billski
Active member
Part two of my 2-fer day, gaining two more pins for my ski hat, now in excess of 60 pins.
After my half -day at Butternut, I sauntered up the road to Otis Ridge Ski area, in Otis, Mass. I almost drove right past the place. Cars lined both sides of the road, giving the appearance of a roadside ice cream stand.
Sunny, brilliant day, aimed to take advantage of the weather prognosticator's "snowmageddon" which resulting in 1, maybe two inches of unplowable snow.
CONDITIONS
Lodge conditions: retro
lifts: retro
Food: appealing to the 10 year old;-)
Clientele - Nobody is a stranger
Snow conditions: retro
Grooming equipment: retro
Staff: jacks and jills of all trades
Walking in this place, simply took my breath away. If you are at all nostalgic or have any interest in the way skiing used to be, you MUST put this on your lifetime MUST DO LIST.
I walked inside, not a table to be had. But, there were maybe 20 tables top. Total bedlam. Tons, and tons of kids. Thursday. So noisy. Good kids, well-behaved, lots of fun. Nobody wears a uniform of any sort. You can't tell the workers from the customers. I paid my $15 for an all-day pass, funkiest little lift tag you've ever seen, it's a keeper.
This IS a community area. And a popular one at that. This IS the way community areas used to be. A big, hot wood stove in the middle of the room heated the place successfully.
For the table moms, a shelf full of books was at the ready....
Grab the corner of a bench, get my boots on,
walk out to so much noise:
It's the lift - an old double. I mean OLD. I mean REALLY, REALLY OLD. It's banging and clanking. It's a motor, but look, right below it is an old auto engine!
The safety stop was an extension cord hanging next to the liftie - one good yank, the cord disconnects, everything stops!
These lifts required some skill getting off and on. Not all had pads. Chair height was questionable. I almost fell getting off. It took a while to get the hand of it. The lift unloading zone was significantly lower than the chair. I jumped the first time, then I figured out how to slide forward and slip off it. the chair was small. Even for two people it would have been tight. It was just like old times!
The liftie figured the chair was 50-60 years old. I guess 40-50, since the stanchions appeared much newer. Nobody I asked knew for sure. It was just always there.
The trails were vast
It was short, steep but sweet. There were some winding trails in the middle that were, for all intents and purposes, ungroomed.
The only rules were at the bottom. The trail signs are home made and funky. there are no fences, poles, gates or nasty signs. Just ski down. Somewhere. Anywhere. With abandon.
Indeed they have snowmaking and a groomer, but it seems to be used mostly on the greens and blacks.
Here's a black:
The trails were retro: just the plain stuff. No parks, no mogul fields other than what others left behind.
But really, the snow conditions were retro too. While there was blown snow and grooming, there were icy patches to be found, grass and dirt to be harvested too.
But it was really in good shape - packed powder, carve-able, good shape all around. The winding trails in the middle were very old-time narrow. You had to be careful - they have death footballs on the trail's edge, not cookies! It was like a little bobsled run. Fun.
No nasty-grams. Oh, and if there was a ski patrol, I guess there was, they had a fancy sign on the building, I couldn't spy one. Suppose they just dressed like everyone else.
The t-bars were funky old things, the weirdest support structures I've ever seen. Definitely Yankee home-grown. Very funky. The place reeked of history.
Folks were great too. Teens acted like teens, but were polite, said "excuse me" and thank you". So refreshing I was ready to move! Adults were easy to talk to, some just came up to me and started talking. Guess they had to check out the stranger!
Take away the shredders and ski brakes and it could have been 1960s.
There were old machine skeletons everywhere:
It reminded me of a NELSAP area that could have but never went bust. I had thought that Middlebury, Berkshire East, Burke and portions of Wildcat were fairly retro. I even thought the rope tows at Ski Ward and Bradford were retro, but this place takes the prize, big time. Where other resorts mount antiques on the wall, Otis Ridge USES theirs. The locals support it, and some frugal Yankee owner clings to it. Best of the best.
After reading this, it becomes easy to see how they can afford a $15 lift ticket. I miss those simpler, less-demanding days.
You owe it to yourself to check out this place once in your life.
There is no question about it. I will remember this place for a very long time.
Five thumbs up!
After my half -day at Butternut, I sauntered up the road to Otis Ridge Ski area, in Otis, Mass. I almost drove right past the place. Cars lined both sides of the road, giving the appearance of a roadside ice cream stand.
Sunny, brilliant day, aimed to take advantage of the weather prognosticator's "snowmageddon" which resulting in 1, maybe two inches of unplowable snow.
CONDITIONS
Lodge conditions: retro
lifts: retro
Food: appealing to the 10 year old;-)
Clientele - Nobody is a stranger
Snow conditions: retro
Grooming equipment: retro
Staff: jacks and jills of all trades
Walking in this place, simply took my breath away. If you are at all nostalgic or have any interest in the way skiing used to be, you MUST put this on your lifetime MUST DO LIST.
I walked inside, not a table to be had. But, there were maybe 20 tables top. Total bedlam. Tons, and tons of kids. Thursday. So noisy. Good kids, well-behaved, lots of fun. Nobody wears a uniform of any sort. You can't tell the workers from the customers. I paid my $15 for an all-day pass, funkiest little lift tag you've ever seen, it's a keeper.
This IS a community area. And a popular one at that. This IS the way community areas used to be. A big, hot wood stove in the middle of the room heated the place successfully.
For the table moms, a shelf full of books was at the ready....
Grab the corner of a bench, get my boots on,
walk out to so much noise:
It's the lift - an old double. I mean OLD. I mean REALLY, REALLY OLD. It's banging and clanking. It's a motor, but look, right below it is an old auto engine!
The safety stop was an extension cord hanging next to the liftie - one good yank, the cord disconnects, everything stops!
These lifts required some skill getting off and on. Not all had pads. Chair height was questionable. I almost fell getting off. It took a while to get the hand of it. The lift unloading zone was significantly lower than the chair. I jumped the first time, then I figured out how to slide forward and slip off it. the chair was small. Even for two people it would have been tight. It was just like old times!
The liftie figured the chair was 50-60 years old. I guess 40-50, since the stanchions appeared much newer. Nobody I asked knew for sure. It was just always there.
The trails were vast
It was short, steep but sweet. There were some winding trails in the middle that were, for all intents and purposes, ungroomed.
The only rules were at the bottom. The trail signs are home made and funky. there are no fences, poles, gates or nasty signs. Just ski down. Somewhere. Anywhere. With abandon.
Indeed they have snowmaking and a groomer, but it seems to be used mostly on the greens and blacks.
Here's a black:
The trails were retro: just the plain stuff. No parks, no mogul fields other than what others left behind.
But really, the snow conditions were retro too. While there was blown snow and grooming, there were icy patches to be found, grass and dirt to be harvested too.
But it was really in good shape - packed powder, carve-able, good shape all around. The winding trails in the middle were very old-time narrow. You had to be careful - they have death footballs on the trail's edge, not cookies! It was like a little bobsled run. Fun.
No nasty-grams. Oh, and if there was a ski patrol, I guess there was, they had a fancy sign on the building, I couldn't spy one. Suppose they just dressed like everyone else.
The t-bars were funky old things, the weirdest support structures I've ever seen. Definitely Yankee home-grown. Very funky. The place reeked of history.
Folks were great too. Teens acted like teens, but were polite, said "excuse me" and thank you". So refreshing I was ready to move! Adults were easy to talk to, some just came up to me and started talking. Guess they had to check out the stranger!
Take away the shredders and ski brakes and it could have been 1960s.
There were old machine skeletons everywhere:
It reminded me of a NELSAP area that could have but never went bust. I had thought that Middlebury, Berkshire East, Burke and portions of Wildcat were fairly retro. I even thought the rope tows at Ski Ward and Bradford were retro, but this place takes the prize, big time. Where other resorts mount antiques on the wall, Otis Ridge USES theirs. The locals support it, and some frugal Yankee owner clings to it. Best of the best.
After reading this, it becomes easy to see how they can afford a $15 lift ticket. I miss those simpler, less-demanding days.
You owe it to yourself to check out this place once in your life.
There is no question about it. I will remember this place for a very long time.
Five thumbs up!
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