VTKilarney
Well-known member
Date: 2/15/14
Day of Week: Saturday
Conditions: P/PP
Headed up to Owl's Head the day after a big snowstorm. Got a great deal on Liftopia. This trip was a family trip. I was with my two sons who think that they are daredevils, but are still upper level beginners and my wife who prefers to stick to the green trails.
The trip up is about the same as to Jay Peak. Once you are into Canada, you aren't on very major highways. Our GPS sent us to the wrong spot and we got lost for about ten minutes. We rolled in around 10:30 AM. Parking was an absolute ZOO. The parking lots were full and people were parking anywhere they could find a spot on the side of the road. I got lucky and snagged a spot that was close to the base lodge. How I got that lucky I do not know. They really need someone to help with parking since, when we looked in the lots for a space, we would often find ourselves in a dead end because parked cars had closed off the travel portion.
The lodge was busy but the ticket line only took about five minutes. There were a LOT of bags scattered in the way, but I just moved some bags so we could find a place to sit and change.
We skied chair #2 which is a SLOW fixed quad serving their bunny hill. We then skied down Chouette and skied chair #7 for a while. Chair #7 is a detachable quad, but it's an older one and is slower than average. It's not a bad chair, though. There were a lot of nice slopeside private homes in this area of the mountain. There appeared to be very little rhyme or reason to them, but they all looked nice. It looked as if when someone ponied up the money they would build a home or a few condos. Nobody seemed to have built a big project on spec - which is why the place has never gone bankrupt.
We eventually worked our way to chair #1 and went up to the peak. The views of the lake are absolutely gorgeous. We took Lilly's Leap, a blue trail, down from the summit. It was moguls all the way down. By this point it was clear that there was no way down from the summit that was mogul-free. While I know it's not popular to admit here, I'm not a mogul skier. I like the groomers.
We went inside for lunch. The cafeteria prices were reasonable. The four of us ate lunch for $29 CAD. For one of the busiest days of the year they moved people through quite well. There were TONS of tables and nobody cared if you brought your own food from outside.
For the rest of the day we skied Rabbits Run, Panorama, Home Run, and Link which were the only mogul free trails left on the mountain. Lots of other people were on Chouette, which was building bumps but not as much as the other trails. I took a quick trip up chair #8 and skied down Upward Trail, but this was all moguls as well. A lot of skiers were funneled onto chair #7 since it served the only mogul-free terrain left on the mountain. The line was pretty long in the afternoon, but it was only about 10 minutes or so.
We finished skiing just before 4:00 pm.
All in all, I really liked Owl's Head. Nothing there is new or fancy, but it works. It's honest skiing without bells and whistles. It feels like a pair of comfortable blue jeans - which I mean in a very good way. You get the sense that because they spend their pennies wisely the mountain is going to be there for a long time to come. It has a really good mixture of terrain, from truly steep to nice intermediate, to easy beginner. And the views are absolutely stunning. I'd really like to return on a bluebird day when there hasn't been a dump so I can enjoy the cruisers more.
Even though this must have been one of their busiest days of the year the lines and crowds were manageable. Waits were no more than 10 minutes and with only one chair serving the summit the trails were not overly crowded. (FYI: some of the chairs that are still listed on their trail map look like they have not been used in years.) The parking situation was the only time I bemoaned the crowds.
Is Owl's Head worth a drive from MA or CT? Not on its own. But if you are making a swing through the Eastern Townships as part of a larger trip, Owl's Head should definitely be on your list. I also think that it would make a nice day-trip from Jay Peak.
For the price, it has got to be one of the best deals on the entire eastern seaboard. Liftopia routinely offers tickets for $25 USD and Tuesdays and Wednesdays are just $20 CAD. Paying $25 for a Saturday was an insanely good value.
Day of Week: Saturday
Conditions: P/PP
Headed up to Owl's Head the day after a big snowstorm. Got a great deal on Liftopia. This trip was a family trip. I was with my two sons who think that they are daredevils, but are still upper level beginners and my wife who prefers to stick to the green trails.
The trip up is about the same as to Jay Peak. Once you are into Canada, you aren't on very major highways. Our GPS sent us to the wrong spot and we got lost for about ten minutes. We rolled in around 10:30 AM. Parking was an absolute ZOO. The parking lots were full and people were parking anywhere they could find a spot on the side of the road. I got lucky and snagged a spot that was close to the base lodge. How I got that lucky I do not know. They really need someone to help with parking since, when we looked in the lots for a space, we would often find ourselves in a dead end because parked cars had closed off the travel portion.
The lodge was busy but the ticket line only took about five minutes. There were a LOT of bags scattered in the way, but I just moved some bags so we could find a place to sit and change.
We skied chair #2 which is a SLOW fixed quad serving their bunny hill. We then skied down Chouette and skied chair #7 for a while. Chair #7 is a detachable quad, but it's an older one and is slower than average. It's not a bad chair, though. There were a lot of nice slopeside private homes in this area of the mountain. There appeared to be very little rhyme or reason to them, but they all looked nice. It looked as if when someone ponied up the money they would build a home or a few condos. Nobody seemed to have built a big project on spec - which is why the place has never gone bankrupt.
We eventually worked our way to chair #1 and went up to the peak. The views of the lake are absolutely gorgeous. We took Lilly's Leap, a blue trail, down from the summit. It was moguls all the way down. By this point it was clear that there was no way down from the summit that was mogul-free. While I know it's not popular to admit here, I'm not a mogul skier. I like the groomers.
We went inside for lunch. The cafeteria prices were reasonable. The four of us ate lunch for $29 CAD. For one of the busiest days of the year they moved people through quite well. There were TONS of tables and nobody cared if you brought your own food from outside.
For the rest of the day we skied Rabbits Run, Panorama, Home Run, and Link which were the only mogul free trails left on the mountain. Lots of other people were on Chouette, which was building bumps but not as much as the other trails. I took a quick trip up chair #8 and skied down Upward Trail, but this was all moguls as well. A lot of skiers were funneled onto chair #7 since it served the only mogul-free terrain left on the mountain. The line was pretty long in the afternoon, but it was only about 10 minutes or so.
We finished skiing just before 4:00 pm.
All in all, I really liked Owl's Head. Nothing there is new or fancy, but it works. It's honest skiing without bells and whistles. It feels like a pair of comfortable blue jeans - which I mean in a very good way. You get the sense that because they spend their pennies wisely the mountain is going to be there for a long time to come. It has a really good mixture of terrain, from truly steep to nice intermediate, to easy beginner. And the views are absolutely stunning. I'd really like to return on a bluebird day when there hasn't been a dump so I can enjoy the cruisers more.
Even though this must have been one of their busiest days of the year the lines and crowds were manageable. Waits were no more than 10 minutes and with only one chair serving the summit the trails were not overly crowded. (FYI: some of the chairs that are still listed on their trail map look like they have not been used in years.) The parking situation was the only time I bemoaned the crowds.
Is Owl's Head worth a drive from MA or CT? Not on its own. But if you are making a swing through the Eastern Townships as part of a larger trip, Owl's Head should definitely be on your list. I also think that it would make a nice day-trip from Jay Peak.
For the price, it has got to be one of the best deals on the entire eastern seaboard. Liftopia routinely offers tickets for $25 USD and Tuesdays and Wednesdays are just $20 CAD. Paying $25 for a Saturday was an insanely good value.
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