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Wachusett 1/22/09

Zand

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 30, 2003
Messages
4,579
Points
113
Location
Spencer, MA
Date(s) Skied: Thursday 1/22/09

Resort or Ski Area: Wachusett, MA

Conditions: PP, Partly Cloudy, 20s

Trip Report:

Great afternoon at Wa today. Don't hit it too often that early so it was a treat to have real nice snow and more of a lack of morons. It was also nice being able to get to the summit in 5 minutes instead of 15 like at Magic... the summit quad felt like it was doing about 300 MPH today haha.

Conifer/Balance/Ropers: All 3 in good shape for the most part. Ropers is thin at the turn onto the road but is fine otherwise. Balance is good top to bottom... a little slick on the turns later on but the cover is excellent. Conifer was real nice... LSGR on the sides and nice carveable PP in the middle.

10th/Salamander: Bumps are there on the headwall, but suck of course. They were soft compared to normal Wa bumps (for now) but like usual there were about 3 feet of space between each line. Weren't even worth hitting more than once. Once they finally do get good form they'll be frozen solid. The rest of the trail had a few scraped spots due to the now narrower headwall but after that it was fine. All the nooks and crannies at the top are open now too. Salamander was excellent. Great cruising on all the lower trails today.

Smith: A few scraped spots just before and on the headwall, but fine afterwards. The camelbacks on lower had some good pop today. Down the road a bit, Hole in the Wall is skiable now. Polar was in normal speed and was ski on.

Hitchcock/Frannies: Hitchcock before and after Frannie's was nice carving snow. Frannie's has the mini park set up so I took a couple runs in there. The features are real small. The jumps are very small but have some pop. Of course I went crusing into the first one at mach 1 and overshot the landing by half a mile. Windmilled like a moron trying to regain balance which must have been a decent show for the audience behind me.

Ralphs: Great cruising snow the entire way as well. Minuteman was ski on with an occasional 10-20 chair wait but was running a bit slow.

The mountain is in fantastic shape right now. Huge base depths everywhere and no end in sight to the snowmaking weather, so barring 70s in March we could be looking at mid-April this year (hopefully open through Easter Weekend). Of course it's only January and you never know what a New England winter and early spring might bring. I'll be back at Wachusett tomorrow night.
 

hammer

Active member
Joined
Apr 28, 2004
Messages
5,493
Points
38
Location
flatlands of Mass.
Thanks for the report...still wish the bump field on 10th was in better shape though.

How late do they keep Ropers and Balance Rock open? I usually get there too late in the evening to try them out. :???:
 

Zand

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 30, 2003
Messages
4,579
Points
113
Location
Spencer, MA
Thanks for the report...still wish the bump field on 10th was in better shape though.

How late do they keep Ropers and Balance Rock open? I usually get there too late in the evening to try them out. :???:

They usually stay open till its too dark or Conifer gets groomed, whichever comes first. Once in a great while Ski Patrol forgets to rope them so you can get a run in the dark. It's usually barely bright enough to see the edges of the trail so as long as you stay aware of your surroundings it's pretty fun.
 

WJenness

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Joined
Oct 18, 2007
Messages
3,024
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Location
Lowell, MA
I was up tonight... had a pretty shitty evening all things considered...

1. Took my girlfriend's socks by accident.
2. Got out of the house later than normal.
3. Met up with my girlfriend's mother to ski (that part wasn't shitty), she's just getting back into skiing after a 5-7 year hiatus. On our second run (Ralph's), she took a spill and felt something give out in her knee. We were basically at the bottom of Ralph's at this point and we decided to hit the bar for a break.
4. When we got to the bar, I noticed that my pass was gone (had one of those arm band things)... must have fallen off on Ralph's or at the base... :-( My Wa pass and my Boyne pass were in there :-( Snuck back on to Minuteman via the singles line and skied Ralph's looking for it, no luck...
5.Wa charges $50 to replace, not sure what Boyne charges... I hope someone turns it in. I checked at the desk, but no one had turned it in yet.

If one of you guys finds my pass, please turn it in. :-(

Ralph's was very nice, wish I had gotten a chance to check out everything else... Next time.

-w
 

wa-loaf

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Joined
Jan 7, 2007
Messages
15,109
Points
48
Location
Mordor
Damn that sucks. It was friggin busy tonight. I'm not used to waiting long in the lines there. Racing was good and the trails were in good shape. Lots of us got golds tonight. Even managed a couple runs in the moguls. My knee is pretty sore now so I guess I need to take it easy with the bumps still.

Also saw this kid, probably 12, skiing out of control to the left of the mogul field and the trees. He was going really fast, riding his tails, arms out to the side, and I'm thinking this isn't going to end well. At least instead of hitting he trees he veers into the middle of the bumps and blows up, flips over and lands flat on his back on a big mogul and then just curls up and rolls off it. I'm above him now so I grab his gear and X the skis on the mogul above him. A patroller fortunately skis up and asks me to direct traffic around the kid while she checks him out (he's complaining about his back). Then the kids dad shows up and tell him "I told you, you weren't ready for the bumps." :smash:
 

wa-loaf

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 7, 2007
Messages
15,109
Points
48
Location
Mordor
Damn that sucks. It was friggin busy tonight. I'm not used to waiting long in the lines there. Racing was good and the trails were in good shape. Lots of us got golds tonight. Even managed a couple runs in the moguls. My knee is pretty sore now so I guess I need to take it easy with the bumps still.

Also saw this kid, probably 12, skiing out of control to the left of the mogul field and the trees. He was going really fast, riding his tails, arms out to the side, and I'm thinking this isn't going to end well. At least instead of hitting he trees he veers into the middle of the bumps and blows up, flips over and lands flat on his back on a big mogul and then just curls up and rolls off it. I'm above him now so I grab his gear and X the skis on the mogul above him. A patroller fortunately skis up and asks me to direct traffic around the kid while she checks him out (he's complaining about his back). Then the kids dad shows up and tell him "I told you, you weren't ready for the bumps." :smash:
 
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