Zand
Well-known member
MY best ski day ever: Wachusett, March 17, 2004.
There was a small storm the night before on Tuesday so I headed up for night skiing on Wednesday. Their website said "NOTE: Summit trails will be ungroomed for all of you powder hounds." That got me all pumped.
I got there late and to my dismay, they'd already started grooming Smith Walton and 10th Mountain for night skiing. I managed to get to Conifer for 1 run before they hit it with the groomers. It was the most bumped up I'd ever seen a Wachusett trail, and it was actually good, soft snow for once, not all icy in the troughs.
As I took the lift back up, I noticed they were ready to open Smith from grooming. While we were waiting, I spoke with a Ski Patroller and told him I was disappointed that they were grooming all of the trails and they could have left one of them ungroomed. He said that although many people would have liked the bumps, the finished product from grooming would be just as good. He said get over to Conifer once more if I wanted another bump run. I heard another guy say "Yeah, Conifer is skiing like a real blue square tonight!" The ski patroller then said "If you like speed, the run you are about to go down will please you."
Well, just then, they pulled the rope and I was the first one about about 10 people. That run was freaking perfect. I was making the best GS turns of my life and the snow was absolutely in beautiful condition. What was even more suprising was that the lack of crowd allowed all 3 summit trails to be perfect like that the entire night. Not once did I experience any ice or any spot that wasn't packed fluff.
To this day, I still haven't experienced as great of a groomed product as that night. I spent all 6 hours I was there on the summit trails as I knew that was a once in a lifetime experience, especially at Wachusett. Some of the days last year came pretty close, but none could touch the great snow of St. Patricks Day 2004.
Also on that day, I pulled off 2 wipeouts that I remember to this day. On the first, I was poling down the very top of 10th, just past the station, trying to speed up as much as I could to hit a small mound about 50 feet down the trail. I ran over a pole and did a great face plant right under the lift. The second was in the bumps on 10th. I watched a couple of experts go down and stop, so I went at a decent speed for me at the time. I did pretty well. Naturally, just about everyone uses the last bump to jump and spread eagle. I did the jump and there just happened to be a big ditch in the landing. I went tip first into them which sent me into a belly flop and slide, by the 2 guys. One yelled "SAFE!" and made the ump signal. It kind of hurt, but it was funny.
There was a small storm the night before on Tuesday so I headed up for night skiing on Wednesday. Their website said "NOTE: Summit trails will be ungroomed for all of you powder hounds." That got me all pumped.
I got there late and to my dismay, they'd already started grooming Smith Walton and 10th Mountain for night skiing. I managed to get to Conifer for 1 run before they hit it with the groomers. It was the most bumped up I'd ever seen a Wachusett trail, and it was actually good, soft snow for once, not all icy in the troughs.
As I took the lift back up, I noticed they were ready to open Smith from grooming. While we were waiting, I spoke with a Ski Patroller and told him I was disappointed that they were grooming all of the trails and they could have left one of them ungroomed. He said that although many people would have liked the bumps, the finished product from grooming would be just as good. He said get over to Conifer once more if I wanted another bump run. I heard another guy say "Yeah, Conifer is skiing like a real blue square tonight!" The ski patroller then said "If you like speed, the run you are about to go down will please you."
Well, just then, they pulled the rope and I was the first one about about 10 people. That run was freaking perfect. I was making the best GS turns of my life and the snow was absolutely in beautiful condition. What was even more suprising was that the lack of crowd allowed all 3 summit trails to be perfect like that the entire night. Not once did I experience any ice or any spot that wasn't packed fluff.
To this day, I still haven't experienced as great of a groomed product as that night. I spent all 6 hours I was there on the summit trails as I knew that was a once in a lifetime experience, especially at Wachusett. Some of the days last year came pretty close, but none could touch the great snow of St. Patricks Day 2004.
Also on that day, I pulled off 2 wipeouts that I remember to this day. On the first, I was poling down the very top of 10th, just past the station, trying to speed up as much as I could to hit a small mound about 50 feet down the trail. I ran over a pole and did a great face plant right under the lift. The second was in the bumps on 10th. I watched a couple of experts go down and stop, so I went at a decent speed for me at the time. I did pretty well. Naturally, just about everyone uses the last bump to jump and spread eagle. I did the jump and there just happened to be a big ditch in the landing. I went tip first into them which sent me into a belly flop and slide, by the 2 guys. One yelled "SAFE!" and made the ump signal. It kind of hurt, but it was funny.
