Blue Hills Ski Area Profile

Take a small hill just minutes from downtown Boston, add lifts and snowmaking, a busy race schedule and a lesson plan for nearly everyone, and you"ve described Blue Hills.

This working-class and hard-working little area has benefited the past few years from its association with Ragged Mountain in New Hampshire. New lifts, improved novice terrain, and a new rental shop have contributed to the Hill"s reputation as a teaching facility. A new snowmaking system, new grooming equipment, and upgraded night lighting have made it a better place to play.

Six trails are served by two doubles, a magic carpet, and a learning carousel in the novice area. The Summit Double - summit being a relative term here - provides access to Sonya, the area"s longest trail and rated blue, the Infinite Terrain Park and Tropie, another blue trail, and black diamond trails Lover"s Lane, The Chute, Big Blue, and Beer"s Bluff. Beginners have Pretzel to play on, plus the learning area. A tubing park with its own lift completes the picture.

With Boston"s skyline dominating the view, it almost goes without saying that tiny Blue Hills may arguably have the biggest choice of après-ski fun in New England. Nevertheless, take some time to check out the Trailside museum at the far end of the main parking area. It"s the interpretive center for the Metropolitan District Commission"s 5,800 acre Blue Hills Reservation and is managed by the Mass. Audubon Society. Of course, the repository of the oldest continuous weather records in North America, Blue Hill Observatory a National Historic Landmark, stands proudly on top of the ridge overlooking the ski trails. In fact, Great Blue Hill, at 635 feet above sea level, is the highest point along the Atlantic Coast south of Maine.