oakapple
New member
Like every other Northeast ski resort, Windham has struggled with one of the warmest, driest winters in recent memory. They claim to have snowmaking on 97 percent of trails, but that doesn't mean they have enough snow guns, water, and compressor power to actually cover that much, nor the cold temperatures in which to do so. Many open trails have pretty big patches of dirt on one side or the other. A more informative estimate of their practical snowmaking ability would be more like 75 percent.
They've made the best of the hand they've been dealt. Many trails have just a 1-2 inch base or are skied down to bare ice in many places. I don't fault the mountain for this; they don't make the weather. Anywhere on the mountain without snowmaking is bare dirt, so it's clear that everything they have is man-made.
Windham gets fewer serious skiers than its closest peer, Hunter. My son and I took the UrbanSherpa bus from NYC. At the pickup point, about 3/4ths of the people were going to Hunter, about 1/4th to Windham. But despite its deserved reputation as a family mountain, there are plenty of challenging trails on both its East and West Peaks. It also has the fun blue cruisers that Hunter mostly lacks.
Despite the mediocre snow, there were plenty of people there. They could use another high-speed route to the summit. Waits at A lift (their main lift) approached 15 minutes, at times, but once you get to the top it doesn't feel crowded, because there are so many ways down.
We skied almost every trail that was open. Run of the day was Lower Whirlwind, which had the best snow, perhaps because it is somewhat out-of-the-way, and doesn't tend to see as much traffic. Worst run of the day was Lower Wipeout, which was practically down to slush.
Temperatures were in the 40s for most of the day, some of the warmest skiing I've done, especially in January.
They've made the best of the hand they've been dealt. Many trails have just a 1-2 inch base or are skied down to bare ice in many places. I don't fault the mountain for this; they don't make the weather. Anywhere on the mountain without snowmaking is bare dirt, so it's clear that everything they have is man-made.
Windham gets fewer serious skiers than its closest peer, Hunter. My son and I took the UrbanSherpa bus from NYC. At the pickup point, about 3/4ths of the people were going to Hunter, about 1/4th to Windham. But despite its deserved reputation as a family mountain, there are plenty of challenging trails on both its East and West Peaks. It also has the fun blue cruisers that Hunter mostly lacks.
Despite the mediocre snow, there were plenty of people there. They could use another high-speed route to the summit. Waits at A lift (their main lift) approached 15 minutes, at times, but once you get to the top it doesn't feel crowded, because there are so many ways down.
We skied almost every trail that was open. Run of the day was Lower Whirlwind, which had the best snow, perhaps because it is somewhat out-of-the-way, and doesn't tend to see as much traffic. Worst run of the day was Lower Wipeout, which was practically down to slush.
Temperatures were in the 40s for most of the day, some of the warmest skiing I've done, especially in January.
