The NEW Magic Mountain

[NYDB]

Hopefully the 4’’ report total keeps some people away. Not much is going together opened on that. And itll be down to dirt by noon.

 

[Zand]

This is why I hate reserving and paying for RFID in advance. Would rather go to Mt Snow but now I'm stuck. I'll head over when free parking goes into effect at 1.

Oh well... hopefully it's still pretty good!

 

[Zand]

Lot of ugliness up here, but can't complain about a freshly opened Talisman!

 

[Zand]

So general report for the day:

Talisman: Fun but apparently there's still a big debris field from last year's floods and you are definitely hitting a lot of shit.

Pixie Dust/Seance/Wild Kitten/Disappearing Act: Only glades open today and you can ski them all in the same run. Pixie is alright off the top, a bit thin. Seance kinda sucked. Kitten was decent since it's low angle. But Disappearing Act was shitshow bad. Reminds me of when I go to Berkshire East and try way too hard to ski a glade just to ski a glade and end up just hitting rocks, ice, stumps, and everything but snow. Avoid this.

Sorcerer is supposed to open under the guns. Will check that out next.

Groomers are very slick under foot which was kind of surprising. Total frankensnow underneath the 4" of blower. Wizard in particular isn't fun. Slide of Hans was a trip but not worth a do over.

If Sorcerer is good under the guns I may stay till closing, if not I'll be taking the 30 minute ride to Okemo and spending the last couple hours of the day there since all but one of their glades is open.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

just can’t go to magic til it’s 100% unfortunately

Stratton is shockingly chill for holiday pow day. 2 min waits if that

 

[Zand]

The day hasn't been without some wins. After getting to Tali pretty early when they opened that, I just happened upon Sorcerer as they were dropping the rope and patrol told me to go before them. Foot deep untouched the whole way. Gun pow should keep it decent. May just lap that instead of going to Okemo.

But overall yeah lesson learned about coming here before it's ready.

 

[Newpylong]

That is some wide gun spacing yowzers.

 

[Zand]

After a few runs under the guns on Sorcerer, I went back to Talisman with trepidation expecting it to be beat to shit, but turns out it was actually really nicely skied in. Last pitch was a little iffy, but the top 2/3rds was nice soft snow and you could see most of the rocks.

Glad I stuck around. Ended up with 21k vert and while I still say my choice of ski area today was not the right one, it was still a fun day. Hopefully Magic can pick up more snow and get to 100% so I can really come back and enjoy it. It was nice having no wind the first four hours of the day, even with temps in the single digits it was warm enough in the sun. The wind started to pick up around 1:30 and the clouds started moving in so things got pretty brutal at the end.


Sweet and soft surface on Talisman late in the day.

 

[slatham]

Good report Zand and agree on most points - but I am a fan of skiing Magic with current terrain vs other more crowded mountains on a weekend. But I guess if I had Indy I would wait for more to be open.

Tali and Sorcerer right after rope drops were really nice. And then Tali later after it got skied in was a pleasant surprise. Also had some great runs on Up Your Sleeve, Medium, Show Off and Mystery. Also some lower angle East Side off-the-map glades were very nice.

It’s unfortunate that his cold hasn’t brought more snow, and for the most part the snow that’s fallen has been very light - not base building snow. There’s also been a number of occasions where elevation and being on the spine like Stratton and Bromley made a big difference. Sunday morning for instance Bromley probably had 4” up top while Magic was 1, maybe 2. Thankfully Magic has found its grove making snow. Sorcerer now for 24 hours, then a multi day run on Talisman is the plan this week. Then if all goes to plan, Witch to Blackline, which would be rather monumental IMHO.

 

[Zand]

Also a word of warning to anyone coming up from the south...

If your GPS or Google Maps tells you to take Rt 30 to Windham Hill Rd, you are much better off totally ignoring that and taking 103 through Chester to Rt 11.

Curiosity got the best of me and I should've known better, especially on a snowy morning. Rt 30 sucks enough as it is and has the highest idiot per mile ratio in the entire state of Vermont. This includes the guy that was doing 15mph with his hazards on this morning...stay home if you're that scared dude. Anyway...Windham Hill Rd. I was fine, but on the big hill I saw 2 cars with NY plates and 1 car with CT plates spun into the ditch because they don't know how to go downhill in snow, and then one car totally on its side a little further up which I couldn't see the plates.

Even if the roads are dry and you know what you're doing, I still don't see how this route is any faster. 103 and 11 are pretty straight and flat and it takes under 45 minutes to go from Brattleboro to Magic via that route, and you don't need to make a single turn once you're off the highway. It was over an hour going through Windham and like I said, even on a dry day I don't think you will make it through there in 45 minutes.

I can't believe Google Maps sends people that way. They must be in bed with the car insurance companies.

 

[skithetrees]

just can’t go to magic til it’s 100% unfortunately

Stratton is shockingly chill for holiday pow day. 2 min waits if that

Not true at all. But there just wasn’t enough base for this storm to make a difference unless it dumped at least 18”. Magic skis great partially open. But today, after a weekend of being scraped off, was going to be boney on steep stuff

 

[MG Skier]

Not true at all. But there just wasn’t enough base for this storm to make a difference unless it dumped at least 18”. Magic skis great partially open. But today, after a weekend of being scraped off, was going to be boney on steep stuff

Nice Report Zand.

Yea, Tali was tricky but still fun. Sorcerer was a nice addition too. I didn’t do any glade other than White Kitten. I just kinda knew most of the new snow was still in the trees and not on the ground in Disappwaring Act.

Yes, secondary surface was indeed quite firm, I’m taking the high road here, under the new snow.

I didn’t see another skier on my last 2 runs and split about 3 so I could finish snow removal at home after my drive.

Regardless, night and day from Saturday. Nice to have options on the West.

 

[drjeff]

Also a word of warning to anyone coming up from the south...

If your GPS or Google Maps tells you to take Rt 30 to Windham Hill Rd, you are much better off totally ignoring that and taking 103 through Chester to Rt 11.

Curiosity got the best of me and I should've known better, especially on a snowy morning. Rt 30 sucks enough as it is and has the highest idiot per mile ratio in the entire state of Vermont. This includes the guy that was doing 15mph with his hazards on this morning...stay home if you're that scared dude. Anyway...Windham Hill Rd. I was fine, but on the big hill I saw 2 cars with NY plates and 1 car with CT plates spun into the ditch because they don't know how to go downhill in snow, and then one car totally on its side a little further up which I couldn't see the plates.

Even if the roads are dry and you know what you're doing, I still don't see how this route is any faster. 103 and 11 are pretty straight and flat and it takes under 45 minutes to go from Brattleboro to Magic via that route, and you don't need to make a single turn once you're off the highway. It was over an hour going through Windham and like I said, even on a dry day I don't think you will make it through there in 45 minutes.

I can't believe Google Maps sends people that way. They must be in bed with the car insurance companies.

For real driving "fun" you should try Windham Hill Rd during Frost Heave season!

 

[KustyTheKlown]

I made the mistake of taking 4 to 100 instead of 89 to whatever today, to get from queechee to stratton. Took me a long fucking time. Stuck behind a few people doing 30 in 50 zones unnecessarily. Saw a few wrecks. Mostly yellow plates. Hate my yellow plate.

 

[Zand]

I made the mistake of taking 4 to 100 instead of 89 to whatever today, to get from queechee to stratton. Took me a long fucking time. Stuck behind a few people doing 30 in 50 zones unnecessarily. Saw a few wrecks. Mostly yellow plates. Hate my yellow plate.

That's a tough one...maybe exit 7 off 91...rt 11 thru Springfield and Chester and right by Magic to 100? Stratton from the north is one I've never had a reason to do lol.

The roads were still slick for sure this morning but people are idiots. I was sliding a little bit here and there but nothing bad at all. Everyone out there slams on the brakes at the first sign of a slide...bye bye enjoy the ditch.

 

[Zand]

For real driving "fun" you should try Windham Hill Rd during Frost Heave season!

I was in the TV program at LSC so I had the pleasure of driving around to every cow town in the NEK for a couple years. Was real fun getting to places like Peacham in March and April. Even the back road into the college turned into a roller coaster every spring.

 

[JoeB-Z]

I disagree a bit about Windham Hill Rd and take it all the time. That being said, Townsend does not seem to give a shit about it. The Windham part will be fine and just as you hit the hill it will be poorly plowed, let alone sanded or salted. The culverts to the right were never repaired from a few years ago. Same thing for the half moons into the road bed, some of which have had a little gravel added. If you drop a wheel into that deep culvert, you are doomed. There is no such thing as too slow until you figure out what you are on. In normal conditions it is at least a 20 minutes faster to 91S. Google is deceptive because it is a take your time and respect the locals road.

 

[Zand]

Alright I'm gonna fight the good fight on this one. I love back roads as much as anyone and if drive times are somewhat comparable between highway and back way I almost always take the back way. But let me do some math. And also my post was more of a warning to people who don't know what they're getting into on Windham Hill Rd rather than people who know the route well.

If you take the Windham route, it's 28 minutes AT BEST from exit 2 to the bottom of the hill on rt 30. That's if you don't get stuck behind some jabroni which happens (to me anyway) more on rt 30 than any other road. For arguments sake let's call it 25 minutes if you catch it on a good day with no one going slow in front of you the whole way.

Windham Hill Rd is 8.5 miles long from West Townshend to the 4-way with rt 121. If you do 40 the whole way (which is the highest the speed limit gets, and it has some 30 mph zones and as you said it's a locals road that you don't really want to be ripping down doing 60 mph) it's going to take you 12 minutes to the 4-way. From there it's an easy 4.5 miles to Magic so call it 6 minutes. So at the very best you're getting to Magic from exit 2 in 43 minutes.

From exit 2 to exit 6 on 91 is 26 miles, so call it 22 minutes at 70 mph but most people are going 75ish anyway. Then from the exit to Magic (which again is one straight road with no turns until the access road) is 22 miles, which at an average of 45 mph (speed limit is 50 the whole way except Chester, and for the most part people tend to do 55-60 since it's a decent road, and I've never gotten stuck behind people going 15 mph under on 103 like you do on rt 30) is 29 minutes. So the average person is doing this in 51 minutes.

At the very best taking the Windham route is saving you 8 minutes. But let's be honest, the Windham route is always gonna take a couple minutes longer than what I figured above just based on the types of roads you have to drive on, and with any kind of weather is going to take 10-15 mins + longer. Meanwhile the Chester route is probably going to be a few minutes less than my figures above, and even on a snowy day is so well taken care of that you are maybe only going to add a few minutes.

Like I said I thought it was a cool ride up and over the hill and through the small village. I love back roads. But if I'm Joe Westchester coming up in my Mercedes I'm gonna be pretty pissed if I end up in a ditch because Google told me I would save about $1.50 in gas and 2 minutes of driving if I went the back way. And ultimately the time saved is negligible at best (surely not 20 minutes), most likely a loss of a couple minutes, and at worst it's a thousand bucks in repairs and a tow out of a ditch. It's 35 miles on the Windham route so if you're saving 20 minutes somehow and doing it in 30 minutes, I would love to see the Dukes Of Hazzard videos of you flying up the hill at 65 mph

That was WAAAY nerdier than I expected to be but I love logistics and mapping lol.

 

[JoeB-Z]

Zand, You've got me convinced. I need to try the Chester route more. Also, that way is a no brainer with any snow in the works. Plus I feel like going through the neighborhood by the ski jump is an imposition.

 

[MG Skier]

Chester means business at 25 MPH speed limit!
I usually set my cruise control.