WJenness
Active member
- Resort or Ski Area
- Wachusett
- Date
- Dec 18, 2020
- Snow Conditions
-
- Packed Powder
Got in about seven runs this morning at the mighty Wa.
Arrived at about 8:45 and ended up parked in row 10 or 11 of the main lot.
The line to pick up pre-purchased lift tickets took close to a half hour to get through, and it was the most crowded, on top of other people experience of the day. (This was my biggest complaint.) There were A LOT of people there this morning... I should have expected it, being a Friday after the first big storm of the year, but it was quite a bit.
Their Achilles heel seems to be lift capacity at the moment, in part thanks to running at about half - 3/4 capacity. Most chairs going up had 2 or 3 people on them for the most part. It just takes longer to chew through the line that way.
Particularly on the Polar Express quad (summit lift). The singles line was stretching all the way up to where Conifer and Smith Walton come back together by the base.
The only trail off the summit open was Conifer, though 10th is getting close under the guns. The one positive about the reduced lift capacity is that the trails never felt crowded. Sure, I had to maneuver around people occasionally on Conifer, but it was not the disaster you might expect with it being the only trail open off the top.
The snow was decent, but very wet. I don't know if that was a result of snowmaking, grooming, or it getting pounded by skiers during the storm yesterday, but the snow definitely had a heavier, wetter feel to it than I was expecting.
After a couple times standing in the stupidly long singles line, I went over to the Monadnock quad and took a run there, that line was <10 minutes.
Snow on that side of the hill was fine, similar to conifer, still with some nice groomed patches on the edges (right around 10:30 or so) that felt nice.
I took a break afterwards sitting on one of the picnic tables on the deck to loosen my boots and stretch out a bit.
After my break, I went over to the other side of the hill and did a few laps off of that chair.
The snow on Ralph's was better than the snow on Challenger, so I did that a few more times.
On one of my lift rides, I bumped into someone with an Alpine Zone sticker on their helmet and it was nice to catch up with another forum person. (Shoutout to dmw)
Overall, a good start to the season, but it confirmed my thought that I won't be skiing any weekend days this year.
I can only imagine how much of a madhouse it is going to be there tomorrow.
-w
Arrived at about 8:45 and ended up parked in row 10 or 11 of the main lot.
The line to pick up pre-purchased lift tickets took close to a half hour to get through, and it was the most crowded, on top of other people experience of the day. (This was my biggest complaint.) There were A LOT of people there this morning... I should have expected it, being a Friday after the first big storm of the year, but it was quite a bit.
Their Achilles heel seems to be lift capacity at the moment, in part thanks to running at about half - 3/4 capacity. Most chairs going up had 2 or 3 people on them for the most part. It just takes longer to chew through the line that way.
Particularly on the Polar Express quad (summit lift). The singles line was stretching all the way up to where Conifer and Smith Walton come back together by the base.
The only trail off the summit open was Conifer, though 10th is getting close under the guns. The one positive about the reduced lift capacity is that the trails never felt crowded. Sure, I had to maneuver around people occasionally on Conifer, but it was not the disaster you might expect with it being the only trail open off the top.
The snow was decent, but very wet. I don't know if that was a result of snowmaking, grooming, or it getting pounded by skiers during the storm yesterday, but the snow definitely had a heavier, wetter feel to it than I was expecting.
After a couple times standing in the stupidly long singles line, I went over to the Monadnock quad and took a run there, that line was <10 minutes.
Snow on that side of the hill was fine, similar to conifer, still with some nice groomed patches on the edges (right around 10:30 or so) that felt nice.
I took a break afterwards sitting on one of the picnic tables on the deck to loosen my boots and stretch out a bit.
After my break, I went over to the other side of the hill and did a few laps off of that chair.
The snow on Ralph's was better than the snow on Challenger, so I did that a few more times.
On one of my lift rides, I bumped into someone with an Alpine Zone sticker on their helmet and it was nice to catch up with another forum person. (Shoutout to dmw)
Overall, a good start to the season, but it confirmed my thought that I won't be skiing any weekend days this year.
I can only imagine how much of a madhouse it is going to be there tomorrow.
-w
