Wachusett 1/4/08

[Zand]

Date(s) Skied: Friday 1/4/08 (Night)

Resort or Ski Area: Wachusett Mountain, MA

Conditions: PP

Trip Report:

Crowded first night of ski club at Wachusett. Temps were chilly in the mid 10s with a small breeze. Snowmaking was ongoing on the halfpipe and on Ralph's Run. Not much else to say overall so here's the trail-by-trail:

Ropers/Conifer: Ropers was in pretty good shape, but I doubt it'll make it through the thaw. Conifer was nice down the right with a lot of scraped in the middle when I skied it (around 4).

10th/Salamander: Also only skied it before grooming. Jumped off the rock near the beginning... decent drop for Wachusett. Didn't ski the bumps as I only hit the trail once, but the right had a lot of loose granular with the middle pretty scraped. Upper Salamander had ice down the entire middle of it with loose stuff to the side. Lower 10th was smooth sailing.

Smith: Got first tracks after grooming as well as a second run right after. Both were awesome and very fast. IDK how it held up as I barely went to the summit tonight, but those runs were beautiful. Polar Express was running slow with a good 5-10 minute wait.

Hitchcock/Frannies: Hitchcock was good where I skied it, but I cut over to Frannie's everytime down to hit the mini-park. Some features were removed. Give it two weeks and the mini park will be non-existant. It was fun while it lasted. Speaking of parks, Look Mom is open. I didn't get my park pass tonight, but I imagine I'll be doing so next time.

Ralph's: Got it right after grooming and it was very nice. Also hit it later on at night and it was still in good shape. Best place to be was right next to the guns... the snow was being shot over you creating a cool tunnel effect that no one seemed to want to ski near. Minuteman was about as fast as Polar tonight (which is fast for Minuteman) with a 10+ minute wait all night.

Indian Summer: Took one run down it and it made for some great carving snow. Not too much else to say...

Sundowner: Theres a few mounds that guess are supposed to be small jumps. Otherwise, virtually the same as Indian Summer. Monadnock was slow as ever with a short line (about 2 minutes).

Ollies: Actually took 2 runs on it backwards. Fun I guess. There was an incredible mass of people in ski school tonight.

Well, decent night besides the crowds. I might make it back up for some spring skiing early next week.

 

[MichaelJ]

Someday I hope to ski Ropers and Balance ... most of my time at Wawa seems to be at night or during lousy conditions, during either of which they're closed.

What, no report on Piece of Cake?
(actually, I love that run, just wish it was about 6 times as long)

 

[Zand]

I rarely ski Piece... when I use the triple I either go back underneath on the natural or hit the park on Frannies. When you do go down it it's like your own private area. Too bad it's so short. It's a nice escape from the main mountain lines as well.

As for Ropers and Balance, they have so many damn turns (not that it's a bad thing, but...) that they are almost always scraped. If both Balance and Ropers are open, then they're not bad, but if it's just Balance (which is common because they never make snow on Ropers), then Balance is a skating rink. That said, if you ever go down Ropers, once you hit the road don't stop. You don't want to have to pole the entire length of that thing.