Wachusett March 16th

[SkiMangoJazz]

Payback time for those of you who've helped me in the past find good skiing.

Upper Smith Walton (the only steepish drop at the wa) is edge to edge bumps. Really nice bumps. They were NOT icy even at 9:30 this morning. I skied them 10 times. Some snow on the tops even before they softened up.

The whole mountain is in good shape, amazingly after all the rain. Upper mountain was a bit hard (as in kind of icy) for the first hour or so, lower mountain was absolutely perfect snow at 8:50 when I got on the lift. Did 6 runs there then over to the bumps.

I left at noon.

 

[wa-loaf]

Upper Smith Walton (the only steepish drop at the wa) is edge to edge bumps. Really nice bumps. They were NOT icy even at 9:30 this morning. I skied them 10 times. Some snow on the tops even before they softened up.

They were pretty spaced out and irregular on Friday. Glad to hear they've gotten better. This is a first for them, I don't ever remember them letting it get bumped up before.

 

[speden]

Seems like they have cut back on grooming since the rain/warm temps hit.

That is pretty amazing they came through the rain in good shape. They had a good base when I was there last Thursday, but I thought they might lose a lot of it. Good to hear it held up well.

 

[neil]

The webcam on sunday looks dreadful, large brown spots all over the base. I was amazed when reading the snow report this morning from them they said they got 3". Webcam looks much much better today.

 

[SkiMangoJazz]

speden the rest of the mountain was groomed to perfection. A patroller told me that after they got rid of the 10th bumps there was a lot of complaining and whining, so they tried this. Picture attached, bumps are a bit bigger then the picture makes them look.

 

[SkiMangoJazz]

neil, I was totally surprised, I live 15 minutes away and was sure I'd ski for an hour tops. There were no brown spots anywhere, if I didn't know it had rained for 2 1/2 days I would not have had any idea based on the conditions.

They have the money and the skill to do amazing things. Now if only they'd leave those bumps there all year! (Of course they won't because that trail is used for racing.)

 

[speden]

I wonder if they will do a grooming pass in the afternoons. On their snow report they changed the wording to, "We will try to groom before the morning and afternoon sessions." When the snow gets heavy and they don't groom, it can make for some tough going.

 

[neil]

speden the rest of the mountain was groomed to perfection. A patroller told me that after they got rid of the 10th bumps there was a lot of complaining and whining, so they tried this. Picture attached, bumps are a bit bigger then the picture makes them look.

Those bumps look a hell of a lot better than the ones I saw last Wednesday night!

 

[SkiMangoJazz]

No comparison. I skied them last Tuesday - ONCE. They were awful. These were awesome.

ful to esome in a week.

 

[SkiMangoJazz]

Cheesy video but if you have any doubts about my TR.......

 

[SkiMangoJazz]

Skied the wa again this morning. Bumps were pretty icy even at 11am. Still skied them though. They did make two narrow groomer paths one on each side.

Rest of the mountain was excellent. Pretty soft by 11 but not wet.

Mount Snow Friday, Berkshire East Saturday, then my skiing exam Mon/Tue at Mount Snow.

 

[WJenness]

Damn. Wish I brought my stuff home from Maine... (Left it at my buddy's condo due to lack of space in the car).

-w

 

[Zand]

Woah... hopefully those are still there for closing weekend. Never seen that in 10 years at Wa.

 

[hrstrat57]

Nice

Payback time for those of you who've helped me in the past find good skiing.

SMJ nice to see you posting on AZ.

Since you are a dedicated skier in the Commonwealth I think the AZ community would benefit from hearing from you regularly. Lotsa Wa and BEast regulars around these parts and you spend more time on those 2 hills than anyone.

Nice bumps (you can have em:wink

Actually I love soft fluffy bumps as you know those actually do look like a lot of fun.

The seeded stuff on 10th? uke:

Good luck on the L II

 

[SkiMangoJazz]

Thanks hr, I knew you'd be glad to see me here, you've been trying to get me active here for a long time.

Epic is still interesting to discuss equipment, tuning and get some "high level" opinions on technique. But as far as discussing conditions and what's going on in the NE on the actual mountains, this place seems much better. And I've learned most of what I think I'm going to learn from epic anyways - now it's just about the mileage!

Thanks for the good luck wishes.

 

[hrstrat57]

Thanks hr, I knew you'd be glad to see me here, you've been trying to get me active here for a long time.

Epic is still interesting to discuss equipment, tuning and get some "high level" opinions on technique. But as far as discussing conditions and what's going on in the NE on the actual mountains, this place seems much better. And I've learned most of what I think I'm going to learn from epic anyways - now it's just about the mileage!

Thanks for the good luck wishes.

Except of course for our Epic Wachusett thread, AZ blows Epicski away in discussion of NE ski conditions. Some the posters on here put in so much effort with their TR's (billski and zand come to mind but there are others) it is amazing.

No arguing over steering vs tipping over here either, which is nice.

Re getting better it's good to talk about technique but boots on the snow beats all. I had 2 straight years in the 90's where I had boots on over 100 days. Focus on good technique, sure I did but more importantly I focused on skiing as much as I could with a smile on my face. See signature below for further clarification

Like u do now.

You'll be fine....go get "em!

2 straight years for me with less than 10 days on the hill each.

Next year I get my life in order and fix that.

I sure would like to get back to 100 days!