Waterville to Host Moguls World Cups in 2024 and 2025

[Edd]

I forgot to even look at BW...hard to imagine they're 60" ahead of Wildcat. Hell of a shadow from Mt Washington this year. But still only 12" ahead of Waterville.

I’m a weather dunce but I’ve long imagined the snow Cannon and BW catch sometimes gets blocked by Mt Washington, thus screwing Wildcat. Then Cannon winds blow snow all over creation which puts BW a position to keep more snow.

Then again, the staff at Wildcat may have become so apathetic about everything they just stopped counting the inches.

 

[180]

Any tips on best viewing spot, did they run out of parking, etc ?

They have loads of parking and a shuttle.
Easy to watch from the bottom or sides.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

I finally read the article and realized the comp will be on Lower Bobby's and not True Grit. I remember being there many years ago and watching training on True Grit right under the lift. But Bobby's is definitely better for viewing from the bottom.

Only time I've seen a real bump competition is a couple BMMCs at Killington which of course is always a good time.

Waterville is for some reason the breadwinner for total snowfall in NH this year at 89" and will be very close to 100% this weekend it looks like. If I ski somewhere in NH next week it just may have to be there.

i love the BMMC, but this is def a higher level of competitor

 

[skiur]

i love the BMMC, but this is def a higher level of competitor

BMMC is an amateur event, I'm assuming watervilles event is professional.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

yep, whatever 'professional' is. i dont know how that all works. but 'real'.

any of us can sign up to be in BMMC

 

[Abominable]

25 years ago (!) I had to take an injury day on a trip to Sugarloaf and was able to catch Johnny Mosley doing his 360 grab that won him gold at the 98 Olympics. The Olympics were a big deal that year (was at a ski-centric college) and it was very cool to see live. Go if you can!

Also I had to google real quick to make sure I had my story / years straight that resulted in a lot of articles about how that one trick ushered in a new era of more skate style / X games tricks into the Olympics.

 

[urungus]

Had a great time at Waterville yesterday seeing “the King” Mikaël Kingsbury win his 93rd World Cup Competition. And in the announcers booth a second legend Wayne Wong (who has a trail named after him at Waterville after he launched his career there in the 70s). I was a bit surprised at the low turnout compared to the races at Killington in November. Arrived at 9:30 and no problem finding a place to park. Lifts were ski-on all day. And no problem finding a good viewing spot at the bottom. True Grit skied great.

 

[crippity]

This is FIS, these are the best, olympians. ALso Hahnekamn on today tape delay at 12 i believe.

 

[djd66]

This is FIS, these are the best, olympians. ALso Hahnekamn on today tape delay at 12 i believe.

Where can you watch the Hahnekamn?

 

[2planks2coasts]

It was pretty awesome yesterday. A bit cold (my Sam Adams Cold Snap was more of a Sam Slushie) but better than last years rain. Guessing today will be much better attended. I went up on foot as I mistakenly thought it would be crowded and didn't want to waste an Indy day.

 

[chuckstah]

Waterville was definitely fun yesterday. We mostly just skied all around as conditions were quite good and better than expected, but watching the WC was great as well. Lower Bobby's was open on skiers left, and every few runs we'd ski down and camp out right on the fence line at one of the jumps and watch the amazing athletes. Good times. Good conversations on the lift with a few of the athletes as well. The two Germans in the comp were particularly outgoing and glad to be here competing. Great day. Too cold for the camera but took this one from the summit.

 

[Zand]

Any intel on the woods? Planning on heading there Tuesday. Very thin cover at Okemo in the woods today but Waterville is 2 feet ahead on the season so hopefully a little better?

Waterville has always been my least favorite ski area, but I feel like I've never given it a fair shake with good conditions. Hoping for a good day!

 

[urungus]

Any intel on the woods? Planning on heading there Tuesday. Very thin cover at Okemo in the woods today but Waterville is 2 feet ahead on the season so hopefully a little better?

Waterville has always been my least favorite ski area, but I feel like I've never given it a fair shake with good conditions. Hoping for a good day!

Very thin cover in Tecumseh woods on Friday - would not recommend this particular glade. Didn’t hit any other glades.

 

[chuckstah]

Any intel on the woods? Planning on heading there Tuesday. Very thin cover at Okemo in the woods today but Waterville is 2 feet ahead on the season so hopefully a little better?

Waterville has always been my least favorite ski area, but I feel like I've never given it a fair shake with good conditions. Hoping for a good day!

I looked at a few things, but it wasn't enough for me. There were tracks here and there, so if your standards are low enough, maybe a go. We did ski the low angle glade behind the lodge at the bottom of Bobby's. It was definitely skiable. We skied all the nats, thin but fun. Even one run on the Boneyard that had a closed sign but wasn't roped. The left side of that was really good, with big ice flows down the middle.

 

[Zand]

I looked at a few things, but it wasn't enough for me. There were tracks here and there, so if your standards are low enough, maybe a go. We did ski the low angle glade behind the lodge at the bottom of Bobby's. It was definitely skiable. We skied all the nats, thin but fun. Even one run on the Boneyard that had a closed sign but wasn't roped. The left side of that was really good, with big ice flows down the middle.

Sounds similar to what I skied today. Most woods very boney, hitting a lot of rocks. Nats also pretty boney but could usually find more snow on those than in the woods. Found a few north-facing unmarked woods that had better coverage. I'm sure curiosity will get the best of me and I'll pop into one or two. Excited to see what Waterville has to offer for nats as I've never really been able to ski any of them.

 

[chuckstah]

Definitely hit Gema, psyched (and Out), and Periphery, all quite good. I dabbled in Preston's but found it rocky and bailed early. Lower Sels was good as well, kinda natural, but they had started to make snow on parts of it. We never made it over to Green, it looked depressing.

 

[Zand]

Really damn good up here today. Wind was worse on the highway than it is on the hill. Couple inches from the squalls. Can't be more than 200 people here. Bubble chair to keep you toasty in the single digits.


Gema is open but apparently no one else felt like skiing it yet today. Soft pow turns top to bottom, not hitting much underneath either!

 

[Zand]

Run of the day ended up being Upper Bobby's to Psyched. For some reason the surface underneath the Gema pow ended up freezing solid and you could feel a lot of ice compare to earlier. But Psyched seemed to stay soft underneath and the whole right side just loaded up with windblown powder. Lots of fun.

Fun day. Glad I gave Waterville another shot with good conditions. Still far from my favorite place ever but I appreciate it a little more now. 25k vert in 4 hours, can't beat lapping a ski-on bubble chair on a cold windy day.

 

[JimG.]

Run of the day ended up being Upper Bobby's to Psyched. For some reason the surface underneath the Gema pow ended up freezing solid and you could feel a lot of ice compare to earlier. But Psyched seemed to stay soft underneath and the whole right side just loaded up with windblown powder. Lots of fun.

25k vert in 4 hours, can't beat lapping a ski-on bubble chair on a cold windy day.

This is why I lap the Snowdon 6 at K. The limo of lifts.

 

[Zand]

This is why I lap the Snowdon 6 at K. The limo of lifts.

Speaking of which...I now understand why everyone says the Waterville bubble is very ghetto. Almost every bubble has tape over some cracks, a few of them have full-on holes in them that totally defeat the purpose of the bubble. On one of my rides the bubble randomly went up mid ride and wouldn't go back down. Idk if the random company that Waterville hired used super cheap plastic compared to the Poma and Dopp bubbles because I've never seen a hole in a bubble before today and that lift is only a few years old.

That said, in the 4 hours I was there the lift did not stop once (until the final run when it had a couple extended stops) which is refreshing compared to the Mt Snow bubble which stops every time a mouse farts. So the lift itself seems to be a workhorse, they just need some stronger plastic and some better locking mechanisms for the bubbles.