| Great skiing, bargain lift tickets, a terrain park and no crowds. What's not
to love about Shawnee Peak?
Shawnee Peak sits in the
middle of a number of populated areas. Yet if you talk to skiers from around the
area, many of them say “Oh, I’ve never skied there,” or “Gee, I haven’t been
there for years!”
It seems that for this family-owned mainstay, familiarity can breed
forgetfulness. And that's unfortunate because Shawnee Peak has a lot going for
it. It's relaxed, convenient, inexpensive, well-groomed -- and offers enough
terrain to keep novices, intermediates and experts happy.
I skied there (for the first time in a decade) on a recent gorgeous Sunday. I
had roughly the same conversation with three different people from
Massachusetts, three different times up the lift. Basically it went:
“You know, it’s easy to get to, there’s lots to do around the area, and it’s
never busy!” I can vouch for that. I never waited more than two minutes in a lift line
on a weekend. Other friends were at bigger name
mountains, and they all faced huge crowds.
So why is Shawnee Peak so forgotten? They don’t advertise a lot. They aren’t
a destination resort. And it's not a “big” mountain. Now, here’s the good news:
The
skiing (and riding) are great.
Conditions and grooming were excellent the day I visited, particularly
considering that we’d had rain and then a hard freeze the evening before. As for
the trails, I was pleasantly surprised. More than 40 trails offer a good range
of steeps, bumps, twisties, and wide groomers.
No, you don’t have 3,000 feet of
vertical. But you get onto a chair at the main lodge, and it deposits you at the
top, allowing you to take full advantage of the vertical without a lot of work
to get there. With 98% snowmaking, more of the terrain is open than on many
larger mountains. I had a
blast, and wasn’t bored in the slightest.
Now, when you take a mountain that’s been around forever (the longest
operating area in Maine), with modest services and little money spent on
advertising, the result is low operating costs. Low operating
costs translate into low ticket prices. Shawnee’s highest life ticket is $47 for weekends,
way
below most mountains. Even the food in the cafeteria is
cheaper than the fare at other ski areas.
It's almost impossible not to find a discount deal on lift tickets.
For instance, the online price for this coming Sunday is $35. How about night
skiing (19 trails, well lit, a total blast) on Monday for $12? Or, show up on
Monday morning with your SUV filled with as many people as you can cram
in (legally) for $59. There are discounts on other days, as well. Go to
Shawnee's website for the details.
For a fun/dollar ratio at a ski area that’s easy to reach, is within range of
shopping areas like Portland and North Conway, doesn’t make you wait forever in
lift lines, and has some great trails, Shawnee Peak is hard to beat.
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