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Waterville Valley 3/23/2013

dlague

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Nov 7, 2012
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Location
CS, Colorado
Date Skied: 03/23/2013
Resort Skied: Waterville Valley
Conditions: Near Perfect PP with Powder stashes

Trip Report: :snow:

Spring Skiing? Felt like Early February at the end of March! On our way to Waterville Valley, we noticed the further north we went the more the winds were picking up – not only that but it was snowing and it seemed like Waterville valley had a their own “Jay Cloud”. In fact, it snowed the entire time we were there which was cool to see! As we unloaded our gear, we also noticed that it seemed colder than expected so a wintery day was to be had!

As usual for Waterville, the White Peak Express had a line so we stuck to our backup plan of Valley Run HSQ and Sunnyside Triple. We skied the entire morning lapping that chair combo until the winds shut down Sunnyside Triple (4 Runs). Hind sight, we should have been lapping Sunnyside only! In any case we started with Oblivion to Valley Run and just burned it up the best we could, however, the flat section on Oblivion kind of takes the wind out of the sails. In any case, we swept through Valley Run and due to a little miscommunication ended up all the way down. Next some wanted to repeat the same trial while I wanted to take True Grit for a spin. Some seem to think that this trail is steep but I think it skies nicely with the exception the middle section as it first drops – apparently there is a whole lot of slowing down going on there (Ice patch). I could see the ice from the chair as we headed up so I skied the bumps under the chair then headed below the ice patch into the middle of the trail to make some fun turns then back under the chair for softer bumps where the powder was still being worked from the storm earlier in the week (surprisingly)! I like this trail a lot! We then made another trip up and I skied down Bobby’s Run which starts of as a blue and skied really nice then gets a little steeper but that skied well also! Towards the bottom, I headed into Sunnyside Glades (between True Grit and Bobby’s Run) and with all the wind blowing, much of the snow must have ended in the woods because the glades skied really nice! BTW, the trail conditions were superb – mid winter like, real PP and nice cold temps – but… very windy which we didn’t mind all that much. On our last ride up the triple, we noticed the winds really starting to pick up experiencing a white out just before getting off the chair! That was crazy with our chair swaying back and forth and our skis acting as sails catching the wind. So…. We headed over to the right and skied down Tippecanoe back to the base to grab a bite. We ate at the T-Bar where the food is not bad and the Harpoon tastes like Harpoon everywhere else. Others I was with said they serve a good Bloody Mary!

We headed up Valley Run HSQ and as we went past the Sunnyside Triple we say that it did indeed get shut down! So we had no choice but to head up White Peak! The line was a little shorter due to lunch I guess so the wait was about five to ten minutes! We rode that lift twice before the line got longer and skied down Tyler Too, as well as Tippecanoe.

We ended up Sticking to the Valley Run HSQ for the rest of our runs. The only chairs running were the Valley Ruin and White Peak HSQ’s and the line was too long on Whites Peak! The run choice was limited so we skied Stillness, Valley Run, and Rock Island and making occasional speedy dips through Family Adventure Park (a gladed area that is pretty wide open in there so you can build speed into it and have a little fun and zip right back out). These runs were our last four for the day so they were fun runs just to cruise around, enjoy the wintery day, catch some air on a couple rollers ski the small bump area, make big turns and just let our skis run.

We got our gear off and headed into Buckets (limited drink selection, mostly beer and wine) where we enjoyed listening to Pat Foley! That was a tough crowd since the layout of the place does not really accommodate a musician! The front of the room enjoyed the music while the people in the back – well it could have been a Juke Box playing! The party was sponsored by Ride and Ski, and Harpoon.

Over all we had a great day – our faces froze a little and the wind could be brutal at times but the snow was crazy good and we got to feel like it was still mid winter (made me happy). We often would laugh on the rides up about all the people that are pissed at the cold temps and the snow and here we were – loving it!

Thank you Ride and Ski!

Powder Bumps under Sunnyside Triple

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Wind on True Grit

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Wind at the bottom of Tippecanoe

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Last edited:

xwhaler

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Seacoast NH
Nice report---when you can get there on a deal WV can be fun. I always find myself lapping that Sunnyside chair when I'm there.
You seem to take advantage of lots/all the RSNE 'tour' stops. Any idea if they are done for the season now or will they try and add additional spring skiing dates?
I have a card and would like to find some good Saturday deal one of the next couple wknds.
 

mlkrgr

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Jan 18, 2010
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Nice report---when you can get there on a deal WV can be fun. I always find myself lapping that Sunnyside chair when I'm there.
You seem to take advantage of lots/all the RSNE 'tour' stops. Any idea if they are done for the season now or will they try and add additional spring skiing dates?
I have a card and would like to find some good Saturday deal one of the next couple wknds.

Sweet report; seemed to be a bit hectic for you but worthwhile. Looks like business is quite good for them such that they should be running Northside. I'm hoping to hit them up on Good Friday for some good skiing. I'd hope they'd add some days. I try to avoid Saturdays at Waterville due to limited lift capacity (and the deals seem to be better on other days as well).
 

dlague

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Nov 7, 2012
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Location
CS, Colorado
Sweet report; seemed to be a bit hectic for you but worthwhile. Looks like business is quite good for them such that they should be running Northside. I'm hoping to hit them up on Good Friday for some good skiing. I'd hope they'd add some days. I try to avoid Saturdays at Waterville due to limited lift capacity (and the deals seem to be better on other days as well).

Ride and Ski is done for the season! However we will be using the Ride and Ski card for Sunday two for one deals at Jay Peak as long as we can! We have some comps to use up on a couple of Saturdays. If people can ski on week days then Ride and Ski has two for one deals at Mt Snow, Bolton Valley, Cranmore, Black Mountain, Sugarbush, Jay Peak and a couple others that I can not recall. Irving and Mobile also do two for one deals based on three 10 gallon or more fillups!

Just hope the season holds out!
 

dlague

Active member
Joined
Nov 7, 2012
Messages
8,792
Points
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Location
CS, Colorado
Nice report---when you can get there on a deal WV can be fun. I always find myself lapping that Sunnyside chair when I'm there.
You seem to take advantage of lots/all the RSNE 'tour' stops. Any idea if they are done for the season now or will they try and add additional spring skiing dates?

Ride and Ski is one way to go and they are done for the season! The Sunnyside chair side of the mountain is great!
 

skifree

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Oct 16, 2012
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No need to ride anything butt sunnyside.
Recommend the chocolate chip cookie and very large ipa's at the schwendi hut
 

dlague

Active member
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Nov 7, 2012
Messages
8,792
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Location
CS, Colorado
No need to ride anything butt sunnyside.
Recommend the chocolate chip cookie and very large ipa's at the schwendi hut

Funny thing, early season you are stuck skiing the Northside since that area gets the initial snowmaking using White Peak becuase lines are still short. As the season rolls along, more people visit and the White Peak chair gets busy so Sunnyside is nice! That side of Waterville is definitely my favorite part. I skip the cookie and go for the IPA!
 
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