Any memories/stories about Ascutney pre-closing?

snowphoenix

Looking at some old maps of the area, it seems like the upper part of Ascutney served by the HSQ and Snowdance Triple had some interesting terrain, including several short but steep expert trails and I'm curious as to how the area skied when it was at its full size. I was wondering if anyone remembers skiing there before they closed in 2010 and wanted to share any memories or stories.

rickbolger

hmmm....when did they close in 2010? my daughter skied there with her college team in Feb or March of that year, I picked her up in the base area for dinner. Recall thinking I should try and get there sometime, and then it was done!

ski_it

FYI - It is back open again at a lesser height. 450' vertical. Or you can skin up further.
Ascutney is back report from 2-22-20 SJ trip report, extensive photos & T-bar video.
https://ascutneyoutdoors.org/skiing/ Alpine, backcountry, tubing, snow shoeing & XC info.

Last whole mtn season 2009-2010. 2015-2016 Rope tow only....when they had snow. 2019-2020 added T-bar.

I recall it being an enjoyable area. I liked the woods to skiers left but recall it could be a real PIA to get back to the main lifts if you went too far down. I think I only had 3-4 ski days there.

From my last day on the big mtn 3-6-2010. They closed 3-28-2010 and things quickly went downhill.
South View

North View

West View - I think you can see some of the glades. No, I don't mean the ones on Okemo.

skelley19

I never made it there unfortunately.

@ski_it is that Okemo you can see in the background of your West View photo?

ski_it

skelley19;c-57018 wroteI never made it there unfortunately.

@ski_it is that Okemo you can see in the background of your West View photo?

Yes it is. You can also see Killington, Pico, probably others, maybe Sugarbush from up there and they can see you!

Killington, Pico. Maybe the tip of Plymouth & SB..IDK. Ya probably can't see them at this res.

abubob

I skied there last in 2007. I took a series of panoramic photo that I stitched together and print where I worked at the time. I included the HSQ. Anyway that photo hung on the wall at MegaPrint for many years. A local tv station even borrowed it for a backdrop during an interview. Then they got my name wrong on the credits. Fame always seems to have a way of eluding me.

If I can find the file I’ll post it.

Chuckstah

I skied Ascutney a couple times way back in the day. The day that comes to mind was late 80's, maybe early ninety's. I was with a group of friends from way back. Powder day, I remember great snow but super thin. Most everything was open and skied well. Great day.
The fun started when one of my friends lost his keys and never found them. No internet, no phone of course. Another friend was a mechanic, so naturally he hot wired the car so my friend could drive home without a key. Of course the alarm went off with horn blaring and lights flashing, so, disconnect the horn and unplug the lights. Good times had by all.
Friend had to leave early to beat the sunset home. His loss for stupidity. I liked the place on my couple visits, but there was always a bigger better place just down the road a piece. It's no wonder the place struggled.

snowphoenix

Thanks to everyone for the stories and photos! I read ski_it and NELSAP's great trip report from 2020 and I think Ascutney still looks really fun despite its reduced size. If I'm ever in that part of Vermont in winter I'll see if I can check it out.

ski_it

I can't recall anything about the upper trails, so I'm thinking they were groomed out.
Now looking at the trail map & quad South View pic a little closer, I'm guessing that section was officially closed with Deliverance above it. Tower 9 so I think that makes sense it is mid-mtn? Not sure why there are cones on the chair in front of us. I hope it wasn't last chair!

newpylong

snowphoenix;c-57038 wroteThanks to everyone for the stories and photos! I read ski_it and NELSAP's great trip report from 2020 and I think Ascutney still looks really fun despite its reduced size. If I'm ever in that part of Vermont in winter I'll see if I can check it out.

The current form is a serious snooze fest FYI.

ski_it

NewEnglandSkier13

ski_it;c-57055 wrote
newpylong;c-57049 wrote
snowphoenix;c-57038 wroteThanks to everyone for the stories and photos! I read ski_it and NELSAP's great trip report from 2020 and I think Ascutney still looks really fun despite its reduced size. If I'm ever in that part of Vermont in winter I'll see if I can check it out.
The current form is a serious snooze fest FYI.
Yeah there is no Goat there so all you volunteer run hills selling $20 daily & $100 season passes should just give it up and shut down.
IDK which SJ members would show up at a 450 FT, one T-bar & one rope tow only $20 resort, thinking it would compare to the mega pass resorts . Like here maybe?

Ascutney in it's current form seems plenty exciting to me, especially for $20! Riding a T-bar is exciting, watching people learn the sport is exciting, skiing in general is exciting! And nothing can beat the vibe of small community areas.

joshua_segal

Ascutney was a pretty good area that was badly mismanaged.

We at Crotched Mountain are grateful to be the beneficiary of their HSQ. Classic of the bad planning at Ascutney, when they installed the lift at Ascutney for the 2000-1 season, they didn't budget snowmaking and had minimal terrain from the new summit. This made for very limited operations.

We at CM put more hours on that lift in its first year at CM than it was run in the entirety of its operation at Ascutney.

My wife and I went to Ascutney for a weekend in 2000. The slopeside room we rented was so filthy and noisy that we left after one night. (The only thing good I can say about it was that they did refund our money for the remainder of the scheduled stay.)

That being said, the skiing was more than OK.

newpylong

ski_it;c-57055 wrote
newpylong;c-57049 wrote
snowphoenix;c-57038 wroteThanks to everyone for the stories and photos! I read ski_it and NELSAP's great trip report from 2020 and I think Ascutney still looks really fun despite its reduced size. If I'm ever in that part of Vermont in winter I'll see if I can check it out.
The current form is a serious snooze fest FYI.
Yeah there is no Goat there so all you volunteer run hills selling $20 daily & $100 season passes should just give it up and shut down.
IDK which SJ members would show up at a 450 FT, one T-bar & one rope tow only $20 resort, thinking it would compare to the mega pass resorts . Like here maybe?

Pretty critical (and misconstrued) words to put in the mouth of someone who ran a ski area barely one step above a volunteer run hill.

It's okay to have an opinion on something without being critical of an entire class of operations. I consider Ascutney Outdoors boring, doesn't mean I do not support the cause in any way. If I am personally going to a "community run hill", I am going next door to Storr's for $15, where they have snowmaking on the main run, lights and more pitch.

mapnut

IMO would have worked better than FYI.

newpylong

I usually operate under the assumption that unless we're dealing with concrete facts or statistics, everything written is an opinion and would be understood as such? Guess I can use IMO for all non-fact based statements. Or just keep opinions to myself, which seems far easier. :)

ski_it

newpylong

I fail to see how a connection was made between calling one facility a snooze fest and condemning all of the little guys, it doesn't make sense to me.

One can absolutely find something boring and still "support the cause" or recognize the value that it provides. I don't see how that is even up for debate.

But I digress, the horse is dead.

skizilla

Yeah the expansion was a mistake. I remember skiing it and it was like three trails from summit one of which was barely open and kinda sketchy. Should of taken that money and put it into snowmaking and put out a quality product. being so close to the highway it was easy to get to, cheap compared to stratton okemo and closer. WOuld of ben comparable to bromley in size and trail count i think.

rickbolger

I believe the Plausteiners now own an inn in the Boothbay Harbor area. good for them, has to be easier/less stressful than trying to operate a sizable ski resort