Waterville Valley Yesterday for some nice Skiing

Monday I was able to get in my first day of skiing this season.  Things hand looked pretty good around Thanksgiving (about seven weeks ago) with some decent early snow.  But there has been no snow down here in southern New England since then, while northern ski areas were able to finally get some the last couple of weeks. For one reason or another I got a delayed start this season.  My goal for the season is 15 days, with the "minimal accepted" number being 10. Fingers crossed.

I bought my day pass at Waterville Valley ($29 midweek for seniors if bought online, at least one day prior) and packed the car the night before.  It is about an hour and 50 minute drive for me… just long enough to listen to two podcasts and sip on an insulated mug of black coffee.

There seemed to be plenty of people on the mountain and in the lodge, although I did not need to wait in line at the lifts.  I see my photos are also pretty void of skiers.

For gear I had the little Panasonic GM-5 with the tiny collapsable 12-32mm (24-64 equiv.) zoom.  I kept it in the outside chest pocket of my ski jacket for easy access. 

High temperature was about 24 degrees Fahrenheit and there was very little wind.  The battery registered as full when I got home, so I don’t think the temperature had much of an effect on the battery. And the camera worked fine. It must have picked up some body heat from me (I had 2-3 layers under my shell parka, depending on what you count as a layer) but the outside pocket allowed it to stay cool enough so that when I took it out to use, there was no fog on the lens.  Indoors, I just kept it in my pocket (except for two of the images below, both taken in the upper hut featured in the first image.)

"Come Back Soon"

One Photo: My Favorite 2017 Snowscape: "Schwendi Hutte on Mt. Tecumseh"

This composition is what you see when you get off at the top of the main ski lift at Waterville Valley Resort in New Hampshire. The elevation is 3,840 feet, just short of the 4,004 foot peak of Mt. Tecumseh. Partly out of sight to the right is a short chair lift going to the very tip-top of the mountain.  It is one of the original double chairlifts from when the mountain was opened in 1966. 

The red “hut” is my absolute favorite ski area upper lodge.  It’s called the “Schwendi Hutte“, which I am told is a made-up name.  Its sounds very alpine, doesn’t it.

"Schwendi Hutte"

Panasonic Point and Shoot "Tough" Style TS3 Camera @28mm equivalent

1/250sec, F10, ISO100, +.3EV

The view off to the left of the hutte is wonderful, the coffee served is excellent and bold enough for my taste, and the warm frosted cinnamon buns are extraordinary.  I check the Waterville website whenever I want to make a skiing day-trip , but if the hut is not open, I sometimes decide to ski elsewhere.  My normal Waterville routine is to stop at the hutte for a cup of coffee (and cinnamon bun!) at about 11am and enjoy a relaxing 30 minutes, usually finding someone interesting to talk to. I then ski until about 1:30 before going into the base lodge for lunch, thus avoiding the lunch crowd. 

I have great memories of Waterville Valley. I first skied there in 1967.  About two weeks after it closed in April that year it reopened after the top of the mountain received about 2 feet of snow (as I recall). My brother and I drive up in my dad’s 1966 (?) Volkswagon Karmann Ghia for the day. There was snow only at the elevation above the hutte, so we skied only the upper lift.  When we were done at the end of the day, we had to take the main lift back to the bottom.