Glassford Ski Hill

With Spring Break upon us, and a lot of sunshine lately, it’s crazy to think that we just had a snow day. Hopefully you used that day to grab some hot cocoa or get ahead in classes, because I didn’t. While you responsible students tackled your mountain of homework, I decided to tackle a different mountain, and set out to ski down Glassford Hill in Prescott Valley. 

Minutes after having the idea, I was at Glassford Hill’s parking lot with my ski boots on. The lot was characteristically empty, and the thought of fresh tracks sent my mind racing. I had visions of deep powder and sick rock jumps. These were some crazy visions, considering that it had snowed maybe three inches. Without a chairlift in sight, I threw my skis over my shoulder and started the long walk up.

The wind fought me every step of the way, and in a few places it had blown all of the snow off the trail. Working hard to avoid the mud, I arrived at Glassford’s summit about an hour after hopping into my boots. I had seen a few footprints on my hike up, so I wasn’t surprised to find someone hanging out at the top. What did surprise me was the fact that they had pitched a tent, and were camping up there. 

For those wondering, camping isn’t allowed on Glassford. I was gonna give the camper a hard time about it, but then I realized that skiing probably isn’t allowed either. I guess we both saw the snow as a chance to do something we weren’t supposed to, and hoped no one else would find out. After giving each other a knowing nod, we went our separate ways. The camper into their tent, and the skier onto their skis. 

My first attempt at a decent was down Glassford’s easterly face, straight down towards Prescott Valley. I quickly learned that, while there was enough snow to hike over the rocks, there wasn’t enough to ski over them. A minute of scraping my skis had ruined my hopes of skiing gloriously through Glassford’s bushes and trees, and forced me back onto the hiking trail. While retreating, my tips caught a semi- buried rock and sent me falling onto my head. Good thing I remembered a helmet! With my ego bruised but my brain unharmed, I found the trail and started my long decent down. 

I hate to complain, but this skiing sucked. It really, really did. Those rocks had scraped any semblance of a wax off my skis, which caused them to stick to every flake of snow. This, combined with the nearly flat trail, quickly turned the Glassford Ski Hill into the Glassford Catwalk. It took longer to push my way down the mountain than it took to hike up it. 

I’ll admit, skiing down Glassford wasn’t all bad. To better understand the experience, let’s weigh the pros and cons of choosing Glassford Ski Hill: 

Pro: You’ll always get fresh tracks. 

Con: It’s hard to leave tracks on rocks. 

Pro: There’s no wait for the lift. 

Con: There’s no lift. 

Pro: You don’t have to drive to Flagstaff. 

Con: You have to spend time in Prescott Valley. 

For these reasons, I’ve made the executive decision to change the name of Glassford Ski Hill back to Glassford Hill. If you find yourself hiking here over spring break, but be sure to leave the skis at home. It’s not worth it, trust me.