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This is one of my favorite sites on the internet. Having grown up skiing at Ascutney, one of the largest ski areas to ever die, seeing it and other CT river val

This is one of my favorite sites on the internet. Having grown up skiing at Ascutney, one of the largest ski areas to ever die, seeing it and other CT river valley areas such as Mt Tom memorialized here is very meaningful to me.

brightsize 9y ago
Maple Valley still has infrastructure in place though I'm sure it's rotting away. I drive by there often when I'm back in 05301-land and it's haunting to behold. I think it's been for sale[1] for ... decades ... hard to imagine small hills like this ever being economically viable again. Even when I was a kid my peers chose to break their arms and legs at the more distant (and likewise defunct) Hogback Mountain. [1] https://youtu.be/eb9iZY_wCwc https://youtu.be/eb9iZY_wCwc
- thenipper 9y ago
  That video brings me back. I learned to ski and snowboard at Maple Valley. My elementary school had a program where you could get a seasons pass and go there on Wednesday's and Fridays. In high school we ended up at Okemo which wasn't bad but never had the charm of Maple Valley.
sevensor 9y ago
I grew up in CT and we would go to Mt Tom if we were feeling ambitious. I've since moved away, and I literally just learned that Mt Tom was closed. Sad news!
- baldfat 9y ago
  Mohawk is still open! I learned to ski at Catamount and it was closed for a few years and then successfully reopened. I think the best of New England small hill ski slopes is Butternut (locally called Butt Nut) and if you want to see what these small slopes were like would be a good place to experience it. I miss the Ice Night Skiing at Sundown which is still there. Sad I don't live there anymore such a fun place to ski and then if you wanted Vermont Skiing on big slopes was just a few hours away.
  - sevensor 9y ago
    Sundown is where I did most of my skiing -- tiny, but a lot of fun! I'd be really heartbroken if Sundown closed.
    - baldfat 9y ago
      I seriously have had the most fun skiing Sundown at night with a dozen friends. We all were pretty experienced skiers and we went down the toughest hills in the NE together and we don't dare wipe out. Go to Sundown and it was always comical. You could be on a green "Deer Run" and wipe out skiing backwards because you hit an ice patch.
TYPE_FASTER 9y ago
Me too. Our school did Friday afternoons at Ascutney. King Ridge and Suicide Six (free J-bar!) were other local areas I remember that now only exist on Nelsap.
- ghaff 9y ago
  Suicide Six is apparently still there: http://www.woodstockinn.com/ski-area http://www.woodstockinn.com/ski-area MIT used to have a house in basically the backyard of Suicide Six that Laurence Rockefeller (who also owned the ski area) donated. Living groups and others would rent out the place. We usually skied at Killington but we'd put in short days at Suicide Six as well.
CMYK5 9y ago
You'll be happy to know that Ascutney is going through a bit of a revitalization at the moment! Countless volunteers at both Ascutney Outdoors and Asctuney Trails have put in a huge amount of work to add over 50 miles of mountain bike and running trails, a free rope tow, and access rights to the entire mountain (got a few GREAT backcountry ski days in this winter). If you're still in the area, its definitely worth checking out. http://ascutneyoutdoors.org/story/ http://ascutneyoutdoors.org/story/ http://ascutneytrails.com/about/ http://ascutneytrails.com/about/

brightsize 9y ago

Maple Valley still has infrastructure in place though I'm sure it's rotting away. I drive by there often when I'm back in 05301-land and it's haunting to behold. I think it's been for sale[1] for ... decades ... hard to imagine small hills like this ever being economically viable again. Even when I was a kid my peers chose to break their arms and legs at the more distant (and likewise defunct) Hogback Mountain. [1] https://youtu.be/eb9iZY_wCwc https://youtu.be/eb9iZY_wCwc

thenipper 9y ago
That video brings me back. I learned to ski and snowboard at Maple Valley. My elementary school had a program where you could get a seasons pass and go there on Wednesday's and Fridays. In high school we ended up at Okemo which wasn't bad but never had the charm of Maple Valley.

sevensor 9y ago

I grew up in CT and we would go to Mt Tom if we were feeling ambitious. I've since moved away, and I literally just learned that Mt Tom was closed. Sad news!

baldfat 9y ago
Mohawk is still open! I learned to ski at Catamount and it was closed for a few years and then successfully reopened. I think the best of New England small hill ski slopes is Butternut (locally called Butt Nut) and if you want to see what these small slopes were like would be a good place to experience it. I miss the Ice Night Skiing at Sundown which is still there. Sad I don't live there anymore such a fun place to ski and then if you wanted Vermont Skiing on big slopes was just a few hours away.
- sevensor 9y ago
  Sundown is where I did most of my skiing -- tiny, but a lot of fun! I'd be really heartbroken if Sundown closed.
  - baldfat 9y ago
    I seriously have had the most fun skiing Sundown at night with a dozen friends. We all were pretty experienced skiers and we went down the toughest hills in the NE together and we don't dare wipe out. Go to Sundown and it was always comical. You could be on a green "Deer Run" and wipe out skiing backwards because you hit an ice patch.

TYPE_FASTER 9y ago

Me too. Our school did Friday afternoons at Ascutney. King Ridge and Suicide Six (free J-bar!) were other local areas I remember that now only exist on Nelsap.

ghaff 9y ago
Suicide Six is apparently still there: http://www.woodstockinn.com/ski-area http://www.woodstockinn.com/ski-area MIT used to have a house in basically the backyard of Suicide Six that Laurence Rockefeller (who also owned the ski area) donated. Living groups and others would rent out the place. We usually skied at Killington but we'd put in short days at Suicide Six as well.

CMYK5 9y ago

You'll be happy to know that Ascutney is going through a bit of a revitalization at the moment! Countless volunteers at both Ascutney Outdoors and Asctuney Trails have put in a huge amount of work to add over 50 miles of mountain bike and running trails, a free rope tow, and access rights to the entire mountain (got a few GREAT backcountry ski days in this winter). If you're still in the area, its definitely worth checking out. http://ascutneyoutdoors.org/story/ http://ascutneyoutdoors.org/story/ http://ascutneytrails.com/about/ http://ascutneytrails.com/about/