Heading north next Friday! First time skiing trip for me to the NH Whites and the ME Highlands. Plan to ski Dartmouth Skiway on Saturday, Burke on Sunday, Bretton Woods on Monday, Cannon on Tuesday, Wildcat on Wednesday, Sugarloaf on Thursday and Friday and Saddleback on Saturday. The forecast looks like a very cold start with a warmer finish. Does anyone have any suggested or favorite must ski trails in the Whites or Maine? So far on my list of must skis I have: Herman Dupre's recommendation that "Herman's Highway at Dartmouth Skiway is the best blue curser on the East coast".

Upper Cannon at Cannon is a real fun cruiser. Twisty with banked turns.

Very eclectic itinerary with some neat off-the-beaten-track ski areas! Plus, some of the best mountain scenery in the East. Hope the weather moderates for you.

Cannon: Vista Way (scenic upper-intermediate run), check out ungroomed runs in Mittersill section, ranging from upper-int to double diamond. Kinsman Glade is a very challenging double diamond glade paralleling the tram line, not to be taken lightly.

Wildcat: ride the high speed quad to the summit then point 'em downhill More specifically, Wildcat, Lynx for upper-int groomers, follow liftline for bumps and huckable rocks. Polecat for long, scenic, fun green circle run. Off piste there is a double black diamond glade to skier's right of Polecat, not to be taken lightly.

Been a long time since I skied Sugarloaf, big mtn, long verts on everything from the top.

Never been to Saddleback, but Muleskinner is supposed to be a cool and remote feeling black diamond run.
Never been to Burke, but East Bowl is said to be one of the great unsung intermediate cruiser trails in the East.
Never been to Bretton Woods, but is said to have numerous fun and relatively easy glades.

Also, I believe Sugarloaf and Saddleback are advertising the opening of large, new gladed areas. If true, you might have fun checking that out.

At Saddleback, if you're good with trees, the Casablanca Glades look AWESOME. Unfortunately, when we were there 2 weeks ago, they were all but unskiable (as was most of the mountain, actually) because most of the 3 ft they'd gotten a few days prior had melted away. Where there was deep snow, it was manky and tough to get through, and there was a LOT of brown showing.

That said, I really enjoyed skiing tricolor off the quad, and the "devils" are fun cruisers. Golden Smelt and Peachy's Peril were the only blacks I had the courage to try the first time I skied there (3 years ago), but I still loved them. I think Saddleback may be my favorite ski area I've skied in New England (admittedly, a list that is shorter than I'd like).

Burke is another great one, but they're very slow to open terrain, so hopefully this storm that just went through will help with that. I skied there 2 years ago and loved it, but were (again) just after a vicious thaw/freeze cycle that had a lot of the mountain closed.

Thanks to all for the good info. It always helps to have some ideas for the first visit. Both NH and ME have been slow to get snow this season after the New Years warm spell, but they did get some of this last storm. Unfortunately it appears that this season is beginning to look like last season where every place I went to ski had less snow than the Laurel Ridge.

Great list, but have only been to Saddleback. I'll echo Jim's comments...definitely ski Muleskinner. I felt very alone while skiing it. If you're up for it, hike to the top of the mtn to enjoy the panoramic views. There won't be enough snow to ski off the top, so just dump your skis at the patrol shack and boot up. Its only a 5-10min hike. Enjoy!

Back from the great northern moutians and woods. here is my trip report.

8 straight days of skiing, 7 Slopes and 3 States

Friday - Jan 21, 2011: Drove to Lebanon, NH. Crossing the Green Mountains on Route 9 from Bennington, VT to Brattleboro, VT took an hour and a half to drive 40 miles through a white out.
Saturday - Jan 22, 2011 - Day 1: Dartmouth Skiway, NH (1943' - 968 VD). Rank #7. Blizzard 81's We arrived to a sizable crowd of Special Olympics athletes and volunteers. Skied off the Skiway by noon to the sounds of the Olympic Games music and cheering in the background. Notable trails: Herman's Highway nice blue cruiser with banked curves named after Herman Dupue from Seven Springs Resort, PA. Also Thomas, Lyme drop and Don Worden Schuss were nice cruisers. Drove to Franconia, NH.
Sunday - Jan 23, 2011 - Day 2: Burke Mt, VT (3267' - 2,011 VD). Rank #6. Blizzard 81s. Drove form Franconia, NH to Burke, VT. We arrived at the slopes early to light crowds and 5 degrees F with nice packed powder. Skied East Bowl first but due to light snowfall was basically a cross country course. Skied Dipper, Mountain Marsh, Willoughby and Warrens trails.
Monday - Jan 24, 2011 - Day 3: Bretten Woods, NH (3100' - 1,500 VD). Rank #5. K2 Xplorers. Awoke to a crisp -25 degrees F. The temperature was -15 degrees F as we hopped onto the lift. No lift to the top of Mt. Rosebrook due to the cold. Skied on numerous black and blue cruisers and glades off the Zepher and West Mt lifts. The temperature finally rose to 0 F by 3:00 pm when we quit skiing for the day and retired to the Mt. Washington Hotel for after skiing drinks and a crystal clear view of Mt Washington peak.
Tuesday - Jan 25, 2011 - Day 4: Cannon Mt, NH (4080' - 2,180 VD). Rank #2. K2 Xplorers. Drove to Cannon Mountain and began skiing at 5 F. We met up with a local guy named Kent who showed us how to ski his mountain. Very nice top to bottom black runs. Ravine, Cannon, Hardscramble, Cannonball, Avalanche, Zoomer and of course Gary's run were some of our favorites. Avalanche and Zoomer were very steep black runs. Did not ski the Mittersill area.
Wednesday - Jan 26, 2011 - Day 5: Wildcat Mt, NH (4062' - 2,112 VD). Rank #3. Blizzard 81s. Very nice top to bottom black and blue cursers off a high speed lift. Lynx, Wildcat and Catapult were very nice. Nice soft bumps on Tomcat Schuss and Middle Catapult. Left Wildcat and drove to Rangeley, ME encountering our first three moose on the way.
Thursday - Jan 27, 2011 - Day 6: Sugarloaf, ME (4237' - 2,820 VD). Rank #1. Blizzard 81s. On the drive to Sugarloaf we saw more moose. Arrived at Sugarloaf to overcast conditions with temps in the 20's and the peak hidden in clouds. Skied off the Super Quad and King Pine lifts all day. Kings Landing, Haybuner, Competition Hill, Sluice, Gondola Line, Boomauger, Widowmaker and Haulback were all great runs.
Friday - Jan 28, 2011 - Day 7: Sugarloaf, ME (4237' - 2,820 VD). Rank #1. Nordica Helldivers. Returned to Sugarloaf with more moose along the way and arrived to gorgeous blue skies and temps in the upper 20s. Skied off the Super Quad, Timberline and King Pine lifts. Skied some of the same trails as Thursday and the upper snowfield runs of White Nitro and Gondola Line. Very steep runs with nice packed powder. Much more skiing here than anywhere else we visited.
Saturday - Jan 28, 2011 - Day 8: Saddleback, ME (4120' - 2,000 VD). Rank #4. Nordica Helldivers. Arrived early to an empty Lodge and began skiing at 8:45. Rode the Royal Coachman double lift to ski the lodge side slopes. All black trails off the Family Secret lift were nice steep runs. We skied a cross country trail traverse to Muleskiner trail which reminded me of the Middle Earth trail at Sugarbush, VT. We skied off by 12:00 as the Saturday crowd exploded.