The NEW Magic Mountain

[ne_skier]

Looking good out there! Hoping for more snow and some terrain expansion

 

[slatham]

Fun and beautiful afternoon with some nice snow, including some very skiable snow being made. They had 18 guns running on ShowOff and 7 in the beginner area before they started ramping down. Heard they will move to the summit today to get UMC into Medium done. That should also allow some upper mountain natural trails to open for next weekend, more if they can pick up some snow this week. Not huge storms this week but we should get some accumulation.

Nice start to the Magic season.

 

[JoeB-Z]

Cold today and I almost passed. I thought the 2 degree wind chill was inaccurate and then Ullr straightened me out with a maybe 50 mph gust as I headed down Wand. Brought me to a near standstill. The snow is quite good. I enjoyed my runs plenty. At 3 I noticed no one else was skiing. I headed in so they could sweep and shut down the lift. I once had a liftie at Eldora in CO ask me to stop skiing. They had night skiing. He said "Look it's -25, no one else is skiing and I want to go home. "

 

[JoeB-Z]

I forgot to say they were excavating what I suppose was a leak at the base of Showoff. Ugly weather for that. Thanks to the crew.

 

[Newpylong]

Looks like they've had a rough go at it huh? Leak at the bottom and some pipe damage up top, so no access off the top yet. Also lost 1 of only 2 compressors I heard...

 

[letitsnow1]

They fixed the compressor and they’re working on the pipes

 

[Hastur]

no summit route yet? Hopefully for after xmaa

 

[slatham]

They had one of their 2 electric compressors down, so they brought in a rental diesel that went live 10 or so days ago. Hearing electric compressor now back up. But they’ve had some pipe issues on the route they’re running to the summit. No idea of exact status but they were trying to get it for this weekend, but have pushed that off to the holiday weekend.

While they had issues on summit route on 400 line they switched to 300 line and made snow around the base and Hocus Pocus.

 

[Hastur]

now they've lost power to the pump at the pond? tough break. it doesn't sound like a quick and east type repair according to their snow report, calling it a major job to repair.

 

[JoeB-Z]

There was a utility truck visible from parking lot 1. Maybe 100 feet west of the Upper Pass Lodge parking lot. Hope it goes well. For me, the surface on Showoff was great. Plenty of grip if you wanted and fast of course. I just hammered the center where it was firmer to work on that. I figured out a flaw in my sking (thanks and RIP Ron LeMaster). I am rebuilding and I was really pleased with the payoff today.

 

[letitsnow1]

It's already fixed, they made snow last night

 

[MG Skier]

Will there a be a connection from top of Showoff to Hocus Pocus via Wand to get back to the Quad after Santa stops by on Thursday?
Does Wand have enough snow on it? Will the Red Chair be the "sleigh" to get us to the summit this week? Just curious as I haven't been out yet this season but will be there later this week and I am looking forward to getting back in my skis where I truly enjoy to ski!

 

[JoeB-Z]

I think the priority is to get the top open down to Wand first. Now I see an effort on Hokus Pokus and they said Hokus Hokus yesterday. Weather looks good.

 

[slatham]

Not sure of the actual plan, but given the fan guns on Hocus Pocus (300 line), I bet they move guns to Wand (400 line) once they are done with the summit connection of Magic Carpet to Medium to Sunshine Corner (400 line). Good chance they also use the new towers lining the beginner area (400 line), and turn them around to hit lower Hocus Pocus. Just not sure when all the above gets done - its been a tough slog for them but hopefully luck is breaking good.

 

[slatham]

Fun day at Magic yesterday. Season opening of summit with snowmaking/grooming down MC into Medium. Nice job sequencing natural terrain opening so just about every run had a first tracks/early tracks option. Kinderspiel, then Medium, then Betwix/Whiteout/Pixie, then Lower Magic Carpet, then a ROTD Up Your Sleeve. Definitely thin in spots, but since they were closed all week some of the new trails had a solid 10-12" sitting undisturbed.

Snowmaking on MC "Through the woods" which to me looks like it could be finished Sunday, but probably not opened (or at least not groomed out) until post ice storm. One gun on lower Wand, couple of fan guns on Hocus Pocus, which I would think would be soon/next. Snow report mentioned Trick on list to hit but no action yesterday.

Hope the ice storm is not too damaging, and we get some snow thereafter to put it back together. At least it will be back to snowmaking Monday night.

 

[JoeB-Z]

It seems a lot of grooming was held back last night. Maybe in preparation for the ice storm. Medium was a pain and the only "groomed" way down from the top. I will go back up on Wednesday. I figured to have my skis tuned but the shop cited a 10 day backlog. As the former manager of a bike shop, I would not let business walk. Anyone want to work late for premium pay? I will get my skis to my garage tuning setup Wednesday night.

 

[JoeB-Z]

-10 F windchills mid-day tomorrow and not above +10 through Sunday. I guess they will drain the pond making snow. I'll give it a shot starting Wednesday.

 

[JoeB-Z]

Passed on today. Too cold and skis to tune. See what tomorrow brings. I saw they were running the Black chair. It couldn't be for the crowds, Just to make sure I suppose. Yesterday some hearty Ops folks and ski patrollers were clearing brush and that tree on Red Line.

 

[urungus]

I saw they were running the Black chair. It couldn't be for the crowds, Just to make sure I suppose. Yesterday some hearty Ops folks and ski patrollers were clearing brush and that tree on Red Line.

I thought Black Chair is now the ‘standard’ way to the summit, and Red is semi-retired and only run on busy days ?

 

[slatham]

I thought Black Chair is now the ‘standard’ way to the summit, and Red is semi-retired and only run on busy days ?

They started the summit access last week with Red and I believe it ran each day until today. Key factor could be that open terrain led easier to Red. Also not sure base area snow depth was fully build out on the BLQ side. Today they opened Hocus Pocus.

We shall see how they use Red vs BLQ, but not doubt BLQ is the core lift.