PREVIEW 1999

WATERVILLE VALLEY, N.H. -- Confessions of a fiscally responsible skiing addict: Some might call us, if not exactly cheapskates, at least cheapskiers.

Yes, we tend to buy most of our ski tickets at a discount in July, and come the winter we are apt to go out of our way to buy a particular brand of gas, fuel up with whatever doughnuts are paying off that week, and maybe even stop for an 8 a.m. candy bar, the kind that we don't even eat -- all to get the discount coupons that came with those products. Thus, where we ski often depends on what day of the week it is. You know, twofers here on Tuesday, there on Wednesday.

We prefer to think of ourselves as frugal freestylers -- the more more we save, the more we can ski.

Which is what brought us with some regularity last year to Waterville Valley.

Waterville Valley has long been one of the class resorts of New Hampshire and New England. It's been a summer escape since the middle of the last century. It started attracting winter visitors who hiked Mount Tecumseh, which is on the opposite side of the valley from where today's ski area is located on Snow's Mountain, and skied its logging roads in the 1930s. There was a T-Bar on Tecumseh in 1952. Things really took off when Tom Corcoran bought the Waterville Inn and 425 acres in 1966 and proceeded to build the ski area, and its village in the valley, into one of the region's most popular destination and day resorts.

Its prime location, two hours from Boston, gave skiers an option: Come for the day. Or come to stay.

Tucked away miles off the interstates and miles from the fast-food outlets and the strip malls and the bustle of everyday life, the valley folk like to think of themselves as ``in the prettiest cul de sac in the world.''

And visitors flocked there.

But Corcoran ran into tough financial times and the area went into bankruptcy, and through the mid-'90s there were four owners in four years. In 1996, Waterville Valley, along with Cranmore Mountain Resort in North Conway, was purchased by George Gillet Jr. and Booth Creek Ski Holdings, who owns 10 resorts across the country and recently bought nearby Loon Mountain.

The comeback began.

Last year, in an attempt to lure back some of its customers and show off some of its improvements to customers new and old, Waterville Valley for the first time offered a $10 ticket for children. Any child age 6-12 (under that is free). Any day. The kids came in droves, bringing in adults at the going rates, which this year are $40 on weekdays and $46 on weekends.

Did I mention that we are at times on the lookout for bargains? Ten bucks a kid? When sometimes there are a half-dozen in that age group skiing with us and some mountains get upwardof $25 per?

We came. We saw. We came again.

Now, as erstwhile New Hampshire skiers, we had skied Waterville in the past. Had some good times. But for various reasons it wasn't at the top of our got-to-ski list. For the year before last, Waterville chopped off the top of its summit quad -- the better to keep it running regularly in the wind at the top -- and that move paid big dividends. That lift, down more than three dozen days the year before, was stopped by wind four days last year, and those were days that other areas had problems, too. That helped a lot.

And last year, the more we came, the more we saw, the more we liked Waterville. We weren't alone. The area's total of skier visits took a huge bump last season -- partly because of the $10 tickets, and partly because of what everyone found.

There is capital for projects again, and Waterville Valley, which retained a core of longtime and loyal and talented employees through the difficult years, went to work.

There was the new. They added a fast and friendly chairlift -- dubbed Quadzilla in a name-that-quad contest -- to service the largely novice terrain in the Valley Run area. There was the added snowmaking on Lower Bobby's Run, for the bump bashers, and on Stillness, a rolling easier trail serviced by the new quad. Stillness, little used through the years, should help clear some of the novice area congestion as skiers come to realize it is there as an option.

For all the work on the mountain, some of the most talked- about and appreciated improvements came between the skier dropoff area and the base lodge. A new, much wider entranceway was built leading into the area's courtyard and the skiers loved it. This year, Waterville Valley is following up and putting most of its efforts into the base lodge. In the past, it's been confusing getting into the lodge: Go through this door, and battle through those lined up for ski lessons? Or this one and head up the narrow stairs to the right? Or negotiate the snow and go around the left to sneak up on the lodge from the side?

A wide new entrance, and a few other changes, should greatly help the flow and feel of the lodge itself. The upstairs lounge has been moved out of the building with a dual purpose: allowing for a 200-seat restaurant and lounge in what used to be the racing club headquarters, and freeing up all kinds of space in the base lodge. Food will be served upstairs as well as down in the lodge. There will be a new entrance, too, from the mountain side. In T-Bars, the new restaurant/lounge, there will be plenty of room for a display honoring Waterville's history -- including the early days, the ground-breaking freestyle days and the World Cup racing days.

All of which wraps the new around Waterville's tried and true old. Around the Tippecanoe and the And Tyler Too trails. Around fast and rolling Ciao and Gema on the other side of the mountain. Around the double-diamond True Grit, the bumped-up and chairlift-following favorite of at least one of those 12-and-under skiers in our crew.

One of our best ski days last winter consisted of a weekday moguls lesson in the morning, followed by a cross-country trip up Tecumseh with a sandwich for lunch at the top. Catch the freestyle skiers jumping and playing on the hills just up from the base lodge. Play in the terrain parks that come in various shapes and sizes fir skiers and snowboarders.

The Schwendi Hut, just off the Sunnyside Triple or the summit quad, is a great place to catch a late morning break and bite before the lunch crowd comes in -- and deserts the trails. For a real treat, make plans to come back at night. On Saturday nights and a few other selected times during the year, a five-course meal is offered up in the mountainside restaurant. You get there via a half-hour trip up the mountain behind a grooming machine. The cost is $65 per person (don't worry, we're on the lookout for coupons).

Of course, on mountain activities are only part of a Waterville Valley getaway. It's the proverbial park-your-car-and-leave-it-parked family experience. For a weekend. For a week.

For long-term visitors, there is everything to do and, if so desired, there is nothing to do. There is cross-country skiing galore on the 105 kilometers of trails of the Nordic Center. There are moonlight tours every Saturday evening and gourmet lunch tours on Saturdays and Sundays.

There is snowshoeing. There are sleigh rides and there is indoor ice skating with hockey games apt to break out and there are even college hockey games to watch. There is a teen center.

There is the Town Square full of shops and dining establishments, from the sandwiches and wine selection at Jugtown to Legends to Chili's for Mexican fare to Olde Waterville Pizza Co. There's the new Diamond's Edge North, brought to the Town Square by the people who run a you-can-only-get-there-by-boat restaurant on an island in Casco Bay out of Portland. There's the Valley Inn and others for dinner. There are the indoor-outdoor pools of the Black Bear Lodge and there are the common areas of the assorted hotels and condominium groups for quiet reading. There are the refurbished three-bedroom condos in Town Square. There is the Athletic Center.

There are -- and we love this part -- the deals.

There is the early and late season snowmaker's special. Before Dec. 24 and after March 19, ski-and-stay packages start at $49. The popular Winter Unlimited packages, with lodging and skiing and other activities included, are back starting at $69 per person. In January, children under 12 ski and stay free when others are on the Winter Unlimited plan. There are weeklong plans as well. There are the interchangeable tickets with Loon and Cranmore and there is the Value Card that rewards frequent skiing at any one of those areas, which all pride themselves on being unique.

And the $10 kids ticket? Yeah, that's back. We'll be back, too.

For more information, call 603-236-8311. For snow reports, call 603-236-4144. The Web site is www.waterville.com.

Published 01/03/99 in the Boston Suday Globe's Travel Section