There is so much to share about Ascutney, it's hard to fit it all in one post! Had a great day of skiing today at Ascutney and making runs with Mr and Mrs Ski_It.
First, this was one of the best ski days I have ever had. In the top 10 for sure. Not because of racking up huge amounts of vertical or runs, but simply for the fact that I was able to return to a ski area we had a few family vacations in the early 1990s, and that I had thought might have been lost for good.
When a ski area loses all of its operable lifts, it's very hard to reopen. Volunteers have done it at Ascutney though, starting with a rope tow 5 years ago, and a T-bar this year (from Le Relais in Quebec). In the last few years these trails have been cleared of growth and a new Outdoors Center has been added.
Ascutney is more than just skiing today - there's a tubing area with its own lift, you can hike any of the trails, snowshoe any of them, and backcountry ski any trail from the top at no cost. Tickets for the T-bar are just $15 which go right back into the ski area. It's all volunteer run and the current operation is the best fit to keep Ascutney operating into the future. Volunteers are very friendly and were focused on making sure everybody was having a great time.
The T-bar is a Doppelmayr, 400' vertical, 1800' in length. It essentially offers lift-served access to the trails formerly served by the Sunrise Double. A midstation allows for novice unloading halfway. These are a mix of easy, intermediate, and a few expertish areas (mostly ungroomed). Backcountry trails, the bulk of the mountain, are not lift served and are in a mix of partially cleared or overgrown, but there were a lot of people up there accessing them.
Conditions today couldn't be better. Full sun, temps in the mid 30s, still some powder stashes, and most of the trails groomed. Snow is all natural - there is no snowmaking here. Some of the trail names have reverted back to the older names from 40 years ago and not the names from 20 years ago.
I arrived at noon, which is when the lifts open, and explored every potential trail. Mr and Mrs Ski_It arrived shortly after, and we explored the mountain together and filled in any remaining trail we hadn't hit yet. They'll share some pics too that you'll enjoy.
Here's some photos from today. You really must get up there and check it out on the weekends they are open!
Trace of Runs - here's the portion that's open
Lodge
Inside the lodge
Lower T-bar and the lodge behind it
T-bar
Base of the T-bar
Mr and Mrs Ski_It riding the lift ahead of me
Midway unload
Middle of T-bar
Top of T-bar
Top of T-bar
Old Sunrise Double Chair
Former lift line
Summit Triple + Lower Exhibition
Down the old lift line
Up the old lift line
Exhibition and lift line
Rope Tow
Top of rope tow
Trails
Fifth Avenue
Glades
Screaming Eagle
Looking up Lower Terminator
Down Lower Terminator
Sunset Strip
Sunset Strip
To Broadway
