It was a sparkling winter morning that, despite it being mid-February, felt more like early spring when I rolled into the parking lot at Nashoba Valley Ski Area (https://skinashoba.com).

The sun was shining on the visibly well-maintained snow and the lifts were already spinning. Ski school staff stood lined up and the happy voices and laughter as they met their students added just the right spice to the air.

Nashoba isn’t Jackson Hole; it’s not even Loon. You can see the trails top to bottom from the parking lot, since its vertical drop is just 240 feet.

Stop right there. Don’t let vertical drop fool you. A perfect ski day is about more than physical size. It’s about the vibe. It’s about a strong surface that holds up to skiers and riders all day long. It’s about good food, happy hosts and just plain getting outside in a lovely spot. It’s about being taken care of.

In other words, when it comes to skiing, attitude trumps altitude. A day at Nashoba proves that.

Nashoba Valley is, first and foremost, incredibly easy to get to – no matter where you live in the New England region. Being from the South Shore, I oft need to plan my ski day journeys around (insert swear word here) Boston traffic. Not with Nashoba. I can zip up 495 to its Westford locale and barely slow down just about any time of day. From the city and other points, Route 2 gets you there in a jiff. It’s a dream ski day commute.

And then there’s all it is; which is even more this season. With $500,000 in snowmaking upgrades on the hill, Nashoba is able to lay down a carpet of snowy awesomeness in nearly any kind of weather.

This day, under the warm sun, I carved turns with a group of ski-loving friends (among us a World Cup champion and former Olympian and Wayne Wong, who is perhaps the father of freestyle skiing) and found joy in every minute.

So great was the day, we looped runs for hours without even realizing much time had passed. It was the opposite of boredom.

Nashoba was born a dream – perhaps a dream that friends of founder Al Fletcher Sr. may have privately eye-rolled at.

Fletcher grew up skiing in a nearby apple orchard and hiking to the top of what is now Nashoba to camp. He’d think, he often told folks before his recent death: “This would make a great ski area.”

So in 1961, he cut some trails and took on the long and bumpy road of building the perfect local hill.

A family affair back then (his wife Nancy taught skiing, his daughter Pam developed skills that sent her off to be a World Cup Champion and Olympian and his son Al Junior soaked up ski life and resort management as a whole), it remains that way to this day.

You’ll still find Pam carving her world-class turns there regularly and Nancy dining and looking out at the ski day from their upstairs restaurant.

Al Junior? He’s running the show, taking what became of his day’s perhaps crazy dream and amping it up. In its 60th season, Nashoba is thriving.

Their lifts are fast and reliable; we go back and forth between their quick triples and their slower but still totally respectable double. Even on this vacation week day, we barely wait and the trails spread out in a way that gives us space to carve out those wide, fun turns that well-maintained snow just begs for.

Every single lift ride, the attendant greets us. And as we ski around the slopes, I notice something: Everyone considers themselves an instant friend. It’s like a not-so-secret club in which the entry code is a season pass or sticky wicket ticket (they still roll old school on those).

Fletcher has cut back some trees to open up trails a bit more, and that snowmaking upgrade has paid off in spades. Even in this iffy season of weird warm and cold and warm and wet, the surface is pristine.

“Whipped cream!” Wong yells over his shoulder to me as he leads our way down a still fluffy side trail.

Nashoba has all the accouterments of a big resort too. There’s a super fun crepe and cocoa shack for a slopeside treat, a lovely base lodge with classic ski food and the Overlook, that upstairs restaurant that not only serves upscale food but offers a perfect view and a cracking fireplace.

There are surface lifts for learners and for those who go big or dream of doing so, an award winning park to hone your skills in or just show them off.

By day’s end, despite that 240-vert, I’ve gathered – and experienced – all the things I love on a good ski day. Fun runs, new friends, a google tan and a full belly. Now that’s going big.