Skiing Dartmouth Skiway
Sunday, January 19th, 2026
Runs: 10
Distance: 8.82 miles
Elevation: 9.780 feet
Max Speed: 29.9 mph
Avg. Speed: 13.0 mph
Moving Time: 41 minutes, 30 seconds
Total Time: 2 hours, 29 minutes, 35 seconds
Final day of the long weekend! I woke up at the Gale River Motel to a surprise coating of snow on my car (and on the roads), which led to a longer-than-anticipated drive, but taking it slow gave me no problems. I was blessed with some princess parking right at the base of the Winslow Quad and got there about 15 minutes before lifts started spinning. The ticket line didn't move the fastest, but that was the longest line I waited in all day! I got my (free) RFID card, booted up at the car, and then got to work hitting the trails on the Winslow side!
Conditions
1/19 A small coating of snow overnight will keep things skiing great on the holiday. All lifts are spinning, ski you out there!
Runs 1-4
Run 1: Winslow Quad - Upper Howard Shives - Pass Fail
[0.80 mi; 2:37; 912 feet; 27.1 mph max; 18.4 mph avg]
Run 2: Winslow Quad - Upper Howard Shives - Post Doc - Pass Fail
[0.76 mi; 3:36; 935 feet; 21.2 mph max; 12.7 mph avg]
Run 3: Winslow Quad - M.D.
[0.97 mi; 5:14; 945 feet; 26.1 mph max; 11.1 mph avg]
Run 4: Winslow Quad - Upper Thomas - Upper Howard Chives - Pass Fail
[0.83 mi; 3:31; 935 feet; 29.9 mph max; 14.2 mph avg]
The Winslow side made me giggle becuase everything was academia themed, which made sense since the skiway is run and owned by Dartmouth College! I had the delight of never needing to share the chair, even though it was a quad! My first run was the easiest way down - Upper Howard Shives (the upper lift line) and then Pass Fail, which was a delightful run with fresh corduroy. I turned onto Post Doc during Run #2, which was a natural run with styrofoamy bumps that were relatively unpleasant BUT good practice for me! M.D. was in a similar state, but much longer with some waterbars to navigate/dodge - I actually had fun with that one! I'm glad I'm in my natural terrain era. I wrapped up my runs on the Winslow side with Upper Thomas, a wonderuflly soft and short natural run that led into Upper Howard Shives and Pass Fail. There were a solid amount of families and students learning how to ski on this side, which made for some wholesome entertainment from the lift, and I was looking foward to scooting across the road to the Holt side.
Runs 5-7
Run 5: Holt Double - Big Green
[1.17 mi; 5:23; 1,014 feet; 20.0 mph max; 13.0 mph avg]
Run 6: Holt Double - John Meck - The Face
[0.79 mi; 4:04; 1,004 feet; 18.0 mph max; 11.7 mph avg]
Run 7: Holt Double - John Meck - Juicer - Lyme Drop - The Face
[0.80 mi; 4:58; 994 feet; 23.0 mph max; 9.6 mph avg]
The Holt Double looked delightfully empty minus a the occasional batch of ski racers. I decided to similarly just work my around the map. My first run was Big Green, which was the long green run from the top. To my surprise, it was ungroomed and decently challenging for a beginner in terms of technicality. Lots of rollers, occasional water bars, and the last bit was sheer ice and narrow. It was a super fun trail, though!
Run #6 was down John Meck, which had some nice easy bumps and then down The Face, which was the steep headwall that led back to the chair. It was definitely more daunting from the bottom than when I was skiing down. Run #7 brought me briefly back down John Meck to Juicer, which was a short narrow connector run to Lyme Drop, which was bumpier than the others and had some whales at the end. I skied down The Face again, and then I was on my way back up!
Runs 8-10
Run 8: Holt Double - Upper Lift Line - Kelton's Gauntlet
[0.72 mi; 3:41; 1,001 feet; 17.7 mph max; 11.7 mph avg]
Run 9: Holt Double - Upper Kelton's Gauntlet - John Meck - The Face
[0.81 mi; 3:30; 1,001 feet; 26.3 mph max; 13.9 mph avg]
Run 10: Holt Double - Big Green
[1.16 mi; 4:56; 1,040 feet; 23.6 mph max; 14.1 mph avg]
The view behind from the chair was lovely. Smarts Mountain towered in the near distance with the lower slopes of Mt. Moosilauke in the distance. Run #8 brought me down the Upper Lift Line, which was in mostly wonderful shape (with just a few ice patches) and then I hit Kelton's Gauntlet, which was flagged as "experts only" - I found out why! It was comically icy with death cookies the size of cantaloupes followed by a steep headwall that was similarly frozen over. It was kind of miserable! Thankfully, my next run down Upper Kelton's Gauntlet, which was the only nicely groomed trail on this side (sans the race runs, but they were closed for racing) back to John Meck and the Face. It was nice to get a little speed!
I wrapped up my day with my 10th run and had another joyful run down Big Green all the way back to the road, and then I started my journey back to Boston! What a fun, little ski area!
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