Crotched Mtn 12/20/07

[The Sneak]

Date Skied: 12/20/2007 day
Resort or Ski Area: Crotched Mountain in Francestown NH.

Driving up: Snowed all day. Left my folks' house in Bristol RI with my father @ 5:45 AM, with the intention of going to Waterville Valley for the day. We had 2 free lift tickets. Snow began falling with traffic slowing mightily from the 24/128/93 interchange area. It was after 8 am and we were barely in NH. Super slow going, and it was only getting worse. Kinda surprised how bad the driving was. At this rate, we wouldn't have been on the hill @ WV til 11 AM or later...so we said forget it, and called Crotched - which I'd been interested in checking out - for directions. Crotched is a bit of a PITA to get to in bad weather, huh? Not exactly right off the highway.

Snow conditions: POWDER. At least 6" of light, fluffy stuff on the hill when we got there and it snowed all day, never letting up. No grooming whatsoever. Everything wide open. Tracked and untracked, no scraped spots to be had anywhere.

Trip Report: This was my 1st visit to Crotched and it compared favorably to Wachusett, where I ski regularly. Crotched may be a hundred feet and change smaller in terms of vertical rise, but it skis at least as big as Wa. I was very impressed with the entire operation for what it is. Great lodge layout...a Temple Mtn for the 21st century.
$39 full day lift tickets with zero liftlines, maybe 50-100 cars in the lot total?

Q: why doesn't the summit quad actually go to the top, but instead end about 150 vertical feet shy of it? Just curious.

We did 20 runs and called it a day. Haven't skied actual real powder like that in a long time. Fischer RX8s aren't exactly ideal for powder, but I still ripped it up anyway 8)...Any recommendations for some inexpensive decent fatter-waisted skis? Used/2-3 seasons old?

 

[tcharron]

Date Skied: 12/20/2007 day
Resort or Ski Area: Crotched Mountain in Francestown NH.
Q: why doesn't the summit quad actually go to the top, but instead end about 150 vertical feet shy of it? Just curious.

They just this year finished recutting the additional summit trails. They eventually want the summit lift to actually GO to the 'new/old' summit, however, time and money lost the race. Peak had to make SOME sacrifices with the money they dumped into Mt Snow and Attitash. The other reason to extend the lift is to get rid of that horrible for greenies 180 degree turn after you get off the lift.

It's def a really nice hill to ski tho, despite it's vertical.

 

[tcharron]

Here's an example of where the summit hill USED to go. The old Quad Chair lift used to go to the real summit, but for some reason when they reopened, it only went as far as the connecting trail between the old FIS Upper and The Chute. You'll note the 'Future Expansion' trails are actually the old 'Turbo', 'FIS Upper', and 'Roandabout' trails, with the newly reopened 'Kirk' trail (they call it NC-1701), actually being the old lower part of Turbo.

If your standing at the top of the Terrain Park lift, you can actually look to the side and see the pretty much still present but not maintained Meadow Lark trail, which I've actually seen people use to get home to their condos on the other side.

Credit: New England Lost Ski Areas Project, http://www.nelsap.org/nh/crotched.html