# Magic Mountain - 12/27/2012 Powder Day



## Nick (Dec 28, 2012)

*Date(s) Skied: *12/27/2012

*Resort or Ski Area: *Magic Mountain

*Conditions: *Powder

*Trip Report: 

Video: 
*
This was a fantastic day out - probably one of my best ski days in quite a while, at least 2 years. It was also my first time out for this season, and my first time at Magic since I was about 8 years old. 

I decided early on I would be heading a little further North when the storm came in. Because I have the baby at home, I'm trying to limit myself to 3 hrs / each way tops, and for me Magic is about 2:45 in smooth sailing conditions. That was not the case obviously as I started driving up during a snowstorm. I got up at about 4:45 and after changing my 6 month old son's diaper, I hit the road at 5:15. 

It was raining where I live and most of the mass pike. Once I hit I-91 North was when it was really starting to turn to wintry mix. Speeds were anywhere between 25 and 45 mph on the highway, so I knew I wasn't going to get there for opening chair, which was my original goal. 

I was worried as well the wind would be an issue, although the red line is well insulated with trees close in on both sides. But it was almost a non-issue, i'd be surprised if it gusted to 15 mph. 







I pulled into Magic at almost exactly 9AM, about three and a half hours after I left. All in all, not really bad time, considering there were several spinouts. 

On the way up, I had checked weather and Magic had already had a solid 8 - 10" down. The temp was mid 20's, so it really doesn't get any better than that. 

Some of these trails may not be accurate as I wasn't really paying too much attention to where I was. 

In the morning, a lot was still roped off. Only the red chair was running. The general consensus seemed to be that  they wanted to preserve some snow on the west side for Friday and the weekend crowd. The black chair was running at some points but not loading anyone, probably just prep for Friday. 

The mountain was it felt nearly empty. Probably every other chair was blank. I was running AlpineReplay to track my day but my battery died so I have zero stats. I think I did about 12 - 15 runs or so over the course of the day. 






I took my first chair up and started by heading down Upper Magic Carpet to Trick to Mystery. There was still plenty of fresh powder, particularly on the sides of the trails. I found most of the blues and greens to shallow to really get any kind of fun turns in, you had to ski in others tracks just to avoid slowing to a stop. When pitches became evident it was really nice to get some great hops in the snow. 

Coverage was really pretty good. I had zero core shots and only scraped rock a couple times. As the day went on, it became next to impossible to hit anything other than snow. 

Me enjoying the conditions: 





Overall the snow was fantastic. Light, and it literally dumped the entire day long. We easily picked up another 5 or 6" over the course of the day. By the time I did my last run, I think there was easily pushing 18" of snow. It was DEEP. 






At one point in either Goniff or Witch I hit a tree - my first tree strike on skis, ever. After 30 years of skiing. I put another thread about it already so I won't go into it here, but here is the short vid: 



At this point I was really working up a sweat so I went into the cafeteria on the first floor of the base lodge to get some water and some food. I don't know if it's just really early in the season but it was so disorganized I almost couldn't believe it. I wanted a cup of water and they had none. Just soda. So I ended up getting a cup of ice and just chewing on some ice cubes. 

 Later, I realized there was a bar / restaurant type of thing upstairs, but I didn't know that at the time. I also ordered a cheeseburger and some fries, but the lady cooking it was also the cashier. She told me to just eat and pay after since she didn't have time to ring me up. It took almost 20 minutes to get a burger, so that was a while too, but I was so hungry I had to wait. There were people everywhere waiting for food and it was just such a mess. I don't know if they outsource food prep or do it in house, but it was a cluster to say the least. I'm just going to chalk it up to getting in the swing of things, it was only Day #2 that they were open, and the staff was really nice also. 

As I was leaving to put in a few more runs, I ran right into Reefer, and we made a few turns together as well. 

Another thing that was bizarre - there is a run up to the west side right where upper magic carpet makes the right turn towards Witch. It wasn't roped off and I went right by the patrol shack, so I went that way a couple times and did get to ski the west side a little, which was way better because it wasn't skied off yet plus the runs are a bit steeper. Broomstick and Heart of the Magician were awesome. 

But then I get to the bottom and the guy is clipping tickets and said we weren't supposed to be over here. I told him we just went up that slight hill and came over here, and he said just stay off, so I avoided it the rest of the day. 

Whoever is going today (Friday) is definitely going to have some nice freshies. I don't know if they were planning on grooming as you did need to watch out for the water drainage ditches which were pretty frequent. 

I took off at 2:30PM as my legs were completely shot. That kind of annoyed me ... I run 20 - 30 miles per week and my quads were on fire. I think because I spent the morning flying solo I got in a lot of runs and that probably wore me out quickly. Got home by 6PM for some sushi dinner 

I have a lot of gopro footage and will edit up a video soon and repost when I do. 

Overall: a fantastic day and a lot of fun. 

Some more GoPro shots: 





Laying in the snow





Awesome Turns










Yummy!


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## Cornhead (Dec 28, 2012)

Looks awesome, Magic is on my hit list, maybe I can do a Magic, Sugarbush, MRG trip this year. I've got vouchers for Sugarbush and MRG.
I hear you on the early season fatigue, I'm convinced nothing gets you in ski shape like skiing, so get out there and ski!


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## bdfreetuna (Dec 28, 2012)

I am planning on Magic tomorrow it's good to see they have a ton of snow! There's only 4 runs not open yet as of today.

Thinking it might be a good day to break out the POV with all the snow and trees. Gotta watch out for those trees though, it ain't just about skiin' pretty


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## riverc0il (Dec 28, 2012)

Ropes up on a powder day? Saving snow for the weekend? Warning and/or clipping tickets for enjoying powder snow? What is going on down there? Inquiring minds want to know... that sounds very un-Magic like.


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## Nick (Dec 28, 2012)

riverc0il said:


> Ropes up on a powder day? Saving snow for the weekend? Warning and/or clipping tickets for enjoying powder snow? What is going on down there? Inquiring minds want to know... that sounds very un-Magic like.



The bulletin board in the cafeteria said directly on it they were saving snow on the West side for Friday. 

I was surprised too when the guy was clipping tickets. There were a bunch of people skiing on that side. It clearly wasn't roped off, although coming off the red chair the direct access on the right was in fact roped off. I figured it was missed so I ... you know .. took advantage of that :lol:

There was also a lot of uphill traffic. I probably saw a good 20 - 30 folks skinning up over the course of the morning.


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## Bene288 (Dec 28, 2012)

bdfreetuna said:


> I am planning on Magic tomorrow it's good to see they have a ton of snow! There's only 4 runs not open yet as of today.
> 
> Thinking it might be a good day to break out the POV with all the snow and trees. Gotta watch out for those trees though, it ain't just about skiin' pretty



I'm thinking of heading out tomorrow as well. Was going to go today, but the trees at Gore kinda wore me out. Never been to Magic, so I'm not sure what to expect. What am I in for on a holiday weekend? My father's family used to ski there in the 80's and have always praised it, I have some pretty awesome pictures of the place back then. 

Nick, great report and pictures. Glad you rebounded from the tree incident.


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## skiNEwhere (Dec 28, 2012)

Nice TR Nick! I've never been to Magic, but I'll have to hit it up some day!


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## xwhaler (Dec 28, 2012)

Great Report Nick! I'm heading up tonight to my uncle's place (~20 mins from the base of Magic) and hope to be there for 1st few chairs.
Blue coat, Surface Watch Lifes if anyone sees me out there give a shout and let's make some turns. I'll be solo.


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## riverc0il (Dec 28, 2012)

Nick said:


> The bulletin board in the cafeteria said directly on it they were saving snow on the West side for Friday.


That is outrageous.


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## xwhaler (Dec 28, 2012)

While I can see the annoyance, perhaps Magic wanted to pack some of it down with a groomer to help set a base for the weeks ahead. We all love powder but I can see it from the mtns standpoint....getting a groomer up and down Wizard and maybe Tailsman gives intermediates some options on the West side and helps to alleviate some pressure on the East.

That said, I'm sure today is even better with the sunny skies and ropes dropping everywhere.


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## bdfreetuna (Dec 28, 2012)

Bene288 said:


> I'm thinking of heading out tomorrow as well. Was going to go today, but the trees at Gore kinda wore me out. Never been to Magic, so I'm not sure what to expect. What am I in for on a holiday weekend?



This would be my first time at Magic, as well. I expect it to have tight trees, some good steeps, and be bumpy and ungroomed. Never really heard of a crowd at Magic but who knows?

Hopefully their trees live up to the reputation because I have no intention of skiing actual trails.


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## bheemsoth (Dec 28, 2012)

We're here today. Still plenty of pow to run across, and the west side is in good shape considering the lack of coverage prior to the storm.

The closures yesterday were probably annoying to deal with, but they undoubtedly were done in the best interest of the mountain. What we have today is not nearly as fluffy as what wag probably here yesterday, but will last longer. Good for us and the mountain ad the season goes on.


Sent from Samsung Galaxy S3 using Tapatalk 2


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## Nick (Dec 28, 2012)

Video should be up in 30 min or so.


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## reefer (Dec 28, 2012)

Just got home. Will post some pics. after dinner and a Hot Tub. Some things to note for tomorrow.
Get there early. Was a mad house for tickets. Longgggg line as I walked out the lodge at 8:30.
Lift lines were longgggg after 10:30. I skied alone today and the singles line flew. I don't know what the deal is with the Black. It ran Thursday for 1/2 hour, no people on it, (rumor had it was for inspection), but it didn't show any sign of life today. Chairs are still full of snow. Maybe they just weren't prepared for the crowd today? I don't know?
It is worth the wait cause the skiing is insane.
Parking Lot B was almost full. Don't know what they are gonna do tomorrow.
The main reason for the late rope dropping was that half the snow fell during the day Thursday. You could get it if you wanted. 
The kid pulling tickets... a bit overzealous to say the least. He had a big stack!!!!! 
Woods are still full of snow. I couldn't even do them due to stamina and being solo today. Didn't want to pull a Nick! Didn't matter. The West Side trails and totally rocked today. Nothing over there was groomed including Wizard.
Today Magic skied as good as it can almost. Opened RedLine in the afternoon and it is just sublime. Hit that early!


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## Cheese (Dec 28, 2012)

Nice turns Nick!  Looks like you nailed a great day at Magic.  Wish I could have joined ya. :sad:


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## bdfreetuna (Dec 28, 2012)

Hmm I don't like hearing about full parking lots and long lift lines on a Friday if I am planning to go tomorrow. Maybe I will use my $100 Killington gift card tomorrow and pick up an Express Card there and ski K woods instead. I have a feeling I better wake up early either way.


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## Bene288 (Dec 28, 2012)

bdfreetuna said:


> Hmm I don't like hearing about full parking lots and long lift lines on a Friday if I am planning to go tomorrow. Maybe I will use my $100 Killington gift card tomorrow and pick up an Express Card there and ski K woods instead. I have a feeling I better wake up early either way.



I'm not sure either. I myself would not brave Kmart on a holiday weekend. I went on a weekend once, and that was hell. I figure I'll leave Albany at 5:00 am, putting me at Magic 20 minutes or so before 7:00. I'd hope I'd be able to find a spot then. Single lines might not be too bad...I could be wrong though. Never been, excited to possibly go none the less.


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## SkiingInABlueDream (Dec 28, 2012)

Was there today also. +1 to everything reefer wrote. Although the singles line didn't seem to fly when I was in it. :-( 
(I haven't spent this much portion of a day standing in liftline since the last time I skied MRG  )
Didn't sample the woods myself but everyone I talked to on the chair said they're in great shape. 
I can't believe how busy the place was. Don't think the staff was ready for the volume. Trails are soft bumps but with good coverage.
Going to bed soon, daytripping again tomorrow <to somewhere> with a friend who couldn't ski today.


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## gmcunni (Dec 28, 2012)

dude, put your hands thru the pole straps the way God intended it :smash:


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## emmaurice2 (Dec 29, 2012)

Nice video! Was going to go tomorrow, but have to wait until Sunday.


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## Cheese (Dec 29, 2012)

gmcunni said:


> dude, put your hands thru the pole straps the way God intended it :smash:



I kept that out of my comments but I'm glad you called him out.  

 Tighten them up and slip 4 fingers through there, Nick!  No worries of having a shoulder dislocated in the trees when only 4 fingers are used.


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## Nick (Dec 29, 2012)

There is am entire thread on that topic somewhere 

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## kingslug (Dec 29, 2012)

Nice..the one thing I learned about getting in shape for skiing is that running is great for stamina but doesn't get the legs ready. I skied moguls for 2 days at Hunter..and while I'm totaly shot..the legs are fine...weight lifting, seems to be the only thing that works...and lots of Aleve after...hope the weather stays good, want to get to Magic sometime this season when its fully open...


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## BoarderPatrol (Dec 29, 2012)

Wow, those pics look amazing!.....glad to hear you ran into Reefer, he's a hot s***.  Will need to make a trip up to Magic soon!


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## Nick (Dec 29, 2012)

kingslug said:


> Nice..the one thing I learned about getting in shape for skiing is that running is great for stamina but doesn't get the legs ready. I skied moguls for 2 days at Hunter..and while I'm totaly shot..the legs are fine...weight lifting, seems to be the only thing that works...and lots of Aleve after...hope the weather stays good, want to get to Magic sometime this season when its fully open...



Yup! I was doing p90x in the fall and was feeling really good but fell off of it in late Oct / Nov / Dec and just reverted to running. I can totally tell.


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## Bene288 (Dec 29, 2012)

At magic now. Lift busted, been down for half an hour. They just got a kicker motor to get every one on the chairs up. Great mountain regardless!


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## ScottySkis (Dec 29, 2012)

Bene288 said:


> At magic now. Lift busted, been down for half an hour. They just got a kicker motor to get every one on the chairs up. Great mountain regardless!





Sorry about that.


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## bheemsoth (Dec 29, 2012)

Bene288 said:


> At magic now. Lift busted, been down for half an hour. They just got a kicker motor to get every one on the chairs up. Great mountain regardless!



Sorry to hear that. The snow was great at Magic yesterday. My run of the day was Broomstick -> Heart of Magician. Great conditions and no skiier traffic.

Like others have said - the downside was the lift lines. It was great to see the parking lot full and tons of skiiers (I would guess that yesterday was one of Magic's best days in a couple of seasons) but the lift lines were unacceptable. We skiied 8:45-4 and probably only got 10-11 runs in, since from 10am-3pm the lift lines were 20 minutes or worse. If the Black Chair was offline for some reason that's one thing, but if they were not running that due to staffing savings, I find that to be completely unacceptable. To compound matters they were only able to fill 3 out of 4 chairs on the Red due to lift issues. The chair stopped while we were on it for about 8 minutes early in the day, and one of the lifties mentioned that it was a heat issue related to the first full load of the season.

So, at the end of the day it's a mixed bag. It was great to see Magic bringing in a ton of people for the holiday week, but at the same time it made me long for a 3 chair wait on a mid-winter Saturday, and also raised some potential red flags about the ability/desire of Magic to keep their customers satisfied.

Anyways, we're still huge fans of the mountain, and will be there several more times this year.


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## Bene288 (Dec 29, 2012)

I'm not worried. My ticket was cheap, so I'm not going to complain.There really aren't too many people here and until the lift broke it was ski on. Just hike up Show Off I believe. I'm enjoying it anyway. I love the vibe of this place.


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## kingslug (Dec 29, 2012)

Nick said:


> Yup! I was doing p90x in the fall and was feeling really good but fell off of it in late Oct / Nov / Dec and just reverted to running. I can totally tell.


If you analyze it you really need a lot of leg strength, what hurts the most after skiing?? the quads...its totaly different than running, you're pressing down for several seconds with all your bodyweight plus the additional weight created by any slight G forces due to speed. pro racers experience up to 3 Gs..so Body Miller is heaving around 600 pounds in the turns. its why Squats and deadlifts are the best. P90 x looks like a killer workout for stamina and core strength but nothing will beat heavy leg exercise..its the only way I can survive 7 days plus in a row on big mountains with insane vert like Big Sky and Jackson...


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## reefer (Dec 29, 2012)

Some pics from the day:


First day on ole Red:
url=http://forums.alpinezone.com/gallery/magic-mountain-12-27-12/p14685-dscn4603.html]
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





[/url]

Heavy dense shit:





dumping at times.....


















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That is Nick. Unfortunately at that point in the day I couldn't see or stand straight, never mind hold a camera steady......


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## Nick (Dec 29, 2012)

Nice pics !! 

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## twinplanx (Dec 30, 2012)

I think if you should raise the camera angle slightly up it would enhance the viewers perspective. I just like to get a better idea of what is downhill.... Enjoyed your video none the less. The soundtrack definitely perked my interest. Love that effect on the guitar. Title & Artist please?


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## Nick (Dec 30, 2012)

Song is Con Bro Chill - Power Happy


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## powbmps (Dec 31, 2012)

Nice TR.  I was up there solo Thursday as well. Probably saw you at some point.  Awesome day.


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## jrmagic (Jan 3, 2013)

Jsut saw the video Nick. that dy was spectacular. Not sure if you knew it but you captured OrangeGondola and Rusty Groomer in your vid. Hope you come back to see us. 

@Rivercoil and others....  Several of us were talking to management about the clipped tickets.. (my nephew and cousin had theirs pulled along with a couple of friends).. it wasn't supposed to go down that way and there were apologies made.  I know patrol would like to get to a place where the ropes need to be respected and management agrees as long as there is  a liberal policy on what is open... its been a couepl of years in the works but apparantly still needs ALOT more ironing out.


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## Nick (Jan 3, 2013)

jrmagic said:


> Jsut saw the video Nick. that dy was spectacular. Not sure if you knew it but you captured OrangeGondola and Rusty Groomer in your vid. Hope you come back to see us.
> .



Ah! I wish I coulda met you guys. Where in the vid are they?


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## jrmagic (Jan 3, 2013)

From 1:30 to 1:50. OG is in blue and yellow and RG is inorange and gray.


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## Nick (Jan 3, 2013)

^Aww man! I wish I woulda known!


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## riverc0il (Jan 3, 2013)

jrmagic said:


> Jsut saw the video Nick. that dy was spectacular. Not sure if you knew it but you captured OrangeGondola and Rusty Groomer in your vid. Hope you come back to see us.
> 
> @Rivercoil and others....  Several of us were talking to management about the clipped tickets.. (my nephew and cousin had theirs pulled along with a couple of friends).. it wasn't supposed to go down that way and there were apologies made.  I know patrol would like to get to a place where the ropes need to be respected and management agrees as long as there is  a liberal policy on what is open... its been a couepl of years in the works but apparantly still needs ALOT more ironing out.


Cool, good to hear that it is being re-evaluated. I think skiers respect ropes when the ski area respects the skier. Ski areas need to figure out that balance point. I thought Magic was always very liberal with rope dropping but it seems like the ropes were to preserve untracked snow for the weekend which just can't happen, any where, and especially not at Magic. Hopefully that won't happen again. I'd certainly be ducking if that happens when I am there. That is total disrespect for the customer... so no wonder the ropes got disrespected in return.


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## St. Bear (Jan 8, 2013)

Hey Nick, are you skiing on Atomic Theories?  What do you think of them?


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## Nick (Jan 8, 2013)

They are actually Crimson Ti's. I should do a full write up on them. I did look at Theorys but ended upw ith the Crimson's. Honestly, for the conditions that day, the Theory would have been a better ski I think. The atomics are better at hooking up on sketchy conditions, they are pretty stiff and also pretty heavy. 

I'd have to ski on the theory to be sure, but I have heard excellent things about them, with one drawback being pure edge hold on icy conditions.


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## Nick (Jan 8, 2013)

PS -- here is a review by Bene

http://forums.alpinezone.com/showthread.php?107996-Atomic-Theory-ski-review


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## St. Bear (Jan 8, 2013)

When I was looking for new skis last year, the Theory was on my short list.  I probably would've ended up going with them, but I followed Puck It's advice and got a pair of Palmers for a little less money.  I was just curious what your impressions of the Theory were.


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## riverc0il (Jan 8, 2013)

Nick said:


> They are actually Crimson Ti's. I should do a full write up on them. I did look at Theorys but ended upw ith the Crimson's. Honestly, for the conditions that day, the Theory would have been a better ski I think. The atomics are better at hooking up on sketchy conditions, they are pretty stiff and also pretty heavy.
> 
> I'd have to ski on the theory to be sure, but I have heard excellent things about them, with one drawback being pure edge hold on icy conditions.


Actually, for 95mm underfoot, the Theory is incredible on hard pack. No mixed terrain ski of that size is going to slice through ice like a cheater or race ski. But it has made me into a one ski quiver kinda guy, no looking back. If anything, its natural snow and powder performance isn't quite as good as I had hoped. The rear twin suuuucks (would be incredible if it was flat) and at 1cm behind the rear most recommended mount, it is still mounted too far forward. The tails just piss me off, otherwise it is great. Still debating moving the mounting point further back, I just need to know what the minimum space is between holes as I don't want to over compensate the other way. But any ways, solid one ski quiver, does great in natural snow, still haven't given it a solid bump day but not ideal for bumps, superb on groomers.


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