New Hampshire's White Mountain eastern slope region, though long and grueling to reach by train, is the best skiing area in the East for the car owner. Twenty-five road miles are lined with every type of skiing for every type of waxed hickory addict.
The season is long, beginning with the first snowfall on the lower trails of Washington and on the smaller foothills and in lasting until April on the headwall of Tuckerman's ravine.
Mount Cranmore in North Conway, the south-most major resort in this area, is the Plymouth rock of American skiing. Here, around Bans Snieder known as the founder of American skiing, known as the the greats of Austria and Switcherland to provide probably the best school in the United States.
Conway is populated with every type of barrel-slat boarder. Social skiers, snow bunnies, vacationers seeking their first contact with winter's great outdoors, pros, and even a few mouth-skiers who don't bother to bring skis, abound.
The mountain itself is unimpressive. Fed by a skimobile are nine trails ranging from novice to advanced-intermediate, which lead into two giant open slopes. Twice as many kiddy cars, and a new priority system on rides, whereby weekend and day skiers use different liues, is now in operation to take care of the overflow crowds.
Tuckerman Ravine on Mount Washington is the fastest and steopest skiing in the East. The headwall of Tuckerman, a cliff padded with over 200 feet of snow, has a maximum slope of above 45 degrees and is the scene of the annual Inferno races. This is strictly spring corn snow skiing, although the ravine basin and the Sherburn trail to the base of Washington are good all winter.
The Wildcat trail on Wildcat Mountain, across the road from Washington, is the forte of all schuss addicts. None of the trails in the Pinkham Notch area have tows for fear that commercializing and overcrowding will spoil them for more sincere experts.
The Cannon Mountain serial tramway serves six trails, from expert to intermediate in difficulty. In addition there are a 2000 ft. alpine lift for the upper sections of the trails and a rope tow feeding the lower trail network.
The major drawback to Cannon is that the 200-men-per-10-minutes tramway is too slow for the large weekend crowds. Fast skiers who make the run in less than 30 minutes can beat the long delay by buying tickets for a ride in advance.
Lake Placid, home of the college week winter sports jamboree, is more a tobogganing and skating hangout than a ski resort. Although Mount Marcy, White Race, and Mount Jo have the best skiing in the Adirondacks, high living expenses, slow rope tow service, and difficult transportation facilities keep skiing at a minimum in this area.