Lunchtime @ Wachusett 2-10-2011

[Bostonian]

Date(s) Skied: 2-10-2011

Resort or Ski Area: Wachusett

Conditions: Packed Powder

Trip Report:

So with the ice damns that wreaked havoc on my house, I had to stay home today to meet with the insurance adjuster. So after he left at 11:30, I figured, it's a wachusett lunch day! Ended up at wa for an hour and a half to 2 hours just laping smith walton and tenth mountain. All in all it was the most productive lunch break I have ever had... Ended up picking up some "roof pucks" to get some of the snow off my roof. We'll see if it works. It's just silly how great wa is on a Thursday afternoon between 12-2pm!

Here are some pics:

 

[speden]

Hey Bostonian, I was out at Wawa today as well.

Really had a nice day. Conditions were very good, with firm PP pretty much everywhere. Very easy to edge and it was fast. I got on the trails at 9am, and it was a little chilly and a little bit like frozen granular at first, but it loosened up nicely as the day wore on and the sun started to hit it.

The place wasn't too crowded either until the kiddies started to roll in around 2:30 or so.

I was demoing skis today and I think I'm getting pretty locked in on my next set of skis. I seem to be liking the mid-fats the best. They are slower edge to edge, but feel so nice and stable at speed, and don't get upset by crud or whatever. Only downside is they are not that great in the bumps. I tried hitting the bumps on Hitchcock, and felt like a narrow ski would have done better on the firm bumps.

Some more pics:

Firm cord everywhere in the morning

Balance Rock

They mowed down the moguls on Tenth and seeded some new ones. Not too many people seemed interested in skiing them in today.

Conifer surface

Challenger was skiing nicely, but pretty much everything was.

 

[billski]

I must have missed something. I thought it was rain down here, with all the reports of FGR in SoVT, thus crusty, like it is at my house. How did they transform it into PP? A lot of groomer digging?

 

[hammer]

I must have missed something. I thought it was rain down here, with all the reports of FGR in SoVT, thus crusty, like it is at my house. How did they transform it into PP? A lot of groomer digging?

Maybe the OP means "Eastern PP" aka "groomed hardpack" ;-)

 

[speden]

Hi Bill,

The crust there was pretty thin for some reason, so it groomed right out. I was looking for some icy crud to test skis on, and I found some at the very top of the Hitchcock trail where they don't groom. The crust there was almost breakable where undisturbed, so really not a lot of ice. And the base under it is huge.

I don't know what happened there during the rain event, but it looks like Wawa dodged most of it. Or maybe the constant grooming just gave them a fast recovery.

Anyway, could everyone stay away from there this weekend? I'm thinking of getting back out there on Sunday and I'd like some quality alone time on the trails.

 

[Bostonian]

I must have missed something. I thought it was rain down here, with all the reports of FGR in SoVT, thus crusty, like it is at my house. How did they transform it into PP? A lot of groomer digging?

It was really groomed out (they groom 2 times a day) so you figure by the 3rd day of grooming it got pretty nice. On top of that the there is such a huge base, they can work it very nicely. I found little to no ice on any of the trails. (I will say that smith walton was very firm though up on the headwall).

Maybe the OP means "Eastern PP" aka "groomed hardpack" ;-)

lol you could say that!

Hi Bill,

The crust there was pretty thin for some reason, so it groomed right out. I was looking for some icy crud to test skis on, and I found some at the very top of the Hitchcock trail where they don't groom. The crust there was almost breakable where undisturbed, so really not a lot of ice. And the base under it is huge.

I don't know what happened there during the rain event, but it looks like Wawa dodged most of it. Or maybe the constant grooming just gave them a fast recovery.

Anyway, could everyone stay away from there this weekend? I'm thinking of getting back out there on Sunday and I'd like some quality alone time on the trails.

By the time I got there, I found no crust on the trails. As I said earlier there was no icy spots when I was skiing. In fact I was really impressed with how much snow they have the deep base to go with it. Whatever loss they had with the ra*n or ice, they recovered with the consistent grooming. As for Sunday, I was thinking of hitting WA sunday night possibly... Although I think I am taking my sister-in-law on Saturday night though... So stay away then! ;-)

 

[Greg]

They mowed down the moguls on Tenth and seeded some new ones. Not too many people seemed interested in skiing them in today.

That looks weird. I'm having trouble trying to figure out how the lines are supposed to set up....

 

[bvibert]

That looks weird. I'm having trouble trying to figure out how the lines are supposed to set up....

I was thinking the same thing.

 

[Puck it]

That looks weird. I'm having trouble trying to figure out how the lines are supposed to set up....

I guess the seedlings in MA are different then the ones in CT.

 

[bigbog]

Ditto,
Looks like something for the little kiddies?