Magic 3/30/2008

Date(s) Skied: 3/30/2008

Resort or Ski Area: Magic Mountain

Conditions: Leftover powder/chowder, velvety machine groomed, spring conditions by the afternoon. Bluebird day with highs in the upper 30s.

Trip Report: First trip to Magic. Billski (thanks again for the voucher) may be able to provide a more comprehensive report as I was with my kids and thus stayed almost entirely on the east side, but what a great mix of midwinter and spring conditions, often on the same run. Without crowds there were plenty of little stashes of untracked from Friday's 6-10" dump, which had not been subjected to thaw before yesterday afternoon. Where powder remained in the shadows all day it stayed powdery to the last run at 5 p.m.. Yet in the sun the snow corned up in the afternoon, and some of those stashes turned to mashed potatoes.

As is their wont, my boys stuck mainly to ungroomed trail edges. They also loved the small Enchanted Forest glades near the top (and I tore up my share of freshies in there). We did Wizard fairly late in the afternoon but the boys had less fun with that as it was starting to harden up again. My favorites were Vertigo and a couple large areas of powder/chowder on skier's left of Lower Magic Carpet -- more fun than I've had on a green in a looong time. We also got a kick out of the small bumps run under the red chair below Wand.

On our last ride up we saw our first shirtless skiers of the season, four or five guys bombing down Red Line.

Finally I must comment on the exceptionally friendly staff at Magic, from the lifties to the cafeteria crew to the instructors who offered us free burgers and gave my boys "Snow Monsters" DVDs on our way out. Great vibe all around and we will be back. Matt L, good meeting you too.

My Report....

My wife warned me upon return last night that Sunday may have been my last day out. My April is just chocked full of commitments, my oldest graduates high school this year, and the college thing is cranking heavy.

Anyways, great to meet Mike and his boys yesterday. He's got a couple of up-and-coming Olympians - it's so fun to see kids who are wound up about skiing.

I met the illustrious Matt Lillard, Marketing Director of Magic yesterday, it was great to meet you. Hopefully we'll have you down to Westford Mass. for a ski club meeting in the fall!

Mike makes a good point that I want to amplify on. Magic can be a great place for beginners. Not only do you get extremely personal attention, but there are more green trails which are groomed than you might first consider. This is definitely on my short list of areas that are great to learn at, without worrying about loads of people crowding the green trails. The "hassle factor" for equipment and tickets and lessons is quite low.





You could simply blast down the blue and green groomers all day if you wanted.

I usually start late and close the place up. However with Magic open until 5, I simply burned out by 4:30. For those who have not been, remember, their lifts are the "old fashioned" type - they are a bit slow. I didn't mind, since I spent most of the day exploring woods and needed a rest after each run.

Here are some base pics if you haven't been here before:


look at those incredible lift lines!


Conditions started as powder and moved to mush in the sun, and heavy pow in the woods by about noontime.

It got hot fast after noon today. You could watch the snow melting off the rocks on the upper mountain. Bumps softened until about 4pm, then began to freeze up again after that. I did notice one groomed trail, toward the end at the bottom that had some brown in the middle. I was surprised because the base is sooooo deeeeeep.

At about 2pm, I experienced a Magic first - a lift line! There were about 5 chair loads ahead of me! The evidence:



Woods were sweet. Whatever rain they had which crusted up was fully ameliorated by the pow which dumped last week.

It's amazing how much the woods changed from Sat to sunday:


It was sunny, in the 40s and no wind. What a difference the temps can make in enjoying the experience. Every trail and woods were a pleasure to be in. There wasn't anything bad to complain about, except, er, Magician:


Talisman



I don't know why, but I liked Slide of Hans the most. Maybe because it was so good (and I really didn't expect it to be, you can't see it from below, so "you don't know till you go!") Talisman, Heart, Broomstick and Sorcerer were a nice heavy powder. Greenline was a lot of untracked fun. On the blues, Lower wizard, Up you sleeve, and all the lower mountain blues were delightful. Very heavy, movable, not fluffy. I really like how they groom one half o the trail and leave the other side natural. Of course it was the groomed stuff that got a bit too scratch early in the day, loosened with the sun in the afternoon.

The woods was goods. I am going to take Matt up on his offer to participate in a pruning party this summer. I hit a few mother pricker bushes that I thought were going to be my death knell. Some of the small brush looked like stuff out of a Halloween movie. Interesting, in hallows, there is a nice drainage ditch run to be had.

My last two runs, I was starting to burn, about 4pm were on the blues, I just carved it up , soaked up the sun and enjoyed the views. I had a premonition it could be my last runs of the year, so I wanted to go out memorably. I even did the greens and delighted in finding lots of untracked on lower magic carpet.

I second Mike's compliments to the staff. I finally got a pin for my hat. The shop owner seems to work when she feels like it, but an industrious grille worker, "Jack" managed to get me a pin and even call my cell phone to advise!

A surprising number of little kids there today. The tops of redline and blackline looked pretty ugly with rock. but the second half of them on upper mountain was good. Great operation. Can't wait to get back.

I'm still planning on purchasing a chairlift chair, probably get one this spring....

It was great meeting you both. I am happy to hear you had such a great time. Friday through Sunday was arguably one of the top 3-day stretches all season. It is odd being closed midweek, but I am excited to reopen next weekend and continue the great spring skiing.

BTW, Magic has a pretty good Mardi Gras tree....

:beer:

mtl1076 said:

It is odd being closed midweek, but I am excited to reopen next weekend and continue the great spring skiing.

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how long do you think you'll go this year? still want to get back up but weekends arent easy right now.

This isn't really on topic but it's my thread so too bad :razz:

To get to Magic from NE Mass I drove up 93/89 to NH 202/9, and near Keene I experienced the pleasant shock of coming across a working ski area that I don't think I'd even heard of before -- Granite Gorge. I read up on it on NELSAP last night and apparently it may be the longest "lost" area to be resurrected in these parts -- closed in 1977, overhauled from top to bottom and reopened in 2003. Vert is only 500-something but it looked like there were some pretty serious pitches down the main face. Now if I'm going to be driving all that distance I don't know that I'd want to stop before getting to a place like Magic but I would like to add this notch to my belt one of these days. In any event, there's something oddly satisfying about seeing ski areas on the side of the road while driving back from a ski trip, with obvious examples being Whaleback on I-89 or Cannon on the way back from BW.

polski said:

To get to Magic from NE Mass I drove up 93/89 to NH 202/9, and near Keene ....

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Have you tried 495 to 2 to 91? That is how I went when I lived in NE Mass (Haverhill and Salem/Beverly). Not sure which is faster as I never considered 202 from Haverhill.

billski said:

I don't know why, but I liked Slide of Hans the most.

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Slide is a great bump trail. When I just want to bash a few bumps without the steep or tree challenge factor, Slide is where I usually head at Magic.

riverc0il said:

Have you tried 495 to 2 to 91? That is how I went when I lived in NE Mass (Haverhill and Salem/Beverly). Not sure which is faster as I never considered 202 from Haverhill.

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I went Rte 2 to 91. I think Mike told me it took him 2.5 hours. With good conditions, it's about 2 hours from the junction of 2 and 495 to Magic, going 65mph (lots of troopers taking pictures, so I play it safe.)

riverc0il said:

Have you tried 495 to 2 to 91? That is how I went when I lived in NE Mass (Haverhill and Salem/Beverly). Not sure which is faster as I never considered 202 from Haverhill.

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This actually is only the second time I've skied an area in that part of VT since I've lived here and the other time I got there by bus ... I considered 495>2>91 but Mapquest indicated that would be 20+ miles farther and 20-30 minutes longer. I know Mapquest isn't perfect and I initially was skeptical of the 202/9 route, but when I looked into it closely it seemed to be significantly shorter. Backing out gas and other pit stops I figure it took me 2:30 to 2:45 from the Newburyport area. It was 148 miles, exactly what Mapquest said it would be. I thought about trying 91>2>495 coming back but we skied until 5 p.m. close so I wasn't in a dallying mood.

202/9 wound up being fine but there were very few other vehicles. I could see it being a drag if there was more traffic and I got stuck behind slowpokes. Then again, Route 2 is not my idea of a great time under pretty much any conditions.

I have another question while we're off on the topic of ski commutes -- is it me or is there absolutely no time savings in getting to the MRV via Roxbury Gap (I-89 exit 5) rather than up 89 to Middlesex (exit 9) and then down 100B? I did Roxbury Gap when returning from MRG last week and I figure it was about 18 miles shorter but the same solid 3-hour drive. OTOH, the gap route was a lot more fun in early mud season than boring paved roads would have been ... as I was driving it I kinda felt like I was back on Lower Antelope.

billski said:

I went Rte 2 to 91. I think Mike told me it took him 2.5 hours. With good conditions, it's about 2 hours from the junction of 2 and 495 to Magic, going 65mph (lots of troopers taking pictures, so I play it safe.)

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I'm about 45 minutes from the 2/495 junction so maybe there's not a huge difference.

BTW Bill, shortly after I called you on the cell I had a near-miss on VT 103. I think the limit at the spot in question -- just before the state trooper barracks -- was 50 and I was probably doing around 60, with another car slowly but steadily closing behind me. In the other direction I saw an approaching car with a light bar and I took my foot off the gas. Sure enough it was a cop (not sure if state or local) and suddenly he banged a U-turn and hit his blues. I thought I was done for but he pulled over the guy behind me.

thread hijack...

polski said:

I'm about 45 minutes from the 2/495 junction so maybe there's not a huge difference.

BTW Bill, shortly after I called you on the cell I had a near-miss on VT 103. I think the limit at the spot in question -- just before the state trooper barracks -- was 50 and I was probably doing around 60, with another car slowly but steadily closing behind me. In the other direction I saw an approaching car with a light bar and I took my foot off the gas. Sure enough it was a cop (not sure if state or local) and suddenly he banged a U-turn and hit his blues. I thought I was done for but he pulled over the guy behind me.

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I saw the same guy just as I began to accelerate to pass, and thought the better of it. There were picture-takers on I-91 both NB and SB from Greenfield, MA to VT Exit 6 both AM and PM. I like Rte 2, much more easy going traffic-wise. I really dislike the road rally on Route 93 from Concord NH southwards.

billski said:

I saw the same guy just as I began to accelerate to pass, and thought the better of it. There were picture-takers on I-91 both NB and SB from Greenfield, MA to VT Exit 6 both AM and PM. I like Rte 2, much more easy going traffic-wise. I really dislike the road rally on Route 93 from Concord NH southwards.

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True, 93 can be a bit nuts in southern NH, especially on the ride home once it narrows to two lanes. I'm pretty used to it at this point though and speed traps are rarely an issue, not that I go much over 70 anyway.

My dislike for 2 may not be entirely rational -- my most recent trip on it, a couple years ago, involved a situation I won't describe lest I give "too much information" ... I'll have to give it another go sometime.