# Pico Mountain - 3/5/15



## makimono (Mar 5, 2015)

When: Thursday March 5, 2015

Where: Pico Mountain

What: PP - 4" new* with very light crust (*new since Monday night - Pico is closed Tue & Wed)

Awesome day at Pico! I haven't been here since the 90's but I loved the place as a kid and I was reminded why. What a fun old school mountain. Lots of narrow trails that take full advantage of the mountains contours, lots of secret slots and hidden nooks. And the glades were really fun and flowy. No lift line at all and most of the chairs were empty all day.


I picked up an e-ticket from Pico's website for $26 late Wednesday night, they've got some killer deals on their site, check it out. Got to the mountain at 8:15 (for a 9:00 lift). Fun fact: If you didn't have silver hair you were outnumbered in the lodge 5 to 1. It was actually a really cool vibe, everyone pretty chill, very serious about skiing, and super friendly. Temps started out about 19* and by 2:00pm had fallen to single digits and that's about when I quit.

The crust liked to grab the tail of my ski and gave me a little trouble to start but once I got used to it and especially once it got skied in, the snow was thick & fluffy and skied great. Stayed mostly in the on map Glades: Sunset Woods, Upper KA Glades, Mid Pike Glades, Poma Woods...also did the hard packed bumps of Summit Glades a few times and found some of the nicest snow of the day on Upper Giant Killer despite the ominous warning signs and sketchy wind scoured headwall.



Some raw Beater-Cam from the day:


Upper KA Glades (Low Ceiling!)


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## makimono (Mar 5, 2015)

Sunset Woods


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## makimono (Mar 5, 2015)

Upper Giant Killer


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## makimono (Mar 5, 2015)

Poma Woods & Mid Pike Glades


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## thetrailboss (Mar 5, 2015)

Love Pico. Nice TR and pics. Looks like AMAZING cover.


Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone


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## bdfreetuna (Mar 6, 2015)

Pico in the snow bulls-eye!


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## sankaty (Mar 6, 2015)

Way to rock the monoski!  Giant Killer is certainly a challenging trail, but I think they might overdo it a bit with the ominous signage, etc.  Its bark is a bit worse than its bite on a soft snow day.


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## rocks860 (Mar 6, 2015)

Were you there last Saturday too? I saw someone on a mono ski that day too


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## makimono (Mar 6, 2015)

Nope wasn't me but that's cool! I almost never see another monoskier...would be fun to find one and start plotting our take over.


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## RustyGroomer (Mar 6, 2015)

Good stuff Maki.  Way to spread the mono love.  See you soon i'm sure.


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## sankaty (Mar 6, 2015)

I once, very briefly, tried a monoski.  For some reason I thought I'd just be able to click in and go.  I neglected to consider the difficulty of engaging the downhill edge.


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## deadheadskier (Mar 6, 2015)

I always wanted to try one in the bumps.   Figured then just maybe I'd achieve proper form and have my knees together.  :lol:


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## makimono (Mar 6, 2015)

sankaty said:


> Way to rock the monoski!  Giant Killer is certainly a challenging trail, but I think they might overdo it a bit with the ominous signage, etc.  Its bark is a bit worse than its bite on a soft snow day.



Yeah overall Pico Mountain wasn't quite as gnarly as my memories of Pico Peak 

If I were asked what classic New England skiing would look like...it would be a snapshot from my memory of the summit of Pico circa 1982 - as the double neared the top the snow rimed trees choked in and the entrance to Upper Pike was a nasty little chute maybe 2 ski lengths wide with a huge overhanging ice bulge "cliff" and monster moguls that seemed taller than me at 12 years old....

...needless to say I was a little disappointed riding the HSQ up a 50 yard wide groomed cruiser to the top. And I refused to ski Upper Pike out of respect to the memory


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## skifree (Mar 6, 2015)

love the giant killer.
you able to slide over to out post on that ski?


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## makimono (Mar 6, 2015)

skifree said:


> love the giant killer.
> you able to slide over to out post on that ski?



I didn't get over there


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## keyser soze (Mar 7, 2015)

I was there Sunday, 3/1 and had a blast.  I skied Giant Killer, but there were some exposed rocks at the top so they must have gotten a light refresh since then.  After the very top, it was very skiable and nice.  It was my 2nd day on new skis so I was especially wary of the rocks.  Lift lines were quick as a single.


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## catsup948 (Mar 7, 2015)

Pico looks great!  I would love to get back there for a 3rd time this year.


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