Favorite Small Ski Areas

[loafer89]

What are your favorite small ski areas (under 1,000' of vertical)

Here are mine:

Maine: Camden Snow Bowl
Vermont: Suicide Six
Massachuesetts: Blandford
Connecticut: Mount Southington
New Hampshire: Cranmore - over 1,000' but it's the smallest that I skied in the state.
New York: Mount Peter
Pennsylvania: Jack Frost
New Jersey: Hidden Valley

 

[Greg]

How do you define "small"? Sub-1,000' vert?

The only sub-1000' vert hill that I ski with any regularity is Sundown, which is a fine ski area.

 

[hammer]

Easy one for me...Pats Peak, NH. Good variety for a small area and the management does a great job running the place.

Crotched's a close second...edges out on the snowmaking but it's harder to get to and I'm not into terrain parks...

 

[thetrailboss]

VT: Lyndon Outing Club
NH: Pats Peak
MA: Nashoba

 

[loafer89]

How do you define "small"? Sub-1,000' vert?

The only sub-1000' vert hill that I ski with any regularity is Sundown, which is a fine ski area.

I actually though about defining "small" as under 500' vertical, but that narrows things down too much, so I guess under 1,000' will do.

 

[ALLSKIING]

Catamount is just at 1k Vert and is a great little hill.

 

[ski_adk]

Plattekill when it has snow. The consistent, never-relenting vert and double fall-lines there will kick your butt. Otherwise, I'd have to say Jiminy...they tend to have the best/most reliable coverage for a ski area their size.

 

[Brettski]

None

 

[Johnskiismore]

Kanacamagus Recreational Area in Lincoln, NH. Nice little intermediate slope that you can bang out a bunch of runs with their rope tow!

 

[Geoff]

Monarch, Colorado.
1,170' vertical
4 doubles and a quad
No slopeside lodging at all
350"+ natural snow
31% advanced terrain that is mostly ignored
Three distinct parts of the mountain plus backcountry skiing with a 10 minute walk
Snowcat skiing operation

 

[SnowRider]

MA - WaWa

NH - Pats Peak

Two pretty nice ski areas. I would take Pats over WaWa, but I live in Ma so wachusett is sometimes my only option.

 

[ga2ski]

Pat's Peak

 

[andyzee]

Only been there once, but Mt. Peter in NY was cool as was Hidden Valley in NJ. I wqas tempted to go with Plattekill, but I don't think it's fair to put that into the small hill category.

 

[Brettski]

you spend most of your time riding the lift...never mind the newbies

 

[loafer89]

I skied Mount Peter a few years back after they got a fairly large dump and had fun skiing Dynamite, which is steep, but short.

 

[2knees]

you spend most of your time riding the lift...never mind the newbies

lol i think we all would prefer to ski larger more diverse resorts all the time and understand the limitations of your local hill. that being said, and in the context of this thread, i like being real close to my local area. Its great for weeknight tuneups. you know, how to load and unload, how to avoid gapers etc etc.

 

[RISkier]

I live right up the road from Yawgoo Valley, depending on one's defination of small they do a heck of job given the loation. I've really liked the whole feel of Pat's Peak, just a fun, friendly place.

 

[riverc0il]

None

You are missing out. Big Time.

Black Mountain, NH - Excellent small ski area
Ragged Mountain, NH - Great if you are in that area
Crotched Mountain, NH - Best Man Made Snow around. Great place to ski early season when only man made trails are open in the east.
Berkshire East, MA - Never skied there often since it was the same distance as the Whites and Greens, but it is very respectable for MA.
Tenney, NH - Great alternative to Waterville and Loon, especially if you just want to cruise on the cheap.

Some of those are slightly higher than 1000 and are what I consider "mid-sized" mountains. I have yet to ski an aread less than 700 or so verts that I would classify as very good.

 

[riverc0il]

you spend most of your time riding the lift...never mind the newbies

I would rather spend time on the lift than spend time in line

 

[Marc]

Um... not Wachusett.


Other than that I have no other strong feelings on the matter.