Visiting the neighbors, part II

(More blog entries from howie)

Everyone eats well at the Balsams!

A Grand Time in a Grand Resort

Every year the White Mountain Attractions Association has their annual meeting at the Balsams Grand Resort. Wearing my Mt Washington Auto Road hat I'm always more than happy to attend, go to the meeting, bond with the other attraction members then go skiing the next day. Ryan comes up for the meeting and usually to ski, and Sue always joins us for the overnight and the skiing. If you've never had the opportunity to ski or especially to stay at the Balsams you need to put this on your short list of things you simply must do. The hotel is fabulous in the grand old tradition. They currently are in the process of "updating" it to the era of the 1920s with the return of the look and feel of that era. Lots of behind the scenes work including sprinklers and that sort of thing but also some very nice color changes, carpeting and decorating. The food is world famous, the service is impecable yet without pretense and the general ambiance is perfect. What excites me the most is the beautiful cross country system that comes as part of the package. They also have a great little alpine area but that's not usually my thing except to stop in there for lunch since the Nordic trails also go to the base lodge.

So start out with a very easy climb up the Golf Course Road Trail or better yet the heart thumping Sanguinary Ridge Trail to get to Mud Pond. Stop and feed the Canada Jays who will be very entertaining and happy to see you:

On the Thursday that we got to ski, 2 to 3 inches of powder had fallen on a perfectly groomed surface making for some incredible skate skiing. Check out this short clip - Sue was smokin':

Then, since what goes down might want to come back up, here's Sue with a little V-1, a little Single Sticking and a little more V-1:

 Last year the Balsams built a new trail - cleverly called "The New Trail!!", exclamation points and all. It has one of the best screaming downhills this side of Mont Sainte Anne in Quebec. MSA is renowned in the nordic world for their long, fast downhills with safe runouts. Now the Balsams has one of the best! It's steep,... very steep, and long and a perfect, long, straight runout so you can really let 'em run. It's a beauty. Ski it counterclockwise or you'll be in for a real aerobic workout!


The Balsams - it's not just for eating anymore....

Comments

Add your comment here:

Your name:

Please enter your name as you'd like it to appear for this comment.

Subject:

Please enter a subject for your comment.

Comment:

Please enter some text for your comment.

Enter the code shown in the image:

Please enter the text you see in the box above, unless you are not a spambot. If you are a spambot, go away.

 

Re: Visiting the neighbors, part II
by nate-tron on Mar 21st 2008, 6:49 am

Awesome video clips. What did we do before You Tube? I had a great day there too in early February. I just wish it was a little closer. They better fix those roads before it's time to teach kayaking this summer!