A enjoyable ski area about an hour north of Boston, Wachussett Mountain offers a good selection of trails with 1,000 feet of vertical drop for both skiers and snowboarders looking for a day of skiing near Boston.

Mountain Details

Location
Wachussett Mountain is a 2006-foot mountain located in Princeton, Massachusetts, between the towns of Fitchburg and Gardner. Wachussett Mountain is about 5 minutes off of Exit 25 on Route 2 along Route 140. From Boston the trip takes about an hour (depending upon notorious Boston traffic), Worcester is 20 minutes away, Providence, RI about an hour away and from Nashua, NH only about 30 minutes away. There is plenty of parking provided in three different lots, two of which are satellite lots served by a shuttle bus.

Operations
Wachussett Mountain is open from 8am to 10pm on weekends and from 9am to 10pm during the week and is generally open from late November into late March. Skiers can purchase tickets for the full time, half-days or for just night-skiing.

Ticket Prices
Ticket prices are high at Wachussett Mountain. A full day-lift ticket for the entire mountain will cost you $35 on weekdays and $45 on weekends. Half-day tickets (available either for morning or afternoon) cost $30 on weekdays and $40 on weekends. Night skiing tickets (from 4pm to 10pm) are available for $35. You can make a full-day ticket or a half-day afternoon ticket a “super” ticket for $10 extra dollars. Super tickets allow you to ski all day (or your half day) and all night.

Tickets are also available for the lower mountain lifts and are $26 for full-day lift tickets and night tickets and $21 for half-day tickets.

Wachussett offers a $30 Gold Passport that provides an $8 discount each time you ski. You can also purchase a 5-day pack of tickets for $140 (midweek) and $180 (weekends). A two-day ticket will cost $68 during the week and $88 on weekends.

Trails
The mountain offers 20 trails (100 acres of skiable terrain) and a variety of terrain that should meet the needs of anyone in the Boston Metro area looking for a quick ski trip. There are 5 beginner trails, 11 intermediate trails and 4 advanced trails. The beginner trails are truly beginner trails and most are only several hundred feet long and served by “magic carpets,” which bring beginners to the slops on a moving sidewalk that travels up the hill (no intimidating rope tows or t-bar lifts). The intermediate runs make up the majority of the mountain and run from all sides and elevations on the mountain. The advanced trails, while more difficult, can be run by most skiers of an intermediate ability. There are a few mogul runs offered on the advanced trails. Wachussett Mountain does not offer tree or glade skiing and skiing off the trails is strictly prohibited and can result in the revocation of your ski pass. A terrain park, with jumps, slides, a half-pipe and quarter-pipe is available for snowboarders (and skiers who want to try).

Lifts
Two detachable high-speed quad lifts service the upper portion of the mountain, the Polar Express and the Minuteman Express lifts. A triple (Monadonock Triple), along with two magic carpet lifts and two tows service the lower mountain. Lines on the two triples move quickly because of their size and speed, while lines on the triple tend to be longer. Lines are generally not an issue with the tows and the magic carpets because mostly the ski school students are using them. Average wait time for the quads on a busy weekend day is around five minutes and around eight minutes on the triple chair.

Crowds, Snowboarders versus Skiers
Being the closest major ski area to Metro Boston, Wachussett Mountain tends to get very crowded on most weekends and even more so on holidays. On weekdays and evenings, the slopes tend to be less crowded.

Users on the mountain are generally split evenly among skiers and snowboarders. There are no restrictions on snowboard or ski use anywhere on the mountain. In the evenings, there are generally more snowboarders on the mountain than skiers. Skiers who enjoy mountains without too many snowboards, or ski only trails would probably feel a bit uncomfortable.

Use on the ski trails tends to mirror the crowds at the base lodge and the lifts. Because there are only 20 trails available for skiing (and often they are not all open), trails can get quite crowded and users have to be very aware of what is going around them.

Snowmaking & Grooming
Wachussett Mountain offers 100% snowmaking on its trail system when Mother Nature isn’t cooperating with skiers. The snow quality from the snowmaking system is fairly good and provides a good base for skiing. The trails are groomed twice a day at the mountain, once in the morning and again in the afternoon. Trails are generally ice-free depending upon conditions, though by the time the afternoon grooming comes around, snow has often been skied off of many of the trails, exposing an icy base underneath.

Skier Services
Wachussett Mountain offers a full-service base lodge that includes ski and snowboard rentals, a ski shop, several different places to eat, lockers, restrooms, a ski-watch service (sort of like valet ski storage). There is also a ski-school, along with a child daycare center.

Dining options in the base lodge run from a snack bar to a full-service restaurant. There is also a cafeteria, along with a après-ski lounge. Prices are what you would expect to find at any ski area – high. An average lunch at the cafeteria will probably cost you around $10 per person.

The ski school offers many different programs that are available to children and adults. There are also special clinics and programs that are offered throughout the year, including “catch-up” training for adults and women only training sessions. There are over 200 instructors that are all certified and lessons are provided in either group sessions or more individual sessions with 2 or 3 skiers. Different packages are available for lessons that include lift tickets and rentals and are around $100 a day, all inclusive.

The rental shop offers rentals for both skiers and snowboarders. For a full day ski rental, you will pay $28, while you would pay $31 for a snowboard rental. For an extra $5, you can rent the equipment all day and all night.

You can also rent demo equipment to try out the latest skis, boots or snowboards. There are certain restrictions on these rentals and are only available when the equipment is available.

Experiences

Wachussett Mountain is not a large mountain, or even a very technically challenging mountain for a skier of a somewhat advanced ability like myself. However, it is close-by and with nothing else of the same size or scope available within an hour drive, Wachussett Mountain is a logical choice for me when I want to get out a ski, but don’t want to be hassled by a long drive.

I’ve only ever skied at Wachussett on weekends, but have skied both nights and days at the mountain on those weekends. The mountain tends to get quite crowded, but lines on the lifts do move quickly and skiers and boarders are spread out enough that occasionally you’ll find yourself alone out on a trail. As the days progress the crowds tend to thin out and the nighttime crowds are about half of what you would find during the day.

Most of the trails on the mountain are lit for night skiing, therefore the night-skiing at Wachussett is almost as good as day skiing (if you can get past that odd feeling of skiing by the artificial lights). Personally I like to ski in natural light, but if night skiing is all I can get, I’ll take it.

Money-wise, Wachussett is probably a wash. With a super-ticket, you can get 14 hours of skiing in on the weekend if you were to show up at 8am. Even with a half-day ticket made super, you can get 10 hours of skiing in. There aren’t too many places out there where you can do this. Yes the food is expensive and the tickets can be too – but you are going to pay wherever you go and you might as well be able to ski a while for it, plus you can always bring food with you, instead of using the mountain’s services.

Personally there are too many snowboarders at the mountain for me. While I’m making a gross stereotype here, I find the boarders tend to be less considerate and more reckless on the mountain (that’s not to say the same isn’t found among skiers) and when I am skiing at Wachussett, I have to be constantly aware of the crowds around so that I don’t end up on the receiving end of someone’s crash. I’ve personally witnessed several pretty bad crashes between users and I don’t want to ever be involved in one.

Overall though, I like Wachussett Mountain because it provides a fairly good value and it is so close to where I live. If I’ve only got an evening, or a day where I don’t want to travel too far, but I still want to ski – I’ll head out to Wachussett and have a good time skiing.

Final Thoughts

There might not be huge verticals or terrain so steep you’ll turn white standing at the top, but Wachussett is an enjoyable ski resort that offers some varied terrain, quick lifts and convenient skier services. Plus you cannot beat convenience and short-trip length and Wachussett Mountain takes the prize there for anyone in the Boston metropolitan area, or even all of Eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Other Ski Resort Reviews

Bellayre Mountain (NY) / Hunter Mountain (NY) / Ski Windham (NY) / Burke Mountain (VT) / Catamount (MA) / Jiminy Peak (MA) / Whiteface Mountain/Lake Placid (NY) / Gore Mountain (NY) / Cannon Mountain (NH)

Recommended: Yes

Level of Experience Needed: Beginner
Best Suited For: Friends