snowmonster
New member
Date(s) Skied: Feb. 12 and 13, 2011
Resort or Ski Area: The Balsams Wilderness
Conditions: Trails: packed powder; Glades: powder; Temps: between -6F and 27F; mostly cloudy; snow showers on Saturday and Sunday afternoon; 1 inch accumulation
Trip Report: The Balsams is a gem. Every northeast skier owes himself (or herself) a visit to this place. Do the whole deal and ski and stay at this place. It is worth it.
This is a trip report in two halves. The first part will be about the skiing at Balsams Wilderness and the second will be a description of the overnight stay at the Balsams Grand Resort.
On Saturday, we got to the ski area at around 11 am after checking into the resort. Although we had to park at the overflow parking lot, distance-wise it was about 300 yards to the front door. There was a national ski orienteering meet going on so the base lodge had a number of people. However, it was not crowded at all. I asked around among the locals for the glades on the mountain and I was pointed to several on map glades -- and a few that weren't on it.
The blue and green trails were well manicured. They had rolls and dips to keep things interesting. Magalloway and Androscoggin are good blue runs. The black trails are either narrow (Notch) or ungroomed (Metallak and skiers' left on Coos). In terms of challenge, this place is a mellow mountain. I kept comparing the Balsams to Wachusett -- except that, at the Balsams, the trails are narrower and windier, the mountain is a little bit steeper, the snow is softer (not a patch of ice or hardpack in 2 days of skiing) and the crowds are considerably thinner.
The best part of the experience was the glades. There are basically 2 glades on the map: off Connecticut and Magalloway/Cascade. They have little signs at the entrances that say GLADES with 2 diamonds. However, there are glades right by the triple chairlift (the double was not running when I was there and it didn't have to), off Metallak and, oddly, signed glades which aren't on the map. Then, there are the off-map glades that I got to. At any rate, it looks like not too many people go in the glades so, although you'll find tracks in them, if you go hunting to the sides, you will be rewarded with deep and untouched lines. I spent most of my time in the glades and it was great! It's amazing to make turns in silence. I got greedy sometimes and ventured off the beaten path in the glades. Though the trees got back at me with twigs in the face, it was a great adventure. For the most part, the glades were moderately pitched with lots of room for a variety of turns. The only one that was a real challenge was the "off-map" stuff which featured drops.
The food at the ski lodge was a good foretaste of what was to come. We stopped at around 2 for the day's special: mac and cheese with ham. Little snowmonster said it was the best plate of mac and cheese she ever had! There was even a kiosk serving free snowcones with hot maple syrup!
Day 2, was basically a repeat of Day 1 except that with a new inch of snow, things were fluffier all around. We got there at 1030 (after a great breakfast buffet and checking out of the resort). Even at that hour, we still found untracked cord on the west side trails. The star of the day was Magalloway glades. It looked like nobody was there the whole day and everything was soft and unmarked. The Sunday crowd was thinner and so it was ski on to the chairlift.
We were supposed to stop skiing at 2 pm but, with snow falling and the glades begging to be marked up, I kept skiing up to 330. It was hard to leave this place. I'll definitely be back!
Welcome to The Balsams Wilderness:
Obligatory view of the lodge from the chairlift:
Is that Canada?
Trail map at the top:
Well-spaced glades off Connecticut:
Tighter off-map:
A glade not on the map but well-marked on the trail:
Pretty deep in there.
Resort or Ski Area: The Balsams Wilderness
Conditions: Trails: packed powder; Glades: powder; Temps: between -6F and 27F; mostly cloudy; snow showers on Saturday and Sunday afternoon; 1 inch accumulation
Trip Report: The Balsams is a gem. Every northeast skier owes himself (or herself) a visit to this place. Do the whole deal and ski and stay at this place. It is worth it.
This is a trip report in two halves. The first part will be about the skiing at Balsams Wilderness and the second will be a description of the overnight stay at the Balsams Grand Resort.
On Saturday, we got to the ski area at around 11 am after checking into the resort. Although we had to park at the overflow parking lot, distance-wise it was about 300 yards to the front door. There was a national ski orienteering meet going on so the base lodge had a number of people. However, it was not crowded at all. I asked around among the locals for the glades on the mountain and I was pointed to several on map glades -- and a few that weren't on it.
The blue and green trails were well manicured. They had rolls and dips to keep things interesting. Magalloway and Androscoggin are good blue runs. The black trails are either narrow (Notch) or ungroomed (Metallak and skiers' left on Coos). In terms of challenge, this place is a mellow mountain. I kept comparing the Balsams to Wachusett -- except that, at the Balsams, the trails are narrower and windier, the mountain is a little bit steeper, the snow is softer (not a patch of ice or hardpack in 2 days of skiing) and the crowds are considerably thinner.
The best part of the experience was the glades. There are basically 2 glades on the map: off Connecticut and Magalloway/Cascade. They have little signs at the entrances that say GLADES with 2 diamonds. However, there are glades right by the triple chairlift (the double was not running when I was there and it didn't have to), off Metallak and, oddly, signed glades which aren't on the map. Then, there are the off-map glades that I got to. At any rate, it looks like not too many people go in the glades so, although you'll find tracks in them, if you go hunting to the sides, you will be rewarded with deep and untouched lines. I spent most of my time in the glades and it was great! It's amazing to make turns in silence. I got greedy sometimes and ventured off the beaten path in the glades. Though the trees got back at me with twigs in the face, it was a great adventure. For the most part, the glades were moderately pitched with lots of room for a variety of turns. The only one that was a real challenge was the "off-map" stuff which featured drops.
The food at the ski lodge was a good foretaste of what was to come. We stopped at around 2 for the day's special: mac and cheese with ham. Little snowmonster said it was the best plate of mac and cheese she ever had! There was even a kiosk serving free snowcones with hot maple syrup!
Day 2, was basically a repeat of Day 1 except that with a new inch of snow, things were fluffier all around. We got there at 1030 (after a great breakfast buffet and checking out of the resort). Even at that hour, we still found untracked cord on the west side trails. The star of the day was Magalloway glades. It looked like nobody was there the whole day and everything was soft and unmarked. The Sunday crowd was thinner and so it was ski on to the chairlift.
We were supposed to stop skiing at 2 pm but, with snow falling and the glades begging to be marked up, I kept skiing up to 330. It was hard to leave this place. I'll definitely be back!
Welcome to The Balsams Wilderness:
Obligatory view of the lodge from the chairlift:
Is that Canada?
Trail map at the top:
Well-spaced glades off Connecticut:
Tighter off-map:
A glade not on the map but well-marked on the trail:
Pretty deep in there.
