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Wachusett 1/18/08

Zand

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 30, 2003
Messages
4,108
Points
113
Location
Spencer, MA
Date(s) Skied: Friday 1/18/08

Resort or Ski Area: Wachusett Mountain, MA

Conditions: WetGR early, LSGR late, Scraped

Trip Report:

Day 2 of 6 with ski club. Surprisingly uncrowded Friday night at Wachusett... I think there were more people there midday yesterday than at any point tonight. 4" of snow fell last night, but the changeover at the end reeked havoc on whatever fell and it basically turned into a wet dust-on-crust day with things freezing later on.

Conifer: Honestly was the worst of the 3 summit trails all night. It was the most crowded, had the most idiots, and had the worst snow. Much of it was scraped most of the time, even close to the sides. One of the runs I took down it, there must have been 6-8 patrollers and rangers on it.

10th: After they groomed, there were more pebbles on this trail than on the local playground. Literally the entire trail was pebbles top to bottom. Sometimes they were very tricky to turn on as well. Where there wasn't pebbles, it was pretty much scraped down to the base. Still some nice places to get air on the last leg of lower 10th which was nice.

Smith: By far the best conditions on the entire mountain that I was able to seek out. The headwall had a few pebbles, but not like 10th and the rest had great snow with very few scraped spots. Lower Smith almost had some lips built up on the rollers and had some great air. Lots of fun on that one tonight. Polar Express was in full speed and was usually a 10-15 chair wait.

Hitchcock/Frannies: Frannie's park is still the same. It was very scraped today. Hitchcock was good most of the way where I skied it. They've been giving it afternoon grooming lately so it should be holding up quite good as the night goes on.

Look Mom: The mounds had some good air over them. Of course, it was nearly impossible to stop after them because just about the entire trail was porcelain. Half-pipe was a lot better than Tuesday... still a lot of work to do but they've improved it quite a bit this week. Minuteman was in its normal speed with an occasional 2-3 minute wait, but usually less than that. They need snowmaking badly at the top of the lift, lots of dirt in the unload area and in the flats leading to Look Ma and Hitchcock.

Decent night tonight with the crowds being low. I'll have a cold report from Mount Snow on Monday (hopefully the cold scares some people off... I already have hand warmers, toe warmers, and under armor prepared for their first battle this year. Next Wachusett report will probably be next Friday.
 
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