Nashoba Valley Ski Area

Nashoba Ski Resort
The Chief Triple Chairlift
Location	Westford, Massachusetts, US
Nearest city	Boston, Massachusetts, US
Coordinates	42°32′31.11″N 71°26′38.77″W / 42.541975°N 71.4441028°W / 42.541975; -71.4441028Coordinates: 42°32′31.11″N 71°26′38.77″W / 42.541975°N 71.4441028°W / 42.541975; -71.4441028
Vertical	240 ft [1]
Top elevation	422 ft
Base elevation	194 ft
Runs	17
Terrain parks	2
Web site	Nashoba Valley Ski Area

Nashoba Valley Ski Area is a small ski area in Westford, Massachusetts. Operating continuously since its opening in 1964, it has 17 trails including a variety of terrain. There is also a terrain park with jumps, boxes and rails, as well as a small beginner terrain park with rails. The area also features a tubing park with 16 runs served by 4 Poma handle tows, this is on the same property, but has a separate entrance on Route 119 in Littleton, Massachusetts

History

Nashoba Valley Ski Area opened for its first season in 1964. There were rope tows servicing four slopes. That season was dependent on Mother Nature for snow cover and due to a wet, warm winter, the season only lasted 14 days. The base lodge was gravel floor and heated by a pot-bellied stove and staff had to pack the snow on the slopes with shovels due to a lack of grooming machines.

In the 70's Nashoba started to expand with the purchase of the T-Bar lift in 1972, a double chair in 1977. and a triple in 1978(The Wardance Triple) Then in the 1986 the "Chief" Triple was added, followed by the "Sundance" triple in 1994. Today Nashoba Valley operates with 4 chairlifts, 2 conveyers, and 3 rope tows for an uphill capacity of 11,600 per hour.

Nashoba Valley was also one of the first areas in the country to allow snowboarding. During the 80's it hosted some of the largest events to date. With names like Jeff Brushie, Jason Ford, and a very young Todd Richards competing.

Nashoba Valley, while being a full-service ski area offering lessons, rentals, skiing, and snowboarding is also host to numerous other activities. Nashoba Valley's snowtubing Park, which opened in 2001 is New England's largest snowtubing facility with four lifts, over 600 snowtubes and up to 16 lanes. The Outlook Restaurant, the on-site restaurant and lounge, offers fine dining and catering year-round. Witch's Woods, New England's Premier Halloween Screampark and Haunted Hayride, operates in October with 4 attractions plus stage shows, the Jack-O-Lantern Jamboree and more. During the summer months, Nashoba offers a children's day camp, adult summer volleyball league, and a private swim club.

Lifts

The area is served by 4 chairlifts, two conveyor lifts, and 3 rope tows. Currently the top is only accessible by the chairlifts, but used to be served by a rope tow powered by an old school bus and a T-Bar. All intermediate and advanced terrain is accessible from any chairlift.

The beginner area, which has the easiest trails goes only about a quarter of the way up the hill, it is served by 3 rope tows and two Sun-Kid conveyor belt lifts.

Chairlifts

Chief Triple is a Borvig triple chair.

Wardance Triple is a CTEC triple chair, this was built to replace the original rope tow to the top, although the two co-existed for a number of years. Note that the rope-tow was a much faster way to get to the top.

Snowdance Double is a Savio double chair.

Sundance Triple is a CTEC triple chair.

Surface Lifts

Papoose is a Sun-Kid conveyor belt lift which replaces a Gasoline powered rope tow of the same name, which ran about 6 feet to the east of the present lift.

Pow Wow is a rope tow, built out of an old dump truck, the rope runs between the double tires, and over old car wheel rims mounted on old telephone poles. The lift was originally powered by the truck's diesel engine, but was later converted to run on an electric motor. This lift has two ropes that run parallel over both truck wheels, and is considered as two separate lifts, however both ropes are powered by the same motor, so they start and stop at the same times.

Peace Pipe is a rope tow built in a similar fashion to the Pow Wow tow, except that it has only one rope.

Lil'Hawk is a Sun-Kid conveyor belt lift, which was originally built at the base of the lift line for the "Tomahawk T-Bar", but was later moved to a location between the bottom terminals of the Snowdance Double and the Sundance Triple.

See also

• List of ski areas and resorts in the United States

References

1. ^ Nashoba Valley Ski Reports, Snow Conditions and Weather - SnoCountry Mountain Reports

External links

• Nashoba Valley Ski Area - Official site
• www.skiresorts-test.com - Nashoba Valley Ski Area on skiresorts-test.com