Pat's Peak and Crotched Aiming for Tomorrow

[thetrailboss]

Granted they are smaller operations, but for those of us who are in the flatlands or are on a budget, these are good options. Pat's is currently blowing snow as I write and Crotched has made a significant amount. Check out their sites and (knock on wood) I'll be skiiing in 24 hours!!! :wink:

www.patspeak.com
www.crotchedmountain.com

 

[Joshua B]

Yup, I'm looking to start my season at Crotched...possibly Sunday. I like the weather a little better on Sunday compared to Saturday.

 

[hammer]

I'd go to Crotched on Sunday but I've got other family obligations... :x

Hopefully there will be some trip reports!

 

[beswift]

Southern N.H. Mtn's

Although I never skied Pat's Peak, I have skied the others in that area. In my early days, I often made the drive to Crotched with friends. Their leather rental boots were horrible, though. The conditions often were icy and thin. It's a very pretty area of the world, however. It's a plus to the skiing population to see that it has re-opened. Temple was my favorite when I took up Telemark skiing. Anyone know what's happening there? By the time I had made it that far from Boston, I could afford my own boots. Somehow when you own a leather boot, it is warmer.

 

[Charlie Schuessler]

Re: Southern N.H. Mtn's

Although ...Temple was my favorite when I took up Telemark skiing. Anyone know what's happening there?

CLOSED, dormant for three seasons and FOR SALE. Too bad, I live 15-minutes from it.

However both Crotched Mountain & Pats Peak are 15-minutes in the other direction...

 

[riverc0il]

temple was actually sold almost a year ago and the center pole quad was sold to nashoba valley during the summer. the books have pretty much been closed on temple it seems.

 

[beswift]

Tele at Temple

In a way the fact that the lifts are no longer operating at Temple can be used to a dedicated skier's advantage. If it's only been three years since any trail maintenance, the are still in good shape. On a powder day you could put skins on your tele skiis and climb to the top. I have had excellent skiing in Telluride before the lifts were operating in November. Tellemark skiing is really a technique which makes Powder skiing easier. The development of clamp-down bindings rose out of the advantage they allowed on ice and hard-pack. What most tele skiers don't realize today would be that they don't need all this expensive new equipment i.e. shaped skiis, synthetic boots, clamp-down bindings, ect., either. More than ten years ago I picked up a good leather boot and long, narrow ski in Salt Lake to learn to tele. The reason I wanted to do this was I saw it an advantage in the little Cottonwood of the Wasatch (I wasn't alone, either) for the traverses and deep powder. Coming back to Boston, I learned to tele as it was an advantage in the way of reducing my travel time. Eventually, I had become fairly skilled at it and Temple was a bit boring for me. My original reason for taking it up was that it would make it easier to access the best skiing at Alta as it is easier to traverse with a free heel. I did use the equipment at Brighton in the Big Cottonwood, but never returned to the Wasatch after mastering the technique. However, I did to Telluride and did get in the ultimate Tele experience. I picked up a pair of skins there and on a deep powder day when the #9 lift wasn't operating, I skinned up the slope and tele skied down. What Bliss!!! There's no reason you can't have the same experience at Temple. You can climb in deep snow quicker with skins and skiis than you can with Snowshoes. The #9 chair out of Telluride runs on a steep incline, much steeper than Temple. A fit skier could make it up and down in no time. Often when passing Whittier (another "closed" :roll: ski area in N.H.) over the years, we have noted the unused potential there. By now though, the trails are too cluttered with sprouts and saplings for good skiing. Does anyone know about it? It's a great steep slope.

 

[First Tracks]

Re: Tele at Temple

On a powder day you could put skins on your tele skiis and climb to the top.

Or those who don't want to learn a whole new technique can simply go to randonnée equipment (a.k.a. "Alpine touring", or AT) and have the same advantages without having to spend years trying to get to the point where they can ski the same terrain that they did on Alpine gear. With today's telemark gear, and the lightening of AT gear, the weight advantage of telemark over AT is pretty much history.

I've actually migrated over to AT for good this year, utilizing Garmont's new Adrenalin AT/Alpine hybrid boot which allows me to use one set of boots with every pair of skis in my quiver, whether they're mounted with Alpine bindings or AT bindings. The Völkl Explosivs are mounted with Fritschi Diamir Freeride AT bindings, and I've got a pair of new G3 skins that I still need to trim to fit -- what's the point of doing so when there's hardly anything yet worth climbing to ski? As I've whined about in other posts, my beloved Salomon Scream 10 Hots are mounted with that silly Pilot integrated system that requires me to use Salomon bindings, so I needed a single pair of boots that would allow me to use AT gear and still allow me to use those Salomons. The Adreanlin is the first boot to allow full compatibility with both.

 

[thetrailboss]

No skiing for Trailboss this weekend. Our hill did not open.

As for Temple, I hiked there a couple months ago and there needs to be some bushhogging done. Not too much though. Some of the backside trails are growing in quickly. Interesting trail layout.

Too bad the company that owned Crotched could not put a deal together for Temple. They tried.

 

[thetrailboss]

Wednesday's report from Pat's Peak:

Our snow guns have been going on Whisper, Puff, Gusty, Cyclone, Squall Line, Bluster & Beginners Area! Our snowmakers will continue to make snow whenever temperatures allow.

On Opening Day, scheduled for this Saturday, December 11th, we plan to have Top to Bottom skiing on 7 trails including Whisper, Puff, Gusty, Cyclone, Squall Line, Bluster & Beginners Area and 3 lifts including Hurricane Triple, Turbulence Triple & Gusty J-Bar on a base of 6-36". Hours of operation for this weekend will be 8:30 am to 4 pm.
Be sure to stay in touch with our Snow Report or give us a call at 1-888-PATS PEAK for the latest updates.

Not too bad, assuming that the weather holds off. See you on the slopes Sat or Sun? :wink:

Get your skis/boards ready for a great 2004-2005 season!

See you at The Peak!

 

[beswift]

Tele/Randonee/AT

Not that I want to get into splitting hairs here, but . . .
if you are an experienced skier when you take up Telemark skiing you don't

learn a whole new technique

, it is actually an extention of good locked heal turning. I picked it up at Brighton in the Wasatch in one session of night skiing.

without having to spend years trying to get to the point where they can ski the same terrain

In actuality it took me only a year or two before I could ski Temple like a pro. The Telemark turn makes skiing deep powder easier than using a carved turn.

simply go to randonnée equipment (a.k.a. "Alpine touring", or AT) and have the same advantages

First of all, there is an overlap in this terminology. The French use Randonee (accent aigue) loosely to describe any kind of back country skiing. It is different than >>off piste<< another one of their common terms. Randonee equipment sold in France would include what they sell here as Telemark equipment. An AT binding is expensive, but I believe that might be the way to go. However, you can execute a tele turn with any binding that has a free heel. You don't need what they sell as tele equipment, either. On top of that, if you are skiing deep powder, you don't need metal edges. This thread has gotten me thinking about using the touring skiis and boots which I picked up last spring.

 

[thetrailboss]

Went up both days this weekend

Saturday was soft, corn snow and fog. Terrain that was opened was well covered.

Brought Ms. Trailboss up on Sunday. The surface had frozen the night before and the trails were faster but still well covered. I will be happy when they open up more stuff off of the top. 8)