Okemo
You don’t really have to worry about unskiable black diamonds at Okemo: the entire mountain qualifies as intermediate in my book. Okemo’s idea of a difficult trail is to let it go ungroomed and thereby grow a field of moguls. But even on those trails there’s generally a groomed corridor down the side. This is truly a “family” mountain, with no dangerous steps, and lots of signs saying things like “Slow Down” and “No Jumping.” It’s the kind of place where mothers feel safe letting their 10-year-olds go off by themselves.
I skied Okemo at the most family of times—midweek during presidents’ Week vacation—and I got to see first-hand how experts move battalions of skiers up and around a mountain. The key, was lots of machine made snow; all the slopes were open, which meant that skiers could spread our evenly across a wide area. Also, the two quad chairs at the bottom of the mountain quickly moved people to a place where they could ski to three other lifts, including the superfast Northstart Express detachable quad. I also noticed, first with irritation but then with growing admiration, that the snow near the lifts was left purposefully ungroomed, There by decreasing the velocity of all those eager kids zooming in for another run.
The entire mountain really qualifies as intermediate, so it was difficult to pick favorite runs. The trails are packed closely together, so sometimes I set out for one trail (say, Jolly Green Giant) and ended up on another (timberline or Sapphire). All are skiable for intermediates, and all lead eventually to the bottom, so there was no problem in taking a wrong turn.
Dream Weaver, a winding dipping trail at the top of the south Face Quad, a far distance from the base lodge, and Nor’Esater, a long, wide, straight shot reachable from the summit Lodge but not directly under a chairlift where jeering pre-teens might make fun of the falls. In 1996. A new series of trails will open near solitude Village, at the complete opposite side of the mountain from the South Face area. Word is that condos at solitude are selling fast. Ludlow 802-228-5222 ● 800-78-OKEMO/802-228-4041.
Visual source: aacexchange
