is it ski season yet?

I only went skiing for the first time last year. Growing up in Tennessee didn't really offer that many chances to hit the slopes - though I did waterski for a few summers. Even after I moved up to Boston I never went because, lets be real, what college kid has the funds to ski all that often. Between renting all the gear I don't have and the pass itself, its usually over 100 dollars per trip. BUT THEN...we discovered Crotched Mountain in New Hampshire.







Y'all, I love being a student. So many places have that golden student discount. And that includes Crotched Mountain... its the most affordable ski trip I've ever come across. Its not entirely worth it for someone like me to get a season pass - I don't know that I would have time to go often enough to warrant spending $300, even for the whole season. But at Crotched, its not absurd to just pay by the trip. And here's why: Friday night is "College Night", and with a current student ID you can ski from 5 in the evening until - get this - 3 o'clock in the morning. The pass is only $39, and it only costs $35 to rent ALL the gear you'd need (skis/board, boots, helment and poles). So total, its only $74 to ski for 10 hours. Not too shabby.

Its a small mountain, so perfect if you're a first-timer like I was. Still, there are a ton of different routes down the mountain at every difficulty level, so even my friends that were more seasoned skiers and boarders were able to find routes that were challenging and fun. And night skiing is a blast. At the risk of sounding antisocial, it was so cool to have an entire route to myself - especially as a new skier. I was glad to have a little bit of privacy the first few times I went down the mountain...I had quite a spectacular fall the first time I went down the green route - the one on the far right of the image, right by that first curve, if you were wondering.

So if, like me, you're getting antsy for ski season, Crotched Mountain is a great place to go and dust off the cobwebs. Besides, night skiing = the shit.