Date(s) Skied: 4-10pm Shift on March 22, 2005
Resort or Ski Area: Wachusett Mountain
Conditions: Spring conditions followed by fresh grooming and then FRGR and LG/"Death Cookies"
Trip Report: With a girlfriend who is from Worcester, I'd heard a lot about Wachusett, only minutes from her house, and I had hiked it in June 2003. Despite this, I had not skied it. After receiving an assignment to go to Worcester and getting word of an RSN Wachusett Forum rendezvous (Trailboss still has a presence in there :wink: ), I packed up my skis and went to check it out.
I decided to take advantage of the $20 night skiing promo which made the night a good deal. I arrived at 3:15pm, had a snack, got booted up, and was on the lift at about 3:50pm or so. My first two runs down Challenger and Ralph's Run were very similar...soft snow, nice long runs, and both had a similar pitch (though Ralph's had a bit less pitch). Both were wide open and nice warm-ups.
From here I went to the Polar Express which serves the main mountain. For only having about 1,000 vertical feet, Wachusett skied bigger than it seemed on the map...the lift to the top took a while and delivered some good long runs. They had pulled the rope on Smith Walton for some grooming so I opted to hit the bumps on 10th Mountain before they froze...regrettably, these were some of the worst shaped bumps I'd seen :x with some irregular troughs and poor lines, but heck, a good effort. I opted to hit the narrow Salamander Cutoff which was narrow and nice!
My next run was down Upper and Lower Balanced Rock, which were quite narrow and incredibly fun...reminiscent of some of the few reamining narrow spruce-lined runs at Sunday River's Barker Mountain. I hooted as I ricocheted off of the bends in the trail...very entertaining and nice to see at a cruising mountain! I made sure to hit Roper's Road, which was almost a carbon copy of sections of Burke's Toll Road complete with narrow sweetness (and some bare pavement showing in places...beware :-? ).
At this point, the rope had been dropped on Smith Walton and I made sure to hit it. For the most part, it was sweet. I hit it at least four times tending to stay to skier's left on the headwall which was soft, but it was clear that the groomers had gotten to it a bit too early...as the night went on, the run became a sheet of ice for the most part :x
I also got first tracks down Conifer Connection and 10th Mountain once they were groomed. These two "first runs" were the only time I felt crowded out...on one occasion I was almost flattened by two snowboarders who were out of control :angry: .
In all, my two-hour mini-tour had led me to most of the mountain and I was very satisfied with what the resort had to offer. It had a big-mountain feel and some nice long runs for those in the flatlands.
The RSN Rendezvous I met up with RSN chatters Sky, Cubco, Phildozer, Mathdude, Surfgal, Ozzyskier, and Skiladi for an evening of fun. Sky even introduced me to Jeff Crowley, aka owner and President of the Mountain (my apologies for calling you Roy...assumed that was whom I was talking with 'cause he has a presence in the forum ).
We hit Ralph's Run to find it had freezed pretty much solid (was still edgeable in places). Word had it that the groomers had stopped to wait for the snow to set. From here, we hit Hitchcock to Frannie's, in the new triple area (though I was not able to get to Piece of Cake, which appears to only be accessible from the Triple ). This, too, had frozen over. We joked around and then hit Conifer, 10th, and Smith Walton repeatedly until 8:30pm. Conifer, with its death cookies, was in the best shape, but I found some loose snow on 10th.
From here we hit the bar...nice place...and chatted for some time. A good gathering of folks and a good time. Sky was quite a character...great guy. Cubco and Surfgal can rip it up...great skiers . Mathdude, a solid skier, told me about his Crotched skiing experiencees. Phildozer was also a character (and informed me that Mt Dozer was having a good season). Skiladi and I reminisced about Sugarbush while I went on to have an interesting discussion regarding the ski biz with Ozzy (man he knew his stuff).
Some thoughts on Wachusett:
The Goods:
Things I'd improve:
A great place to ski though! Glad I finally made it! :wink:
Resort or Ski Area: Wachusett Mountain
Conditions: Spring conditions followed by fresh grooming and then FRGR and LG/"Death Cookies"
Trip Report: With a girlfriend who is from Worcester, I'd heard a lot about Wachusett, only minutes from her house, and I had hiked it in June 2003. Despite this, I had not skied it. After receiving an assignment to go to Worcester and getting word of an RSN Wachusett Forum rendezvous (Trailboss still has a presence in there :wink: ), I packed up my skis and went to check it out.
I decided to take advantage of the $20 night skiing promo which made the night a good deal. I arrived at 3:15pm, had a snack, got booted up, and was on the lift at about 3:50pm or so. My first two runs down Challenger and Ralph's Run were very similar...soft snow, nice long runs, and both had a similar pitch (though Ralph's had a bit less pitch). Both were wide open and nice warm-ups.
From here I went to the Polar Express which serves the main mountain. For only having about 1,000 vertical feet, Wachusett skied bigger than it seemed on the map...the lift to the top took a while and delivered some good long runs. They had pulled the rope on Smith Walton for some grooming so I opted to hit the bumps on 10th Mountain before they froze...regrettably, these were some of the worst shaped bumps I'd seen :x with some irregular troughs and poor lines, but heck, a good effort. I opted to hit the narrow Salamander Cutoff which was narrow and nice!
My next run was down Upper and Lower Balanced Rock, which were quite narrow and incredibly fun...reminiscent of some of the few reamining narrow spruce-lined runs at Sunday River's Barker Mountain. I hooted as I ricocheted off of the bends in the trail...very entertaining and nice to see at a cruising mountain! I made sure to hit Roper's Road, which was almost a carbon copy of sections of Burke's Toll Road complete with narrow sweetness (and some bare pavement showing in places...beware :-? ).
At this point, the rope had been dropped on Smith Walton and I made sure to hit it. For the most part, it was sweet. I hit it at least four times tending to stay to skier's left on the headwall which was soft, but it was clear that the groomers had gotten to it a bit too early...as the night went on, the run became a sheet of ice for the most part :x
I also got first tracks down Conifer Connection and 10th Mountain once they were groomed. These two "first runs" were the only time I felt crowded out...on one occasion I was almost flattened by two snowboarders who were out of control :angry: .
In all, my two-hour mini-tour had led me to most of the mountain and I was very satisfied with what the resort had to offer. It had a big-mountain feel and some nice long runs for those in the flatlands.
The RSN Rendezvous I met up with RSN chatters Sky, Cubco, Phildozer, Mathdude, Surfgal, Ozzyskier, and Skiladi for an evening of fun. Sky even introduced me to Jeff Crowley, aka owner and President of the Mountain (my apologies for calling you Roy...assumed that was whom I was talking with 'cause he has a presence in the forum ).
We hit Ralph's Run to find it had freezed pretty much solid (was still edgeable in places). Word had it that the groomers had stopped to wait for the snow to set. From here, we hit Hitchcock to Frannie's, in the new triple area (though I was not able to get to Piece of Cake, which appears to only be accessible from the Triple ). This, too, had frozen over. We joked around and then hit Conifer, 10th, and Smith Walton repeatedly until 8:30pm. Conifer, with its death cookies, was in the best shape, but I found some loose snow on 10th.
From here we hit the bar...nice place...and chatted for some time. A good gathering of folks and a good time. Sky was quite a character...great guy. Cubco and Surfgal can rip it up...great skiers . Mathdude, a solid skier, told me about his Crotched skiing experiencees. Phildozer was also a character (and informed me that Mt Dozer was having a good season). Skiladi and I reminisced about Sugarbush while I went on to have an interesting discussion regarding the ski biz with Ozzy (man he knew his stuff).
Some thoughts on Wachusett:
The Goods:
- #Big mountain skiing and fast lifts.
# Great night skiing and good value.
# Had a cruising feel similar to my experiences at Bretton Woods.
Things I'd improve:
- # More terrain variety, especially at night (only three routes off the top for night skiing). This will be tough considering that the mtn is in MA.
# Improved grooming. Rather than giving up on the snow, I wish they had waited and groomed it after it froze, but it was a tough call. Some uneven grooming in places as well...
# Don't be afraid to reign in the rowdy kids. Tough job, but wish the patrol/rangers would have said something to the boarders who almost ran me over...a ranger was standing nearby.
A great place to ski though! Glad I finally made it! :wink: