Wachusett Mountain 1-03-07

[loafer89]

Area skied: Wachusett Mountain, M.A

Date skied: January 3rd from 4:30 - 7:30pm.

Surface conditions: hardpacked, packed powder.


Today Warren and I decided to ski Wachusett Mountain as he had a half day at school and the weather is nice and mild for early January. The drive from work was quick with highway driving for better than 90% of the trip and only took about one hour and fifteen minutes from Bloomfield .

Our first run was down Conifer Connection which recieved snowmaking overnight and had this strange fluffy stuff on it that I think they call packed powder.

The best snow on the mountain is on Ralph's Run which has alot of soft fluffy packed powder like snow on it.

This place is amazingly crowded for a weeknight with 5 minute liftlines on the Minuteman Quad!!. I guess that this is a big nightime destination for alot of people.

 

[Sky]

It was the first night of the school programs. They show up starting around 3.

 

[jack97]

It was the first night of the school programs. They show up starting around 3.

When do the ski programs end?

 

[Zand]

On weeknights, they're gone by 7 or 8, but on Fridays (like mine) and Saturdays, most stay till at least 9. I don't believe they have school groups on Sunday nights, but I could be wrong.

Loafer, those 5 minute waits are nothing. Wachusett is known to get up to 20 minute lines once everything is going in full force. Most nights it doesn't get quite that busy, but it does happen. Besides weeknights, Wachusett barely gets anything you can call a crowd. Even vacations and weekends aren't terribly bad.

 

[SnowRider]

what did they have for park features. I go tommorow for ski club

 

[loafer89]

Looking back through my lift ticket collection I discovered that the last time that I skied at Wachusett Mountain was on February 17th, 1994 and I paid $14 for a night ticket:-o and the summit lift was a triple chair not a high speed quad, how times have changed.

Warren and I had dinner in the sit down resteraunt on the upper floor of the base lodge and it was nice to have a sit down meal with table service while still wearing ski boots. At 7:30pm we took three more runs including one from the summit before calling it a night.

Overall the skiing was quite good, if limited due to the warm weather and the mountain did a good job of making/grooming what snow they had.

Lower Conifer Connection:

Ralph's Run:

 

[loafer89]

On weeknights, they're gone by 7 or 8, but on Fridays (like mine) and Saturdays, most stay till at least 9. I don't believe they have school groups on Sunday nights, but I could be wrong.

Loafer, those 5 minute waits are nothing. Wachusett is known to get up to 20 minute lines once everything is going in full force. Most nights it doesn't get quite that busy, but it does happen. Besides weeknights, Wachusett barely gets anything you can call a crowd. Even vacations and weekends aren't terribly bad.

I quess that I am becoming spolied with the night skiing at Sundown as we rarely even wait more than a minute at best to board the summit chair.

 

[bvibert]

I quess that I am becoming spolied with the night skiing at Sundown as we rarely even wait more than a minute at best to board the summit chair.

FYI, the school programs started up this week at Sundown too... It never gets too bad though since they can fire up the other triple.

 

[loafer89]

what did they have for park features. I go tommorow for ski club

I did not see any park features and the halfpipe was bare grass:-?

 

[Zand]

Just an FYI, the first picture is actually Upper Conifer and the second is Challenger (I believe... they are very similar but I believe that is the racing booth in the far background).

 

[loafer89]

Just an FYI, the first picture is actually Upper Conifer and the second is Challenger (I believe... they are very similar but I believe that is the racing booth in the far background).

You are correct with both pictures, though it is hard to tell what part of Conifer is the upper and lower section. I had originally wanted to take a picture of Warren on Ralph's Run, but the lighting is really poor and the trail is quite dark compared to Challenger, hence my confusion.

Two more pictures that came out kind of blurry due to the dark conditions:

Crowds for the Minuteman Quad:

Base depth on Conifer Connection (about 3-4' deep):

 

[hrstrat57]

Zand pretty much has wa covered I think, his tr's are top notch....

Nice night photos of conifer and challenger, tough to get a good exposure like that, what kind of gear are you using?