JasonE
New member
I'm wondering if anyone from the Wachusett ski patrol hangs out on this board, if so, I have an issue I want to bring to your attention (and yes, I could make a complaint at the mountain, and probably will, but it's easier to post it here for the time being).
Saturday night, my wife and I took our 3 nieces (ages 12, 11, and 6) up to the mountain. My wife kept the 6-year-old over on Ollies to teach her to ski (it was her first time out), while I took the two older girls over to Indian Summer to let them get their first runs of the season in.
I've got to tell you, the situation on Indian Summer was ridiculous. I recognize that when you've only got a couple trails open, it's going to be crowded. That's ok, I expect that. But there was absolutely no common sense and no etiquette being used or enforced on Indian Summer on Saturday night.
Seriously - I have nothing against snowboarders, but can you tell me in what realm of acceptable etiquette it is for there to be groups of 20 (or more) snowboarders sitting down in groups covering the entire trail from edge-to-edge???? It was the worst-designed slalom run I've ever seen, and for that to be occurring on a beginner trail is a dangerous situation. My 12-year-old niece, who has been skiing for 7 years so she is pretty good, had a nasty crash because she was trying to get through one of these groups of 20-odd snowboarders. She was going through a space between two snowboards - the space was about 2 or 3 feet wide, and both snowboarders were sitting down, when suddenly one of the boarders popped up and started to go, without even bothering to glance up-hill to see if anyone was approaching. My niece had no place to go, no way to avoid it (there were just too many people), and skied over the back of the girl's snowboard before crashing. No injuries to anyone, but come on.
I know there were ski patrol over on conifer (we could hear the whistles), but in two hours at the mountain I never saw a red coat on Indian Summer. We finally left, disgusted, after only a few runs.
Oh - and even worse, over on Ollies, my 6-year-old niece was taken out by a snowboarder who was riding with his ass on the board using it like a sled! Where was the ski patrol on that one???? When you've only got 3 trails open, there should be enough ski patrol to keep their eyes everywhere.
Come on... there was no excuse for that situation. Crowds I can expect, and deal with. Ski patrol not preventing clear and obvious safety hazards, that's a lot harder to swallow.
Saturday night, my wife and I took our 3 nieces (ages 12, 11, and 6) up to the mountain. My wife kept the 6-year-old over on Ollies to teach her to ski (it was her first time out), while I took the two older girls over to Indian Summer to let them get their first runs of the season in.
I've got to tell you, the situation on Indian Summer was ridiculous. I recognize that when you've only got a couple trails open, it's going to be crowded. That's ok, I expect that. But there was absolutely no common sense and no etiquette being used or enforced on Indian Summer on Saturday night.
Seriously - I have nothing against snowboarders, but can you tell me in what realm of acceptable etiquette it is for there to be groups of 20 (or more) snowboarders sitting down in groups covering the entire trail from edge-to-edge???? It was the worst-designed slalom run I've ever seen, and for that to be occurring on a beginner trail is a dangerous situation. My 12-year-old niece, who has been skiing for 7 years so she is pretty good, had a nasty crash because she was trying to get through one of these groups of 20-odd snowboarders. She was going through a space between two snowboards - the space was about 2 or 3 feet wide, and both snowboarders were sitting down, when suddenly one of the boarders popped up and started to go, without even bothering to glance up-hill to see if anyone was approaching. My niece had no place to go, no way to avoid it (there were just too many people), and skied over the back of the girl's snowboard before crashing. No injuries to anyone, but come on.
I know there were ski patrol over on conifer (we could hear the whistles), but in two hours at the mountain I never saw a red coat on Indian Summer. We finally left, disgusted, after only a few runs.
Oh - and even worse, over on Ollies, my 6-year-old niece was taken out by a snowboarder who was riding with his ass on the board using it like a sled! Where was the ski patrol on that one???? When you've only got 3 trails open, there should be enough ski patrol to keep their eyes everywhere.
Come on... there was no excuse for that situation. Crowds I can expect, and deal with. Ski patrol not preventing clear and obvious safety hazards, that's a lot harder to swallow.
