Crotched Mountain 1-17

[frapcap]

Sorry for the lack of photos- was having WAY too much fun.

My last trip to Crotched was pretty rough. They took a beating over Xmas from the rain. However, they recovered incredibly well.
The original intention was to go to Wildcat, but with temps hovering around -7, we decided for a slightly warmer mountain. We made the right call. Even though the temp never really crested 10 degrees, the snow was fantastic. Crowds were minimal, even to the start of the holiday weekend. 100% of the terrain was open and if you really wanted to (like we did) you could go play in the woods a little bit.
We ran just about every trail there multiple times and got A LOT of vert in thanks to the HSQ. We also rarely got cold due to the short lift lines, short lift ride, and fast rides down.
Since we did just about everything there, I'll post some highlights.

Jupiter's storm- Piled up some snow from the fan guns. Skiers left and right were fantastic for short, quick turns in man made powder with some jumps/small bumps mixed in if you desired. The steep pitch was mainly icy, but made for a lot of fun to bomb down after enjoying a little bit of air time on the side of the trail. Some little rolls on the way into the terrain park made for some fun air time.

Woods of Jupiter's storm- could use more cover, but were skiable due to the blow over from snow making.

Woods off Moon Walk- not shabby! Good enough cover on the entry, but a little thin on the way out.

Final Frontier Glade- Shortl ived, but really fun with the accumulation of blower snow in between the (spaced out) trees.

Plutos Plunge- fantastic all day long. Still had some signs of cord on it when we left around 4:30pm.

Favorite (and most repeated run of the day) was Satellite Summit --> a little lip and jump crossing Moon Walk into a short section of Milky Way --> UFO and Equinox. The bottom of Plutos Plunge had some cool rolls on it to catch a little air to use your speed from Equinox on.

All in all, I was super impressed with this small mountain once they got enough time to blow snow and get some coverage. We'll definitely be returning!

 

[joshua segal]

Nice report. I wanted to ask for a bit of detail on your trip(s) down "Woods off Moon Walk- not shabby! Good enough cover on the entry, but a little thin on the way out."

I took a look at the entry and didn't notice any tracks going in. Once you go in the entrance, it splits into 4 runs, collectively referred to as "the West Ledges". Which one(s) did you take? If you don't know the names, could you describe where you came out?

 

[Tin]

I was hoping he meant the woods above Kuiper. Ledges were too boney last weekend wouldn't want to be in there.

 

[joshua segal]

I was hoping he meant the woods above Kuiper. Ledges were too boney last weekend wouldn't want to be in there.

I tried Dark Star on Saturday and found it to be breakable crust. I bailed where it crossed the old T-Bar line. It did look like there were a few tracks down the T-Bar line. Did you try Kuiper Belt? I got a report that it was not good!

 

[frapcap]

Nice report. I wanted to ask for a bit of detail on your trip(s) down "Woods off Moon Walk- not shabby! Good enough cover on the entry, but a little thin on the way out."

I took a look at the entry and didn't notice any tracks going in. Once you go in the entrance, it splits into 4 runs, collectively referred to as "the West Ledges". Which one(s) did you take? If you don't know the names, could you describe where you came out?

I've heard something referred to as the 'west ledges,' but I'm not entirely sure what we skied. Not all to familiar with the mountain. However, I'll do my best to describe it.
We went in off the upper bend of Moon Walk. There weren't really any tracks, but did have a little bit of a slope to get in. I think we might have skied over some snow making pipe, too. We skied to the straight-ish right run, a few little drops (2-4 foot mini-cliffs) and popped out on Milky Way a little before the unloading spot for the West lift. We probably could have went into the woods to the right of Velocity, but in the name of self preservation, decided not to.

Could you describe the other options we could've taken?

Those woods above Kuiper were bad news. Popped in and popped right back out. It was waaaaay too thin.

 

[joshua segal]

I've heard something referred to as the 'west ledges,' but I'm not entirely sure what we skied. Not all to familiar with the mountain. However, I'll do my best to describe it.
We went in off the upper bend of Moon Walk. There weren't really any tracks, but did have a little bit of a slope to get in. I think we might have skied over some snow making pipe, too. We skied to the straight-ish right run, a few little drops (2-4 foot mini-cliffs) and popped out on Milky Way a little before the unloading spot for the West lift. We probably could have went into the woods to the right of Velocity, but in the name of self preservation, decided not to.

Could you describe the other options we could've taken?

Those woods above Kuiper were bad news. Popped in and popped right back out. It was waaaaay too thin.

Yep. You were in the area called the West Ledges. The first fork you encountered, it sound like you went to the right. (To the left is really the ledges. Great stuff when there is snow, but some serious ledge needs to be covered. If you are first in, you got to be careful where to turn right. A few people have wound up in Greenfield when they missed the turn.) At the second fork, it sounds like you went down the middle on "Pop Corn".

Between Velocity and UFO is my favorite mellow glade. It goes by the name "Uranus", but IMO, with the quantity of snow, it is downright dangerous in there for now.

I must say, I admire your guts and moxie. I hope you weren't on your best skis!

 

[frapcap]

Thanks for the description! It sounds like we could use a little tour by a local who knows that little area a bit better so we don't get the pleasure of hoofing it back after a wrong turn.
We were on some older groomer skis, but nothing I was too worried about it they caught a rock or stump. Looking forwards to that area getting filled in. There is some real potential for some really fun tree skiing up there!

 

[joshua segal]

... It sounds like we could use a little tour by a local who knows that little area a bit better so we don't get the pleasure of hoofing it back after a wrong turn.

...

If you're coming up, send me a PM. I'll tell you how to find me and I'll be happy to show you around.

 

[frapcap]

10-4, will definitely be taking you up on that!!