Magic Mountain 12/31/10

[reefer]

Hit up Magic today. Warm beautiful sunny day. Nice crowd on hand! Lot of families and newbies using the handle tow. Met a lot of CSC members trying Magic out for the first time. Only $35.00 to ski today. Never a line on the old Red chair, but there was a steady stream filling all the chairs most of the day. Great vibe as usual around the hill. Got to describe the natural trails as kind of a “rocky-road/marshmellow fluff” desert entry. Rock skis were required, though I would loved to have had my Recons - but skis were in eminent danger, so the old Atomic R9’s took the beating.
Got front lot parking and started out a little after nine. Only way down on the West side was Wizard, to Broomstick, to Heart of Magician. Nasty run! Between the heavy snow and the skis I hadn’t used this year yet, it was an adventure. Best part of this was watching the people (skiing around the people) that skied past the “advanced skier only” sign. Little different meaning at Magic than Okemo. Lot of carnage. Next tried something a little easier so I hit Trick to Mystery. Real good confident building run. Ninety five percent of the “crowd” was doing the Magic Carpet, Wand, Show Off route.
Went back to lap the West side three more times before they roped it off at noon. After lunch did various runs down Up Your Sleeve, Medium Vertigo, Mystery. They really need another storm.
Sorry for being quick and gibberish and I have more thoughts but the ski widow beckons………………………..
A few pics:

 

[reefer]

couple more pics of the day:

 

[rocojerry]

thx for the report!

 

[marcski]

Nice.

 

[Newpylong]

Why has no snow been made yet when they did all the work on the system over the summer? Also, did the storm miss them entirely? Only looks like a few inches...

 

[thetrailboss]

Nice! What happened to the snow?

 

[roark]

Not that I've been there yet (out of the country since 12/15), but the pics look like natural terrain exclusively, other than the base area pic - ie not the typical snowmaking routes.

 

[reefer]

Roark is correct. I'm an idiot that only posted pictures of my trails. Actually I was impressed with the amount of snowmaking Magic did. There is a deep base on one or two options from the top, and that is a long way down! Great base around the Lodge and in the learning center at the bottom of Black Line. After seeing the amount of people over on the handle tow and tubing area I would say they did the right thing by putting a lot of snowmaking effort there. I'm thinking that in years past they would not have been open. They have snowmaking but very limited right now. Friday the Lodge was hopping both upstairs and down. Really great and friendly place!
They are open and making money so that's a start.


The natural snow which was compacted and windblown to begin with - went fast. They did have 33 open trails Tuesday............. I've seen other reports saying the same and that MRG could close?

So I could have skied a well-covered top to bottom vertical run all day with the masses, but I opted for what I photographed to keep it interesting and on my toes. Kudos to Magic for letting me on those trails (pretty much alone)! I had a great day and was exhausted at days end. They definitely were selling a lot of day tickets which is great!

I would say they will not make snow and be open for business at the same time. Thinking they will break out the guns Tuesday to Thursday and fix up some areas to try and open some new terrain. Still pretty early in the year by Magic standards..............................
Great job Magic Crew.

P.S. They owe me a BBQ - I did as much weed-whacking with the sticks Friday as anyone could have done by hand!!!! Just awesome.

 

[jrmagic]

Nice! What happened to the snow?

Early in the week there were some incredible conditions to be had with lots of very light powder thigh deep in some areas. Unfortunately since it was so light, the very strong winds blew lots of it right off the hill and into the trees by the time Tuesday was over. At one point there were 6 foot plus drifts on top of Magician. There was some good snow to be had for the bulk of the Holiday week.

 

[Greg]

Wow. Pretty boney. :lol: Cool they left some of that open though. What's left should firm up to a nice base though. Need. More. Snow.

 

[bvibert]

Looks like good times! Glad to hear that they were selling some tickets last week!

 

[FRITOLAYGUY]

I skied stratton on friday and drove up 100 to okemo for saturday, seeing magic off in the distance it hardly looked like it was skiable at all i saw more grass than snow from that vantage point, sad.

 

[TDog]

Nice trip report.

Hey Reefer,

Nice report, let me know when cape day is coming up. I hear the locals know how to party.

T