Best small ski areas debate

I started skiing in the early 80's, mostly day trips to the Catskills: Hunter, Windham, Belleayre and Plattekill. I'm back here visiting the Hudson valley and took a drive north along the east side of the river and crossed over at Poughkeepsie. We drove south and came around a bend in the road near the aptly named Storm King mountain and look across a small valley to see a running chairlift and skiers carving down an open slope. Until today I never knew this existed - www.westpointmwr.com/ACTIVITY/SKI/index.HTM - it turns out West Point has it's own ski hill. 500 ft. of vertical, a triple chair, you do need to be active or retired military, a DOD civilian employee or a family member or guest. A truly covert ski operation.

Without a doubt, my fondest experience of a small "mom and pop" resort has to be Mt. Auroa Skiland in Fairbanks, Alaska!. Here is the trip report I posted on snowboardingforum.com:


I love this place and the folks who run it are the best!!!!!



On my Alaska trip, I drove the 330 miles from Anchorage up to Fairbanks to shred at the farthest north ski area on the North American continent. Fairbanks, is in the heart of the great Alaskan interior, sitting in a huge valley between the Brooks Range in the far north and the great Alaska Range to the south. The Alaska Range is a massive and impressive range of mountains with giants that reach the 14,000 foot level starting from about 500 feet. The crown jewl of this range of course is Mt. McKinley which rises to over 20,000 feet and is North America`s tallest mountain. On a clear day, you can see this giant from Fairbanks, 150 miles away. Fairbanks is Alaska`s cold spot, reaching -50 F easily and -40 F is common in Jan and Feb. The surrounding hills give Fairbanks a "New England" look with interspeserd Sitka Spruce and Birch trees. Inversions are common and in the hills above Fairbanks, the temperature can be 30 degrees warmer than in town.

North east of Fairbanks, the Steese Highway winds up over the hills to Cleary Summit on it`s way to Circle, Alaska. Shortly out of town, the Dalton Highway veers off to the north, toward Livengood and the North Slope where Prudhoe Bay lies some 465 miles via gravel road. At the 20.5 mile marker at the top of Cleary Summit, a turn to the right on Fairbanks Creek Road, will take you to Mt. Aurora Skiland. This wonderfull ski area sits at the top of a north facing valley into a creek drainage. A giant U shaped ridge with a cat track, makes for nearly a 180 degree bowl with a variety of runs that funnel down into the main creek drainage where the bottom of the single chairlift waits to haul the rider back to the top. The runs are surprisingly steep and offer some fine riding. There are ample off piste tree runs through Sitka Spruce and tall Birch trees. The western fork of the main drainage, called Tucker Road has a lot of gullies and fun hits to do natural freestyle tricks on. Willie`s Way and Walrus are the runs on this side for lovers of the steeps. I found them to be very nice runs. For a long run, one can ride the cat track called Cleary City over to Tamarack; this is very gentle, yet pleasant ride through the quiet Sitka Spruce forest with a real treat of a nice long blue run down Tamarack.

By far, the most chalenging and fun runs are access from the east side off of Jane`s Joy and Speninle Bahn. Runs like Madness, Mama Bear and Bob`s Bomb are a real rush in good snow conditions. The best Birch tree runs can be found by going off piste between Big Dippr and Binkley`s Bowl. A word of caution; if you travers north past Binkley`s Bowl to run down Big Dipper or White Alice, you will have a short (100 yards no more) walk back to the chairlift at the bottom. It is well worth it as these runs are very nice and have some of the larger trees.

The chairlift is an old but sturdy and reliable Silver Star double chair powered by a diesel engine. The day lodge is a cozy building overlooking the entire valley and the endless rolling hills and mountains to the north. There are huge windows and a gas freestanding fireplace to warm up by. Skiland offeres rental equipment, lessons and is patroled by Fairbanks Ski Patrol. The additional feature of Mt. Auroa is at night they have Aurora viewing from this lodge where visitors can view and photograph spectacular Northern Lights from the warmth and comfort of this building. Hot drinks are served and the cost is a reasonable $25 for a night of Auroa viewing. The owners of Skiland also run the nearby bed and breakfast called the Fairbanks Creek Lodge. This is the most charming, warm and friendly inn I have ever experienced. It is actually and old dormitory from the gold rush days, housing miners. The upper story contains small rustic rooms with shared adjoining bathrooms. Downstairs is a mess hall style eating area and warm comfortable sitting area with big screen TV and cable.

Every morning a huge, delicious breakfast is served buffet style with Saturady and Sunday brunch that will stuff you. This lodge is less than 5 mins away from the slopes and is accessed off the same Fairbanks Creek Road, but bear right imediately after making the turn off of the Steese Highway and follow it about 1 mile to the left hand driveway. For really cold nights, they offer plug ins for you car.

The owners of the lodge and ski area, are just top notch folks who go the extra mile to accomodate their guests. If you ever get the opportunity to go to Fairbanks in the winter, it is well worth taking the time to go ride at the farthest north ski area in North America. Check the online recorded condition report. When the temperatures drop well below the -20 F they do not operate due to lack of customers willing to ski and ride in those conditions. It was -14 F when I rode there and it really was not that bad since it is a dry calm cold. Traditionally Mt. Auroa Ski Land is only open on weekends and holidays.


Mt Aurora Ski Land Fairbanks, Alaska.

View from the lodge


The Chairlift








East rim from the lift


West rim from the lift


Sunset at 2:30 PM from Willie`s Way


Sunset from Lodge looking north at endless rolling hills


A perfect end to a great day of shredding the Arctic


For more information and trail maps, goto the official website of Mt. Auroa Ski Land and the Fairbanks Creek Lodge:

Mt. Aurora Skiland - The Farthest North Downhill Ski Area in North America!

Mount Aurora Fairbanks Creek Lodge

To show how "size doesn't matter", my buddy who grew up in the west Denver foothills just got back from Bluewood and declared it "One of my top 5 best lift-served days EVER".

One diesel powered chair, only 1150 vert, and truly some the most amazing tree skiing in the state. That place is magical on weeks like the last two.

Here's my most memorable small area:

Antillanca, Chile.

Sits above a rain forest.  Right next to Volcan Casablanca.  Untracked pow off the Haique t-bar all day long.  Lifts run when the employees rub the pisco out of their eyes.  Terra obscura for sure.

Here's my most memorable small area:

Antillanca, Chile.

Sits above a rain forest.  Right next to Volcan Casablanca.  Untracked pow off the Haique t-bar all day long.  Lifts run when the employees rub the pisco out of their eyes.  Terra obscura for sure.

In August 2007, Jill and I spent the evening at Termas Aquas Calientes in an A-frame.  We were planning to drive to Antillanca in the morning to ski.  We awoke to about  25cm new snow overnight and were excited about a powder day. Unfortunately, our rental car that we had from Bariloche provided chains but they did not fit our vehicle.    We started driving the 18km gravel road that had a single set of tracks and after 5km, the snow was getting deeper and we knew we would get stuck  so we turned around and headed for Pucon to ski Volcan Villarrica.  Glad to hear about the enjoyable experience you had at Antillanca. 

++LoupLoup

Another couple of areas I really enjoyed in the nineties were Mt. Waterman and Mt Baldy above L.A.

Baldy is less than an hour from 10 million people yet still somehow managed to maintain a small mountain with no corporate crap like most of the Big Bear and Wrightwood resorts in SoCa. The first chair is usually just an access chair unless the snowline gets really low. There are many years Baldy never opens at all - it's probably this risky business climate that preserves the small mountain vibe. The Thunder Mountain (lookers right) chair has the best runs; great tree runs and surprisingly steep. On  a clear day, amazing views of 8500' of relief, to the desert and the sea. Great spring area if the snow holds up (or think 'spring in February...').

Waterman is even smaller and even more sporadic to operate.