Date(s) Skied: February 27, 2006
Resort or Ski Area: Gunstock, New Hampshire
Conditions: Windy, Cold, Partly Cloudy (highs in the teens). PP/MG/FG/Ice
Trip Report: GUNSTOCK has been one of those places that always seemed to elude me. Since I've been skiing, I've heard about it and always wanted to try it. When I was younger, my family would go to the outlets in Tilton and I would sit in the car and read about Gunstock. "Some day I will give it a try." I did see them at the last Boston Ski Show. Their stickers read, "GUNSTOCK: New Hampshire's MUST SKI Mountain."
"So why are you the 'must ski mountain?' " I asked.
"We have something for everyone," the guy said, or something non-descript like that.
Fast forward to Fall 2005. We bought our New Hampshire College "Break Out" Student passes, which included Sunapee, Cannon, and Gunstock. Well, two out of the three were no-brainers. Cannon is huge and Sunapee was a mere 30 miles from our place. But I was interested in finally getting a great reason to make the trek to Gunstock. So after the latest snow storm, which dropped a foot at Gunstock, and seeing that it was to be cold and windy (taking out Cannon), I decided to make the trip and was glad that I did.
Got on the road at 8am. Passed the Sunapee exit with some thought to going there, but to be honest the skiing can get boring there and it was rather windy from the NW. I made the drive in 1.5 hours. Not bad.
Skiing a new place is always an adventure....the challenge is trying to look like a local and being all suave. Admittedly, I didn't look so suave as I approached the base area. I was completely confused as to which building to go to--the upper lodge looked like daycare and a ski shop, the middle one was all shops, and the lower baselodge was a hike from the lifts. I put the skis in the rack and entered into the original lodge dating back to 1937. Amazing. The CCC built it and not much has changed. Original post and beam. Oak floor. Big windows. Homey feel. Admittedly it was a hike to the slopes, but well worth it to be able to see a piece of ski history.
I hiked up the slope--almost getting blown over--and skated to the Panorama HSQ. It was the latest addition to the place and really made my day so much easier. Looking at the trail map, it was clear that from that one lift one could handily ski almost the entire place from left to right. First ride up was cold and the lift stopped due to the wind I imagine. Interesting lift line--it goes up one of the steepest cliff sections I've seen (next to the Worth Double at the Middlebury Snowbowl). The views were amazing.
First run was down a well groomed and covered Middle and Lower Recoil. The wind was brutal--in my face. The run was narrow and fun, but not really too demanding to ski. At the bottom, I hit the HSQ. It stopped three times--the last one for at least 4 or 5 minutes much to my dismay. So I decided to head to some other stuff. I took Upper, Middle, and Lower Trigger all the way down before hiking over to the Tiger Area.
The Tiger was a fast triple serving the steepest stuff at Gunstock, which admittedly was not steep at all. First run was down The Flats to Flintlock Extension, which was very entertaining, steep, narrow, and challenging. It was an interesting combo of pow, ice, and FG that kept one on their toes (and edges). Next ride up was with a local ski coach who was nice to talk with. I confirmed that the steeper stuff was off the Tiger. "Skiing this year has been good considering the weather. They blow a ton of snow here," he said, and that was evident. Being a county-owned operation, I was impressed. Next run was down Red Hat--well groomed as well and steep--before hitting Stonebar--a nice cruiser. I then did one run off of the slooowwwww Ramrod Quad before heading back to the HSQ.
I finally saw where all of the Gunstock brouchure photos came from--Flintlock was an amazing trail...views were amazing and the skiing, though windy and exposed--was great. It would probably be the pick of the day. I did this run down to Flintlock Extension and then back to the HSQ for a run down Upper Gunsmoke to Gunpowder. This side was interesting as well...the Shotgun Trail was nice. I did a quick spin off of the Pistol Triple and down Pistol...excellent cover and pow....before heading back up the HSQ and doing another run on the other side.
After lunch I hit Middle Gunsmoke and played over on the Tiger side using the HSQ and a couple spins off the Tiger triple. I did take some pics with my camera as well.
While riding up the Ramrod Quad, I saw that they had left Richochet ungroomed with some pow, so I decided to give it a go. I found some nice boot-deep powder in between the ice patches. This was easy to get to from Derringer, so I hit it once more. I also found Lower Tiger to be in great shape as well and worthy of a couple spins. Regrettably, the short, but steep, Tiger Steeps was close as was Cannonball. The latter looked really fun.
With time running out, I did another spin off of Recoil and then a couple more on Trigger and Flintlock, with the last run being down the Flintlock-Stonebar route....a long, scenic cruise.
The runs at Gunstock--if you ski them up and down--are short, but when you go far to the sides, you can get some nice long runs. The HSQ made a huge difference for my day. In my mind, the place is a combo of Sunday River's Jordan Bowl/Oz, Pats Peak, and Ward Hill. The bottom half is all open and basically all lifts while the top is a completely different dimension. Some real deep snow would open some nice shots in their glades and Hot Shot (closed, but looked yummy) as well as Upper Ramrod.
All in all, a decent place. Smaller than Sunapee, but had real character. I wish that the original single chair area was still in operation as well as the original race trail that is barely visible. The place is great for families with different ability levels and for cruisers. Amazing views. Snowmaking was good, grooming was decent. Decent lifts. Skied bigger than it looked. I give it an 8/10.
Resort or Ski Area: Gunstock, New Hampshire
Conditions: Windy, Cold, Partly Cloudy (highs in the teens). PP/MG/FG/Ice
Trip Report: GUNSTOCK has been one of those places that always seemed to elude me. Since I've been skiing, I've heard about it and always wanted to try it. When I was younger, my family would go to the outlets in Tilton and I would sit in the car and read about Gunstock. "Some day I will give it a try." I did see them at the last Boston Ski Show. Their stickers read, "GUNSTOCK: New Hampshire's MUST SKI Mountain."
"So why are you the 'must ski mountain?' " I asked.
"We have something for everyone," the guy said, or something non-descript like that.
Fast forward to Fall 2005. We bought our New Hampshire College "Break Out" Student passes, which included Sunapee, Cannon, and Gunstock. Well, two out of the three were no-brainers. Cannon is huge and Sunapee was a mere 30 miles from our place. But I was interested in finally getting a great reason to make the trek to Gunstock. So after the latest snow storm, which dropped a foot at Gunstock, and seeing that it was to be cold and windy (taking out Cannon), I decided to make the trip and was glad that I did.
Got on the road at 8am. Passed the Sunapee exit with some thought to going there, but to be honest the skiing can get boring there and it was rather windy from the NW. I made the drive in 1.5 hours. Not bad.
Skiing a new place is always an adventure....the challenge is trying to look like a local and being all suave. Admittedly, I didn't look so suave as I approached the base area. I was completely confused as to which building to go to--the upper lodge looked like daycare and a ski shop, the middle one was all shops, and the lower baselodge was a hike from the lifts. I put the skis in the rack and entered into the original lodge dating back to 1937. Amazing. The CCC built it and not much has changed. Original post and beam. Oak floor. Big windows. Homey feel. Admittedly it was a hike to the slopes, but well worth it to be able to see a piece of ski history.
I hiked up the slope--almost getting blown over--and skated to the Panorama HSQ. It was the latest addition to the place and really made my day so much easier. Looking at the trail map, it was clear that from that one lift one could handily ski almost the entire place from left to right. First ride up was cold and the lift stopped due to the wind I imagine. Interesting lift line--it goes up one of the steepest cliff sections I've seen (next to the Worth Double at the Middlebury Snowbowl). The views were amazing.
First run was down a well groomed and covered Middle and Lower Recoil. The wind was brutal--in my face. The run was narrow and fun, but not really too demanding to ski. At the bottom, I hit the HSQ. It stopped three times--the last one for at least 4 or 5 minutes much to my dismay. So I decided to head to some other stuff. I took Upper, Middle, and Lower Trigger all the way down before hiking over to the Tiger Area.
The Tiger was a fast triple serving the steepest stuff at Gunstock, which admittedly was not steep at all. First run was down The Flats to Flintlock Extension, which was very entertaining, steep, narrow, and challenging. It was an interesting combo of pow, ice, and FG that kept one on their toes (and edges). Next ride up was with a local ski coach who was nice to talk with. I confirmed that the steeper stuff was off the Tiger. "Skiing this year has been good considering the weather. They blow a ton of snow here," he said, and that was evident. Being a county-owned operation, I was impressed. Next run was down Red Hat--well groomed as well and steep--before hitting Stonebar--a nice cruiser. I then did one run off of the slooowwwww Ramrod Quad before heading back to the HSQ.
I finally saw where all of the Gunstock brouchure photos came from--Flintlock was an amazing trail...views were amazing and the skiing, though windy and exposed--was great. It would probably be the pick of the day. I did this run down to Flintlock Extension and then back to the HSQ for a run down Upper Gunsmoke to Gunpowder. This side was interesting as well...the Shotgun Trail was nice. I did a quick spin off of the Pistol Triple and down Pistol...excellent cover and pow....before heading back up the HSQ and doing another run on the other side.
After lunch I hit Middle Gunsmoke and played over on the Tiger side using the HSQ and a couple spins off the Tiger triple. I did take some pics with my camera as well.
While riding up the Ramrod Quad, I saw that they had left Richochet ungroomed with some pow, so I decided to give it a go. I found some nice boot-deep powder in between the ice patches. This was easy to get to from Derringer, so I hit it once more. I also found Lower Tiger to be in great shape as well and worthy of a couple spins. Regrettably, the short, but steep, Tiger Steeps was close as was Cannonball. The latter looked really fun.
With time running out, I did another spin off of Recoil and then a couple more on Trigger and Flintlock, with the last run being down the Flintlock-Stonebar route....a long, scenic cruise.
The runs at Gunstock--if you ski them up and down--are short, but when you go far to the sides, you can get some nice long runs. The HSQ made a huge difference for my day. In my mind, the place is a combo of Sunday River's Jordan Bowl/Oz, Pats Peak, and Ward Hill. The bottom half is all open and basically all lifts while the top is a completely different dimension. Some real deep snow would open some nice shots in their glades and Hot Shot (closed, but looked yummy) as well as Upper Ramrod.
All in all, a decent place. Smaller than Sunapee, but had real character. I wish that the original single chair area was still in operation as well as the original race trail that is barely visible. The place is great for families with different ability levels and for cruisers. Amazing views. Snowmaking was good, grooming was decent. Decent lifts. Skied bigger than it looked. I give it an 8/10.
