Bradford (MA) 2010-11

[polski]

I'm bound to hit my local hill multiple times over the season and will keep it all in one thread.

With some big new fan guns Bradford today had 70% of its terrain open despite zero natural snow thus far. (Only the terrain park/skiers' far right and the new trail to skiers' far left were not open.) Dropped my kids off this morning to ski with friends and was impressed enough by the soft pp groomed surface and lack of crowds that I decided to do some laps of my own in the afternoon. I'm not going to say this was the most exciting skiing but an afternoon of exercise on the snow beat a lot of the alternatives. And there couldn't have been more than a few dozen skiers there so nothing got scraped off.

p.s. I'm not a bump skier but I will say I wish they'd put a line in for some variety.

 

[polski]

"Rain which does not kill us makes us stronger." That's what I said as I headed out the door yesterday to chaperone one of my sons' school ski trips to Bradford and found it raining steadily. Alas, high in the Haverhill Alps it was snowing - big, fat, wet, gloppy flakes that took a long time accumulating to much of anything because of the air temps, but still, better than rain. And aesthetically it is pleasing to ski when it's halfway to nuking out.

Had a lot of fun turns in a couple hours. Surface was wet packed, spring-like except the soft stuff wasn't very deep. Surfin' USA. Made turns around trees on the edges of Hugh's Run and to skiers' right off the top of the Wasp chair and even got a few "fresh tracks" venturing into the woods a little further, although it quickly got very sticky. Got wet and cold after a couple hours but had a good time.

Also was out there a couple weeks ago, chaperoning, nothing worth bumping the thread over at the time - though I did enjoy meeting Al, an old-timer who works at Bradford and once owned the Methuen/Merrimack Valley ski area (NELSAP). He asked me which school group I was with and I said "Page, West Newbury." He said, "There used to be a ski area behind the Page School, ya know." I replied: "Yep. I skied there last Monday." (Big Red)

Will be back at Bradford this afternoon as slope monitor for my other son's program. Website says loose granular but we had an inch or so of fluff overnight so I'm thinking the surface should be pretty decent. They do a fine job grooming there.

 

[Glenn]

n/a

 

[Riverveteran]

Good ole Al. I grew up learning to ski there 30+ years ago, worked there for 6 years in HS and College. Now I am taking my 5 and 3 year old over and Al has been there pretty much the whole time, except for maybe my beginnings; Methuen was probably still open when I started. I talked with last year and he remembered me. Great gentleman, true ambassador to local skiing.

 

[polski]

yep definitely the impression I got talking with him.

 

[polski]

Bradford BUMPS! and woods

I was back on chaperoning duty yesterday (before the nuking we've gotten overnight) and I'm not sure which news development would be of greater interest to the AZ audience: The woods, such as they are, are definitely in ... AND they're seeding bumps on Wasp. My son and I even helped ski them in a little for y'all.

 

[rocojerry]

as the closest hill to Gloucester, I'm wondering if I should make a trip over and check it out tonight....

 

[polski]

Went back this morning to check out 10" of fresh. "Seeded" bumps may have been an overstatement but there are bumps. And the woods were pretty tracked out ... by my son and me, over the course of 15 or so runs through them. Slight wind affect to the pow but thoroughly enjoyable. Now off to drop off my son and a friend for the night session ...

 

[polski]

Once again the Wednesday elementary school ski trip I chaperone was (of all things) snowed out (with schools closed) but today's middle school trip was on, and conditions were prime. We'd gotten a little sleet and wetter snow mixing in during the last storm but only a little, with no rain/ice and no crust - in the woods the consistency of the new snow (probably 12-14" worth, in all) was a bit thick but not sticky; initiating turns was not a problem once you got moving. Took at least a dozen runs in the woods to skier's right of the terrain park and found plentiful untracked boot-deep+ ... a lot of kids were going in but my Gotamas took me where most of them wouldn't dare ... and on one lap I shot out of the woods and across the terrain park until I dropped in off the wall of the halfpipe

So now I know that if logistical issues preclude my heading north Saturday, I can earn turns on local hills and should find a perfectly skiable surface. And I've been hitting the local "backcountry" plenty the past few weeks. Haven't had time to write up TRs - too busy skiing, nearly every day in one form or another - but the snowpack here now is a solid 3' and I think we might have once-in-a-lifetime conditions in these parts.

Anyway, back at Bradford today - the bumps on Wasp were fun. A few guys were zippering through them; I was content to hit them at my own somewhat slower speed. Overall the groomed surface was outstanding, silky smooth. And Hugh's Run (the new trail to far skier's left, cut last year) reopened after racing so I was able to get my last few runs of the day through big patches of deep untracked in the trees on skier's right (too dark at that point for the bigger woods on the left).

 

[polski]

Another chaperoning trip to Bradford yesterday. The woods to skier's left of Hugh's Run (far skier's left on the hill) now have a name: "KEEP OUT" :angry: with orange netting at the entrances to emphasize the point. :angry: :angry: Ah well, it was good while it lasted.

I presume this was done for liability reasons, although every time I'm there they're carting kids off to the hospital from the terrain park so I'm not really sure what the story is.

Anyhoo, the woods to skier's right of the terrain park remained open and were skiable yesterday. In the woods the surface retained a hint of stiffness despite the warmup but no real problem making turns. On the open slopes it was sweet corn, though I was surprised that it only ran an inch or two deep in most spots despite temps into the 50s. I presume that's because we were coming out of a hard freeze Tues into early Wed.

I'm not going to do a separate TR for this but before Bradford I warmed up with 1.5 laps of skinning in corn near a local NELSAP hill, and so I'll spice up this thread with a little eye candy from there: