What is the best ski area in the east in terms of challenge in its backcountry?

I skied Smuggs all last year and it has some amazing hidden gems off sterling mountain down to the notch and there is so much more on madona...i want to know if there are other ski areas in the east with as much, if not more steep backcountry.

I heard Jay and Stowe have some pretty good backcountry.

MRG

 

Michael

Edited by WILDCAT - 5/14/2009 at 09:36 pm GMT

Stowe, Jay and MRG/Bush all have a ton of great stuff thats not on the map.  

Its is pretty much accepted that MRG is the place...Ive never been since its not my scene but that is what I hear.

lies all lies, nothing to ski off-piste in VT, move along, move along....

Anywhere from the Catskills on up can be good, it just needs to be an area you can get to regularly and get to know.  (For some areas you also need a hamster wheel mentality:  very short but sweet, repeat.)  For the o.p.'s standard of as much if not more steep backcountry, if he means sidecountry he may already be where he wants.  For the best truly steep bc he can see where he needs to go from where he is.

MRG, Jaypeak, Plattekill 

Are we talking about backcountry skiing or inbounds treeskiing? It sounds like there are different ideas here of what we are talking about.

 

Stowe has some backcountry.

 

You can traverse the ridge to get to it. Or climb from the gondola. Also, see the "cliffed out" thread.

You may need some of these.

 

first of all...you clearly have never skied in the east or have never going outside the lines and explored. there is some amazing skiing outside the boundries of many eastern mountains that have just as difficult, if not more difficult lines as most western mountains.

 

This is an important point that's never been addressed on here.  :) 
 

Would Wildcat/Tuckerman's count? :)

Tuckermans, DUH!

 

 

Steep. Check.  Backcountry, either remote or w social scene depending on date?  Check.

 

And there's more similar terrain around there.

Stowe, last month.  Not me in the picture, GSS from paskiandride. 

 

Im not counting Tuck's. I have been skiing Tuck's this spring but i am looking for a place that i can easily ski before late March. Tuck's is an incredible place but the fact is it is not filled in enough before March and it is way to dangerous to consitantly ski lots of lines until some warm weather hits it.

Tuckerman gets done all season long.  It does have significant hazards, including but not limited to avy, because it's... steep bc with lots of snow.  Confining the search to steep noncontrolled areas with lots of snow and minimal slide risk narrows the field considerably.

No such thing as Jay backcountry.

 

 

Go to Stowe.

 cannon in new hampshire has some pretty sweet backcountry

Out of all the mountains Ive been to, Stowe.

Jay Peak

 I was surprised no one really hit on Cannon other than a mention by spontaneousgoat. I have only got to ski Cannon once and that was immediately after a brutal December rain that washed most the snow off the mountain, but I have heard very good things about the backcountry there. Now that Mittersill is inbounds they have a tremendous ammount of back country stuff to ski (86 acres listed). 

Wut about Huntahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh?

Only if you count skiing in the parking lot. (But you have to tuck your jeans into your boots so that you don't get mud on them.)

hahahhaha if they had more than 5 inches of snow on the ground it would be sick BC skiing there actually.

The best back country skiing in the east is in between Smugglers Notch and Stowe. Took the path above the lake off Sterling. 

Fantastic glades, great pitch. The trees were perfectly spaced. Leads right out to the x-country road.  

I'd rate it as great skiing anywhere!

Cannon gets an honorible mention.  The big problem at Cannon was the long hike back.

I agree the terrain between Smuggs and Stowe, down to the Smuggler's Notch Highway is fantastic.  Thirteen Turns and For Locals Only in the Tucker Brook area off of the backside of Cannon is some of my favorite skiing in New England but you have to have a second car for doing shuttles back to the Cannon Base.  For my money the most extreme and accessible run off of a ski area is Thompson Falls at Wildcat.  You access it from a green run and you end up hitting some amazing mandatories.  There's all whole series of falls that you have to do, there's no escape, incredible New England brook skiing.  Then you can cut back onto the trail and ski right back to the lift, or ski all the way to Rte. 16 and take the short walk back to the area.  Take a warm up run on Wildcat's Elevator Shaft (inbounds in the creek beside the Bobcat chair.  But if you can't handle the Shaft then don't even think of skiing Thompson's.