Bear Notch Ski Touring Center

Date: January 2023
Category: Skiing > Front Country Skiing
Type: Post

January 22, 2023

Emilie Phillips

It is late January, and it finally snowed in New Hampshire. Tyson and I were both still feeling listless from covid, so we were trying to motivate ourselves for a short local ski. Then Sarah and Mike invited us north to better snow and to come try the Bear Notch Ski Touring Center for the first time. There isn’t much of a lodge, but there seems to be plenty of terrain. We only explored a small fraction of the green trails. They have plenty of blues and blacks going up the hill. We stayed down by the Saco River. We skied from mid morning until early afternoon and covered 4 miles. My favorite part was the view of Hart Ledge across the snowy Saco. The slow pace was good for everyone. Sarah’s parents came out. Little Lena is just trying out strap-on skis. She had some fun shuffling, but then she really had fun when we taught her to sit on the front of the pulk, guiding her skis. Isaac and Fenton found steep slopes and skiable boulders where they could (some of us adults tried the runs too). And the slow speed and distance were just right for Tyson and I.

The complete set of photos is TBD. We had another snow storm come through New Hampshire right afterwards. It dumped almost of foot of slushy snow on our area and knocked out power for a day and a half. So we were busy with trying to get the generator to run, snowblowing, and all that fun. And now I am off at an engrossing multi-day work event.