A Ski Trip

Living in the Mount Washington Valley means that we are always in ski country, and that all we need to be on a ski vacation is a day off and a lift ticket. It is easy to begin to take for granted what the ski areas and the Valley do to make sure that guests have a good time when they come to the mountains.

I had a chance to sneak over to Smugglers Notch in Vermont recently to enjoy a weekend ski trip with my family and some friends. Despite having lived in Vermont for several years I had never skied at Smuggs and I have to say I had a number of misconceptions that were quickly dispelled.

Unlike what the Mount Washington Valley has to offer, with several ski areas and all that the Valley has to offer, Smuggs is pretty much self contained and is a place where you can park the car and only need to go back to the car for that missing ski sock that you can’t find in the morning.

The mountain itself is impressive, with Madonna Mountain sitting at 3,640’, flanked by Sterling Mountain and Morse Mountain. It is set up with most of the village at the base of Morse Mountain, which is a great beginner hill with wide-open gentle slopes. To access the more advanced terrain you can drive up to Madonna and Sterling, or ski over from Morse. The difference between Morse and Madonna is stark. Madonna offers up steep, aggressive terrain with plenty of glades and steep runs that don’t see the groomers very often. I had long believed that Smugglers only had intermediate type terrain, but one ride up the Madonna lift showed me that Smuggs has plenty of terrain to challenge any skier or rider.

In skiing with my kids I quickly found that a blue square at Smuggs on Madonna or Sterling Mountain is a bit different from many of the blue squares I’m used to skiing in the Valley. The girls quickly adapted to the steeper terrain and enjoyed riding the fixed grip doubles that cruised over rock faces and steep terrain that they hadn’t really seen before.

I found that I did two things I hadn’t done in some time, grabbed a trail map and also a grooming map. These became very critical in making sure we didn’t take the girls into terrain that could be over their head. While we were trying to steer the little ones onto the blues my wife and I found ourselves looking longingly at the steeper pitches and woods- as it looked amazing (although in need of some snow- but that was two storms ago).

While the mountain was great the kids enjoyed the pools and Kids Zone the most. These are the amenities that I often forget about as our après ski entertainment is usually found at home. Having good dining, pools, and an indoor play land all on property the ski day just flowed into après fun, into dinner and soon to bed.

I began to have a better understanding of the recent water parks that have been built within hotels in the Valley, along with the popularity of events like Cranapolooza. It is so easy to get focused solely on the skiing when the skiing is right out your back door, but when you are on vacation it is great to have a menu of other activities to keep everyone entertained. I take my hat off to Smugglers Notch, they offer up a top-notch vacation destination and we will return. That being said- I take my hat off and bow to the mountains and businesses of the Mount Washington Valley- a large number of individual businesses working together to create a truly world class experience.