Bretton Woods and The Mt. Washington Hotel

A lot of New England skiers and riders cheat themselves each ski season.

The trouble begins when they look out the window and see no snow on the ground or, worse yet, rain pouring from leaden skies, and they think to themselves: “It has to snow soon!” Then they watch the weather report on TV, and the weather prognosticator says the warmth and general lack of snow will continue.

Those thoughts somehow stick together, and it doesn’t take much for people convince to themselves that there’s no snow on the slopes and it’s not worth bothering going to the mountain with their board or skis, so they’ll wait for snow.

Wrong!

In New England, the skiing and riding is often far better than you could ever imagine if you haven’t sampled it. Day in and day out, snowmaking and grooming make New England snow conditions an almost-sure bet.

I speak from experience.

The Bretton Woods ski resort, above, and the elegant Mount Washington Hotel, below.

I’m writing this in front of a fireplace at the Mount Washington Hotel where my sweetheat Marilyn and I have been pampering ourselves while skiing nearby Bretton Woods Resort (603-278-3333; www.brettonwoods.com ) in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire.

The weather this as I write this has been mired in a long spell of mid-winter warmth and rain. And yet my thighs are pleasantly sore – OK, very sore, tomorrow morning is going to be a rough one -- from two long day of Telemarking. I can’t stop smiling.

We drove up here in a rainstorm. It absolutely poured as we made our way through the fog in Franconia Notch. Above the notch, we drove past long stretches of brown. No snow or patchy snow everywhere. Didn’t look good for skiing the next day.

Surprise, surprise, the next morning found us skiing on soft, perfectly groomed corduroy snow under sunny skies. The summit of Mount Washington was clearly visible all day long. The rain must have scared everyone away. We had the ski area almost to ourselves.

The next morning, we awoke to cloudier skies and what looked like an inch and a half of ultralight fluff. Turned out there was nearly six inches of that same fluff on top of the mountain. We were there for first tracks and had the absolute pleasure of skiing untouched powder on top of a soft, groomed corduroy base. Superb conditions!

They’ll groom tonight, so tomorrow promises more flawless corduroy

So here we are in mid-February, the days are getting longer, the sun is higher in the sky making for better light. Some folks haven’t been skiing or riding at all this year, and they’ve cheated themselves out of some great days on the slopes. Other folks have planned a ski trip during school vacation week, then they’ll hang up their skis or board for the rest of the year. These folks, too are cheating themselves.

The Scene

Bretton Woods doesn’t spend a lot of time creating terrain parks, doesn’t offer a lot of steep and gnarly trails. Instead they mainly cater to intermediates who like to comfortably cruise moderate terrain. They cover their trails with snow and groom it to perfection.

In a poor snow year like this, that attention to snowmaking and grooming pays off big time. Other areas have tougher terrain or a happening park and pipe scene, but Bretton Woods has well-tended snow that most people can appreciate.

Fuel Stop

“Dressing for dinner” at a ski resort? Absolutely! The elegant dining room at the Mount Washington requires jackets (no ties, thank Heaven) for men. Women don’t seem to need rules like that. The food and service are exquisite

If casual is more to your taste Fabyan’s Station, right across the road from Bretton Woods has light entrees and great burgers. Kids will love the toy train chugging above the dining room.