Wachusett 12/20/2008

[deadheadskier]

Date(s) Skied: Saturday 12/20

Resort or Ski Area: Wachusett

Conditions: 95% GROOMED Snow falling all day :grin:

Trip Report:

Me and my friend Dana had a great day at Wachusett today, but I definitely give the mountain a BIG thumbs down for grooming the whole place.:uzi: They did leave Balance Rock untouched and that was the run of the day along with poaching Fannie's, which was awesome with a foot of fresh, but you had to be careful of water bars. I hate to complain as the snow was great and it was snowing all day, though not enough to develop any depth over the groomed snow.

....but, why did they have to groom the whole darn place? I do recognize that Wachusett is primarily a learner/feeder hill and the cleintele probably expects groomed snow. I also recognize that they don't get copious amounts of natural snow, so they probably wanted to pack down what they got, but seriously there are probably certain years where Wawa's biggest storm of the season might fall in the 6-8" range. One foot dumps are pretty rare for Mass, so why not at least leave 10th Mountain ungroomed so the people who don't get to go up north can experience true powder???

I definitely had a blast, the skiing was fantastic, but it could have bordered on epic status. It was also a great trip down memory lane of my youth. It was so nostalgic that on our first chair ride up, the fellow who joined us graduated High School in the same class as my brother and remembered him. For what it is, Wawa is a top notch facility and I certainly could see myself happily spending a lot of time there for night skiing if I lived nearby. It was also very generous of them to offer the free early season lift ticket. Hard to justify driving south an hour and forty minutes to ski when I can be in the Whites in just a fifteen minute longer drive, but I'd definitely go back again if I was down in the area.

It doesn't get much better than going to see a Celtics game on a Friday night with a great friend, bar hopping around the Backbay, staying at the Hilton and going skiing at Wawa during a 12 inch snowstorm. Only thing that could make it better? Don't groom

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

It's the same with Blue mountain..

Boston is to Wachusett as Philadelphia is to Blue mountain..they groom everything everyday except Barneys bumps. The only time freshies are possible is during a snowstorm or in the rare case that the snow fell early AM after the grooming is done. A little different than most places in Vermont...I think Sugarbush groomed like 20something percent of their terrain today..

 

[Greg]

....but, why did they have to groom the whole darn place?

It's the same at most places in SNE. And it's a vicious cycle - limited ungroomed terrain results in people that can only ski groomers, and therefore complain about ungroomed terrain, so the mountain is forced to groom it. Take Jiminy Peak for example. Decent pitch, great snowmaking, but the place is flat as a pancake. There are several runs that all ski the same. Letting one bump up seems to makes sense to offer more terrain variety, but they still don't. And even if they did, the groomer-only crowd would just result in crappy sweeping push piles which is why seeding is important down here.

Lame. :angry:

 

[powbmps]

That sounds like Sunapee today. The first lift to turn was the North Peak triple. Was on the first chair only to find craptastic grooming had occured.

Managed to find about 8" on top of corduroy on Wingding. I don't remember the last time I was in snow that light and dry. Too bad there was no pitch. I can only imagine how good some of the other areas were skiing.

 

[wa-loaf]

They groom first thing in the morning and at 5pm and don't vary much from the schedule. If you are looking for pow just gotta time it right. But yea, it's too bad they groom so much and the seeded moguls are meager.

 

[The Sneak]

Balance Rock was great, wasn't it? We got there @ 8 and left @ 1. 10th was also rockin, especially skiers' right (as always). Conifer was a bit scrapey in a few spots but not bad and excellent after the mini headwall. Skiers left up top and skiers right after that was the place to be.

8-10" yesterday and it snowed hard the entire time we were there. I'd guess 2 or 3" between 8 and 1. They are gonna get another 10 or so sunday. Wish I could be there...stupid family party!

But yeah, I do hear you about the grooming. When I'm on the lift, I frequently fantasize that the trees to the left get thinned out and an amazing bumped up tree run magically appears.

Guns blazing on Smith Walton. Look for it to be the run of the day 1st thing sunday. Will be back tuesday.

 

[Jisch]

Just got back

I skied Wachusett tonight. It was my first time skiing Wawa and my first time out this year, also first time on the new gear (the new gear is awesome!).

Due to kids' schedules night skiing is sometimes the only thing we can do. All last year we skiied Berkshire East, we never really ventured to Wawa. I enjoyed myself toinght - conditions were just about perfect, if maybe a bit on the cold side. I forgot my balaclava at home, so you can blame me for being cold - even now I feel like I just got back from the dentist and they novacaine isn't quite worn off my lips yet. I will say that I like Berkshire East better - it seems a bit more untamed and the top is definitely steeper than the top of Wawa. Fewer people at Berkshire too.

We skiied from 4-9:10 or so when my daughter had enough. My last run down 10th Mountain was great - felt like I got back to where I was last year by that last run.

Agreed on the grooming - they were closing runs and grooming them all night. We hit one of them just after they opened it back up, while it was incredibly smooth - it was boring. I was glad to get back to the top and hit up some of the more tracked runs up there.

John

 

[reefer]

I feel your pain DHS. That is why I hadn't been there in four years til' Friday night, while it is only (30) miles from me.........
Nice report. Glad you got down there. Got me a free powder night last night!

 

[Zand]

Definitely agree with the posts here... wasn't as good as it could've been. Best run of the night for me was definitely the poach down Frannie's.

 

[WJenness]

Leaving 10th alone wasn't a great option.

It was getting pretty scraped (windblown) on the steep part (where the moguls are usually), and just before it.... aside from 10th, there isn't really anything great to leave ungroomed... Conifer is their "family trail" from the top... maybe they could have left Hitchcock ungroomed, but it really isn't that steep.

They didn't groom during the storm at all on Friday, and they usually don't mid-storm... that's about as much as you can expect from them.

Normally when 10th and Smith are both open, they don't groom the top of smith after a storm for a couple of days... smith is better sheltered from the wind, so that is probably why they leave that one alone.

-w

 

[deadheadskier]

Leaving 10th alone wasn't a great option.

It was getting pretty scraped (windblown) on the steep part (where the moguls are usually), and just before it.... aside from 10th, there isn't really anything great to leave ungroomed... Conifer is their "family trail" from the top... maybe they could have left Hitchcock ungroomed, but it really isn't that steep.

They didn't groom during the storm at all on Friday, and they usually don't mid-storm... that's about as much as you can expect from them.

Normally when 10th and Smith are both open, they don't groom the top of smith after a storm for a couple of days... smith is better sheltered from the wind, so that is probably why they leave that one alone.

-w

maybe the compromise to make when Smith isn't open is to groom half of 10th and leave the under the lift side were the snow tends to blow as ungroomed?

you're a regular and know the place better than I do, but leaving at least 10th ungroomed after an event like that is better than nothing

 

[2knees]

i cant believe they groom the place that fast. what happened today???? did they leave some freshies