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The Great Mazda Mountain Climb 2015

43K views 372 replies 23 participants last post by  Smoked6 
#1 · (Edited)
Hello everyone, it's my pleasure to announce to you:



3rd Annual Great Mazda Climb!

Hosted By: NEMAC (Formerly NEM6)
Date and Time: Saturday, August 1st 2015

Register Here!

Admission:
Adults (13+): $30
Kids (5 - 12): $15
Under 5: Free

Full Itinerary Herehttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1U-u2jXexqAOPkQhWvPnSivsQwLnK8-WEwb1QZhBo5Rg/pub

Unfortunately, the mountain climb officials require payment for the use of their roads, and since the roads require so much maintenance, they were forced to raise their prices. The prices listed above will include your meal for the day, plus 10 raffle tickets.

The event is still very much in the makings, but we've got some great ideas for everyone this year. For those of you who missed the original event at this location, you can view it here: http://forum.mazda6club.com/usa/255865-great-mazda-mountain-climb.html

This year, we will be returning to the location of the original mountain climb at beautiful Mt. Washington in Gorham, NH.

Preceding the event will be a long, very fun drive on one of the most scenic roads in New England, the amazing Kancamagus Highway..

We will be having a cookout and raffle just like last time. More details are to come, so start spreading the word now!

Some of our favorite pics from the 1st annual event:




Parking Map:


We are still very much open for suggestions for event details, so please discuss any ideas/thoughts/concerns here.

The Seasons Resort wants us back. We officially have a group rate and group location. There are three buildings (6, 7, & 8 IIRC) that have a large number of rooms open and are close together. We'll be taking those. That being said, here's the rate information:

Group Rate: 2 Nights and Tax Included
2 Bedroom non A/C - ($190/night) - $414.20
2 Bedroom A/C - ($205/night) - $446.90
Townhouse with A/C (1 bedroom with sleeping loft) - ($220/night) - $479.60
Penthouse non A/C (2 bedroom with sleeping loft) - ($220/night) - $479.60
Penthouse A/C (2 bedroom with sleeping loft) - ($245/night) - $491.09

Group Rate: 3 Nights and Tax Included
2 Bedroom non A/C - ($166.33/night) - $543.89
2 Bedroom A/C - ($191.65/night) - $574.97
Townhouse with A/C (1 bedroom with sleeping loft) - ($206.19/night) - $618.57
Penthouse non A/C (2 bedroom with sleeping loft) - ($206.19/night) - $479.60
Penthouse A/C (2 bedroom with sleeping loft) - ($227.99/night) - $683.97

Couple things to note:
  • All 3 Night prices include an optional 4th night free if interested.
  • You MUST call to get the group rate, online reservations will not work. The phone numbers are: 800-332-6636 OR 603-374-2361
  • When calling, be sure to let them know you're looking for the "Great Mazda Climb Group" section or rate.

That should be all you need. It would appear, with a 3 night stay, the resort is taking about 25% off as a group rate for us. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Reviews of the nearby hotels from a forum-goer:
I don't remember how far back in the thread it was, but someone inquired about lodging choices. I have personally stayed in and can vouch for:

North Conway Hotels | North Conway Grand Hotel | NH
Can be a bit pricey, but keep an eye on their site as they often run specials. Excellent place to stay though. Have stayed 3 or 4 times and it has been top notch every time.

Green Granite Inn, a North Conway Hotel
Stayed here once when the above hotel was full. Not bad, but not as nice as ^^^. Perfectly acceptable accommodations, just not as nice.

The Seasons Condominium Resort - Affordable Family Resort in Mt.Washington Valley
This is condo resort and could be an unbeatable value if some want to travel as a group. They are all individually owned so your mileage may vary, but the unit we stayed in was great except for the limited supply of hot water. (If you don't take 3 showers back-to-back it was fine.) The clubhouse/gameroom/indoor pool area is a bit dated but everything was functional when we went last December. Rates of 130/night for a 2-bedroom becomes very easy to swallow when you start dividing it up. And you get the option of bringing your own food if you don't want to eat out. It's north of North Conway, but actually puts you a bit closer to the Auto Road (23 vs. 34 minutes according to GoogleMaps)


North Conway is THE place to kill time in the off hours as there's lots of restaurants, shopping, and other activities. It's not too far from the base of the Auto Road and the drive between the two is nice. Someone mentioned Mount Washington Cog Railway - Climb to the Top of Mount Washington on the world's first mountain-climbing Cog Railway trains! and I will just chime in with this: EXPENSIVE! Priced to match the steep grade of the Jacob's ladder trestle (300' long at a grade of 37.41%) at $62 per adult. Don't get me wrong it's a good once-in-a-lifetime trip, but it is on the other side of the mountain from where most will be staying (55 minutes) and I didn't want to have someone drive all that way only to have a coronary due to sticker shock. :D
And my own, personal experience:
I've personally stayed in the Residence Inn in North Conway - Very nice place with good rates. Nice clean up-to-date rooms. Only quarrel was with the air conditioner unit in the room. Was quite loud and turned on and off throughout the night. Other than that: Highly recommend.

Edit: I'd like to revise this original experience to mention that the current rates for the hotel are quite steep (~$300/night) and I do not think that it's worth such a high price to stay here.

Register Here!

Who's IN?
1. Byakuya
2. SonicNutrition
3. DisplacedMainah
4. FusionGT
5. Tama6
6. Mr.Smoke
7. JD LS1
8. Mz6GreyGhost
9. Brandon
10. Phil
11. Brandon B.
12. Ocean6
13. Chris1600
14. Brady H.
15. justsomeguy
16. Kyle W.
17. Mazdarati Gransixmo
18. ForeignAmbulance
19. DC56
20. Corey
21. Sean G.
22. davros
23. Ryan K.
24. Jarrett
25. Anthony P.
26. Durpey
27. Andy
28. David K.
29. Gasame
30. Bill
31. Andrey
32. Goodfella
33. Tyler Q.
34. speedaholic
35. Jeremy J.
36. Scott W.
37. Kelso
38. Grady
39. Richard
40. Lara
41. N2o
42. PolishMan
43. Wim
44. Kim
45. stypa231
46. Josh
47. TMNTFan
48. Andrew
49. Davis
50. Darryl
51. Simon
52. Kurt
53. Kawing
54. Debbie
55. Rick
56. Heather
57. Darrick
58. RaymondSpeed3
59.
60.
 
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6
#6 ·
You forget I have a CX9. I think I can manage a good amount of it between the roof racks and the back. I just can't fold down all my seats since I have the baby seat. I can strap my tent to the roof of the CX9 if need be.
 
#7 ·
I did forget that haha. Kept thinking you only had the suburban. Okay well that thing fits a ton in it, my parents have one. This still all depends on our group's funding as well, we may be able to have some sort of catering or something along with the grills.
 
#8 ·
Yeah the Burban fits a ton but not very baby friendly/cheap to drive. So we would have the CX9. I still have one of my small grills and Wim has all the hotplates we used from the first climb. I see tables as the difficult thing to transport/source but I am sure we can come up with something.
 
#9 ·
Yeah the tables are the big thing for sure. Maybe we could get @Lara6 to show up with her Xterra and bring the tables haha.

Going to have to have a meeting about all this stuff soon.
 
#10 ·
Also, @Mr.Smoke please start spreading the word to the Canucks. I've got a guy in my group who's going to be posting the thread on a few forums. JD is in the area and has volunteered to start getting the info out around your whole area.
 
#13 ·
Do we still have last time's spreadsheet of needed items? That way we can start planning what we might need. Also now is the time to start putting in for vacations.
 
#15 ·
I still have copies of the full itinerary from the first event. We'll have to make some small modifications but I think that day went perfectly so we shouldn't really change anything. Perhaps push the times back a little so we don't have to wait quite as long for the trip to the summit.
 
#18 ·
Midday cruse might not be a bad idea. Most of us who set up missed the cruise because we were working. And depending on weather I'm sure some people would take a small hike, or we can bring lawn darts.
 
#19 ·
Yeah we'll see what works best. There's a big grass area right next to the parking lot, so we could always bring lawn darts or any other BBQ-type game.

I forget how well-groomed that grass is though, I believe it was kept low enough to walk without problem.


I don't think we should have people arrive, THEN go out for a cruise though. The Kanc is a good hour from base camp, so we don't want people to have to drive past it just to turn around and drive it again. Keeping things later in the day will allow people from further to not have to get up as early.
 
#23 ·
Because the list I put up was just a placeholder for the time-being. Cool your jets :p

The Registration page is open and working if you want to use it, I'll reference that when updating this list.
 
#24 ·
Registration link has been posted - For the time-being, the link goes directly to the google form. Once the NEMAC site is up and running I'll have a more permanent solution.
 
#26 ·
Little Sneak-peak of the soon-to-be new NEM6 site that I've been diligently working on:



I'll be posting the climb registration on this site as well, so we can deviate from the google link.
 
#28 ·
Are we all permitted over there? I want to keep an eye on the forums with the most activity.

:ring:
 
#34 ·
It's not bad once I hook up with The Canucks. The convoy makes things interesting, and you've got radio chatter.

I'll be doing the 4 ish hours to the Toronto area on Wednesday and set off for the rest with the Canucks on Thursday.

I'm super excited to see everyone again. And the roads... My favorite thing of all, the roads.
 
#37 ·
Not sure if I'll be staying the night or not since by the time this happens I will hopefully be living in the NH area and won't be more than a couple hours from home.

We'll see how it goes though, North Conway is a great area to hang around for a day or two.
 
#38 ·
Added the thoughtful hotel reviews by @hotmix77 from our first year's event.

Reviews of the nearby hotels from a forum-goer:
I don't remember how far back in the thread it was, but someone inquired about lodging choices. I have personally stayed in and can vouch for:

North Conway Hotels | North Conway Grand Hotel | NH
Can be a bit pricey, but keep an eye on their site as they often run specials. Excellent place to stay though. Have stayed 3 or 4 times and it has been top notch every time.

Green Granite Inn, a North Conway Hotel
Stayed here once when the above hotel was full. Not bad, but not as nice as ^^^. Perfectly acceptable accommodations, just not as nice.

The Seasons Condominium Resort - Affordable Family Resort in Mt.Washington Valley
This is condo resort and could be an unbeatable value if some want to travel as a group. They are all individually owned so your mileage may vary, but the unit we stayed in was great except for the limited supply of hot water. (If you don't take 3 showers back-to-back it was fine.) The clubhouse/gameroom/indoor pool area is a bit dated but everything was functional when we went last December. Rates of 130/night for a 2-bedroom becomes very easy to swallow when you start dividing it up. And you get the option of bringing your own food if you don't want to eat out. It's north of North Conway, but actually puts you a bit closer to the Auto Road (23 vs. 34 minutes according to GoogleMaps)


North Conway is THE place to kill time in the off hours as there's lots of restaurants, shopping, and other activities. It's not too far from the base of the Auto Road and the drive between the two is nice. Someone mentioned Mount Washington Cog Railway - Climb to the Top of Mount Washington on the world's first mountain-climbing Cog Railway trains! and I will just chime in with this: EXPENSIVE! Priced to match the steep grade of the Jacob's ladder trestle (300' long at a grade of 37.41%) at $62 per adult. Don't get me wrong it's a good once-in-a-lifetime trip, but it is on the other side of the mountain from where most will be staying (55 minutes) and I didn't want to have someone drive all that way only to have a coronary due to sticker shock. :D
 
#41 ·
Stinks you missed the last one but glad you can make this year.

Everyone, make sure you're spreading the word! NEMAC has a social media rep going around to all the forums that we can muster and posting information about this, but it certainly doesn't hurt to stir up conversations when you have a chance.

This event relies solely on these forums, facebook, and word of mouth, so we need all the help we can get.
 
#43 ·
No official webpage yet, we ran into an error setting up the domain. Once the domain is secured I'll create the website and add the climb page. People will be able to comment on it but I'd prefer if we kept this thread going.

This thread (and the ones on other forums) are the lifeblood of this event. If this thread isn't active, then neither is the climb.
 
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