snowmonster
New member
Date(s) Skied: 12/28/2006
Resort or Ski Area: Crotched Mountain
Conditions: Packed Powder
Trip Report:
It was a great day at the mountain. Arrived there at 9 am -- blue skies, temps between 34 and 40 (my guesstimate, the ice on the roof of the lodge was melting at lunchtime). It felt like spring! A grill on the deck would have been perfect.
Looking up at the mountain from the lodge, the trails on the left side were open. The open trails had great snow from edge to edge. No bare spots. This guy on the lift told me that they started blowing snow at around 430 pm the day before and all that effort showed.
In the morning, I skied mostly on Pluto's Plunge and Galaxy. I bought another ski book the day before and worked on the drills so it was time well spent on the green trail (Galaxy). The children's ski clubs were doing drills on Meteor so I stayed away from there until they were done. Mostly kids and families today and that gave off a happy vibe to the place.
Not too many people on the slopes so there was hardly any waiting in line. As soon as I was down the hill, I was on a lift going up again. I felt like a yo-yo after a while but it was great. The lifts aren't the fastest but they gave me a good breather between runs.
In reality, there were really only 3 trails open today -- Galaxy (green), Meteor (blue) and Pluto's Plunge (black). All the others that were open were trails to get you to those three (plus the learning area). But, the snow on those three trails was good, very edge-able and well-groomed.
I called it a day early at around 3pm. My last run was on Pluto's Plunge and it was icing up in some parts. Crotched was doing a midnight madness event during the weekend and filming a snowboarding event on Friday. The staff was doing some work on the rails and jumps on the terrain park in the morning. I didn't go back there in the afternoon so I didn't see their final work. Hope it's good though.
It was my first trip to Crotched Mountain and it's quickly becoming a favorite -- very clean (especially the restrooms) and spacious. The staff was incredibly friendly -- from the lifties to the person at the counter to the guys at the shop. One part of me wants to keep the place a best-kept secret to keep away the crowds. On the other hand, you also don't want this area to appear again on NELSAP.
I would definitely return and recommend this place for a quick day trip from Boston -- provided that you're not looking for bumps, steeps and tree-skiing.
I can't take long trips from Boston this week so I'm off to Wachusett tomorrow. Hope conditions there are just as good.
Resort or Ski Area: Crotched Mountain
Conditions: Packed Powder
Trip Report:
It was a great day at the mountain. Arrived there at 9 am -- blue skies, temps between 34 and 40 (my guesstimate, the ice on the roof of the lodge was melting at lunchtime). It felt like spring! A grill on the deck would have been perfect.
Looking up at the mountain from the lodge, the trails on the left side were open. The open trails had great snow from edge to edge. No bare spots. This guy on the lift told me that they started blowing snow at around 430 pm the day before and all that effort showed.
In the morning, I skied mostly on Pluto's Plunge and Galaxy. I bought another ski book the day before and worked on the drills so it was time well spent on the green trail (Galaxy). The children's ski clubs were doing drills on Meteor so I stayed away from there until they were done. Mostly kids and families today and that gave off a happy vibe to the place.
Not too many people on the slopes so there was hardly any waiting in line. As soon as I was down the hill, I was on a lift going up again. I felt like a yo-yo after a while but it was great. The lifts aren't the fastest but they gave me a good breather between runs.
In reality, there were really only 3 trails open today -- Galaxy (green), Meteor (blue) and Pluto's Plunge (black). All the others that were open were trails to get you to those three (plus the learning area). But, the snow on those three trails was good, very edge-able and well-groomed.
I called it a day early at around 3pm. My last run was on Pluto's Plunge and it was icing up in some parts. Crotched was doing a midnight madness event during the weekend and filming a snowboarding event on Friday. The staff was doing some work on the rails and jumps on the terrain park in the morning. I didn't go back there in the afternoon so I didn't see their final work. Hope it's good though.
It was my first trip to Crotched Mountain and it's quickly becoming a favorite -- very clean (especially the restrooms) and spacious. The staff was incredibly friendly -- from the lifties to the person at the counter to the guys at the shop. One part of me wants to keep the place a best-kept secret to keep away the crowds. On the other hand, you also don't want this area to appear again on NELSAP.
I would definitely return and recommend this place for a quick day trip from Boston -- provided that you're not looking for bumps, steeps and tree-skiing.
I can't take long trips from Boston this week so I'm off to Wachusett tomorrow. Hope conditions there are just as good.
I'm hoping that with the snow they made last night/still making today will allow them to open up some of the right hand side of the mountain this tonight or this weekend.
