WJenness
Active member
Date(s) Skied: 12/26/07
Resort or Ski Area: Wachusett
Conditions: Mostly Machine Groomed, some patches of ice, light snow / sleet / freezing rain / fog all night
Trip Report: Overall a pretty good night, most of the trails were in much better shape than they were last night, probably due to the fact that there were a lot less people at Wachusett tonight than last night (probably less than half), I think the rain that came down throughout the day scared people off. I got there around 5:00 and jumped right on the Minuteman lift (no line to speak of anywhere all night).
The terrain park on Look Mom is open! I didn't ski it, but it looks pretty good from the lift (and I got lots of time to look it over, more on this later). Challenger was closed for race training so I didn't ski that earlier. Hitchcock was it's (as of late) usual scratchy self, but in better shape than last night.
I went over to the vickery lift at one point to hit Piece of Cake, but the lift was closed early (before 8:00), I was disappointed as the snow report had said it was open, but they probably shut it down due to lack of use with the big terrain park being open and the lack of crowds.
Smith and 10th were great all night, some scratchy spots towards the end of the night on the steep part of 10th, but just in the middle, the sides were fine.
Conifer however was a mess. I skied it about 10 minutes after they re-opened it after grooming and there were some rather large ice patches on the sides of the trail. I only skied it once and then stayed elsewhere.
Hit Sundowner and Indian Summer once each, both were fine. After I hit Indian Summer I decided to skate over to the Minuteman lift and hit Ralph's before I left (it was about 8:00 or so and I decided to call it a night). I got settled in on the lift and we made it to the tower at the top of the half pipe when we stopped cold. I figured someone had fallen off at the top, and a minute later we started going again, went about 10 feet and stopped suddenly. We then sat there in that spot for the next 20+ minutes. A guy on a snowmobile drove up the liftline looking at the cable / towers, but I didn't see him stop at all.
After the 20+ minute stop, we started inching our way to the top, it took about 25 minutes to get to the top after we started going again, and when we got off at the top, the liftie said something about a power outage at the lift (all the other lifts were still spinning fine, though I did see the summit quad stop for about 5 minutes right around the time we started inching up the hill but then it was going at full speed.) I think they used an auxiliary generator to get everyone off the lift, after the last chair was unloaded they shut down the lift for the night.
I had to stretch my hamstrings at the top of the hill before skiing down Ralph's as they had tightened up a lot sitting there. It was the only time that I ever wished the lift had foot rests (usually they end up being uncomfortable because my legs are long and don't fit well) as it would have been really nice to get the weight off my hamstrings for a bit.
After I got back down I changed out of my boots, put my stuff in the car, and then on a whim went to the customer service desk just to ask if they normally do anything for customers who get stuck on the lift like that. The girl working the desk mentioned she could refund a portion of my lift ticket, but when I told her that I had a pass, she said that all she could do for me was to give me some $5 off coupons good on lift tickets, rentals and lessons. She gave me three of them and I thanked her. I'm not normally one to try and get something in a situation like this, but I figured I should at least ask. The three coupons will be good for when I bring some friends along.
In conclusion, a fun night, but watch out for that Minuteman lift! Thankfully it wasn't too cold or windy or that lift ride would have sucked really bad.
It's bed time now.
-w
Resort or Ski Area: Wachusett
Conditions: Mostly Machine Groomed, some patches of ice, light snow / sleet / freezing rain / fog all night
Trip Report: Overall a pretty good night, most of the trails were in much better shape than they were last night, probably due to the fact that there were a lot less people at Wachusett tonight than last night (probably less than half), I think the rain that came down throughout the day scared people off. I got there around 5:00 and jumped right on the Minuteman lift (no line to speak of anywhere all night).
The terrain park on Look Mom is open! I didn't ski it, but it looks pretty good from the lift (and I got lots of time to look it over, more on this later). Challenger was closed for race training so I didn't ski that earlier. Hitchcock was it's (as of late) usual scratchy self, but in better shape than last night.
I went over to the vickery lift at one point to hit Piece of Cake, but the lift was closed early (before 8:00), I was disappointed as the snow report had said it was open, but they probably shut it down due to lack of use with the big terrain park being open and the lack of crowds.
Smith and 10th were great all night, some scratchy spots towards the end of the night on the steep part of 10th, but just in the middle, the sides were fine.
Conifer however was a mess. I skied it about 10 minutes after they re-opened it after grooming and there were some rather large ice patches on the sides of the trail. I only skied it once and then stayed elsewhere.
Hit Sundowner and Indian Summer once each, both were fine. After I hit Indian Summer I decided to skate over to the Minuteman lift and hit Ralph's before I left (it was about 8:00 or so and I decided to call it a night). I got settled in on the lift and we made it to the tower at the top of the half pipe when we stopped cold. I figured someone had fallen off at the top, and a minute later we started going again, went about 10 feet and stopped suddenly. We then sat there in that spot for the next 20+ minutes. A guy on a snowmobile drove up the liftline looking at the cable / towers, but I didn't see him stop at all.
After the 20+ minute stop, we started inching our way to the top, it took about 25 minutes to get to the top after we started going again, and when we got off at the top, the liftie said something about a power outage at the lift (all the other lifts were still spinning fine, though I did see the summit quad stop for about 5 minutes right around the time we started inching up the hill but then it was going at full speed.) I think they used an auxiliary generator to get everyone off the lift, after the last chair was unloaded they shut down the lift for the night.
I had to stretch my hamstrings at the top of the hill before skiing down Ralph's as they had tightened up a lot sitting there. It was the only time that I ever wished the lift had foot rests (usually they end up being uncomfortable because my legs are long and don't fit well) as it would have been really nice to get the weight off my hamstrings for a bit.
After I got back down I changed out of my boots, put my stuff in the car, and then on a whim went to the customer service desk just to ask if they normally do anything for customers who get stuck on the lift like that. The girl working the desk mentioned she could refund a portion of my lift ticket, but when I told her that I had a pass, she said that all she could do for me was to give me some $5 off coupons good on lift tickets, rentals and lessons. She gave me three of them and I thanked her. I'm not normally one to try and get something in a situation like this, but I figured I should at least ask. The three coupons will be good for when I bring some friends along.
In conclusion, a fun night, but watch out for that Minuteman lift! Thankfully it wasn't too cold or windy or that lift ride would have sucked really bad.
It's bed time now.
-w
