Torrington, CT NELSAP (West Torrington sledding hill)

[severine]

Took a walk at the Torrington, CT NELSAP today (West Torrington sledding hill). Put the boy on my back and we walked up. The sledding part is a firm hardpack. At the part where they planted trees a decade or so ago to keep people from going too far up, there is a "Caution" tape strung across the 2 trails (though you can tell people went up anyway and sledded down). We walked around the tape and further up. Found a tree with an old light still attached to it, and a sign that must have been put on it many moons ago; the tree shredded the sign. Surprisingly, I did not find any indications of a lift of any sort there. The information I read stated that the taller hill was the ski hill and the shorter was the sledding hill, but I saw some tracks in the woods heading toward the shorter hill side and followed them. Sure enough, that's where the remnants of whatever lift they had exist still (and a clearing not far from that which is an obvious party spot). There was no clear path down, but we picked our way through the woods for further evidence and did find some more remnants in the woods.

Truth be told, it doesn't seem worth the trip for anyone out of town to come ski. But I'm glad I walked it today. IIRC, it backs up to a nature preserve where there should be some hiking, possibly MTBing. There were other tracks in the woods but I didn't want to get lost; I have a terrible sense of direction.

Pictures are coming; I'm having issues loading them.

More info can be found here:
http://www.nelsap.org/ct/besse.html

 

[severine]

Looking up from the bottom. The left is what's supposed to be the old ski hill; the right is the old sledding hill.

At the top where the trees were planted to prevent people from going further up. You can see 2 distinct paths that continue, however, as well as the "Caution" tape strung across them:

On the left of this shot was a well-worn icy path where people were clearly sledding, regardless of the tape.

I wonder how big this tree was when that sign was put there:

The top of the lift (very grown in around it now):

Not much there:

 

[powhunter]

no moguls??

steveo

 

[Greg]

no moguls??

steveo

No kidding. That place needs some seeded bumps.

 

[severine]

Electrical cords still hung from this tree, leading to nowhere:

Walking through the woods

You could straightline it from here:

Lift tower remains:

Another tower below it:

Bad picture of the lower tower:

This is the part we walked down through:

Even though it was 23*F today, it was sunny with no wind. The boy and I were warm enough and enjoyed the walk. Heck, he even fell asleep on my back.

 

[severine]

There were a couple jumps built on the sledding hill, but no moguls. That snow was packed down as much as it could be; quite flat and firm. I still want to ski it sometime, but it's only 1.5 miles or so away so it's not a big deal to go there. I did not see any ski tracks in the snow.

 

[Glenn]

Very cool pics! Amazing that a lot of that stuff is still there. Too bad towns didn't still operate small rope tows for the locals.

 

[WoodCore]

Great pictures Carrie!! I visited the hill a few years ago and snapped some pictures for NELSAP.

http://www.nelsap.org/ct/besse.html

 

[severine]

Ah, so those were your pics! I checked that out before I headed there and actually put that link in the first post of this thread. The backside actually looks interesting for some sort of recreational stuff, whether it's MTBing or short bouts of skiing... maybe touring?

 

[Warp Daddy]

run it on teles or XC skis !!!

 

[SkiDork]

Carrie - great shots! You should definitely try to ski it someday, just to say you did it.

Today would be a perfect day for myself and the boy to do a hiking run on the old NELSAP LI area Bald Hill, but alas, I didn't take the day off from work. There will only be so many opportunities for us to do that. gotta take it when we can... Just do it.

 

[severine]

The tricky part is that they have supervised sledding 4-8PM on weekdays and noon-8PM on weekends. I'd have to hit it when nobody is there from Park & Rec watching. With the 2 kids, though, it's hard to find the time to get there. It's still on my list.

Warp - I have no XC skis and don't know how to tele, but that's definitely a thought for someone who does!

 

[Warp Daddy]

The tricky part is that they have supervised sledding 4-8PM on weekdays and noon-8PM on weekends. I'd have to hit it when nobody is there from Park & Rec watching. With the 2 kids, though, it's hard to find the time to get there. It's still on my list.

Warp - I have no XC skis and don't know how to tele, but that's definitely a thought for someone who does!

BOTH good points --

I POACH what used to be an old Tbar area that is now a sledding hill . . Gotta b careful to not get caught by the "Park Nazi" so my son and i race it AFTER hrs 1/2 times a yrs on our XC skis --

HEY Carrie how was LINGUISTICS ???

 

[SkiDork]

The tricky part is that they have supervised sledding 4-8PM on weekdays and noon-8PM on weekends. I'd have to hit it when nobody is there from Park & Rec watching. With the 2 kids, though, it's hard to find the time to get there. It's still on my list.

so if you put on skis during normal sled hours they're gonna thow a hissy fit?

That sux...


Tell me it aint so

 

[severine]

I'm not so sure they'd have a hissy about me skiing on the sledding hill so much as I want to go above the tape, which is blocked off by the Park Dept (albeit, not blocked off well... it does say Caution, right? Not "Do not pass" ).

 

[SkiDork]

do not pass means pass... Just do it! I wish I was there.....

 

[skidmarks]

Love it great job! Netx time we'll ski it.

 

[severine]

Don't know if I could go in the trees, but I could definitely handle the maintained part that goes all the way up to the tree with the light fixture on it.