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Backcountry Skiing Comes East, to Where it Started

By Michael Frank on February 19th, 2013

Backcountry_EastIt’s hardly the Wasatch or Teton Pass, but backcountry skiing in the East has history at least as old as venerable western spots. In the 1930s Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps cut hundreds of trails, some of them for skiing, including the Thunderbolt, a slash down Massachusetts’s Mount Greylock that even today is steep and scary to ski. Trails like Thunderbolt are coming back into use thanks to the continent-wide backcountry revolution. You can legally skin up the back of Stowe, in Vermont, and of course Mt. Washington is famous for Tuckerman Ravine, but beyond Tucks there are lesser lights in the White Mountains that are just as rewarding. And so many of these lines are empty of boot-pack lines precisely because this isn’t the Tetons and most Eastern skiers don’t see the adventure (and the history) in their own backyards. Via New York Times.

Read more stories like this at Adventure Journal.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 19th, 2013 at 11:00 am and is filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “Backcountry Skiing Comes East, to Where it Started”

  1. Ben February 19th, 2013 at 11:22 am

    Great snow and lots of talent in the east too

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ndBRKixtEU

  2. Nick February 19th, 2013 at 1:24 pm

    These trails are historic…and well-known. Not uncommon to see headlamps on top of Mansfield immediately after a fresh storm to lay first tracks on Bruce or Teardrop at 4am before work. The backcountry skiing throughout New England is occasionally pure magic; it is always an adventure.

  3. Doan February 19th, 2013 at 3:01 pm

    Mt Mousilauke as well… I skinned up 20 years ago with my Norweigian Elkhound.. lucky to see moose on my descent..