skinning newbie question

[theduke]

Hey All,

Love the board, have been a lurker for a couple years but thought the time was right to come out of the shadows. I have experience with backcountry skiing, but am new to the world of alpine touring with skins. I'm looking for some beta on a relatively easy tour that is within reasonable driving distance from Boston, just to get some practice in.

PM me with details and thanks in advance!

[BladeGirl]

Did you get any responses? The Fells is a nice place if there is snow.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middlesex_Fells_Reservation

-BG

[jshefftz]

If you want to practice with your skins (as opposed to just low-angle rolling terrain or very very short hills), the only option really is to skin up Wachusett before the lifts open, which is officially at 9:00, but typically between 8:45 and 8:50, and this past week at 8:35 (robbing me of a third earned run, grr).
Management is perfectly okay with this, but please be careful if any sort of operations are going on or vehicle scooting about.
Note that Blue Hills no longer allows this (lawsuit after some Curry College students decided to sled in the wee hours of the morning and almost killed themselves) and Nashoba has never allowed it.
For real backcountry tours, the Goodman books are a reasonable way to start.

[RR]

You could go to Magic Mountain and earn your turns. They actively encourage it on some days. Check their website (http://www.magicmtn.com/)for policy info.

[theduke]

Thanks for the responses. I wish there was enough snow around the Fells to make that happen, I dont know the weather prognosis for the remainder of March.

Wachusett and Magic sound like good options, but I'd like to take my time and not have to worry about running into patrol after the lifts start spinning.
I'm thinking of just driving up to wherever there is snow, finding a slope and getting after it. I've heard the NELSAP website is a good resource for that.

I've skimmed the Goodman books and will go over them with more detail now that my touring package is complete.

[jshefftz]

Magic allows skinning regardless of whether the lifts are running.

Two smaller hills on NELSAP you can skin up somewhat close to Boston:
-- http://www.nelsap.org/nh/waterville.html (although I recall hearing about some sort of housing development there now? or is that almost all the trails there now are more incorporated into the xc trail network and groomed?)
-- http://www.nelsap.org/ma/berksnoba.html (recently recut by the state for wildlife habitat/corridor, so way more open than in the pics, although the other trails are way more overgrown)
Most others on NELSAP are either absurdly small or very overgrown.

[RR]

Yeah J, great spots.

Snow's is part of the XC - system at Waterville Valley
but I don't know if a day pass is required for up and down on the old down-mountain trials there. A phone call to the nordic center (http://www.waterville.com/info/nordic/) office should settle that.