Shawnee

I had not made a trip up to Shawnee Mountain for a handful of ski seasons and I was wondering if it was going to be as fun as I remembered it being when I was younger. I was not disappointed.

Billboard advertisements for Shawnee on the way up there say "Beginner Friendly!"

This should definitely not deter those skiers and riders who are looking for a bit of a challenge. This mountains got something for every level of rider. It's got those long shallow runs for when you need something mellow. It's got the big steep bombs for when you want some excitement.

I visited in late February and the grooming was great. Even though there had not been a significant snowfall for at least a couple of weeks, there was plenty of freshly groomed snow to kick around and the ice was almost not a factor at all.

Here's one of those beginner trails.

I was fortunate enough to be able to ski two days; Sunday and Monday. And the while the crowds weren't awful on Sunday, Monday was like having the mountain all to myself. I always encourage people to try to ski during the week instead of on the weekends but here the difference in the crowd was especially noticeable.

One of my biggest complaints about this mountain was the terrain park. Their main park has got so much potential to be one of those all day, over-and-over again runs, but it was ruined for me by the lack of proper maintenance.




Many of the features were borderline unusable. There was one C-box in particular that looked like it was just placed in the snow and left there. Many of the boxes were also very sticky.


See those jumps in that picture? They look inviting don't they? Too bad they're built exclusively for children.

What I mean by this is that you can not hit them at speed.

I mean obviously, you can.

But, the problem is that they rocket you straight up into the air and you land nearly on flat. There's no slope to the landing so if you try to go big you're just going to be punishing your legs all day.

See what I mean? There's not really any knuckle to clear, you just kind of eat the landing.

I don't want to come across as overly negative about this terrain park, It did have some nice features to offer, like the awesome three-way Atari box pictured below. But for the most part it was very underwhelming.

I do love the Shawnee lodge. It's very warm and cozy feeling. The food of course is terrible, so I am once again going to advise that you pack a lunch.

Shawnee is a fun place to ski. Once I got over the fact that the terrain park was basically a bust, I had a great time on the rest of the trails. There's plenty of opportunities to dip and duck through the woods alongside the trails, and there's enough variety to keep even the most experienced skiers on their toes. Trust me, you won't get bored.