makimono
Member
Date(s) Skied: April 3rd
Resort or Ski Area: Wachusett Mountain
Conditions: Variable
Trip Report:
Closing day at WaWa and they went out with a bang! A ton of people showed up for a beautiful bluebird day today, they even went to overflow parking. Pond skim party, lots of great costumes, live band, tailgating in the parking lot, beers flowing like water...just great atmosphere. I forgot my camera (d'oh) so no pics, sorry!
I got to the mountain at 9 and snuck into my usual secret slopeside parking spot. Registered for the pond skim contest and was on the slope by 9:30. The snow at that point was firm hardpack already getting scraped in spots by the early risers. I did a couple runs then went in to change into my banana suit costume and stayed mostly on the Minuteman lift, on Hitchcock it looked like the bumps had been recently reseeded and weren't really skied in yet? On the Polar Express side 10th was groomed and Smith Walton was left bumped up from the day before but wasn't open until noonish due to ice. By 11am it was softening up nicely, the sweet spot for the day was maybe 11:30 - 1:00 and after that it started to get wet, slow and sticky.
Photo from Wachusetts website:
I got in the queue for the pond skim contest about 11:30. They were strict on no poles so I had to just glide in, picked up pretty good speed and hit the water nice and smooth but just couldn't carry the momentum to the end and sank standing up 5 feet from the edge! Boots filled up pretty quick and I got slightly soaked just trying to release my bindings. When I got back from changing and a beer the contest was over - apparently someone on a 12 foot pair of jump skis buried the tips on entry and tore the bottom of the pond out
I'd guess there was about 80 people (out of 160 signed up) that didn't get to run and got refunds instead, bummer!
After noon Smith Walton was opened and that had some fun, but oddly spaced, moguls from the day before. The nicest cream cheese turns of the day were on Piece Of Cake which had a bit of an uphill climb protecting it. I made Opening Day and Closing Day at Wachusett this year and about 2 dozen more days in between, skied November to April and certainly got good use out of my pass. Still, it's a bummer that they have to close when they are still 100% open, edge to edge coverage with zero brown spots...but at least they went out on a high with a stellar closing day!
PS: if anyone snapped a pic of the monoskiing banana please post it, thanks!
Resort or Ski Area: Wachusett Mountain
Conditions: Variable
Trip Report:
Closing day at WaWa and they went out with a bang! A ton of people showed up for a beautiful bluebird day today, they even went to overflow parking. Pond skim party, lots of great costumes, live band, tailgating in the parking lot, beers flowing like water...just great atmosphere. I forgot my camera (d'oh) so no pics, sorry!
I got to the mountain at 9 and snuck into my usual secret slopeside parking spot. Registered for the pond skim contest and was on the slope by 9:30. The snow at that point was firm hardpack already getting scraped in spots by the early risers. I did a couple runs then went in to change into my banana suit costume and stayed mostly on the Minuteman lift, on Hitchcock it looked like the bumps had been recently reseeded and weren't really skied in yet? On the Polar Express side 10th was groomed and Smith Walton was left bumped up from the day before but wasn't open until noonish due to ice. By 11am it was softening up nicely, the sweet spot for the day was maybe 11:30 - 1:00 and after that it started to get wet, slow and sticky.
Photo from Wachusetts website:
I got in the queue for the pond skim contest about 11:30. They were strict on no poles so I had to just glide in, picked up pretty good speed and hit the water nice and smooth but just couldn't carry the momentum to the end and sank standing up 5 feet from the edge! Boots filled up pretty quick and I got slightly soaked just trying to release my bindings. When I got back from changing and a beer the contest was over - apparently someone on a 12 foot pair of jump skis buried the tips on entry and tore the bottom of the pond out
I'd guess there was about 80 people (out of 160 signed up) that didn't get to run and got refunds instead, bummer!After noon Smith Walton was opened and that had some fun, but oddly spaced, moguls from the day before. The nicest cream cheese turns of the day were on Piece Of Cake which had a bit of an uphill climb protecting it. I made Opening Day and Closing Day at Wachusett this year and about 2 dozen more days in between, skied November to April and certainly got good use out of my pass. Still, it's a bummer that they have to close when they are still 100% open, edge to edge coverage with zero brown spots...but at least they went out on a high with a stellar closing day!
PS: if anyone snapped a pic of the monoskiing banana please post it, thanks!
