Skiing Pats Peak
Sunday, January 11th, 2026
Runs: 29
Distance: 17.19 miles
Elevation: 14,045 feet
Max Speed: 31.1 mph
Avg. Speed: 14.7 mph
Moving Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes, 15 seconds
Total Time: 6 hours, 37 minutes, 20 seconds (lunch & pendant break)
One year ago, Gen and I planned to ski at Pats Peak, but a patch of black ice on the Everett Turnpike in Nashua, around mile marker 4, had Gen and I doing pirouettes at 65mph in my 2013 Honda CRV. We hit the concrete barrier on the left and then spun into the drainage ditch on the right. She and I were both fine (more than fine, completely physically unscathed), but my poor car was totaled. Today, it was time for my redemption. I didn't realize it was exactly a year later, but it was! It felt poetic in a way. I was caravanning with Sarah and her Mom, and as I do I got there plenty early, about an hour before them.
When I was redeeming my Indy Pass I ran into two parents of kids I teach at the high school - they're absolutely wonderful so I was more than happy to see them! They have apparnetly been working at Pats Peak for over 15 years and are currently ski instructor trainers. I called Sarah and playfully said "we are not safe" - she thought I flew off a highway again... Whoops! I clarified and we both had a good chuckle. I booted up at the car since I had princess parking, and got to it right when lifts started spinning at 8:30am!
SNOW REPORT
The whole mountain is open with 100% of trails ready for skiing and snowboarding. Our snowmaking and grooming teams are locked in, focused on maintaining consistent coverage and smooth, top-to-bottom conditions across the mountain.
Our terrain parks are refreshed and riding great, thanks to the hard work of our park crew and grooming team. Our crews have been busy building and maintaining features for all ability levels. Get out and enjoy the variety!
Runs 1-4
Run 1: Turbulance Triple Chair - Downdraft - Turbulance
[0.40 mi; 1:41; 374 ft; 25.1 mph max; 14.4 mph avg]
Run 2: Turbulance Triple Chair - Puff
[0.65 mi; 2:25; 371 ft; 23.7 mph max; 16.2 mph avg]
Run 3: Turbulance Triple Chair - Whisper
[0.52 mi; 1:44; 371 ft; 27.2 mph max; 18.0 mph avg]
Run 4: Turbulance Triple Chair - Downdraft - Twister
[0.34 mi; 1:16; 295 ft; 29.8 mph max; 16.0 mph avg]
The Turbulance Triple Chair was the closest to my car, so I walked right on over, put my skis on, and hopped on! I figured I'd start my day in this smaller area to get warmed up, especially because I wasn't sure when Sarah and Mom were going to land. My first run was down Downdraft, which was nice! It's always funny remembering that every mountain has a different blue-black scale - Downdraft was similar to Subway at Jay - maybe just a little steeper, but not by much. Still fun!
Fog was rolling in and out throughout these first few runs with occasional windows to the surrounding hills and mountains - it was a really beautiful morning, and it was above freezing! My second run was down Puff, the winding green trail, which was just lovely. Run #3 was down Whisper, which was actually a park (it wasn't labeled as such on the paper map, but it's fine). I thought about being brave and hitting a box, but I opted against it. The snow was really nice this morning!
Sarah and Mom weren't ready yet, so Run #4 I went back on Downdraft and hit the lower stretch of Twister, which had a little bit more pitch than Downdraft. The hill was delightfully quiet at this hour.
Runs 5-6
Run 5: Vortex Double Chair - Cyclone - Squall Line
[0.74 mi; 3:16; 728 ft; 30.7 mph max; 13.6 mph avg]
Run 6: Peak Triple Chair - Cyclone - Tornado - Squall Line
[0.70 mi; 2:56; 719 ft; 28.7 mph max; 14.2 mph avg]
Run #5 was up the Vortex Double, which was a fast-moving fixed grip. I wanted to hit Twister all the way, but it wasn't clear if it was open from the top or not, so instead I turned left and went down Cyclone, which had great snow and a fun pitch! Squall Line was the run-out, but thankfully it never got too flat.
I meant to go to the lodge to find Sarah and Mom after Run #5, but I overshot and didn't want to hike back up, so I hopped on the Peak Triple chair for my final solo run of the morning. I went down the double-black run Tornado, which was a little scrapey, but by no means any more challenging than anything I'd skied before in my short career. I followed Squall Line over to the Valley Lodge to find my friends!
Runs 7-9
Run 7: Peak Triple Chair - Twister
[0.65 mi; 2:36; 725 ft; 27.3 mph max; 15.0 mph avg]
Run 8: Peak Triple Chair - Duster - Squall Line
[0.70 mi; 3:07; 643 ft; 24.3 mph max; 13.5 mph avg]
Run 9: Vortex Double Chair - Backdraft
[0.43 mi; 1:54; 269 ft; 23.6 mph max; 13.6 mph avg]
Goals of the day were to have fun but also to keep applying all of the technique stuff I've been working on this season. Sarah, Mom, and I hopped on the Peak Triple Chair and first went down Twister, which was a fun trail! A little scratchy, but still fun. After we hit up a blue run - duster, which had super fun, almost spring-like snow. By Run #9, the Cascade Basin had opened for the day, so we followed Backdraft all the way there. I had never skied at Pats before (famously), I'm not sure if Sarah had or not, and Mom had only skied here at night, so the Cascade Basin was new for her, too! Backdraft was nice and easy with really nice snow.
Runs 10-15
Run 10: Cascade Basin Triple Chair - Cascade Brook
[0.45 mi; 1:53; 341 ft; 26.2 mph max; 14.3 mph avg]
Run 11: Cascade Basin Triple Chair - Blizzard
[0.38 mi; 1:50; 354 ft; 29.3 mph max; 12.4 mph avg]
Run 12: Cascade Basin Triple Chair - Crosswind - Temptest (Black)
[0.38 mi; 1:45; 341 ft; 31.1 mph max; 13.1 mph avg]
Run 13: Cascade Basin Triple Chair - Crosswind - Temptest
[0.37 mi; 1:30; 341 ft; 25.2 mph max; 14.9 mph avg]
Run 14: Cascade Basin Triple Chair - Crosswind - Nor'Easter
[0.40 mi; 1:34; 341 ft; 25.2 mph max; 15.3 mph avg]
Run 15: Cascade Basin Triple Chair - Cascade Brook
[0.44 mi; 1:43; 344 ft; 28.1 mph max; 15.5 mph avg]
We spent a while in the Cascade Basin area, lapping the Cascade Basin Triple Chair. Plan was to ski the map from looker's left to right. Cascade Brook is the wide, green trail and it was WONDERFUL. Mostly fresh corduroy the whole way and a fun, winding trail. We just wish it was longer! Next was the lift line, Blizzard, which had some fun rollers at the end (I got a little too fast and almost launched myself into oblivion). Temptest is another fun blue run with a short split near the end. The first time we did it we took the black side, which was a short steep little headwall (super fun!) and the second time we took the blue side which wound around that little headwall. Nor'Easter was similar, but labeled as a fully black run - just so much fun! We decided to get one more lap of Cascade Brook before heading back to the main side.
Runs 16-20
Run 16: Cascade Basin Triple Chair - Crosswind - Zephyr - Zephyr Woods - Blast
[1.25 mi; 4:44; 787 ft; 28.0 mph max; 15.9 mph avg]
Run 17: Hurricane Quad Chair - East Wind - Lower East Wind - Lower Tornado
[0.86 mi; 3:58; 715 ft; 27.6 mph max; 13.1 mph avg]
Run 18: Hurricane Quad Chair - Cyclone - Squall Line
[0.76 mi; 3:24; 715 ft; 30.0 mph max; 13.4 mph avg]
Run 19: Hurricane Quad Chair - Tornado - Lower Tornado
[0.63 mi; 2:27; 712 ft; 30.8 mph max; 15.4 mph avg]
Run 20: Hurricane Quad Chair - Duster - Squall Line
[0.71 mi; 2:40; 705 ft; 28.4 mph max; 15.9 mph avg]
We were beginning to get peckish, but wanted to put off lunch for a bit longer and see if we could hit some trails we hadn't yet. Run #16 brought us down Crosswind to Zephyr (we were back in the land of 1,000 people!) and then into the double-black-rated "Zephyr Woods" - which was no harder, and arguably easier than Doe Woods up at Jay, but I get why they would want to rate it double-black at Pats. It was fun to get some "glades" in!
Now we started taking the Hurricane Quad Chair - which was still labeled as a double along on-mountain signs. We followed East Wind to Lower Tornado, which was another fun run! The snow was getting heavy (temps were in the mid-upper 30s), but it was fun to ski, especially now that I'm good enough to effectively ski it! #18 brought us down Cyclone again, which was starting to get skied off, and #19 was back down Tornado, which was icy now - only a small strip of skied-off snow on skier's right had any grab. Thankfully, it's a small hill and every trail is decently short, so it was over before we knew it! #20 brougth us back down Duster, which was just a treat.
We skied down back to the Valley Lodge for bathroom and lunch! I got a really good panini (that took a LONG time to make) and ran back into the parents from before. I also got one of the famous giant cookies, and it DEFINITELY lived up to its reputation - DELICIOUS! We sat outside and marinated in the "warm" sun for a while - it was delightful!
Runs 21-23
Run 21: Valley Double Chair - Puff
[0.55 mi; 2:26; 331 ft; 22.1 mph max; 13.6 mph avg]
Run 22: Turbulance Triple Chair - Downdraft
[0.40 mi; 1:54; 367 ft; 26.9 mph max; 12.7 mph avg]
Run 23: Turbulance Triple Chair - Downdraft - Twister
[0.44 mi; 2:07; 374 ft; 27.7 mph max; 12.4 mph avg]
After lunch we went back to the Turbulance side of the hill, taking first the Valley Double Chair to Puff, then the Triple to Downdraft, both skied well! The temperature dropped back down just enough to firm trails back up, which made for some interesting conditions every now and then! Run #23 was back to Twister from the Turbulance Triple Chair, which was much icier than before - getting exciting!
Runs 24
Run 24: Hurricane Quad Chair - Breeze - Zephyr - Zephyr Woods - Blast
[1.09 mi; 4:08; 712 ft; 28.2 mph max; 15.9 mph avg]
Back to the Hurricane Quad - we did a lap of the easiest way down with another dip into Zephyr Woods. Blast was a nice runout, too, with a few small tree islands here and there.
Sarah's Mom knew that she wanted to get a drink at the Xstream Mobile Bar at the top of the hill, and I was not going to say no! We took the Quad back up and each enjoyed a drink up top, talked about our various ski adventures, and enjoyed the shockingly beautiful January day!
Runs 25-29
Run 25: Hurricane Quad Chair - Backdraft
[0.45 mi; 1:57; 279 ft; 24.2 mph max; 14.0 mph avg]
Run 26: Cascade Basin Triple Chair - Crosswind - Nor'Easter
[0.43 mi; 1:52; 348 ft; 28.8 mph max; 13.9 mph avg]
Run 27: Cascade Basin Triple Chair - Crosswind - Temptest (Black)
[0.37 mi; 1:22; 344 ft; 31.0 mph max; 16.2 mph avg]
Run 28: Cascade Basin Triple Chair - Cascade Brook
[0.43 mi; 1:31; 344 ft; 25.1 mph max; 17.2 mph avg]
Run 29: Cascade Basin Triple Chair - Crosswind - Zephyr - Squall Line
[1.24 mi; 4:33; 755 ft; 28.3 mph max; 16.4 mph avg]
We headed back to the Cascade Basin for the last few runs du jour. Backdraft was still nice and. Nor'Easter and Temptest were just a joy to ski, and Cascade Brook was just a delight! I was really impressed with how not-overly-crowded the whole hill seemed. Slim to no lift lines and minimal congestion on more popular green trails. If it were a bit taller/longer, the Cascade Brook area would be hands down my favorite part of the mountain.
The final run of the day was down Crosswind to Zephyr and then Squall Line. Sarah and Mom got a few more runs in after I left, but it was about 3pm and I was ready to for the Sunday Scaries to take me away. It was so much fun to ski with them again!
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