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March 2004
Review
The biggest advantage of Mount Sunapee over other New Hampshire ski resorts is accessibility from
the Boston metropolitan area. No matter where you live around Boston,
it is less than two hours one way provided that the traffic is OK.
Mount Sunapee is located in southern New Hampshire in contrast
to many other major ski resorts located in the central New Hampshire,
in the White Mountain region. Therefore, it is usually a little bit warmer
at Sunapee than at the other ski resorts, which may be good or bad depending on the weather.
During bitter cold time like January 2004, it is a definite advantage whereas this location
is a prerequisite for icier conditions on warmer winters.
Now, the second advantage of Mount Sunapee is excellent grooming.
This better grooming compensates for potentially icier weather conditions.
I happened to notice several times that there is less ice on Sunapee than
on other ski resorts north of it and eleveated higher than Sunapee.
The views from the top are picturesque mainly due to a lake close to the base.
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Unfortunately, there are disadvantages too. The first of them is, of course,
the crowds, which come in a package with the best accesibility.
Mount Sunapee has one hi-speed quad that helps to move the crowd but
it is not enough on weekends with good weather. I actually found out that
Seabowl Quad and North Peak Triple are often a better choice because
the crowd is less there.
The terrain is not really challenging. Many trails marked blue are like greens,
and blacks fit more the blue profile. Sunapee basically has one double black - Goosebumps.
The other double blacks are tree areas and moguls. The matter of fact is that
Goosebumps barely makes the single black grade.
Mount Sunapee is a favorite place for all kinds of competitions.
It means that one of the best trails - Lynx - is not available to the public on these days.
And it happens on too many weekends throughout the winter.
If you plan to stay Saturday night around Sunapee, be prepared to book a second night
too because the policy of most of the hotels in the area is to disallow booking
Saturday night only during the skiing season. Because of this restriction,
I opt to keep Sunapee for one-day trips. Overall, Sunapee is a great destination
for one-day skiing trips.
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