Date(s) Skied: The Evening of January 15, 2005 (and mention of our January 17th day trip)
Resort or Ski Area: Pat's Peak
Conditions: Loose Snowmaking Powder, LG, FRG
Trip Report: As we watched the rain come down on Thanksgiving Day, I moaned about the rough start to the season. "Wish I could get out there and ski again," my younger college age brother said. He had sold most of his equipment and did not have the $$$ to pay for expensive lift tickets. It seemed that the most perfect Christmas gift for him would be a trip with us skiing and Pat's Peak's POP program made it happen. :wink: He was thrilled when I gave him his card on Christmas Morn mentioning that I'd take him and his GF skiing. "Is this the mountain?" He said pointing to the front of the card with one of my photos of the mountain. "It looks like Cranmore."
You've seen the ads on this website and have probably heard of this POP program. I first heard of it last season and much like you thought, "OK, what is the catch? Is it $23 per program? $23 per ski? Is there some other "hidden cost?" Or do I have to be there at a special time? As Ms. Trailboss and I learned last season, there is no catch...just ski/ride/tube from 3-10pm on every Saturday night for only $23 INCLUDING rental and 'lesson tips' (whatever those are since we have not taken them). We went up three times last season and had a lot of fun. 8)
So on Saturday, after a fun evening of hanging out with them, we all got up at 10am, waxed the skis for Ms. Trailboss and me (since we are passholders), loaded up and headed north pulling in at 2:30pm to beat the crowds (my advice). "Wow, that looks big," my brother said with a smile as we drove along 202. We had to park in the far lot due to the holiday crowds.
Our first stop was the new rental shop to pick up their gear and since our visit last season, they had added a few more people to move the traffic along. Once the forms were completed and I had paid for my brother and his girlfriend (which yes, did come to $23 per person) :wink: , we headed down to the window to grab boots. "These might be a bit damp," the attendant said, "but they can probably give you a warmer pair over at that window," and we were able to get some that suited the GF nicely. From there, they chose to take out two pair of snowblades, which were almost NEW
. The guy showed my brother how to adjust them if needed and then we were out onto the slopes.
They went to the beginner slope and we headed to the top for a couple of runs. Not surprising, the Breeze-Zephyr-Blast route was pretty skied off, because this is the beginner route off of the summit. Snowmaking was going on several trails including 15 guns on Hurricane. Duster and East Wind had FRESH snowmaking powder on them and were very good and Cyclone was in great shape for 4pm.
My brother and his GF had managed to get in some runs at the carpet, despite the many other novices who had crowded the area. We decided to head to the Valley area and the Turbulence Triple, which also was pretty crowded. It took my brother's GF about 20 minutes to descend Puff, but heck, it was her first ski trail and there were lots of folks on it. The trail was getting skied off. She opted to go in at this point and I took my brother to the top for some turns before dinner. "This is a nice place...I can see why they do so well. It is so clean," he mused as we rode up the lift. "They have a lot of snowmaking."
Dinner was interrupted by a fire alarm :angry: ,which I had thought was a prank, but it turned out to be something else. The woman who also yelled obscenities at us for accidentally knocking some snow onto her was also not amusing :angry: . "That is not the normal clientele...this is a family place," I said to my brother as we laughed.
After supper we headed up to the trails and my brother and his girlfriend headed to the tubing. When we met again, an hour later, we had taken several good runs (except for Twister which was quite icy...it has been all season :x ) and my brother and his GF had just got done tubing. "We roasted marshmellows," they said with a big grin , "and the tubing is fun, but you have to really drag your feet hard!" He again complimented the place.
At this point, the ladies were cold and headed in for hot chocolate and gossip by the fire while the boys hit the Peak Double and did FIS, East Wind, the Breeze-Zephyr-Blast run, and another spin on Cyclone before calling it a night. "The conditions are great...thank God for snowmaking," he said. All in all, we were impressed by the conditions given the recent bad weather. The new lights on Blast were nice. There was some ice, but the snow held up well on all of the trails given the crowds, which died down at about 8pm or so. We left at 10:30 and headed home for some well deserved rest. "I'd try skiing again," his girlfriend said. "Hell's yeah, and Pat's Peak is the bomb!" said my brother .
As for later in the week, the powder conditions had returned and Hurricane on one side (I won't say which) was great. Let's hope for more snow.
SUMMARY:
Great things from both our and their perspectives:
# You can't beat the price. It's the best deal.
# "The people are all friendly and it is really clean! A nice place."
# For more advanced skiers and riders, the more advanced terrain is usually empty because the groups that do come are usually school/youth/church groups that bring novices who go for a few hours and stick to the greens (which do get crowded).
Our Advice:
# GET THERE EARLY to get the best selection of equipment since it goes fast. We've seen it sell out (that is 1500 pairs of skis, folks!).
# GET TO THE VALLEY AND BEGINNER TERRAIN FIRST if you want since it will get busy until about 8pm and then clears out for the rest of the night. Otherwise, try to get to the expert stuff that is not open at night (but ski with care).
# TAKE IT EASY as the terrain does tend to get skied off (it has been open since 8:30 am) and there can be a lot of people falling. You will also get tired from it being late. Also drag those feet on the tubing runs else you will get reprimanded.
Resort or Ski Area: Pat's Peak
Conditions: Loose Snowmaking Powder, LG, FRG
Trip Report: As we watched the rain come down on Thanksgiving Day, I moaned about the rough start to the season. "Wish I could get out there and ski again," my younger college age brother said. He had sold most of his equipment and did not have the $$$ to pay for expensive lift tickets. It seemed that the most perfect Christmas gift for him would be a trip with us skiing and Pat's Peak's POP program made it happen. :wink: He was thrilled when I gave him his card on Christmas Morn mentioning that I'd take him and his GF skiing. "Is this the mountain?" He said pointing to the front of the card with one of my photos of the mountain. "It looks like Cranmore."
You've seen the ads on this website and have probably heard of this POP program. I first heard of it last season and much like you thought, "OK, what is the catch? Is it $23 per program? $23 per ski? Is there some other "hidden cost?" Or do I have to be there at a special time? As Ms. Trailboss and I learned last season, there is no catch...just ski/ride/tube from 3-10pm on every Saturday night for only $23 INCLUDING rental and 'lesson tips' (whatever those are since we have not taken them). We went up three times last season and had a lot of fun. 8)
So on Saturday, after a fun evening of hanging out with them, we all got up at 10am, waxed the skis for Ms. Trailboss and me (since we are passholders), loaded up and headed north pulling in at 2:30pm to beat the crowds (my advice). "Wow, that looks big," my brother said with a smile as we drove along 202. We had to park in the far lot due to the holiday crowds.
Our first stop was the new rental shop to pick up their gear and since our visit last season, they had added a few more people to move the traffic along. Once the forms were completed and I had paid for my brother and his girlfriend (which yes, did come to $23 per person) :wink: , we headed down to the window to grab boots. "These might be a bit damp," the attendant said, "but they can probably give you a warmer pair over at that window," and we were able to get some that suited the GF nicely. From there, they chose to take out two pair of snowblades, which were almost NEW
. The guy showed my brother how to adjust them if needed and then we were out onto the slopes. They went to the beginner slope and we headed to the top for a couple of runs. Not surprising, the Breeze-Zephyr-Blast route was pretty skied off, because this is the beginner route off of the summit. Snowmaking was going on several trails including 15 guns on Hurricane.
Duster and East Wind had FRESH snowmaking powder on them and were very good and Cyclone was in great shape for 4pm. My brother and his GF had managed to get in some runs at the carpet, despite the many other novices who had crowded the area. We decided to head to the Valley area and the Turbulence Triple, which also was pretty crowded. It took my brother's GF about 20 minutes to descend Puff, but heck, it was her first ski trail and there were lots of folks on it. The trail was getting skied off. She opted to go in at this point and I took my brother to the top for some turns before dinner. "This is a nice place...I can see why they do so well. It is so clean," he mused as we rode up the lift. "They have a lot of snowmaking."
Dinner was interrupted by a fire alarm :angry: ,which I had thought was a prank, but it turned out to be something else. The woman who also yelled obscenities at us for accidentally knocking some snow onto her was also not amusing :angry: . "That is not the normal clientele...this is a family place," I said to my brother as we laughed.
After supper we headed up to the trails and my brother and his girlfriend headed to the tubing. When we met again, an hour later, we had taken several good runs (except for Twister which was quite icy...it has been all season :x ) and my brother and his GF had just got done tubing. "We roasted marshmellows," they said with a big grin
, "and the tubing is fun, but you have to really drag your feet hard!" He again complimented the place. At this point, the ladies were cold and headed in for hot chocolate and gossip by the fire while the boys hit the Peak Double and did FIS, East Wind, the Breeze-Zephyr-Blast run, and another spin on Cyclone before calling it a night. "The conditions are great...thank God for snowmaking," he said. All in all, we were impressed by the conditions given the recent bad weather. The new lights on Blast were nice. There was some ice, but the snow held up well on all of the trails given the crowds, which died down at about 8pm or so. We left at 10:30 and headed home for some well deserved rest. "I'd try skiing again," his girlfriend said. "Hell's yeah, and Pat's Peak is the bomb!" said my brother
. As for later in the week, the powder conditions had returned and Hurricane on one side (I won't say which) was great. Let's hope for more snow.
SUMMARY:
Great things from both our and their perspectives:
# You can't beat the price. It's the best deal.
# "The people are all friendly and it is really clean! A nice place."
# For more advanced skiers and riders, the more advanced terrain is usually empty because the groups that do come are usually school/youth/church groups that bring novices who go for a few hours and stick to the greens (which do get crowded).
Our Advice:
# GET THERE EARLY to get the best selection of equipment since it goes fast. We've seen it sell out (that is 1500 pairs of skis, folks!).
# GET TO THE VALLEY AND BEGINNER TERRAIN FIRST if you want since it will get busy until about 8pm and then clears out for the rest of the night. Otherwise, try to get to the expert stuff that is not open at night (but ski with care).
# TAKE IT EASY as the terrain does tend to get skied off (it has been open since 8:30 am) and there can be a lot of people falling. You will also get tired from it being late. Also drag those feet on the tubing runs else you will get reprimanded.
