Best of Southern N.E. skiing
December 11, 2008
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Blending high- and low-tech promos
Jiminy Peak's website features a fairly useful "E-Coupon" page with various ways to save on lift tickets, including specials on selected days for as low as $6 per person. All you have to do is provide an e-mail address and fire up your printer. If that's too technical, how about this: For the next two weekends (Dec. 13-14 and 20-21), if you carpool with four or more people, just tear an old lift ticket off your ski jacket and arrive at Jiminy before 10:30 a.m. Turn on your vehicle's emergency flashers, and a parking lot attendant will scurry over to trade you a free lift ticket in exchange for your old one. Limit is one freebie per carload; details at www.jiminypeak.com.-T.D. THORNTON
Best urban cross-country skiing
For years the Weston Ski Track has been a place for people to get that Nordic workout, practice time, or just the cross-country ski experience within a short drive of downtown Boston. Weston has ski instruction for classical style and the faster skating method. A full ski shop and refreshments are available.- TONY CHAMBERLAIN
Best value for college students
Wachusett Mountain is offering its first college student season pass, and it's a pretty good bargain as long as you're content with weekday and night skiing only. The new UPass is available to current college students (with school ID) for $129.-T.D. THORNTON
Vertically challenged?No problem
Which is more difficult to believe: That the state of Rhode Island actually has a commercial ski slope, or that in the heyday of the sport, the Ocean State once boasted no fewer than five lift-serviced resorts? With smaller community ski areas dropping off the map faster than can possibly be good for the sport, you've got to give points to a survivor like Yawgoo Valley (right). The Exeter ski hill's vertically challenged status (peak elevation 310 feet; vertical drop 245 feet) is unlikely to scare away even the most acrophobic skiers and boarders, but where else in New England will you have the opportunity to spy seagulls from the chairlift?-T.D. THORNTON
Season-pass prices to shout about
The throwback Mount Greylock Ski Club is located at the end of a gravel road in South Williamstown, and the cost of an annual membership is less than a single day at many commercial ski areas. A single adult season pass is $75. A couple can buy a joint membership for $120. Family passes (any number of children under 21) go for $150. Costs are kept low because members help out by running the rope tows, cutting firewood, and maintaining the buildings and trails. The main way up is a 1,300-foot rope tow, and the ride to the top takes 72 seconds. Just be sure to bring your own gear and a lunch because there is no rental shop or food service.-T.D. THORNTON
Quick hits at Blue Hills
Blue Hills is Boston's feeder hill, a magnet for first-timers and for those who take a health-club membership approach to skiing: a couple of hours at a time. In these recessionary times the ski area provides convenience, reasonable rental rates at $28 for a ski or snowboard package, and cheap tickets ranging from $18 for a weekday non-holiday night ticket to $36 for a weekend and holiday pass.-MARTY BASCH
Best bets to ski for less than $20
Otis Ridge charges $15 for day light skiing on Wednesday-Friday and $12 for night skiing Wednesday-Sunday. Blandford Ski Area features Monday nights for $15. Bosquet offers "night owl" Thursdays for $10. The all-day rate at Ski Butternut on Monday-Thursday is $20. Prices quoted are for adult lift tickets, excluding holiday blackout periods.-T.D. THORNTON
A few quick runs at lunch hour
Blue Hills, just 15 minutes from downtown Boston, is one of the great spots to sneak in a few runs during the day. Short midweek lift lines, full base lodge, and one sweet, steep face - Big Blue - make this a breath of fresh air in the workweek. Blue Hills has night skiing as well.- TONY CHAMBERLAIN
Longest and steepest challenge
Catamount Ski Area in South Egremont claims both boasts, at least as far as the Berkshires go. The run that links Ridge Run to Upper and Lower Promenade is billed as the longest in western Massachusetts, clocking in at 2 miles. It's suitable for intermediates, as long as you don't make an accidental left near the summit onto double-diamond (and often icy) Catapult, the steepest single trail in the Berkshires, according to Catamount.-T.D. THORNTON
Best way to avoid traffic jams
You've seen faded photos of those old ski trains. But you can still ride one. The MBTA and Mass. Bay Commuter Rail Company provide rail service from Boston to Wachusett Mountain ski area 50 miles west of the city. The ski train leaves North Station at 8:35 a.m. and the Fitchburg rail station at 10:06 a.m. A shuttle from the mountain greets the train to take riders to the mountain. Weekdays the shuttle departs at 5:35 p.m., but Saturday nights the departure is 9:45.- TONY CHAMBERLAIN
Best overnight ski camp for kids
Tucked away in the Berkshires, the Otis Ridge Ski camp is one of the oldest and most highly acclaimed youth ski camps in the nation. For more than 50 years, Otis has promoted excellence in ski teaching, and this year's schedule of 3-, 4-, and 5-day overnight sessions are designed to coincide with holiday weekends and school vacation weeks. Otis packs a wide variety of trails into 60 acres, allowing campers (ages 8-15) to progress from novice runs to more challenging techniques. Details at www.otisridge.com.-T.D. THORNTON
Catching a break at Catamount
Catamount's cruising terrain straddles the Massachusetts/New York border with intermediate trails like Sidewinder and Ridge Run. Novices have a secluded spot to learn first turns in the mellow Meadows Area, which includes a long Wonder Carpet surface lift. Catamount has something that may pull in even more customers this season: $20 non-holiday lift tickets Monday through Thursday.-MARTY BASCH
Expanding your repertoire
The Western Massachusetts-T.D. THORNTON
Skiing Wachusett's hidden gems
Every decent Wachusett skier and rider knows the bread and butter trails off the mountain's summit: black diamond Smith Walton, half and half 10th Mountain, and intermediate Connifer Connection. They get blasted around the clock by the snow guns and see a fair share of skiers. But, oh, to take the trails less taken. Blue square Roper's Road is largely a natural snow run, the road visitors take to the top in summer. But Balance Rock gets the tip of the hat - a good, old-fashioned narrow and winding trail cut by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.-MARTY BASCH
Buddying up in Central Mass.
If you live in central Massachusetts and want to find some ski buddies while enjoying discounts, perks, and organized trips, then the Central Mass Ski and Snowboard Group might be for you. Membership is $20 per address (singles and families pay the same rate) and the outings range from drive-yourself day trips to longer bus excursions to weeklong vacations out West. The group has bargained for "skier appreciation" discounts at a number of resorts, and the motor coach trips depart from the Registry of Motor Vehicles overflow parking lot in Leominster. Details at www.skicmsg.com.-T.D. THORNTON
Making way to Mohawk
Southern New Englanders have been skiing the slopes of Mohawk Mountain since 1947. The 24-trail ski area, where founder Walt Schoenknecht liked to tinker with snowmaking, is celebrating the 60th anniversary of making snow at the mountain. Outside Torrington, the Connecticut hill also has some decent deals this season, including a $20 non-holiday Friday ticket from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and a $30 pass from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.-MARTY BASCH
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