When I think of Pennsylvania ski resorts, a few come to mind: Sno Mountain, Jack Frost, Camelback just to name a few, but there are a few little lesser known resorts around. I got an opportunity to visit one such resort this weekend, Ski Denton in Potter County Pennsylvania. The resort rests atop the modest Denton Hill which has a vertical rise of 650ft which is by no means the biggest in PA, but that’s not what Denton’s about. What I noticed and enjoyed was good snow, low wait times for the lifts, and lots of switchbacks.
Despite what I liked, this resort did not offer anything out of the ordinary for me. it was your standard east coast small scale resort. It has 22 trails, offers night skiing, has snow tubing and the standard ski lodge with a cafeteria. I found some of the lifts to be not snowboard friendly since they were T-lifts designed for skiers, and they placement of the snow tubing area required completely unstrapping my snowboard to get back to the main lift after running some of the double diamond trails.
As for the general layout, many of the trails featured a lot of switchbacks and connection trails allowing for a lot of hard cutting turns which I happen to enjoy, and makes for some great racing if you and your friends are feeling a bit competitive like we were. The “expert” terrain on this mountain was a bit varied, but nothing to write home about. I often found myself losing my edging on the sheets of ice littering the trail called Avalanche which is coined “one of the steepest slopes in the east” on Ski Dentons website.
Lift ticket prices at Denton are comparable to other resorts in PA at 42 dollars for a weekend day pass, 36 dollars for a four hour weekend pass, 25 dollars for an eight hour weekday pass, and 23 dollars for a four hour weekday pass.
With the beautiful weather we had this past Saturday, and a few good friends along for the ride, I have to say I completely enjoyed my trip to Denton. The Resort was not without its shortcomings, but with such beautiful scenery in the area, and nearly perfect snow conditions, the shortcomings were easily over looked. If you like small crowds, and the beautiful scenery of north central PA then I definitely suggest giving Denton a go. Its also noteworthy that they are celebrating there 50th anniversary and offering 2 dollar lift tickets every Monday.
Denton By the Numbers.
Trails: 22
Lifts: 4, 1 triple chair, 1 double chair, 2 pomas
Vertical Rise: 650ft
Summit Elevation 2500 ft.
Base Elevation 1850 ft.
Skiable Terrain 75 Acres
Snowmaking 95%
Average Snowfall 80 inches
X-Country – 50km groomed trails
For Info check out skidenton.com
