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Downhill SkiingThe Thrill of skiing around Lake Winnipesaukee.....
Downhill skiing is so exhilarating. What's really great is when it's so close to home. You can sneak in a few hours of skiing here and there. But, for the most part our family is just like anyone else's. Very busy, with little time for skiing between the other activities. When you do have the time or are here on a vacation, downhill skiing is a great way to spend the day. This is a sport you can do by yourself or with your family. If you've never tried skiing before, Gunstock is a great place to learn. The smart thing is to get one of the rent/lesson packages. Gunstock will even guarantee to get you to a certain level of downhill skiing or snowboarding with their " Mountain Magic " ski program that includes equipment and several lessons in a very reasonable package. You don't even have to to use the lessons in consecutive days, you can spread them out over time and practice in between. If you like it, then you might want to buy your own equipment.
The Essentials of Ski Equipment For downhill skiing,you'll need skis and bindings, ski poles and ski boots. You definitely
need goggles. Goggles help cut the glare plus they keep the wind off of
your face. A helmet is recommended. It's a safety factor. New
skiers tend to fall a lot. A helmet will protect your head from any
injury. To keep warm, you'll also need warm gloves or mittens, coat, neck
gator, ski or snow pants.
Snowboard Equipment If you're snowboarding, you'll probably get pretty warm with all the movement. You definitely need some type of waterproof pants because you'll be sitting on the snow quite a lot. You should have a jacket that you can move freely in, some gloves, goggles and a helmet. The snowboard equipment is a snowboard, snowboard boots and bindings. You don't use poles for this sliding sport.
My Experiences When I was growing up, I didn't know anything about downhill skiing and didn't really care about it. I took a couple of learn-to-ski classes in college and promptly forgot everything as I didn't use it. About six years later, I got the downhill skiing bug. I took lessons, found discount passes to every possible ski area in New England. I just went downhill skiing everywhere. Nothing kept me away from a slope. Not even if it was too difficult.
Then I met my husband, Dave. We skied everywhere together. But he turned my careless skiing around and taught me technique. Now I have more sense when picking the slopes I ski down. Did I mention that Dave proposed to me at the top of a ski mountain? We have our favorite ski areas and luckily one of them is in the Lake Winnipesaukee area. Gunstock Mountain!
Ski Mountain Gunstock is close by to everywhere around Lake Winnipesaukee. There's
lodging, dining, shopping and other leisure activities all within a short
distance. So far, we've found that Gunstock has some of the best snowmaking in the state. If there isn't snow in your backyard, you can find it on the slopes of Gunstock - in the winter, of course! We bring our whole family downhill skiing. It's fun to watch how they progress over the years. When the kids are really young, there's daycare available. Or you can do what we did. One of us skis and the other watches kids. When our oldest daughter learned how to ski, she went with Dad. I spent a lot of time with my youngest in the lodge coloring. Then, when she learned to ski, the action picked up. We got to go up and down the "Magic Carpet." The kids love it! If your kids are like mine, then you'll find that's where they want to be. After the "Magic Carpet", we progressed to "Gunsmoke." This is an easy slope for beginners. It would take about 45 minutes to get down. When it takes about 10 minutes normally. But the girls learned. Now, we can ski most of the mountain. My favorite trails are "Trigger" and "Red Hat." Dave likes the more challenging "Tiger" trail. We've noticed that both of our girls like to ski "in the woods." These little cut throughs on the side of the trail are fun and require some agility to get around the couple of trees. With the few years experience and the growing they've done, both girls can now go on the beginner chairlift by themselves.
Ski Programs What's also great about Gunstock, is that they have an
Adaptive Ski Program.
This program is for those who have a special need for downhill skiing.
The instructors work with all sorts of special needs students. Whether you're
missing a limb or have autism, the Adaptive ski program enables the whole family
to ski. Gunstock has all sorts of other programs. The learning center teaches you how to downhill ski or snowboard. You can have a group lesson or a private lesson. Whatever works. Racing: For those who like to get down the mountain fast through gates, Gunstock has a variety of race training and racing options. They host local high school race teams as well as the national race program open to all called NASTAR. You can enroll in group race lessons and clinics through the ski school. There's also a ski club that you can sign your kids into where they will get professional level coaching with peers around their own age an skill level. The ski club has produced many top level racers over the years. The corporate ski program brings teams together sponsored by businesses throughout New England. You can put together your own team, talk your company into sponsoring a team, or you can talk your way onto an existing team. There are three levels of racers divided by ability level and each level can earn points for the team, so anyone can participate. There is celebrating, food, awards and sponsor giveaways after each race in the lodge
Fantastic Views Don't forget your camera! When you get to the top of Gunstock, there are breathtaking views of Lake Winnipesaukee and the White Mountain range. When you get off the Panorama lift at the summit, you'll see what I mean. As you start skiing down a little ways there are some great places to take a family photo with the beautiful background view.
For your aprés ski time...or should I say, when you're done for the day and want to have a "hot toddy," stop in at the "Powderkeg." It's a fun place to eat a snack, have a drink or visit with friends. Kids can come with you, too!
Other Ski Mountains There are other wonderful ski areas outside of the Lake Winnipesaukee region. The closer ones are Cannon , Loon Mountain , Ragged Mountain , Mount Sunapee and Waterville Valley . Each of those is a bit longer to drive to, but can add variety to a ski vacation. |
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