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Suggestion for where to go this weekend - within 2 hours of northern NJ?

drdavidge

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Hey, just trying to figure out where to go on Saturday for a quick ski day with the wife.. we usually go to Blue Mt in PA but wanted to see if there were any other options within 2 hours of northern NJ (right outside of NYC) we shouldn't overlook. We're basic skiers.. greens and blues so don't need anything special. Thanks.
 

ss20

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A minute from the Alta exit off the I-15!
Hey, just trying to figure out where to go on Saturday for a quick ski day with the wife.. we usually go to Blue Mt in PA but wanted to see if there were any other options within 2 hours of northern NJ (right outside of NYC) we shouldn't overlook. We're basic skiers.. greens and blues so don't need anything special. Thanks.

Catamount is gonna be bigger than Blue, decent mix of greens/blues.

Mohawk in CT is significantly smaller but less intimidating if intermediate trails are your speed- you could definitely ski all of Mohawk, nothing remotely challenging there.
 

bdfreetuna

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Butternut in Great Barrington, MA

Trust me on this one -- if you dig greens and blues and bringing your wife, you can't do much better. Checked the report and they have all but 1 trail open. Should also be less crowded than most places within your range.

edit just realized this is a little out your range... but Catamount is pretty much next door. There's some nice restaurants in Great Barrington though and you can take your wife to Theory Wellness on the way home.
 

ss20

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Butternut in Great Barrington, MA

Trust me on this one -- if you dig greens and blues and bringing your wife, you can't do much better. Checked the report and they have all but 1 trail open. Should also be less crowded than most places within your range.

edit just realized this is a little out your range... but Catamount is pretty much next door. There's some nice restaurants in Great Barrington though and you can take your wife to Theory Wellness on the way home.

Normally I would agree but with Catamount's slow n steady expansion over the past decade I'd say Catamount is now in a league of its own. Butternut was always a bit smaller, now it's much smaller. That said, Butternut has awesome snowmaking and grooming. I haven't been in 5+ years lol.
 

bdfreetuna

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Last time at Butternut was a "learning day" with my then-girlfriend-now-wife probably 6-7 years ago. That mountain is a real confidence booster.

Have never been to Catamount... I've heard good things about it lately, I always used to have the impression it wasn't worth going to (especially in a southwest travel direction from me which seems counter-intuitive for skiing). But I'm hoping to check it out this season if the opportunity arises.

Seems like getting bought by Berkshire East was a good thing for them.
 

Ski2LiveLive2Ski

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Elk is real nice if you want to head into PA. I also like the North Face of Montage, but that is all black and double black stuff.
For Blue and Green stuff Shawnee is pretty great and very close to North Jersey.
 

Killingtime

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Elk is real nice if you want to head into PA. I also like the North Face of Montage, but that is all black and double black stuff.
For Blue and Green stuff Shawnee is pretty great and very close to North Jersey.

Hit Shawnee up for the first time ever with a quick trip this year. Real close and easy from NY Metro area. Fun little mountain. Def blue cruiser heaven. A little disappointed I didn't see tree runs that were remotely skiable. Could have been the crappy conditions, but I don't think that's their target audience anyway. Place had a good vibe.
 

Ski2LiveLive2Ski

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Hit Shawnee up for the first time ever with a quick trip this year. Real close and easy from NY Metro area. Fun little mountain. Def blue cruiser heaven. A little disappointed I didn't see tree runs that were remotely skiable. Could have been the crappy conditions, but I don't think that's their target audience anyway. Place had a good vibe.

There are a lot of skiable trees there when there is enough snow - particularly off Delaware and Kittatinny. I went there all the time the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons on account of those years having twins that qualified for their "free lift tickets for anyone under 42" with a paying adult" policy

Best place for trees in NEPA is Jack Frost as their trees even get a fair amount of blow over snow making
 

Killingtime

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There are a lot of skiable trees there when there is enough snow - particularly off Delaware and Kittatinny. I went there all the time the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons on account of those years having twins that qualified for their "free lift tickets for anyone under 42" with a paying adult" policy

Best place for trees in NEPA is Jack Frost as their trees even get a fair amount of blow over snow making

Hey thanks for the heads up. I still have another free day with my Indy Pass. I'll have to check it out now when it fills in a little more.
 

BenedictGomez

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Hit Shawnee up for the first time ever with a quick trip this year. Real close and easy from NY Metro area. Fun little mountain. Def blue cruiser heaven. A little disappointed I didn't see tree runs that were remotely skiable. Could have been the crappy conditions, but I don't think that's their target audience anyway. Place had a good vibe.

Shawnee's where I learned how to ski, been there a zillion times. Great little family hill. In general, there's virtually no tree skiing in the Poconos due to the fact there's almost never enough snow for it. And if there technically (barely) is, god only knows what you might accidentally hit. Scary. lol
 

drdavidge

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We ended up just going to Blue Mt but thanks for all the suggestions - we're going to try and check some of those out next time. Blue Mt was actually really nice today. Not too crowded, was warm out, not too crowded, and the conditions were really not bad at all.
 
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