Wow. Simply wow. I fell in love with Bromley again. I had last been here in the 1973-74 timeframe when the resort was owned by one of the Pabst beer owners and they had a double double lift and a whole bunch of J-bars. Yes I'm getting old..... Well - when I came here over 40 years ago, Bromley was already one of the historic mountains where the sport of skiing was born. A few years later, it was one of the first ski areas in the country to allow snowboarding. It is historic, it is quaint, it is definitely New England. As if that wasn't granola enough, and to make it even more interesting, the Long Trail and the Appalachian Trail go over the mountain with its amazing views. Although the buildings show their age, I hope they're not just replaced as the character of the mountain and the buildings match. It is beautiful.
Coming over to Bromley today is sheer pleasure. One of the very few mountains facing South. So on an uber frosty New England bluebird morning, when even groomed slopes achieve the consistency of furrowed steel, Bromley gets from frosty to powdery in a couple of hours after the sun comes up.
Arriving here is easy, the lodge and the slopes are a few feet from the highway. Enter a circular driveway, meet some friendly Ambassadors who will assist in the offload of equipment and bags, and proceed on a driveway and an underpass under the highway to the parking lot, plentiful parking and a bus/truck to bring you back to the lodge. Get your stuff, buy your tickets and then go into the fireplace-centerpieced lodge that has access to everything, from rentals to cafeteria to shops under one roof. I found the staff to be specially congenial and knowledgeable.
Once in the lodge, there are plenty of cubicle stands around the walls to store your gear. Nothing drives me up a wall more than people commandeering tables in a ski lodge, leaving their junk under a dining table - some times even ON the table, then going skiing, and creating an abominable chaos by preventing people from even sitting down as chairs and benches don't fit under the table, much less people's feet. Fortunately, Bromley minimizes the problem although when we came back to the lodge for lunch, inconsiderate people were doing just that. Which I blame not as much on the people but on a resort's careless management.
Enough of my number one pet peeve. Once you don your gear, walk just a few steps to skier's left to the Sun Quad or for beginners, to the East Mountain fixed double chair. The latter one accesses only beginner trails and keeps novices safe from out-of-control skiers and boarders. The former, the Sun Express Quad, whisks you up to the very top at 3,284 feet, a 1.300-foot vertical, quite respectable, and in addition, affording some of the most amazing scenic views in New England - you can see from New York State, halfway through New Hampshire, and many miles into Massachusetts. On a sunny day, anyone MUST bring a camera or smartphone and take some pictures.
As we were unsure of the conditions that seemed from downright icy to groomed, we began our day on the long Green cruiser, Runaround, to Upper and Lower Thruway. We found this first run deliciously groomed, and returned to the Sun Express to take some of the runs off the Twister run, also well groomed and well snow covered. Once we skied several of these superb runs as the snow was softening up under the bright south sun, we moved to the Blue Ribbon Quad, a fixed quad serving primarily Black Diamond terrain. There were numerous Black Diamonds, all in good to excellent conditions. Overall, a superb, refreshing, high-energy day.
One item worth taking to Bromley on a bluebird day... I didn't think I would need it. DO take sunscreen. Or else be ready with a good supply of sunburn lotion at home and be prepared to look like a raccoon for a couple or weeks.
We'll definitely be back. read more