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Waterville Valley - 3/14/2004

MichaelJ

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Date(s) Skied: Sunday 3/14/2004

Resort or Ski Area: Waterville Valley

Conditions: Sunny 30's with light winds changing to overcast in the late afternoon. Loose granular with icy patches, only a few bare spots in "unimportant" locations.

Trip Report:
It was time to take out the new boots and skis and give them a try. We got there at opening time and were among the first on Quadzilla - I would spend the day solely on Valley Run. Immediately I fell and wondered what had happened to everything I'd learned two weeks prior. I soon realized just what a difference that extra 20cm of ski was doing to me and how much work it was to move those tails around. After a few runs, I aced it, but my quads were killing me (lack of sleep and breakfast were getting to me). But I kept going - the blue sky and warm sun were just too darned nice.

As the day went on, the soft mounds started to form. Fortunately, they were not at all slushy; however, I was having a really hard time turning right. Already my weak side, an aching left shin (from bowling - it's a long story) was protesting, and so my heavy use of the right leg was twanging my quads. Of course, had I been carving better instead of schussing I would not have been hurting so much!

After lunch I had a few spectacular wipeouts and decided my legs were shot and I needed to call it quits. The clouds had come in and I was losing my ability to read the snow, which was loose granular but still not slushy (except around the lodge).

I have much work to do on the new skis (Atomic Beta V 170's). I bought them to take me forward a few years, but right now I think I should still rent shorter (150's) a few more times. Especially with the conditions I need a little less tightness on my control - something a little more forgiving while I get my technique down.

Waterville on the whole was still in decent condition and today's gorgeous weather made it a joy. I stuck to the Valley Run, but there were folks on the higher, harder trails and coverage appeared good to the distant eye. It was quite busy but fortunately Quadzilla's line moved quickly. Definitely the right size mountain for me, and I look forward to getting better and going back to attack the blues. Big thanks to Audrey and Periwinkle from VFTT for going along with me. It was also very cool to watch Audrey coming down with me in her tele gear!

Someday, I will remember to use sunscreen when skiing...

{edit}
Oh ... if conditions are still decent on April 1, lift tickets that day will be $1. I may just have to call in sick to work. :D
 

57stevey

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Feb 11, 2004
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430
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Location
NH
I thought the snow off Quadzilla was ok, but the mini-glades and side trails had quite a bit of bulletproof hardpack, as did much of the upper mountain. Even the Meadows had one trail that was all scraped off. There are few if any easy blues, at least, not in this scraped condition, so this puts a huge amount of traffic on Valley Run... similar situation to Ridge trail at Sunapee and not the best option for safety as my kid will attest, having been hit on both of those runs this winter. I feel safer with her at places that have more of a local crowd (Cannon, Ragged, Pats, even Gunstock to an extent.)

Having said that, $1.00 does sound like a good price :wink:
 
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