hammer
Active member
Date: January 5, 2008
Resort: Pats Peak, NH
Conditions: PP, some hardpack, crowds and lots of novices
Weather: Cloudy, mid 30s
Trip Report: Went with the family to check out the POP (pay one price) session at Pats Peak. Got there at just about 3 PM to a packed parking lot...asked the professional parker to let us go up to the lodge to unload and managed to grab a good parking spot in the main lot within easy walking distance of the lodge.
The inside of the lodge was packed...people left their bags all under the tables so it was difficult to get our boots on. :???: It also ended up being packed on the slopes as well...the crowds waned a bit from 3 to 4 and then picked back up again. Lift lines, however, were maybe 5 minutes max...with all of the lifts running, Pats has a decent lift capacity for its size.
After a few warmup runs in the valley area (the trails there seem so flat to me now) I went over to the main mountain to see if I could get a run down Tornado before it was closed for the day. Unfortunately, I was a bit too late (maybe adding lights to it would be a good idea) so I went down Cyclone. Normally I like this trail...nice amount of pitch and usually not crowded. Today was a different story...apparently there was a lot of snowmaking done on the trail and it was full of these solid snow whales that were OK on the frontsides but all scraped up on the backsides.
After doing a good gaper shuffle on Cyclone, I decided to take a run down Twister, which was in much better shape...nice amounts of PP and soft snow with a few scraped sections that were easliy avoided. The main problem on this first run was that there were a number of people on it, and many of them should have stuck to the greens...the trail may not be too difficult by big mountain standards, but if your best turns are wedge christies then you don't belong on Twister. :???:
After a few runs, I headed into the lodge for dinner (make your own sandwiches thanks to a shopping run by my spouse in the morning) and them the kids headed over to the snowtubing lanes with their mom while I headed back out for a few more runs, mostly back down Twister (which was cleared out and nice).
After going to check on the kids (who were having a good time on the tubing lanes) my wife decided that skiing was more interesting than tubing, so we went up for a few runs from the summit. The green trail (Breeze) was in fine shape but was very crowded with novices...made for some interesting skiing around the "human slalom gates".
All in all, I'd say that we got our money's worth...$32 is a good deal with the tubing (even better for me and my son since we are both season passholders and didn't have to pay extra for the tubing), and while there were lift lines they were still relatively short. Having to deal with the mess in the lodge and the beginner carnage on the trails was a bit much, though...I think this will be our one and only POP visit this season.
Resort: Pats Peak, NH
Conditions: PP, some hardpack, crowds and lots of novices
Weather: Cloudy, mid 30s
Trip Report: Went with the family to check out the POP (pay one price) session at Pats Peak. Got there at just about 3 PM to a packed parking lot...asked the professional parker to let us go up to the lodge to unload and managed to grab a good parking spot in the main lot within easy walking distance of the lodge.
The inside of the lodge was packed...people left their bags all under the tables so it was difficult to get our boots on. :???: It also ended up being packed on the slopes as well...the crowds waned a bit from 3 to 4 and then picked back up again. Lift lines, however, were maybe 5 minutes max...with all of the lifts running, Pats has a decent lift capacity for its size.
After a few warmup runs in the valley area (the trails there seem so flat to me now) I went over to the main mountain to see if I could get a run down Tornado before it was closed for the day. Unfortunately, I was a bit too late (maybe adding lights to it would be a good idea) so I went down Cyclone. Normally I like this trail...nice amount of pitch and usually not crowded. Today was a different story...apparently there was a lot of snowmaking done on the trail and it was full of these solid snow whales that were OK on the frontsides but all scraped up on the backsides.
After doing a good gaper shuffle on Cyclone, I decided to take a run down Twister, which was in much better shape...nice amounts of PP and soft snow with a few scraped sections that were easliy avoided. The main problem on this first run was that there were a number of people on it, and many of them should have stuck to the greens...the trail may not be too difficult by big mountain standards, but if your best turns are wedge christies then you don't belong on Twister. :???:
After a few runs, I headed into the lodge for dinner (make your own sandwiches thanks to a shopping run by my spouse in the morning
) and them the kids headed over to the snowtubing lanes with their mom while I headed back out for a few more runs, mostly back down Twister (which was cleared out and nice).After going to check on the kids (who were having a good time on the tubing lanes) my wife decided that skiing was more interesting than tubing, so we went up for a few runs from the summit. The green trail (Breeze) was in fine shape but was very crowded with novices...made for some interesting skiing around the "human slalom gates".
All in all, I'd say that we got our money's worth...$32 is a good deal with the tubing (even better for me and my son since we are both season passholders and didn't have to pay extra for the tubing), and while there were lift lines they were still relatively short. Having to deal with the mess in the lodge and the beginner carnage on the trails was a bit much, though...I think this will be our one and only POP visit this season.
