Where to Ski: Crotched Mountain

Crotched Mountain in southern New Hampshire’s Bennington is a killer little ski area, just about an hour and a half from Boston, Massachusetts A well-built terrain park, good pitch, night skiing and the spacious industrial-like lodge make Crotched an all-around, really good time. When asked where to ski, I recommend Crotched Mountain.

There are a few things about Crotched that draw me to it on a regular basis. The first is Midnight Madness. For six weekends strait Crotched is open on Fridays and Saturdays until 3 a.m. Relaxed lefties, tunes, and a big bonfire make up the whole experience. I can’t say I have ever made it 'til three in the morning but some die hards do. 

The other thing I like about Crotched is its interesting history of two separate ski areas joining together through an investment purchase. In the mid to late sixties the two areas, Crotched and Onset/Bobcat, operated separately until 1980 when the purchase joined the two areas together. Unfortunately the area faced financial issues and did not open for the ’90-’91 season. This dormant pattern continued until Peak Resorts reopened the Western Peak for the 2003 season. It’s refreshing to see a dead ski area revived and neat to be part of the area's new history. This season Crotched acquired a high-speed quad chair from Attitash ski area, which has resulted in the ability to re-open the peak of Crotched.

How to ski Crotched Mountain:

It's not a big place at all, but Crotched offers a great bang for your buck. Pluto’s Plunge is the black diamond lift line, top to bottom run, great for letting the skis or board run, let ‘er rip! The race/training trail is skier's right of Pluto’s appropriately named Meteor. Meteor is a nice consistent blue trail with a slightly offset fall line but super fun.

Crotched does a really nice job with their park set up, dedicating the entire run under Valley lift to freestyle terrain as well as the lower portion of Velocity which is the dedicated “progression park” area.

Due to the quaint size of crotched, this place yearns to be learned on. Bring your newbie college buddy for comedic relief or enroll the kids in ski school, either way this place is great for learning to ski or ride.

The lodge is not your typical mountainside structure. It looks more like a warehouse from the outside with its all-natural, aluminum siding. Who cares, it's new, it's clean, provides plenty of space and they have a bar. 

Be conscientious of your rate of vehicular operation when headed to and from the hill, the Francistown 5-0's love handing out speeding tickets. 

historical information from www.newenglandskihistory.com