Zand
Well-known member
Date(s) Skied: Saturday 12/22/07 (Night)
Resort or Ski Area: Wachusett Mountain, MA
Conditions: PP
Trip Report:
I celebrated the first day of winter by doing all kinds of winter stuff. I went snowmobiling this morning, watched the Bruins in the afternoon, then headed up to Wachusett for the evening. It was a nice night with temps around 30. I'll have the trail-by-trail in a minute (including a crappy bumps pic on 10th), but first, I have a story about the great night the Polar Express had.
So my first run, I headed up Minuteman and got stuck for 2 minutes or so. I said that "Man, I should've just gone straight to Polar instead of being stuck on this dumb thing"... I guess I jynxed the entire night. Next run I headed up Polar and about 4 chairs from the top it stopped. 10 minutes go by, the place goes silent, and finally it started back up and I headed down 10th. As I took my first run through the bumps, I noticed that there was no one coming up the chair, and when I got back to the line the lifties announced that it would be 15 minutes. I went in for a bathroom break for 5 minutes and then got back out to find most of the line gone with about 10 chairs worth of people still waiting. The lift was stopped but I headed through the single line and got up to the 2 people that would have first chair back up. 10 minutes pass and once again the liftie announces "10-15 minutes". I looked over at Minuteman and saw a huge line, so I decided to wait it out. Polar starts turning again finally albeit very slowly and they started spacing chairs. As this starts a patroller skis up and announces "15 more minutes... I know you've been hearing that for the past half hour but we're trying our best." Someone asked him what was wrong... "Flat Tire". After about 10 minutes, the last chair comes around that hadn't been spaced and something went wrong and it took off way too close to the chair in front of it. So they put it in full speed and waited for the last chair to come around again and they then realized they'd need to respace the whole thing. They slowed it down again to do this. The ski patroller then asks me and the 3 other guys waiting for my chair "Want to be the guinea pigs? It's gonna be a slow ride but you'll even be before us... no one's touched Conifer yet." So we finally get on and slowly ascend the mountain. Very weird being on an empty Wachusett. I got very first tracks down Conifer besides a snowmobile that had been down it.
Fast forward to 8:45. I'm 3 chairs away from getting on and it stops again. After 5 minutes of down time, they ran it empty for a few minutes and then let people board again with it running a bit slower. I got a run in and when I got back in line, it stopped again. After 5 minutes, the liftie came out and told us that it was probably down for the night. Another tire problem. I got out of line and for the last hour, they respaced again and then ran it empty for about an hour. Hopefully they get those tires fixed. Now for the trail by trail...
Conifer: My only run was that one I was talking about earlier. Very first tracks (even before the patrollers) and only one other person on my chair came with me. Nothing like fresh cord at Wachusett without 500 of your closest friends charging down behind.
10th: Bumps! Not set up great, but they had excellent snow so they were fun (bad pic below). The trail itself was nice packed powder and perfect for GS turns.
Smith: Groomed flat tonight, but the snow was very nice. Polar Express, when it was running, was in full speed and had a 3-5 minute wait for most of the night.
Piece: Someone last week said there were some decent woods lines last week. I looked but all I really saw were a few shots to Smith and back. So I just took some short turns to make the run last longer than 30 seconds.
Vickery Liftline: Obviously no powder left, but it had awesome snow with very few obstacles. With my luck, when I was on it the patrollers decided to take their once-a-day ride on the triple and one called down "You're not supposed to be there." Didn't stop me and it won't... everyone else there skis it now... hell I've seen instructors on it before.
Frannies: Still the same as before.
Hitchcock: Only skied the top and bottom of it. Top was normal, the bottom had a few whales that I jumped.
Look Mom: The landings and mounds are all groomed, but there's no kickers or rails yet. Shouln't be long till it open. What puzzles me more is why they filled the halfpipe in.
Challenger: Good for GS turns.
Ralph's: Some frankensnow near the guns, but the rest was good and I went in and out of the trees a little. I stayed out of the woods but there are some wicked nice lines (for Wachusett) that I like to hit for the 24 hours when the patrollers aren't out. Minuteman was slow again with around a 5 minute line that was longer everytime Polar was down. That line is a big clusterf*ck and needs to be organized better.
Well, that's all for now. I'll be back Tuesday night maybe, and Snow Thursday looks like a good chance. I'll post that pic in a sec.
Resort or Ski Area: Wachusett Mountain, MA
Conditions: PP
Trip Report:
I celebrated the first day of winter by doing all kinds of winter stuff. I went snowmobiling this morning, watched the Bruins in the afternoon, then headed up to Wachusett for the evening. It was a nice night with temps around 30. I'll have the trail-by-trail in a minute (including a crappy bumps pic on 10th), but first, I have a story about the great night the Polar Express had.
So my first run, I headed up Minuteman and got stuck for 2 minutes or so. I said that "Man, I should've just gone straight to Polar instead of being stuck on this dumb thing"... I guess I jynxed the entire night. Next run I headed up Polar and about 4 chairs from the top it stopped. 10 minutes go by, the place goes silent, and finally it started back up and I headed down 10th. As I took my first run through the bumps, I noticed that there was no one coming up the chair, and when I got back to the line the lifties announced that it would be 15 minutes. I went in for a bathroom break for 5 minutes and then got back out to find most of the line gone with about 10 chairs worth of people still waiting. The lift was stopped but I headed through the single line and got up to the 2 people that would have first chair back up. 10 minutes pass and once again the liftie announces "10-15 minutes". I looked over at Minuteman and saw a huge line, so I decided to wait it out. Polar starts turning again finally albeit very slowly and they started spacing chairs. As this starts a patroller skis up and announces "15 more minutes... I know you've been hearing that for the past half hour but we're trying our best." Someone asked him what was wrong... "Flat Tire". After about 10 minutes, the last chair comes around that hadn't been spaced and something went wrong and it took off way too close to the chair in front of it. So they put it in full speed and waited for the last chair to come around again and they then realized they'd need to respace the whole thing. They slowed it down again to do this. The ski patroller then asks me and the 3 other guys waiting for my chair "Want to be the guinea pigs? It's gonna be a slow ride but you'll even be before us... no one's touched Conifer yet." So we finally get on and slowly ascend the mountain. Very weird being on an empty Wachusett. I got very first tracks down Conifer besides a snowmobile that had been down it.
Fast forward to 8:45. I'm 3 chairs away from getting on and it stops again. After 5 minutes of down time, they ran it empty for a few minutes and then let people board again with it running a bit slower. I got a run in and when I got back in line, it stopped again. After 5 minutes, the liftie came out and told us that it was probably down for the night. Another tire problem. I got out of line and for the last hour, they respaced again and then ran it empty for about an hour. Hopefully they get those tires fixed. Now for the trail by trail...
Conifer: My only run was that one I was talking about earlier. Very first tracks (even before the patrollers) and only one other person on my chair came with me. Nothing like fresh cord at Wachusett without 500 of your closest friends charging down behind.
10th: Bumps! Not set up great, but they had excellent snow so they were fun (bad pic below). The trail itself was nice packed powder and perfect for GS turns.
Smith: Groomed flat tonight, but the snow was very nice. Polar Express, when it was running, was in full speed and had a 3-5 minute wait for most of the night.
Piece: Someone last week said there were some decent woods lines last week. I looked but all I really saw were a few shots to Smith and back. So I just took some short turns to make the run last longer than 30 seconds.
Vickery Liftline: Obviously no powder left, but it had awesome snow with very few obstacles. With my luck, when I was on it the patrollers decided to take their once-a-day ride on the triple and one called down "You're not supposed to be there." Didn't stop me and it won't... everyone else there skis it now... hell I've seen instructors on it before.
Frannies: Still the same as before.
Hitchcock: Only skied the top and bottom of it. Top was normal, the bottom had a few whales that I jumped.
Look Mom: The landings and mounds are all groomed, but there's no kickers or rails yet. Shouln't be long till it open. What puzzles me more is why they filled the halfpipe in.
Challenger: Good for GS turns.
Ralph's: Some frankensnow near the guns, but the rest was good and I went in and out of the trees a little. I stayed out of the woods but there are some wicked nice lines (for Wachusett) that I like to hit for the 24 hours when the patrollers aren't out. Minuteman was slow again with around a 5 minute line that was longer everytime Polar was down. That line is a big clusterf*ck and needs to be organized better.
Well, that's all for now. I'll be back Tuesday night maybe, and Snow Thursday looks like a good chance. I'll post that pic in a sec.
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