I’m not going to give you readers any false pretenses of “short” writeups this time. My style is long - that’s ok. I’ve hardly been touching lifts this season - not for a lack of wanting, but touring has fit better into my schedule lately. This weekend, I was travelling from the Boston area to see family in the Capital Region, and what better way to break up the drive than to ski? I don’t love taking the Mass Pike unless I’m in a time crunch - staring at a straight road without much in the way of features for 150 miles isn’t my idea of fun, and usually gives me a headache. My debate yesterday was instead whether I’d take Route 9 across Vermont, or Route 2 through Massachusetts. While Petersburg Pass was tempting, I figured that with low snow, I’d have a better chance further north, especially given that I’d be passing immediately by or near-ish to 3 classic NELSAP areas; surely one of them would have enough snow.
Off I went around 9:30am after a couple hours of work. It was a decent day - chilly in the teens, but partly sunny. My route took me near Fitzwilliam Ski Slope, so I stopped at the base area. There appeared to be nowhere to park, though the couple of trails I could see looked to be very well mowed to the point that just the few inches they had would be enough to ski safely. The wind howled, though, and my car was warm, so I continued on knowing there were more substantial areas to be found.
Nothing particularly interesting until Vermont. I guess I can mention some snow delineations I noticed - no snow until around Concord, light coverage until around Lunenburg. Near Ashby, there were a good few inches on the ground. The hills that climb until the New Hampshire border were quite snowy! Strangely, once I crossed into New Hampshire, within a minute or two there was noticeably less snow on the ground by an inch or two. Once I reached Brattleboro, not only was the ground in town totally bare (though there seemed to be some on the mountains around the area), but I hit several minutes of traffic. A shocker, but there were a lot of people out and walking - makes sense being the day after Christmas and everyone needing to do their errands they couldn’t with shops being mostly closed the last couple days (and just the holiday crowd). I stopped in the Food Co-Op and got a coffee and a Reuben. I can recommend.
Anyway - onward towards Hogback. By the time I reached the 100 Mile Viewpoint, there was snow on the ground again, though I could tell from the road that the trails would need another 3-6″ of base to be safe to ski. I was starting to grow tired of driving at this point, so rather than detouring to Dutch Hill, I continued along Rt9 to Prospect. The parking lot was pretty busy - some 30 to 40 cars.
I walked into the ticket/rental building and bought myself a day pass and inquired about restrooms. They pointed me to the lodge. After using the restroom (that have oddly short (though still adequate) stall walls), I went back to my car to throw on my gear. By 1:10, I was ready to go and took myself up far looker’s right - General John Stark. That initial climb is STEEP! After getting distance from the XC trails, I continued climbing. Clearly, no one else was silly enough to go up this trail and there must’ve been a better track up. I “broke” trail most of the way up - though to be fair, it was only a few inches of snow. Transitioning, I briefly chatted with a woman clearing ice off the lift tower. I started down the liftline, though quickly realized why not many others were bold enough to do so - every 2 or 3 turns, I’d hear a dreadful scratch. I took the first trail skier’s right to exit the liftline after 150 vertical feet or so and made my way to the far skier’s right trail - Colonel Seth Warner. This was better, especially as it was groomed, but Prospect evidently uses that trail as an access road because occasional gravel bits would pop up despite the decent coverage.
I spent some time in the beautiful lodge to warm up next. Plenty of old photos, old trail maps, ads and other things. A nice wood fireplace with smatterings of people around, but still plenty of tables. The food counter did look wonderful - a big ol fridge with glass doors clearly showing you all their fresh ingredients for sandwiches and other sorts of things. It felt very homey.
My other lap was much better uphill-wise. Now knowing where to go having spotted several XC skiers going up, I sped up Colonel Seth Warner and caught up to the only other fellow I saw touring that day. His name was Rich - friendly guy, had taken a couple laps after having skied the morning at Mt Snow. He lives local and skis at Prospect often. I sped up past him to the top and began transitioning at the one picnic table by the top of the liftline. Two XC skiers were debating their next trail nearby. When they saw my gear, they came over to inquire. I gave a bit of a rundown on how the bindings, skins and boots work to answer several of their questions, and provided a couple of recommendations at their request. I think there might be a couple converts soon.
After seeing that my initial route up probably had better coverage than some other trails, I went down General John Stark. It was the right choice - very limited hits and fluffy, fast powder! I ended smiling - exactly how you always want. A quick change at my car, then continued on towards Troy. Prospect has been a place I’ve been desperate to visit given its extremely high base elevation and that it just snows there more than anywhere else within easy range of the Capital Region. I was very happy to get the chance to visit. I’ll be back again this season, hopefully, given that it’s only December. Just need to find the right time to do it, since I certainly don’t want to day trip it from Boston…
Pictures to enjoy:
