Ski Car: 2012 Honda CRV Extended Test Drive

After swearing that I'd bought my last Honda, we test drove a Subaru. While it was exactly what I was looking for on paper, it just didn't win me over. Then I noticed that Honda had redesigned the CRV, and it felt it deserved a closer look. We're now the owners of another CRV.

2012 Honda CRV-EX

This isn't to say that I don't have issues with the CRV, but on the whole, the choice just made more sense for us then the widely acclaimed Subaru Outback. To quickly review our requirements — we were looking for a vehicle with good highway mileage and manners, cargo room for three skiers, that can negotiate a steep, slippery driveway at the end of our long drive to the mountains.

The 2012 is our third CRV and it's a quantum leap beyond our 2006. The automatic transmission (the first I've owned) is extremely smooth, and while the gearbox lacks a manual shifting option, with careful use of the accelerator you can control rpm to some extent.

Bretton Woods, NH: A Walk on the Mild Side

by Jamesdeluxe

Practically since the moment we arrived in New Hampshire for our four-day whirlwind tour of the White Mountains, everyone’s eyes were at least intermittently glued to weather sites about a potential storm for later in the week.

After returning from dinner every evening, our suite at the Attitash Grand Summit transformed into a meteorological war room, with everyone comparing wildly divergent forecasts.

Wildcat, NH: Location, Location, Location

Wildcat Mountain is in a sweet spot in Pinkham Notch. Like all the ski areas in the valley, it has the greatest views. It's near the visitors center and across the street from Mount Washington. We stopped at VC for breakfast and then headed over to the Base Lodge.

Pinkham Notch Visitors Center

We started on the groomers, and at opening the cord was similar to what we found at Attitash yesterday — grippy and rippy. Flying along in front of a spectacular backdrop, groomed runs have a front row seat to some of the most beautiful and talked about views in the northeast.

Attitash, NH: Groomers and Trees

I didn't really know what to expect from Attitash. I had a general sense that it was a tamer place than Cannon, and that we'd be skiing groomers, but beyond that, to me the mountain was an unknown.

Attitash Mountain Resort is two peaks: Attitash and Bear Peak. Bear Peak was added to the mountain in the 1990s, nearly doubling the size of the mountain. Since we were staying on the Bear side, we started our day on that peak riding the Flying Bear high speed quad.