Magic 1/4/2010

[polski]

Planned to make my first visit ever to Burke but called an audible at 5 a.m. and went to Magic instead after NWS warned of possible freezing drizzle in N VT. Great day with an inch of new on top of about a foot the two previous days. Lots of fresh tracks including some boot-deep+ in the woods and first tracks on Green Line for my last run of the day, about 20 minutes ago. Leaving now, more later.

 

[marcski]

Nice. I bet my day at work was better than yours skiing at Magic :blink::angry::smash::flame::uzi:

 

[SKIQUATTRO]

Magic is on the MUST HIT list for this season

 

[bvibert]

Sounds like they're pretty well covered. Is everything open?

 

[wa-loaf]

Sounds like they're pretty well covered. Is everything open?

If they have a good base down everywhere now, it might be a good call for the next powder day.

 

[bvibert]

If they have a good base down everywhere now, it might be a good call for the next powder day.

I'm sure it wouldn't be a bad call.

 

[2knees]

trail report says everything except black magic, which based on my experience of one run down it last year, takes a whole lot more then 14" to open.

 

[powbmps]

trail report says everything except black magic, which based on my experience of one run down it last year, takes a whole lot more then 14" to open.

:lol: I would agree with that.

 

[polski]

trail report says everything except black magic, which based on my experience of one run down it last year, takes a whole lot more then 14" to open.

The trail report didn't precisely reflect reality on the ground. The only trail with a rope across it was Twilight Zone, though I wound up skiing the bottom half of the top part anyway after cutting through a too-tight-for-me glade from Witch. In other news of hitting terrain that was over my head, I did ski Black Magic, and admittedly the toughest parts of that were survival skiing. Magician (headwall) also was open from the top -- that's the one that really surprised me this early in the season - but I did not try navigating that one.

Anyway, they have a lot more than 14" on the steeps -- they got a decent natural base that got rained on and then froze after Christmas. Very little exposed rock.

The west side was skiing really well though often fairly technical, going back and forth between powder (sometimes somewhat wind-loaded) and wind scour. Slide of Hans was a bit scratchy and the bottom half of Broomstick was pretty scraped but those were trivial issues. Sorcerer had some of the best snow outside of the woods. Heart of Magician and Black Line were big powdery playgrounds.

The Hallows were deep, 15-16" a pretty typical measurement, knee deep in spots. At times there I bottomed out on older rain crust but there was enough fresh on top that that wasn't a problem. Goniff Glade also was outstanding.

 

[pepperdawg]

Also hit up Magic yesterday - 1/4/10

Not much else to add, but lots of nice, light, light powder over on the east side on the lower incline slopes not wind packed at all....for example Mystery had lots o nice snow - especailly on the sides boot-to-almost-knee deep.....good stuff.

Magic was the usual for weekday - pull up at 9:30 and there are 10 cars in the lot.....didnt stand in line once....sad for the struggling area, but one of the reasons that keep me coming back...a self defeat theory

Yah - some of the exposed faces were yellow ice, but for the most part coverage was good/excellent - Slide of Hans was nice, as mentioned the Hallows had LOTS of untracked..all week should be money in there.....have pics, but the 100-1 card USB card reader I grabbed this morning doesnt do SD card??? WTF...will post some later...

 

[Greg]

Wow! Sounds like Magic is primed. Gonna have to hit it soon. When's the next dump?

 

[Jisch]

I'm strongly leaning towards hitting Magic on Friday. Since they are closed Tues-Thursday, I would assume conditions on Friday would be the same as conditions were yesterday, assuming there's not significant wind and they pick up a couple of inches between now and then (that's what the forecast says).

All pending approval from my son - he seems predisposed to hitting Bromley at this point.

John

 

[reefer]

Wow! Sounds like Magic is primed. Gonna have to hit it soon. When's the next dump?

Radar is on..........................great to see the Magic Love in a couple posts!

 

[polski]

Also hit up Magic yesterday - 1/4/10

Not much else to add, but lots of nice, light, light powder over on the east side on the lower incline slopes not wind packed at all....

Agreed, from what I saw. I would have hit more of the east side but I was solo yesterday so took the opportunity to ski (in some cases - like Slide of Hans and Black Line - for the first time) some west side stuff that might not have been appropriate for scouting out when I'm there with my young sons.

It really is all good there. Even the lower-incline runs don't leave you with brutal runouts as happens at some other places. That's why even if there are some changes to help Magic survive long-term (especially more snowmaking), it'll still be great - because of the terrain.

 

[polski]

Just a handful of pics to prove this did happen ... again, framegrabs from the Flip so pardon the resolution.

Two shots from the same spot, looking up at Magician (filled in and open but still daunting) and down into Heart of Magician, which was really great:

Deep in The Hallows ...

And entering Goniff Glades on my last run of the day

p.s. I've read reports of a drizzle/rain crust yesterday on open trails at Smuggs (not so much in the trees though), and MRG reported a frozen "snizzle" crust too. The NWS report I'd seen of freezing drizzle yesterday dissuaded me from N VT mainly because I didn't want to deal with nasty driving conditions, but it sounds like it may have been enough to affect surfaces too. I'm even more satisified now with my Magic call.

 

[polski]

I'm strongly leaning towards hitting Magic on Friday. Since they are closed Tues-Thursday, I would assume conditions on Friday would be the same as conditions were yesterday, assuming there's not significant wind and they pick up a couple of inches between now and then (that's what the forecast says).

There may be a little more compaction with time but it's not supposed to go above freezing all week, so no thaw/freeze to affect conditions.

All pending approval from my son - he seems predisposed to hitting Bromley at this point.

I've never skied Bromley and don't know what kind of skier your son is but Magic has plenty of friendly greens and blues on the east side. My kids had a blast there. The advanced terrain is top-notch but far from the only thing Magic has to offer.

 

[Jisch]

Polski - thanks for your reply, it helps a lot.

I would consider both my son and I advanced intermediate skiers, and this is our first time skiing this season. Both him and I have other passions (tennis/mountain biking respectively) but we love to ski a half dozen times each winter.

John

 

[Powdahound]

Carpe diem.....all the pics look Sweeet!

 

[Brewbeer]

Magic is awesome - I ski there more than any other resort. We all should do what we can to get there and buy lift tickets. It would be a real shame if this place went silent again.

 

[ski_resort_observer]

Great to hear some positives things about Magic. Hopefully they got some decent numbers of skiers/riders over the holiday week. Anyone there Sat to Sat? With most of the large resorts in the area very busy, hopefully would help Magic. What about Bromley? I got a feeling outletville AKA Manchester Center had a busy holiday week. I am sure there will be news in the next week or so. VPR's report was the first that I have seen, starting on a positive note is a good thing..