SKIING CLINTON COUNTY, NEW YORK’S, GREATEST VERTICAL SKI AREA
Beartown Ski Area’s lodge
Today’s mission was simple: Ski and beat the rain. The easiest way to do both of these things was to go to Clinton County, New York’s greatest vertical ski hill. I wrote about Beartown Ski Area on their opening day just a few days ago, so I won’t dive into the specifics as much as last time, but you can read that post HERE if you’re interested in learning more.
Looking down Main Slope at Beartown Ski Area
With rain in the forecast for the early afternoon, I arrived at Beartown shortly after the ski area opened at 10 AM. It was a warm day with temperatures in the 40s. There was definitely some melting going on, but, where they had made snow, the coverage was good. The ski area wasn’t very busy and the line for the lone lift spinning was short to non-existent.
Connector trail
Looking down North Slope
They had two runs open: Main Slope and North Slope. The connector for these two runs was running a bit thin, but it was skiable. The snow was very soft and carve-able. With the light crowd, it wasn’t bumped up anywhere either, so you could really just cruise down the 150 ft. of vertical that the ski area has to offer.
As I lapped the T-bar, I wondered how much vertical one could get here in a day lapping the hill. I timed the ride up the T-bar and it was around a 1-minute and 45-second ride. If it takes 30 seconds to get down that means it’s around a 2-minute and 15-second lap. If the ski area is open from 10 to 4 like usual and you skied that entire time, you could get about 160 runs in, which would be 24,000 ft. of vertical. For six hours, that’s surprisingly a lot for a hill with just 150 ft. of vertical.
Mount Mansfield seen from Beartown
Jay Peak seen from Beartown
I had a great time skiing at Beartown today and I managed to beat the rain. When I arrived home, the rain started falling and I was happy with my choices to head there and do so early in the morning. I’m likely not skiing tomorrow so my next post will be on New Year’s Eve. I’m planning to ski at Smuggler’s Notch after work that day.
- Lincoln
View of Beartown Ski Area from the parking lot