Sking West Side of Mt Washington Via Cog Railway

[skicdave]

Just reading about plans to provide skier access to Mt Washington via the Cog Railway. No not Tucks (thankfully) but rather a trail to be cut near the Cog Railway to provide skiing on the Western slopes of Mt Washington within the Cog Railway property beginning in 2005 by the sounds of it. This project is being undertaken by the Cog Railway owners. The skiing terrain will be more on the intermediate side.

http://timefortuckerman.com/gifs/snowtrain.jpg

Find out more here (http://www.unionleader.com/articles_show.html?article=18905)

Check out pictures of the Snow Trains (http://www.cog-railway.com/03snotrains.htm) taken in March 2003.

What does everyone think about this?

[riverc0il]

cog railway owners also own mount washington resort and bretton woods. it should provide them ample advertizing to drum up business. "now even intermediate skiers can say they've skied mount washington! groomed no less!"

i personally think big george is already way over developed. while i'm not saying i'd prefer the mountain o'natural, it's gettin a bit excessive. a ski trail via the cog just seems wrong, but it's private property so it's 100% legal and legit.

fortunately, the old ruling on not allowing the cog to go to the summit for skiing stands, and will continue to stand so we won't need to worry about that.

[<Jerm>]

The plan is to only operate the trains to Waumbek Tank, which is well below treeline. If the trains run late enough, they could theoretically be used to access skiing in Ammonosuc and Burt Ravines, but both cases would require a 1000 vertical foot hike and sound knowledge of avalanche terrain, since these areas will vary quite a bit from the other side of the hill.

The patrolled terrain will just be the swath either side of the tracks, which is pretty mild intermediate level stuff.

I'm luke warm on the idea. If they are planning to cut new ski trails down from Waumbek Tank I'm opposed to it. But any plan to get rid of the coal fired engines is a good idea, they severely pollute that area of the moutnain, as anyone who has ever hiked over to Great Gulf can attest. It would also make it easier to accesss eeh trailheads on that side of the mountain in early spring/late winter, since the base road has historically not opened until the crews need to get into Marshfield Station.

[skicdave]

Sounds like the Cog Railway only owns 50ft on either side of the tracks. I'd opt for one side groomed, one side top to bottom moguls :)

The Waumbek Tank is located at 3,800ft. Base of the cog is about 2,550ft. So that would offer about 1,250 ft vertical of skiable terrain.

Apparently by next year the cog trains will be refitted to burn heating old instead of coal which should reduce the environmental impact. I've been hiking past the cog in the summer when its gone by on a windy day. You do NOT want to get caught in that black smoke! :eek: :confused: :mad: :(

http://www.mountwashington.com/cog/route/pictures/waumbek-tank.jpg