Back to the real world…

21 Feb

Today is back-to-the-real-world day. You know, the world with the fabric covered boxes, fake lighting, air that comes from big silver pipes and roof top boxes, and the expectation to sit still for eight hours while staring at a computer screen. I’m thankful that I work for a company that doesn’t have a crazy dress code, so I don’t need to break out the heels and skirts, but I do need to put away the beanies and neon snow pants.

I’ve been mulling over what to write for awhile as I wanted to say something inspiring instead of just whining about how snowboarding is infinitely better than working. But as one fellow adventurer said, she didn’t know what the lessons learnt were right away. It takes time and reflection.

I can say that I know I’m going to miss a lot about the past 60 days, but it’s none of the things that one would expect. As I was sitting in the lodge of my home mountain yesterday looking out over the happy visitors, excited children, and listening to live music upstairs, I realized that I was going to miss that. I’ve come to love this industry full of excitement, passion, and a shared commonality between all who visit. While we may not get along at all times, it’s actually quite remarkable when you take a moment to think about what truly happens at a ski area. Thousands of people come together constantly to share, cooperate, and be active. I can’t think of anything else like that.

I know that this trip has changed my perspective and outlook on life, but I don’t know yet how it will have changed me in the real world. I know that I can talk to a completely random stranger about his 57 years on the slopes, teach a child to snowboard, move at the speed of light to find ski patrol when needed, and conquer my fears and hesitations when I’m standing at the top of an insane trail. I dream big now and I want to live big.

While the sabbatical portion of the adventure might be over, the adventure itself it certainly far from done. I feel like I just got started on a part of living life big, so there’s no way I’m stopping now. So, what’s the future of this adventure? Well, there’s still a ton of reviews to be done and a bunch more ski areas to visit. Once winter has passed, I’ve decided to keep up with trying to review the adventures New England has to offer (mountain biking, rock climbing, zip lining, etc.). More to come soon!

Cannon Mountain Review

19 Feb

Tuckerman's & Mt. Washington - Common sight at Cannon!

I knew at some point during this adventure I’d come across a mountain that just felt so right I’d probably have to call it my favorite. But I really had no clue what mountain it would be until I visited Cannon in Franconia, New Hampshire. I don’t even know how to explain this place, but it was just incredible in every way. The views were insane, people were phenomenal, trails were amazing, and the environment was just right. I will be back!

Location: Cannon is about an hour and forty five minutes from Manchester, New Hampshire. Since Cannon is literally in the Notch, it’s not a bad drive at all and you’ll get to see some pretty amazing views as you go. The last of the gas stations and restaurants will be in Lincoln, New Hampshire (same stop as Loon) – so be sure to stop there if needed. And cell phone reception is good throughout.

Parking: I’m definitely a fan of simple parking lots. Cannon seemed simple. If you get there early enough, you might be able to get a spot in the upper lots. If you get there later in the morning, expect to park across the street with just a short walk to the lodge.

Ticket Counter/Guest Services: I didn’t get a chance to interact much with Cannon’s staff, but everyone seemed courteous, attentive, and friendly.

I usually don’t comment much on the other skiers and snowboarders at the places I go, but Cannon’s regulars reminded me why I love New England so much. These folks were helpful, sociable, and full of stories from decades on the mountains. Awesome people!

Price: I love mountains with special deals. There’s just no reason at all to not have special deals from an industry standpoint, so I was happy to see Cannon had a whole range of offerings. I went up on a 2-for-1 day and nabbed the deal with another solo visitor, so $34 was hard to beat!

Lodge: Cannon has a couple of lodges at the base, and a beautiful summit lodge. I was actually surprised by how nice the summit lodge interior was, so be sure to check it out! The base lodges could be improved a little, but overall were much better than most!

Lifts: For some reason or another, I think I spent the entire day riding the same two lifts. I didn’t mean to, but I was enjoying summit runs entirely too much that I just didn’t remember to check out everything else. Oops. So, I can say with confidence that the Peabody Express and the Cannonball Quad are great. I’m pretty confident Cannon made sure the other lifts (and aerial tram) rock too.

Trails: Cannon has phenomenal trails. If anyone says anything different to change your mind, just go to Cannon anyways and try it out for yourself. Trails are wide open, curvy, and it felt like half the time I was looking right into Tuckerman’s, which is pretty awesome no matter who you are. I can’t even pick a favorite trail.

Great trails? Check. Great people? Yep. Great views? Yikes yes. How about the chicken? I headed over to the Lafayette Place Food Court for lunch and for $8.25 I was handed a pretty appetizing looking chicken tender basket. Included were 3 medium chicken tenders and a side of fries.

The fries were crunchy and well seasoned, and so was the chicken! Score! Got to love when the main course and the side actually play nice. The chicken was real chicken, no gristle, and very tasty. I would recommend checking it out if you happen to be hungry at Cannon!

Final Score: 4 out of 5 Tenders

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Pats Peak Review

19 Feb

According to my list, I better get moving on reviews. As of yesterday, I’m behind by nine (well, eight after this). Ouch. So, still to come very soon: Cannon, Bretton Woods, Wachusett, Cranmore, Loon, Okemo, Sugarbush, and Jay Peak.

This review in particular is about my visit to Pats Peak in Henniker, New Hampshire. My brother and I went just about two weeks ago to spend an afternoon on the snow, and get his shred legs back (he had taken a few year break). It’s easy to see why so many people have called Pats Peak the place they learned to ski or snowboard.

Location: Pats Peak is just about an hour from Manchester, New Hampshire. It’s an easy drive up 93 North, then on to 89 North. From there, you’ll be jumping on to some of Henniker’s backroads to finish up the trip. Gas stations, restaurants, and places to stop are frequent, so no issues there. And reception is great throughout!

My little (but much taller) brother, Morgan. He's bad at smiling for pictures!

Parking: Parking is fairly simple at Pats Peak. There’s a huge upper lot and a few lower lots. Find a parking spot, and head to the lodge.

Ticket Counter/Guest Services: Pats Peak has pretty great customer service from what I’ve experienced, so no complaints there. Lift attendants are friendly and attentive, ski patrol is helpful, and the ticket counter has always been helpful.

Price: Ticket prices at Pats Peak can feel a little high when you look at the size of the mountain (22 trails), but there’s plenty of ways to get creative and save money. Be sure to check out the Ride & Ski Card discount. If you think you’ll be visiting a lot over the season, definitely look at their season pass prices. They are cheapest before May/June, but hard to beat the value. You’ll break even in about 5-6 visits I think!

Lodge: Pats Peak has a pretty nice lodge area. It’s open, comfortable, looks up the mountain, and has a ton of tables and cubbie space. Easy to find too from the parking lot and trails!

Lifts: I hope someday Pats Peak considers upgrading some of their lifts to high speed. Right now they’re all normal lifts, but it really isn’t so bad. My brother and I rode all of the lifts open the day we went, and I don’t think any ride was longer than 6 or 7 minutes!

Terrain Park

Also, Pats Peak did a pretty great job of positioning the lifts to go to specific locations so they don’t get crowded with park goers, beginners, etc. Be sure to check out a map briefly before getting on a lift!

Trails: If you’re looking for insane vertical drop, terrifying glades, and windy trails – Pats Peak isn’t for you. But if you’re looking for somewhere to teach a friend of family member to ski or ride, looking to practice basics, or just need to burn off some energy after work (they have night hours), Pats Peak is pretty awesome.

I don’t usually have company on these snowboarding trips, so I usually get to do the chicken tender reviews alone without anyone asking questions. My brother did one better. He made fun of me the entire time. Apparently I make faces and actually look like I’m thinking hard about reviewing? Eek.

Anyways, I grabbed some tenders from the Tradeswinds in the lodge. For $6.25, over thinking chicken connoisseurs nabbed 5 medium tenders. Fries were some amount extra that I didn’t feel like spending, so I skipped that part.

Sad to say, the chicken just didn’t really kick chicken butt in any category. It was grisly and had a weird taste throughout. And to make it worse, the coating wasn’t crunchy at all. I was suddenly very glad my mother had packed my brother the entire kitchen for lunch (thank you, Mom).

Final Score: 2 out of 5 Tenders

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Ragged Mountain Review

13 Feb

Next on the list for reviews is Ragged Mountain in Danbury, New Hampshire. Ragged has been my home mountain for the past two seasons, so it’s that mountain that I know entirely too well and can just about draw out the trail map on a napkin.

So question is, does it make me biased?

Location: Ragged is about an hour and half from Manchester, New Hampshire, and all things considered is a very easy drive. Just get on 93 North and stay on it until Exit 23. From there, you’ll be getting on Route 4 for almost 20 miles until you hit Ragged Mountain Highway (Route 104). Cell phone reception appears to be fine throughout.

On the way up, you’ll be going past Concord (exits 12-15) and then Tilton (Exit 20 – the Tanger Outlet Mall). Both have hotels, grocery stores, gas stations, restaurants, and more. Exit 23 has a few gas stations to the right (you’ll be headed left when you get off the exit from the South), a Subway, and a Dunkin Donuts.

Parking: Ironically, Ragged’s parking lots were the thing that almost made me never come back the first time. I went on a nice warm winter day years ago, was directed to park in this dirt lot, and when I went to leave I found that my car was sunk about 6 inches in mud. I was nice and stuck. I did manage to get out finally half an hour later, but I was furious. So, from there on I’ve learnt to always park in the hard pack lots even if it means walking.

Overall, Ragged’s parking is pretty easy. There’s the main upper lot, another lot across from that (that’s where I got stuck), two huge lower lots (also get incredibly muddy), and a small gravel lot (my preferred parking when muddy). If it’s busy, Ragged staff will be out directing parking.

Ticket Counter/Guest Services: Ragged has pretty outstanding staff and I’ve told them that before. I’m especially impressed with staff member Heidi. She’s answered every single one of my random and sometimes idiotic questions throughout the years, so thank you! As for the rest of the staff, they’ve been great as well!

Price: Ticket prices at Ragged are comparable with other mountains of the same size, but be sure to check out the various daily deals they offer. Before buying a season pass, I frequently used their NH Sunday afternoon deal: $25 for a half day. Not bad.

Season passes are the real great deal at Ragged though. Be sure to check out the prices prior to Labor Day when they’re at their cheapest. I’ve been getting my season pass every year for around $370 with no blackout dates at all. College students are even cheaper.

Lodge: Ragged has one of my favorite lodges thanks to it’s simplicity and openness. Even when it’s a vacation week, it still feels oddly open unlike some of the lodges I’ve been to. The only thing it’s desperately lacking is cubbie or storage space, so people tend to claim tables and corners as their own.

Lifts: I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Ragged’s 5 lifts spread across their two summits (Ragged Mountain and Spear Mountain). The high-speed summit lift is in great condition, and is one of the few six seaters I’ve ever seen. It’s fast, but has a tendency to get put on wind hold. As the sole way of getting to the summit of Ragged Mountain (one of the two summits), never fun when that happens. Also on Ragged Mountain is Village Green which only goes up about a third of the way (top of the beginner area).

Spear Mountain is my favorite side of the mountain (long runs, better view), but the triple seater is slow – like you’re going to be in the next season by the time you get off at the top slow. I’m hearing rumors that it will eventually be upgraded to a high-speed lift, but for now it’s just a long cold ride. To add to the triple seater issue, it’s just not really big enough for 3 people. If you happen to get stuck on a fully loaded chair with a snowboarder or skier who really doesn’t know how to get off the lift, you might be up for some interesting times at the summit. My only snowboarding concussion so far was thanks to this lift and a clueless snowboarder shoving me around at the top.

Trails: I’ve always liked Ragged’s trails, and I think that’s where my love of glades and curvy trails must have come from. Ragged doesn’t have many trails that head straight down the mountain (with the exception of maybe Exhibition). My favorite trail routes of all time are Cardigan to Jughandle to Turnpike, as well as Blueberry Patch to Upper Easywinder to Lower Easywinder. If it’s a powder day, be sure to check out Raggae Glades from the top.

Being a season pass holder tends to mean getting to know the food at a place too, so I’ve had the chicken tenders at Ragged quite a few times. It was a little weird heading there again and grabbing chicken tenders with the sole purpose this time though of reviewing them. I’ve been told I actually make a weird thinking face when reviewing chicken. Who knew?

So how is the chicken at Ragged? Not so great unfortunately. I’ve been getting it at Harvest in the lodge, and haven’t tried it upstairs yet at the restaurant (actually not even sure if they have it up there), but I’m suspecting it’s probably the same. For $6.50, chicken cravers get 6 medium sized tenders. Fries are another $4 or so, so I skipped them this time.

The chicken is entirely too breaded and not very flavorful, so it unfortunately won’t win the taste taste. As for texture, while it looks good from the outside, I kept coming across chunks of gristle or something unpleasant to chew on. I think it’s time Ragged finds a new chicken tender vendor!

Final Score: 2.50 out of 5 Tenders

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Heavenly Ski Resort Review

12 Feb

I am miserably behind on reviews. Yikes! Now I understand how the other snowboard bloggers are still posting content frequently in August!

First on my to-do list is my sole non-New England mountain of the season, Heavenly Ski Resort of Lake Tahoe. Rob and I spent a week out there about two weeks ago, and we’ve been ready to go back since we left!

Yet, how does it fare when compared on all the same points as our New England resorts? Let’s see!

Location: Assuming you’re already in the area, Heavenly can be an interesting trek to get to. It’s just shy of 4 hours from San Francisco or 1.5 hours south of Reno. If you’re a New Englander planning on flying out, I recommend checking out Reno or Sacramento airports instead of the Bay area. Way too hectic to figure out with a snowboard or ski bag!

As for the drive itself, it’s unique! From San Franciso you’ll be taking Route 50 which is honestly pretty awesome. The views from Twin Bridges to Meyers are up there with the Mount Washington Auto Road, if not better. Be sure to check the California DOT website before getting on any of the highways crossing through the mountains as snow can frequently mean chain restrictions or even closures!

Parking: I’ve never seen a setup quite like Heavenly when it comes to parking. I’ve been to places with more than one base lodge, but Heavenly technically has 4 – sort of. There’s California, Boulder, Stagecoach, and the Gondola/Village.

Your best bets for parking are at California, Boulder, and Stagecoach. California is in a pretty residential area and not near the hotels. Boulder is a little isolated, but there’s a bus that runs frequently to Stagecoach. Stagecoach and its trails run right into a pretty dense condo area (that’s where we were).

Ticket Counter/Guest Services: We bought our tickets ahead of time, so we had our Epic tickets (more on that later) shipped to us about a week before we arrived. This meant we went directly to the lift, and didn’t have much of a chance to check out the ticket counter.

On the other hand, we definitely did get a lot of chances to talk with various members of the staff over the entire time we were there. To sum it up, I’m impressed. I’m so accustom to seeing ski and snowboard instructors literally drawing straws on who gets the clumsy kid (yes, saw that at a New England resort), that when I started meeting these passionate, happy, pleasant, friendly instructors with their students, I swear I must have been staring like an idiot.

To add to that, ski patrol and the information/mountain ambassador folks were awesome. For starters, they were literally everywhere. At one point Rob and I came across a girl who had injured her knee, so I set off to find some help. I think it literally took me about a minute and a half to find a mountain ambassador who was able to radio in the injury. Nice!

And there was all the little things the staff did to make Heavenly pretty awesome as well. For example, I’ve never had so many employees actually hold doors open for me at random (all the lodges). At the Tamarack lodge, they hold the doors open and offer everyone Kleenex and Jolly Ranchers. I know it’s just little things – but they count!

Price: Before I went to Heavenly, I read a few dozen reviews. The biggest complaints: price, staff, trails. While I vehemently disagree with two of those (staff and trails), I’ll admit the price was a bit insane. We bought our tickets ahead of time so got the best pricing we could apparently at $324 for a 4 day ticket. If we had bought tickets everyday at the window, we could have been paying as much as $98  a day… each. Ouch.

However, I’ll admit that there is a certain level of understanding the ski areas thinking in this case. Heavenly is the largest ski area in California with over 4800 acres of terrain, 30 lifts, 97 trails, and over a 3500’ vertical drop. That takes a whole lot of staff to maintain, patrol, groom, etc.

Just wish they’d consider maybe jumping into the Liftopia game or something. Not everyone out there is super resourceful at finding cheap lift tickets, but it would be nice if there was a way to save a few bucks if you put the research in!

Lodge: The only lodge that really is a true lodge that a New Englander will recognize will be California. This isn’t the resort to plan on getting changed at, stashing your bags somewhere, etc. Not to say people don’t try…

Also important to note is that none of the lodges are in true walking distance of each other, so be sure to know a thing or two about the bus system. It runs frequently but be sure to ask where the bus goes before getting on! To further confuse the visitor, Gondola/Village doesn’t have any trails coming down to it. It’s just the Gondola that goes up and down… to Tamarack. Confused yet?

If you’re coming with beginners, you have two choices for lodges – Boulder or Gondola. Boulder will give newbies a nice lift to practice on (but they may have to share with other people trying to get up the mountain for real) and a pretty gentle green trail. Once they’re more comfortable, they can jump on the next lift up and get on the rest of the mountain. The other option is to take newbies up the gondola and head on over to Big Easy – a dedicated learning area with a nice slow lift.

The nicest lodge by far is Tamarack which is at the top of the Gondola. Be sure to check it out!

Lifts: During our stay we rode about half of the lifts, and they all seemed to be in great shape. I can’t say I noticed anything off about any of them. Most of them are high speed quads, which is awesome.

Lift operators definitely kept the lines moving on the weekend, so even the biggest line we saw (the gondola on Saturday morning) was a short wait. I was actually really impressed to see that they were able to speed up the process by helping skiers and snowboarders load and unload equipment instead of the usual hectic race to get everything in.

Trails: Heavenly is MASSIVE so they have a trails for just about every taste. If you want wide open trails with amazing views, they have that. Want insanely steep trails with boulders and trees? Got that too. How about insane trail with switchbacks and drops between levels? Yep. I really can’t pick a favorite, but be sure to check out the California Trail for the views.

The only thing that wasn’t so great was the flat sections. As a snowboarder, we need an incline, so when given a flat section followed by an uphill section – we’re probably going to walk, sulk, and complain. The worst culprits seemed to be sections of the Nevada Trail and a section of Round About. The good news though is most of Heavenly has pretty amazing inclines!

EpicMix Collage - Cool in a cheesy way...

Anything else?: Another really cool thing about Heavenly was the Epic pass. The epic pass was simply your ticket with an RFID chip enclosed. New concept? Not exactly. What is very new is all the things that get attached to this little RFID chip. Every time you get on a lift or get your photo taken by an EpicMix photographer, the information is uploaded to your EpicMix account.

So why is this so cool? For some odd reason or another, I love knowing that while at Heavenly I did just about 27,000 vertical feet of snowboarding, and I hit almost all the goals I set for myself every day (number of runs, number of lifts, etc.). To add to this, I’m always the one taking pictures at the mountain, so I’m never in pictures. At Heavenly, just find one of the photographers in a neon green jacket, and ask for a photograph. They’ll scan your pass, take your picture like a pro, and it shows up later for you to share on Facebook, Twitter, or buy as a digital copy. Honestly, it was pretty sweet.

Before heading out to Lake Tahoe, we were warned it was the land of the $10 beers. So, we planned ahead. We rented a condo with a full kitchen, visited a grocery store (several times), and ate in almost every meal. But don’t worry – we made sure we tried some of Heavenly’s food!

Sure enough though, it was insanely expensive. On the first day on the slopes, we tried the Epic Burger paired with a bag of chips and a soda. So that’s 1 burger, 1 bag of chips, and 1 soda. That came to $21. Ouch. It was delicious, but not $21 delicious.

As for the chicken tenders, it was just as expensive. $10.50 got us 4 medium tenders and another $4.75 got us a side of fries. So $15.25 for a chicken tender basket. Ouch, again. While the fries were awesome and it was a pretty decent sized helping, the chicken tenders weren’t what we expected. There was entirely too much breading without enough flavor, and honey mustard was nowhere to be found. I guess to some extent, for $15.25 I expected some seriously gourmet tenders. Oh well.

My advice, bring a lunch or split an Epic Burger with someone!

Final Score: 2.25 out of 5 Tenders

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