The Making of a Ski Glade

Photos by Andrew Drummond/Ski The Whites and Backyard Concept, LLC. Select this image or scroll down to view the photo gallery.

In 2016, a group of skiing enthusiasts in the White Mountains established the Granite Backcountry Alliance (GBA), with a mission to develop ski glades in collaboration with private landowners, conservation organizations, and government agencies – from local select boards to the U.S. Forest Service. In the years since, GBA has developed 10 glade zones in New Hampshire and western Maine, adopting a GIMBY (Glade In My BackYard) mentality. These ski lines through the forest are professionally designed and built largely by volunteers – dubbed Quarry Dogs by GBA – who flock to glade days by the scores to help create the places where they can earn their turns come winter.

This Web Extra photo gallery accompanies the article “The Catamount Trail: Connecting Communities Through Snow,” from the Northern Woodlands Winter 2021 edition.

GBA founding member Tyler Ray talks to a crew of volunteers at the start of a glade day at the Cooley-Jericho Community Forest in Easton, New Hampshire, owned and managed by the Ammonoosuc Conservation Trust. GBA created glade zones here, nicknamed the Cool-J Glades, in 2019.

Pole saws and loppers at the ready, a crew of Quarry Dogs prepares to take to the woods in Bartlett, New Hampshire, where GBA created glades around a 1930s Civilian Conservation Corps ski trail (Maple Villa) within the White Mountain National Forest in 2018.

A Pack Leader (responsible for coordinating a small group of Quarry Dogs) checks the map against the flagging during work on Cool-J Glades.

Volunteers head into the forest to work on the Maple Villa glades in Bartlett.

Pole saws are important tools in glading work, and Quarry Dogs have to take winter snow depth into consideration when choosing which branches to trim from a ski line.

While most volunteers work with loppers and pole saws, GBA also has Saw Dogs, folks certified in chainsaw safety, who clear larger trees, like this one in the Cooley-Jericho Community Forest.

Quarry Dogs use loppers to cut brush and trim low branches.

Small trees, like this one in the Baldface glade zone within the White Mountain National Forest in Chatham, New Hampshire, are cut by hand.

Helmets and tools on loan from the U.S. Forest Service are laid out ahead of a glade work day. Partnerships and collaboration are integral to GBA’s success, and the organization has worked with the U.S. Forest Service on several glade zones.

Nothing gets Quarry Dogs excited quite like snow does. Here, volunteers put the finishing touches on Ski Tow Glade, within Weeks State Park in Lancaster, New Hampshire, in 2019.

Tyler Ray skins up the Maple Villa trail to earn his turns...

...and enjoys the sweet reward of powder snow on the way down.