Tell me about Gunstock

[deadheadskier]

Most specifically (no surprise here) their mogul offerings. Do they seed any trails? If so are they top dressed often / managed well? Also, any bumps under the lights?

What are lift lines like there for the Quad on busy Saturdays? How about the other lifts?

I intend on checking the place out next season. I still plan on being a Ragged Season Pass holder next year, but my wife and I plan to move to Dover, NH in a couple of years. Doing so would increase my drive to Ragged to 1:40 where as the drive to Gunstock would only be an hour. The fact that they offer night skiing and the season pass prices are fairly close in price has me intrigued; especially if they have decent bumps that are available both day and night.

 

[HD333]

Most specifically (no surprise here) their mogul offerings. Do they seed any trails? If so are they top dressed often / managed well? Also, any bumps under the lights?

What are lift lines like there for the Quad on busy Saturdays? How pabout the other lifts?

I intend on checking the place out next season. I still plan on being a Ragged Season Pass holder next year, but my wife and I plan to eemove to Dover, NH in a couple of years. Doing so would increase my drive to Ragged to 1:40 where as the drive to Gunstock would only be an hour. The fact that they offer night skiing and the season pass prices are fairly close in price has me intrigued; especially if they have decent bumps that are available both day and night.

No seeded bumps. The only real bump trail would be hotshot but they are natural and at times tiger steeps(real short) No bump runs under the lights. We skied exclusively at Gunstock this year found it great for our family. They have a few fun glades,paralax,recoil and gunsmoke. No lines,longest line for the quad all season for us was Max of 5 minutes. Other lifts were usually ski on, sometimes pistol had a short wait,the terain park is over there, tiger i do not think we waited at all,tiger serves the mid mountian black runs. We skied pretty much every weekend and feb vacation. We will be getting passes there again next year.

 

[deadheadskier]

Thanks HD!

 

[WakeboardMom]

I've never waited in long lines at Gunstock; but I don't love it. I can do one day there each season, and that's about enough. It's just that I feel like you spend all day going up-and-down...not unlike Nashoba.

However...the views are fabulous...!! ; - )

 

[drjeff]

I've never waited in long lines at Gunstock; but I don't love it. I can do one day there each season, and that's about enough. It's just that I feel like you spend all day going up-and-down...not unlike Nashoba.

However...the views are fabulous...!! ; - )

Agree! On a clear day, the views you get at Gunstock are right up there with the best of any area in New England IMHO with the Mount Washington/Lake Winnipesaukee combo!

 

[bobbutts]

I've never waited in long lines at Gunstock; but I don't love it. I can do one day there each season, and that's about enough. It's just that I feel like you spend all day going up-and-down...not unlike Nashoba.

However...the views are fabulous...!! ; - )

Isn't that the point at any ski area? Just saying it feels like you're going up and down doesn't really describe a problem.

Not so sure how a 1400' vert area serviced by HSQ can be compared to Nashoba overall. What's your problem with it? Non-diverse terrain? Too flat?

 

[WakeboardMom]

Isn't that the point at any ski area? Just saying it feels like you're going up and down doesn't really describe a problem.

Not so sure how a 1400' vert area serviced by HSQ can be compared to Nashoba overall. What's your problem with it? Non-diverse terrain? Too flat?

Thank you, yes, non-diverse terrain is a good start. I think it's a great place for a family, but I think a high-level intermediate skier would be bored skiing it all season. It feels like there's not enough challenging terrain to hold the attention of more advanced skier.

 

[hammer]

Thank you, yes, non-diverse terrain is a good start. I think it's a great place for a family, but I think a high-level intermediate skier would be bored skiing it all season. It feels like there's not enough challenging terrain to hold the attention of more advanced skier.

Agree with this statement...but a high intermediate could get bored with Nashoba after two hours...

Not being overly critical of Nashoba, I think they do a fine job with the 200' vertical that they have.

I like Gunstock...they may have a lot of groomed cruisers, but the trails are a little narrower and the crowds are more manageable. Nice complement to other ski areas in that part of NH.

 

[Bostonian]

I think the issue is that Gunstock skis much smaller then it is is. While the HSQ is a great recent new addition within the last few years, the terrain is kinda bland in comparison to other resorts like Sunapee (Better Layout then Ragged and Gunstock), and Ragged (Better Tree Skiing then Gunstock and Sunapee). Gunstock does have the night skiing, and also more of a "classic new england" ski area feel then say Sunapee, which feels like a mini-Okemo.

Here are some stats for Sunapee, Ragged and Gunstock:

Gunstock: 220 skiable acres; 1400 Vert; 50 Trails
Ragged: 160 Skiable acres; 1250 Vert; 35 Trails
Sunapee: 230 Skiable acres; 1510 Vert; 65 Trails

Hope that helps... I

 

[bobbutts]

Thank you, yes, non-diverse terrain is a good start. I think it's a great place for a family, but I think a high-level intermediate skier would be bored skiing it all season. It feels like there's not enough challenging terrain to hold the attention of more advanced skier.

Man I wish I had skied there recently (last trip was in the 80's). Change at work means I need a weekend pass + my kid is now too old for the free/cheapie pass, so instead of midweek for just me it's 2 full week passes, which makes most places much more expensive.. Suddenly Gunstock is on my list and looking pretty strong.

Here is what I'm looking at for me and a child for next season.

------------------Blackout passes
$1200 Sunapee, Okemo, Stratton
$1100 Loon, Sugarloaf, Sunday River
$1018 Waterville, Cranmore, Bretton Woods
$770 Cannon
------------------Full Passes
$610 Gunstock
$608 Pat's
??? Ragged

 

[Angus]

have only skied Gunstock a couple of times but when the full mountain is open (i.e. plentiful natural snow) I think the options in terms of terrain grow significantly. My son complains about the flat run out. It's a great option for families with young kids and they have a nice x-c center (by reputation, never skied there myself). funny, we never ski at Sunapee anymore b/c my son things that's boring too. we all like Ragged though b/c of woods but you need a good amount of natural snow.

 

[vonski]

Man I wish I had skied there recently (last trip was in the 80's). Change at work means I need a weekend pass + my kid is now too old for the free/cheapie pass, so instead of midweek for just me it's 2 full week passes, which makes most places much more expensive.. Suddenly Gunstock is on my list and looking pretty strong.

Here is what I'm looking at for me and a child for next season.

------------------Blackout passes
$1200 Sunapee, Okemo, Stratton
$1100 Loon, Sugarloaf, Sunday River
$1018 Waterville, Cranmore, Bretton Woods
$770 Cannon
------------------Full Passes
$610 Gunstock
$608 Pat's
??? Ragged

Mt Ellen Sugarbush! by May 2nd. $499,00 and if your son is 12 and under then he gets free pass at Sugarbush. Not sure if this would work for you, but may be as close as Maine depending upon where u live.

 

[deadheadskier]

Thank you, yes, non-diverse terrain is a good start. I think it's a great place for a family, but I think a high-level intermediate skier would be bored skiing it all season. It feels like there's not enough challenging terrain to hold the attention of more advanced skier.

To be honest, all I require is one well maintained bump run. Ragged did not have that this season, which was a disappointment. Sunapee does have bumps covered, but $600 is near double of both Ragged and Gunstock.

I'm not someone who cares to fight Saturday crowds regularly. It's more an 'exercising ski day' for me. So, smaller low key areas like Ragged and Gunstock fit the bill. I typically save Sundays for day trips to places that have more interesting/advanced terrain when crowds are a bit more manageable.

Ragged was pretty darn good for the money and what I wanted out of the experience this winter. Gunstock (never been) is intriguing as it's of similar size, but even closer to home. If I read they had a bump program like Sunapee, I might be inclined to throw down $359 sight unseen especially because of the night skiing option.

Crotched and Pat's are out of the question as I do like to rip the occasional groomer and the vert at those two places is far too short for my liking.

 

[bobbutts]

Mt Ellen Sugarbush! by May 2nd. $499,00 and if your son is 12 and under then he gets free pass at Sugarbush. Not sure if this would work for you, but may be as close as Maine depending upon where u live.

Damn that is a great deal, distance may be a deal breaker but thanks for mentioning this.
and she's a girl

Kids Ski/Ride FREE

Every Adult 7 Pass comes with a FREE 12-and-under dependant pass.

 

[speden]

I think Hot Shot may be left ungroomed, and I saw some natural bumps on the upper part of it. That is off the summit lift, so hard to lap it. I never got around to trying it this year, but it looks interesting.

The other option is Red Hat, which you should be able to access off the Tiger Triple. The interactive trail map says this about it, "nice pitches and rolls, sometimes left ungroomed on skiers right for bumps." True enough, here's some photographic evidence of that:

And it looks like Red Hat is lit for night skiing.

The Parallax glades seem to get enough traffic that they also bump up. The trees are widely spaced enough that I'd almost consider it an open trail, except it has no snow making. One time I was about to drop into it when a ski instructor came along with a big class of teens, and he took them through there for glades training. I think that's why it bumps up so much. Those are not lit for night skiing though.

I'd have to agree with those that say Gunstock would get boring if it was the only place you skied, but for a workout close to home, you'd probably find it comparable to Ragged, but with a little more vert, a little more variety, a few more bumps, longer summit trails but less consistent pitch, more open blacks, and earlier trail openings due to better snowmaking.

Ragged I thought was pathetic in the early season when temps were great for snowmaking but their snowguns were apparently wielded by a crew of snails (or maybe it was the lack of water). They need more fixed guns or something. Gunstock did well this year in the consistently cold temps, but I think in other years they have been subject to a lot of freeze/thaw cycles, more so than say Sunapee. They seem to have good grooming though to mitigate that somewhat.

Gunstock doesn't offer a lot of glades compared to Ragged, but you might find them more useful since it seemed to me they were open a lot more often than the glades at Ragged. Are the Ragged glades full of stumps and obstacles or something that they need so much snow? Seemed like whenever I'd check their trail report, those suckers were closed, but then again their trail/snow report wasn't reliably updated.

I like variety, so I'm pulling for Ragged to improve. If they put in the new lift, it will make a big difference, but it might increase their crowds too. I never tried Gunstock on a Saturday, but on the days I was there when it was a little busy, the singles line on the summit lift was always pretty empty. And Gunstock sort of has a dedicated lift for the park rats in the Pistol Triple, which keeps most of them off the main trails and lifts.

 

[deadheadskier]

Ragged could open their glades more often by offering alternative entrances lower down the mountain. The tops of the glades coming from both Spear and Ragged proper have some fairly steep boney areas that require 2-3 feet of base to open up. The low angle stuff could open in the 12-18 range.

 

[HD333]

I forgot about Redhat for bumps, some do form on skiers right, you can definitly lap that run on the tiger chair. And now that I think about it Hot Shot while it bumps up really isn't a bump run, more of a natural trail run that can be pretty fun, can't lap that as there is a pretty long run out at the bottom.
The wife and i are pretty advanced skiers, (and boarder for me). I find the terrian fun, not real challanging we didn't get bored ;ast season. But we really are just out to have fun and spend time with the kids. While it is not a Sugarloaf or even Loon as far as terrain goes it is a fun place and with the cheap season passes you can justify a few trips throughout the year to "real" mountians.
HD

 

[deadheadskier]

it is a fun place and with the cheap season passes you can justify a few trips throughout the year to "real" mountians.
HD

That's essentially what I look for with Ragged. I got 14 days in there this year. I'll finish the season with 12 elsewhere at a variety of different places. If I spent $600+ on a pass at Sunapee or Loon/SR/SL etc, I wouldn't be able to go to as many other places as I can now.

I'll definitely hit Gunstock for a day or two next season. They usually have good deals on liftopia.

 

[Puck it]

It is a smallish ski area in NH. How's that.

 

[WakeboardMom]

That's essentially what I look for with Ragged. I got 14 days in there this year. I'll finish the season with 12 elsewhere at a variety of different places. If I spent $600+ on a pass at Sunapee or Loon/SR/SL etc, I wouldn't be able to go to as many other places as I can now.

I'll definitely hit Gunstock for a day or two next season. They usually have good deals on liftopia.

Okay...using that logic I don't completely disagree. And that's mostly for the reason you described: because we paid that 600 bucks for the All New England pass, my husband is extremely reluctant to spend money anywhere else.