Wachusett 2/3/05

[Zand]

Date(s) Skied: 2/3/05

Resort or Ski Area: Wachusett Mountain, MA

Conditions: Packed Powder, Hardpack

Trip Report:

Was today National Skiing Moron Day? I couldn't believe how many idiots were on the mountain tonight. You couldn't turn without having a snowplowing beginner right in your face. There were WAY too many people on the summit that should have been down skiing the carpets. I'm not too crazy about crowds, but when 50% of it can't ski for crap, there's a problem.

Conifer: Skiied it once. There were about 10 ski patrollers in various locations yelling at everyone who went by. Well, I got in 4 straight days without seeing one, but I guess they needed them tonight with all of the idiots up there.

10th: Spent nearly all night on it. The top was fast and the bottom was also fast. The top had WAY too many morons on the steep. The cool thing was watching the little 5 year olds fly through the bumps with their short skis. Kudos to them!

Smith: Only took one run down upper, but it was bumpy up there and reletively icy. Most of the 10th runs I took, I crossed over to Smith and tucked the whole way down gathering insane speeds. Fun.

Frannie's: Used it to get the heck out of the Minuteman Area. Too many people over there and the summit had about 1/4 a line, so it was an easy decision to bail. Frannie's was icy with quite a few bare spots. I couldn't believe my eyes. We just had a blizzard and then some a week and a half ago and there's already bare spots. Odd.

That's all for today. I'll be back up tomorrow night.

[teachski]

WAWA was truly a zoo, I have to agree. I spent part of the night (about 1/2 hour) on the beginners chair checking out our kids in lessons. I was a little disturbed to see that after 4 lessons, the snowboard group was still on the magic carpet. Our kids were all turning well and stopping well, using the entire board. The problem was, they added 2 new kids to their group last week and they were way behind. I was assured that they will be riding he chair next week (lesson 5).

There were quite a few ambulances in and out while I was on the beginners chair. I know that there was one person with a severely broken leg (angulated) and one with a back injury (flying snowboard in the back, no safety leash). They also took a chaperone from one school with a shoulder injury. I wonder if this is normal, or if the number was increased because it was such a zoo. I wasn't on the beginner's slope that long and this seems like a high number.