Tenney Mountain, NH - March 25, 2018

With an opening in the schedule this weekend, and opportunity knocking at the door, I decided to answer the door and take off for the day to Tenney Mountain. This trip had been in the making for sometime now. Had I not gone, I would have to have waited until next season. Tenney Mountain had been closed since 2010 and has recently reopened, albeit it a limited phase for this year, made possible by the hard work of a group of individuals lovingly known as "Team Tenney" lead by Michael Bouchard. With the mountain being closed for roughly 8 years, a ton of work has been done just to get part of the mountain and the double chairlift known as the Hornet operating again. Trails had to be reclaimed from Mother Nature's growth and there are a lot more trails that still need work just to be skiable again. What was open today, and since early March, was the fruit of hard labour of the Team these past couple of years. Some trails were cut back just wide enough to reopen them with more work to be done to have them back to their original width. The conditions today were really good considering the mountain has opened on natural snow alone. At the higher elevations, there is surprisingly quite a bit of snow even in the woods remaining. Down at the lower elevations, spring is starting to show with some bare patches with a touch of ice, but still skiable. Groomed packed powder at the top on a nice forgiving base that softened just a touch later on in morning sun, with spring like conditions below, on a soft base. The Hornet double chair was the lift option today.

Services in the chalet at the moment are limited for bathroom breaks, a place to sit down, or to have lunch. You would need to brown bag it for now. There was also a food truck service out front for those interested in something warm. I departed Sherbrooke at 6:15 and arrived at the mountain at around 8:45 or so, and was warmly greeted by the parking lot crew. The sun was out and the temperature was starting to warm up. A beautiful day discover this once lost gem. 

The Hornet Chair and the trail of the same name, the Hornet:

I took it easy and didn't ski aggressively today as being new to this mountain and had never skied here before, I wanted to be sure of everything and to be attentive to where I was going or wanted to go. Studying the trails and looking for exits over to other trails should I want to avoid anything that was a bit too much for my ability. There are no "super highways" here that one might find at other mountains. The trails here are a bit narrower but still plenty of room to turn. Some, like I mentioned, are just wide enough to pass because of the overgrowth from years past.

One thing I noticed right away about this mountain was how friendly everyone was! The parking lot crew, the lifties, and even the other skiers themselves who where there would strike up a conversation with you asking how your day was going, how are the conditions, where are you from. You really felt welcomed here. 

I ended the day at noon as I am not used to skiing nice soft natural snow trails and some spring conditions, that required a little more effort. I must say I really enjoyed discovering Tenney even in its limited stage. Sure there is still brush to be cut, trails still need some work and smoothing out, and some trails that need to be completely recut, but it is what it is. The beginning of reclaiming something that had been lost for sometime, and of course it is not 100% at the moment. It's the first phase in Tenney's rebirth and there is a lot more work to be done to bring the mountain back to her former glory and getting the second lift, a triple chair named the Eclipse, back up and spinning to open another sector of the mountain. All this hard work is not going to get completed overnight, but I know the Team is committed in getten 'er done! I can't wait until next season to check up on the progress. Even though I am not from their area, thank you Michael Bouchard and your team for reopening Tenney Mountain. 

You can follow Tenney Mountain on their Facebook page and visit their website: www.skitenney.com 

Here are a few more scenes from the day:

The ticket booth known as the "Witches Hut" for the shape of the building:

The view from Tenney is pretty nice as well: