Two Great Trips To Waterville Valley Resort

PHOTO: Kris skis the White Cap Trail at the Waterville Valley Resort on a splendid winter day. The surrounding White Mountains are big eye-fillers. From Waterville’s slopes Mount Washington’s white tiptop to nearby Osceola and Tripyramid Mountains can be seen. Night skiing is now offered on Friday and Saturdays 4 to 8 pm! Waterville Valley Resort has 2020 feet of vertical drop and 265 acres of terrain. The Waterville Valley Resort’s Nordic Center boasts over 70 kilometers of trails groomed for classic and skating.

by Amy Patenaude
Outdoor/Ski Writer

At Waterville Valley Resort the lifts open at 9 am during the week, an hour later than the weekends. Kris and I tried to arrive in time to be in the liftline before they started loading the chairs but we didn’t quite make it. But a lot of people did make it. By the time we put on our ski boots and stashed our boot bags in the outdoor cubbies there was no longer anyone waiting in line. They were all spread out over the slopes and we skated right on through to the lift.
Still, no excuses, we were ten minutes late. We found a good parking place in the second lot near the stairway to the lodge. Redeeming our Indy Passes at the ticket counter was quick and they were able to reload my RFID card from last season. I was happy I saved my old card so I didn’t need a new piece of plastic. Not making it to the liftline before opening was all on me. As the saying goes, “Leave on Time, Arrive on Time!”

As we zoomed up the mountain riding on their wonderful fast and comfortable six-pack bubble chair we knew in just a few minutes we’d be skiing down the mountain. Enjoying our first tracks over and over.
Over the night it had snowed an inch or two and that snow landed on nicely groomed snow.
The weather was really nice with some blue sky and a few clouds floating around high above the mountains. From the summit we could see the bright white tip of Mount Washington. Osceola and the Tripyramids loomed large nearby, the scenery was splendid. It was a great day to ski and be on a mountaintop.
The steep black diamond trails Ciao and Gema were wonderful. So wonderful that we alternated our first six runs on these two trails. They were wide open and we felt like we were the only ones enjoying them. Maybe most people were sticking to the trails closer to the six-pack lift. The snow conditions made for easy turning and for tons of fun.

We noticed that racers wearing Harvard and Williams College ski jackets were training on Upper Sel to Tommy’s run. We stayed clear of the race training. They only trained a couple hours and we skied those trails later in the morning after they had taken down the course.
Later in the morning more people had arrived to ski and a liftline did form but it was never more than a couple of minutes to wait. With all the open terrain the skiers and snowboarders were scattered all over and the slopes never felt crowded.
Kris and I skied the roller bumps and banked corner of the mini skier-cross course built above the Valley Run chairlift. This snow feature is a treat and gives a place for faster skiers to be far away from the novices.
Waterville Valley made a lot of snow on Bobby’s Run and was preparing to host the 2024 United Airlines Waterville Freestyle World Cup Presented by ID One. The World Cup Weekend was held the last weekend of January. (As I write now the big event begins tomorrow and is over by the time this comes to print and I am cheering for our Team USA!).

Kris wouldn’t ride with me up the High Country. She says she won’t ride a T-bar and wouldn’t listen to me tell her T-bars are my favorite lift. She would have none of it and she sent me off to take a few runs by myself. I don’t think it was my imagination that the snow was even better on top. On High Country there was a full size skier-snowboarder-cross course constructed with high banked turns and bigger than I can handle jumps at the bottom. It sure was a thrill to ride what I could handle in it.
Waterville was wonderful and we skied run after run until our legs yelled, “Uncle.” Kris and I look forward to skiing at Waterville Valley Resort again soon.

A few days later I returned to Waterville Valley to cross country ski with my husband Charlie.
Charlie has a Nordic Indy Pass and we both redeemed our Indy Passes at the ticket counter in the Adventure Center located in the Town Square.
We skied with our friend Wes, who has a nearby condo so he can ski cross country more often and very far. His passion is going out and skiing marathon distances. When we met up he had already skied 20k, 12 miles.
The weather was okay, it was not quite 20 degrees and the sun was trying to hide. It felt and looked like winter.

Wes classic skied while Charlie and I skate skied. From the Town Square we skied over the Corcoran Pond Dam out towards the South End. We followed Wes heading out Snows brook and ending up back at the Pond before he led us to the North End of the trail system. The snow was fast and groomed well. Swan’s Way to Lower Osceola to Moose Run. I did my best to keep up with Charlie and Wes as we went up and down the rolly terrain.
We skied 20k and that was plenty for us. Wes got well over his marathon distance for the day so he was pleased too.
All three of us skied in the White Mountain Marathon at Jackson and Wes is off to race the Craftsbury Marathon next. I am coaching at the New England Nordic Ski Association’s Women’s Day being held in Bethel, Maine this year. We hope to do more ski marathons too. So many things to do and places to go.
There are too few winter days so use them wisely. Get out and play in the snow!
Have Fun.