Attitash Bear Peak, NH (1/5 and 1/6)

[Jerry]

Went to ABP this past weekend for my first tracks of the new season. It's kinda scary how different this January is from last year. This time last year, ABP had everything open with great snow. This year, the coverage is way down. Attitash had a good number of runs open, but Bear Peak only had Morning Star, Upper Kachina into Myth Maker and Illusion open. By the end of the day on both Saturday and Sunday, there were some rocks starting to poke through in spots and you had to pay attention to the bare spots to avoid thrashing your skis. The staff tried to keep up with markers, but sometimes I would find a rock before they did. Thad's Choice was open on Sunday, but it was just a wide open trail, the terrain park was completely non-existant. They are planning to have a competition this coming weekend, so I guess they are planning to put the park together this week. The halfpipe was not even close to open. They need significant snowmaking and shaping to open it and with the supposed focus on the park, it will probably be a while before the halfpipe is open. Over on Bear Peak, they are probably going to add Wandering Skis by this weekend and the double black Avenger will probably be the next to follow. On Sunday, they had a major power problem on Attitash and had to shut down all of the lifts for about an hour or two. The Bear Peak lifts were still open, but with only three trails, we decided to take lunch. Overall, not ideal conditions, but it seems like ABP is on the cusp of achieving its potential in the next two weeks. With a foot of new snow from Mutha Nature this past Monday morning, the rock problems on the open trails are likely a thing of the past. Now it's just a matter of getting all of their trails open. Don't expect any glades to be open anytime soon though, but the trails that have snow making on them should be super sweet pretty soon. Also, as an interesting side note, somebody in management has decided that ABP needs to be a kinder, friendlier place, so all of the lifties punctuate every load opportunity with a "Hey, how are things going today?" Seems rather pleasant the first time you approach a lift, but by the end of the day, it seems to become kinda shallow. I.e. "I was just here 10 minutes ago to ride this lift. You asked me that same question last time I was here and the previous 6 times that I've ridden this lift today. Each time, I said I was 'fine'. Don't you know how I am by now? Quit asking me, dammit!!!" Like I said, seems nice, but becomes more irritating after the first 20 times. Should be heading back up this weekend, so I'll let you know how much the conditions have improved.