Update From Wachusett

[Zand]

I went up to Wawa for Applefest today. I was there for about 2 hours. I looked around at the things for 15 minutes and then went trail work hunting.

I rode the lift to the top. From what I could see, no work was being done on either 10th or Smith. Conifer may have had some pipe work done, but that's all. I also drove up the road to check out the intermediate side. It appeared that Hitchcock had some work done to the snowmaking at the top (I think a pipe ruptured last year). Nothing else looked new. They dug out the halfpipe at the bottom of Hitchcock just above the base, where it was located 3 years ago. Also, the trails look much steeper without snow.

I picked up a trail map. They have Hitchcock labeled as freestyle, so it appears that the novice park will go there again, unfortunately. Nothing else is new. No snowmaking is set up yet besides the permanent towers. Those usually come out around halloween.

 

[Sky]

Too bad about Hitchcock getting designated "Freestyle" area. That was my favorite trail off the intermediate lift. :<

The two new trails they finally put in over the last two years are OK...but the lift to serve them is a bit slow and seems to keep the interest and utility down.

Thanks for the update.

 

[Zand]

I kid of like the new area. It's a nice escape from the crowded quads around 5 PM every night for a few runs. Even though it is very slow, it only takes about 4 minutes and serves some quick runs with decent pitch. The liftline underneath is pretty cool too when there's snow. It's the closest to glades skiing you'll ever get at Wachusett.

 

[Sky]

I agree they are nice...and the lift line (when snow-covered) is as close to glades you will get @ Wa.

I remember two seasons ago when Wa opend a portion of the new trail (Frannie's Folley). I was awesome to have new terrain @ Wa. Plus it was accessed from Hitchcock and the run seemed longer because it was connected to Hitch.

But now that both trails are complete (Franies and Piece of Cake) you can experience how short they rally are. Nice....but short.

I like warming up on the intermediate hill and then being able to access Smith Walton from the lift line serving those two trails.

I also agree that these two trails provide an escape from the crowds.

I will miss Hitchcock as an un-cluttered...too difficult for most skiers using the intermediate hill. I remember when I first started getting back into skiing about 11 years ago. I thought Hitchcock was pretty hard, usually scraped off where it got narrow and steep.

Wa has provided an excellent opportunity over these past years. I can't imagine myself not having a pass for Wa. Just too comvenient to pass up.

 

[Zand]

One thing I hope happens this year is that Hitchcock opens early. It took them till mid-January last year because of the snowmaking pipe rupture, but it's usually the 2nd or 3rd trail open on that side. That'll give us about a month to enjoy it before they start piling in the snow for the mini-park.

I think they should put the mini-park on Frannie's. It's wider and people looking to ski Hitchcock can continue down instead of crossing over. They did have a mini-park on it during January last year, but they flattened it when they moved it to Hitchcock.

I also hope they do a little better with grooming this year. There were many afternoons last year when Smith wasn't groomed and it became a sheet of ice. They did fine with Conifer and 10th all year, but slacked on Smith sometimes. They also should groom the park. I'd rather have it closed for 30 minutes for them to groom it than deal with the icy landings all night. Frannie's also should be groomed more often as it was consistently the night-skiing trail with the worst conditions.

One more thing... If they do what they did with the snowmaking in November last year, I'm gonna flip. They had AT LEAST 18" of base by November 18th on both Conifer and Challenger, never opened, and then had to wait because everything got washed away. They managed to somehow open Conifer and Challenger with 6" of base in the beginning of December and make it through a warm week before they could make snow in mid-December. They had as much snow as Killington in November and let it all melt away because they were too lazy to open early.

 

[Sky]

re: too lazy to open early...I know how you feel, but you have to realize the costs associated with the decisions.

I prefer paying $189 for a pass to paying higher pass prices for sketchy skiing in November. This far south, it's really tough to get open and stay open, and absorb the potential losses.

I know I sond like a "Homer" here...but I've sat with management many times and talked these and related issues. Trust me...they love to ski and love to have the place open from Nov to April...but bottom line...you have to be profitable.

 

[ozskier]

Not to mention the new www.wachusett.com is online ;-)

 

[Greg]

Not to mention the new www.wachusett.com is online ;-)

Did you have a hand in that?

 

[ozskier]

Not to mention the new www.wachusett.com is online ;-)

Did you have a hand in that?

Negative, I have not done anything for Wachusett's website in 2 seasons. Unless you count all the 360 photography I did last season that won't ever see the light of day.

And I'd never release a website that looked like the previous years wa site... Ewwwwww.