Maple Ridge is a quintessential New England family ski resort with affordable lift tickets, a "bunny" hill for beginners and young ones to learn, and a big "after school" ski and snowboard program for children in the area. The ski area has been family owned and family oriented for 50 years. Although it is not suitable for advanced or expert skiers yearning for a challenging ski environment, it is absolutely perfect for a family or for people who really want to learn how to ski and not be intimidated by superlative skiers flying by them at high speed. It is so friendly and so easy and so laid back, it is almost a blast from the past---a charming little ski hill that even has a pony pulled lift!! Oh, and they have tubing!
It's a sweet little resort, more flat than vertical, with loads and loads of snow in the winter. In fact, it looks so flat you would wonder how you would be able to gain momentum!! But gain you will. You won't even have to turn. Just point your skis down and gently glide! How great is that??!
Ski blowers pile snow up onto the slopes every day topping up the surface then following up with daily grooming so it is easy and safe to ski and the slopes are wide. The ski area is also small enough that a family will not lose each other easily. For beginners it will be a welcome relief from skiing at bigger, fancier, and more expensive ski areas. If family members want to take lessons, they are affordable and the instructors are patient and accustomed to making newbies on the slopes feel comfortable.
There's snowboarding and also night skiing, so you feel as if you can work up to a higher level once you get the skiing part down.
Schenectady New York, where Maple Ridge is located, is only a short drive from Albany, the state capitol, which offers skiers on holiday an interesting destination to tour on non-ski or no-snow days. They can visit the historic Schenectady County Historical District with its 18th century colonial Dutch and English houses, Rollarama Skating Center, the Schenectady Museum's planetarium shows, and shop the small boutiques and dine at the restaurants in the Upper Union Street Business Improvement District.
Often families travel to ski resorts and there can be one or more members who do not ski or even want to learn how to ski. Maple Ridge gives families the opportunity to satisfy all members of the family---some of whom may want to shop and visit museums.
Schenectady would also make a great base to choose a hotel so that it is a short drive to the Maple Ridge slopes and equally a great base to go out in the evening to a good variety of restaurants. Because the Maple Ridge Ski slope is so small with so few lifts it does not have an offering of restaurants and other things to do in the vicinity. By staying in Schenectady you would be adding into your ski holiday a welcome amount of other activities and things to do while learning how to ski in this tiny gem of a family ski resort.
