Zand
Well-known member
Date(s) Skied: Friday 12/14/07 (Night)
Resort or Ski Area: Wachusett Mountain, MA
Conditions: Everything
Trip Report:
Very interesting night at Wachusett tonight. The mountain is now 100% open (although I got there after the closing of the day-only trails) and it's a good thing because people came in from all over tonight, completely filling the parking lot. The conditions were extremely variable from trail to trail, so without further adu, here's the trail-by-trail:
Conifer: Only took one run after evening grooming. It was nice packed powder, but with the crowds there were plenty of ski patrollers out to make people slow down. It went the entire day session without grooming but I don't know how it was since I didn't make it over there.
10th: Also was ungroomed during the day, but again I didn't make it there till after grooming. Very nice those few runs right after grooming and it held up very well as the night went on. The short chute is covered at the top (there's a closed sign at the top but no one really cared... kinda un-Wachusettlike to not jump on people skiing closed areas) with some decent chewed up powder as well as a couple waterbars and grassy areas. There was nice air over the road on Salamander toward the bottom.
Smith: Ungroomed all day and night. I spied large bumps from the parking lot when I pulled in so I headed straight for it. Not the greatest bumps and it was a bit scraped at the top, but the lower half was beautiful with chewed up powder and some bump lines forming. Lower held up beautifully all night, but I took a run down Upper at 8 and it sucked. People plowing all over the place and there was glare ice in some spots. The only way to get control was the bumps (quite large by that point). Because it was so bad up there later on, I mainly spent the night lapping Upper 10th to Lower Smith. Polar Express was in full speed with up to a 5 minute wait.
Vickery Liftline: Took multiple runs down this. Had lots of untracked powder and it's a real nice and narrow liftline. Not an official trail, but people were skiing it all nice. The one "steep" part (for like 40 vertical feet) was getting interesting and there were some logs and stuff to contend with, but it's fun finally having a true natural run at Wachusett. Didn't ski any other Vickery trails, but Frannie's park had the same set up as last Sunday and was getting tons of use. Vickery Triple was slow as ever, but watching the park from it was fun as well as the occasional person skiing the liftline. No waits on this lift the whole night.
Hitchcock: Left side was groomed, right was ungroomed natural. Spent a lot of time in the natural as there were a few kickers and stuff to play on. Groomed part was first-day styrafoam, should break in nicely this weekend. At the bottom, I stayed right on the last steep (again, had a closed sign that was ignored by everyone) and had lots of powder. 4 waterbars lurked (one quite wet actually) as well as some grass and rocks.
Look Ma: Half groomed and half natural. The natrual snow was a blast as it went on forever and had a lot of lumps to launch off. The groomed part looked a lot like Hitchcock's groomed half, but I honestly never even hit the groomed part of this one so I can't say for sure.
Challenger: Groomed and covered well edge-to-edge and was very fast and racy. Quite appropriate. Took one blast down it and it felt nice to let 'em loose.
Ralph's: Also groomed edge to edge and well covered and was FULL of people. And this was at 9:30 at night. Fun run though, nice to finally see all the blues open. Minuteman had a 5+ minute wait and was running normally on its first day back.
Well, very fun night at Wachusett hitting all the leftovers. I stayed right till closing as did many other people. Nice to see them having a successful early season. Looks like another powder day Monday and I'm gonna try to get there earlier and get some runs on Balance Rock as it was ungroomed and all natural today (must've been wonderful). Guns were blowing on the halfpipe when I left, and the rumors I heard is Look Ma park should start going up next week with the forecasted cold temps. Other than hopefully a couple nights at Wa next week, Berkshire East is on my radar with the new natural as well as Mount Snow for Christmas.
Resort or Ski Area: Wachusett Mountain, MA
Conditions: Everything
Trip Report:
Very interesting night at Wachusett tonight. The mountain is now 100% open (although I got there after the closing of the day-only trails) and it's a good thing because people came in from all over tonight, completely filling the parking lot. The conditions were extremely variable from trail to trail, so without further adu, here's the trail-by-trail:
Conifer: Only took one run after evening grooming. It was nice packed powder, but with the crowds there were plenty of ski patrollers out to make people slow down. It went the entire day session without grooming but I don't know how it was since I didn't make it over there.
10th: Also was ungroomed during the day, but again I didn't make it there till after grooming. Very nice those few runs right after grooming and it held up very well as the night went on. The short chute is covered at the top (there's a closed sign at the top but no one really cared... kinda un-Wachusettlike to not jump on people skiing closed areas) with some decent chewed up powder as well as a couple waterbars and grassy areas. There was nice air over the road on Salamander toward the bottom.
Smith: Ungroomed all day and night. I spied large bumps from the parking lot when I pulled in so I headed straight for it. Not the greatest bumps and it was a bit scraped at the top, but the lower half was beautiful with chewed up powder and some bump lines forming. Lower held up beautifully all night, but I took a run down Upper at 8 and it sucked. People plowing all over the place and there was glare ice in some spots. The only way to get control was the bumps (quite large by that point). Because it was so bad up there later on, I mainly spent the night lapping Upper 10th to Lower Smith. Polar Express was in full speed with up to a 5 minute wait.
Vickery Liftline: Took multiple runs down this. Had lots of untracked powder and it's a real nice and narrow liftline. Not an official trail, but people were skiing it all nice. The one "steep" part (for like 40 vertical feet) was getting interesting and there were some logs and stuff to contend with, but it's fun finally having a true natural run at Wachusett. Didn't ski any other Vickery trails, but Frannie's park had the same set up as last Sunday and was getting tons of use. Vickery Triple was slow as ever, but watching the park from it was fun as well as the occasional person skiing the liftline. No waits on this lift the whole night.
Hitchcock: Left side was groomed, right was ungroomed natural. Spent a lot of time in the natural as there were a few kickers and stuff to play on. Groomed part was first-day styrafoam, should break in nicely this weekend. At the bottom, I stayed right on the last steep (again, had a closed sign that was ignored by everyone) and had lots of powder. 4 waterbars lurked (one quite wet actually) as well as some grass and rocks.
Look Ma: Half groomed and half natural. The natrual snow was a blast as it went on forever and had a lot of lumps to launch off. The groomed part looked a lot like Hitchcock's groomed half, but I honestly never even hit the groomed part of this one so I can't say for sure.
Challenger: Groomed and covered well edge-to-edge and was very fast and racy. Quite appropriate. Took one blast down it and it felt nice to let 'em loose.
Ralph's: Also groomed edge to edge and well covered and was FULL of people. And this was at 9:30 at night. Fun run though, nice to finally see all the blues open. Minuteman had a 5+ minute wait and was running normally on its first day back.
Well, very fun night at Wachusett hitting all the leftovers. I stayed right till closing as did many other people. Nice to see them having a successful early season. Looks like another powder day Monday and I'm gonna try to get there earlier and get some runs on Balance Rock as it was ungroomed and all natural today (must've been wonderful). Guns were blowing on the halfpipe when I left, and the rumors I heard is Look Ma park should start going up next week with the forecasted cold temps. Other than hopefully a couple nights at Wa next week, Berkshire East is on my radar with the new natural as well as Mount Snow for Christmas.
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