

I was there two weeks ago. The Stickney glades do have a nice consistent pitch, nothing too steep, but good enough to allow you to have a lot of fun. They are glades you rip through without having to plan and think about what you're doing. I particularly enjoyed the one skiers right of the T bar.

The Stickney Glades now are the best glades on the mountain imo. A lot of BW's other marked glades are either thinned too much, or ski more like chutes instead of glades.

The T bar does a good job of keeping the area uncrowded. BW's typical clientele don't want to ride surface lifts, they expect detachable quads. I heard some people were hiking over too the area instead of taking the lift because they thought riding the T bar was uncomfortable.

 

[riverc0il]

Those glades were there before the T-bar with a slight uphill traverse. As I recall, they were numbered before as well. Of course, lapping them is much easier with the T-bar instead of two lifts and the uphill traverse.

 

[hammer]

I really enjoyed the glades when I went there on 9 March. The ones on skiers right were not open so I just went down the ones on skiers left, which have enough pitch to keep one going (steeper than some at Pats Peak which are flat), but are shallow enough to allow a complete hack like YT to make it down. Also, it was one of the few areas where on a busy day there weren't a bunch of novice to lower intermediate skiers to get around.

 

[billski]

The only problem with the glades is that they are two short. I'd get to the bottom and say, "oh, I'm here already!"

To augment my comments from earlier, I like to write a fairly balance report (rivec0il does it best), since many of the readers (not writers) here are just testing their abilities to grow their skills and fun factor without being testosterone-driven. (no offense intended.)

The best part,as you guys mentioned is that you can simply bomb these things. I was chatting with one skier on the way up the lift and said I was going over there. The person asked if they could "lurk along". They didn't want to do it alone. Fine with me. We had a good old time and it wasn't as bad as feared.

I agree about the chutes - following a stream bed, with no ready place to rest gets the best of these old bones!

 

[billski]

Seriously; that an oxymoron like "Jumbo Shrimp". There's honestly only been a few times in my life I've ever even seen a non-bunny T-Bar, Lake Louise comes to mind as the last time I think.

Several areas have T-bars used almost exclusively by race teams (Burke). There was once a t-bar somewhere in New England (JP?), was quite steep and practically the only way to get to the top and traversed a green trail, "which made it interesting".

 

[billski]

They have tons in Europe. In Val D'Isere there's a nice t-bar that goes up a 30+ degree ungroomed slope/peak for 350 vertical or so.

Go to Central and Eastern Europe for a real ride. It's been changing in the past 10 years, thanks to Western Tourism, but the equipment was antiquated, and poorly maintained. They would never pass an inspection over here.