# Wachusett 12/17/13



## Zand (Dec 17, 2013)

It's dumping. It's empty. Boot deep already. I'll be here till 10 most likely...if anyone else is coming I'll see you out there!


----------



## KD7000 (Dec 17, 2013)

I was there 6:00pm- about 9:00.  Soooo much snow!  Soooo empty! So many fresh tracks to be had/ made.  I think that Sunday and tonight were two of the best days up there ever.  Just plain awesome.


----------



## Zand (Dec 17, 2013)

Haven't skied for 8 hours in many years, but today was worth every minute of it. Got there at 2 before the heavy snow came in... temp at the base was 7 and about 2 at the summit. Very cold day, especially when the heavy snow came and made outerwear wet. Best skiing was between 3:30-5:30, then in typical Wachusett fashion, here came the groomers. That put an end to the boot-to-shin deep powder covering all the trails, leaving nice packed powder with at most an inch on top. The only open trail to escape the wrath was Challenger, which had some shin deep untracked down the sides all night. 

Also in play before dark were Ropers Road, Upper Salamander, and both sections of Balance Rock, all of which were natural snow and ungroomed. Pretty thin, but fun to have those open so early in the season.

Get up there over the next couple days, because in typical New England fashion, a nice rainstorm is coming in this weekend followed by a freeze up for Christmas week.


----------



## KD7000 (Dec 18, 2013)

How late did you stay?  Conditions at 6:00pm were phenomenal and it just kept getting better as more snow fell.


----------



## Zand (Dec 18, 2013)

I stayed till closing. Sure it was great PP after grooming but it was absolutely better skiing before they groomed it. It just wasn't the same after grooming... I was hoping they'd leave at least 10th and Smith alone but leave it to Wachusett.


----------



## Savemeasammy (Dec 18, 2013)

Grooming pitched terrain during a snowstorm while OPEN?!  Kind of lame...  That's a bummer to hear.  What's the rush?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## reefer (Dec 18, 2013)

Sounds fairly nice except for the grooming buzzkill.


----------



## Zand (Dec 18, 2013)

That's what it was... a buzzkill. I can understand if they wanted to groom Conifer for the intermediates, but there was absolutely no reason to groom 10th and Smith. They weren't even bumped up... just your basic tracked out powder (and lots on the sides not tracked out!) and it never snowed hard enough after to build any good powder back up. Don't get me wrong, the PP was great after and I would've been ecstatic any other night, but c'mon Wachusett, just ONE night you can leave it alone.


----------



## KD7000 (Dec 19, 2013)

I can send an angry text to one of the guys on the groomer crew, if you think it will help!


----------



## Zand (Dec 19, 2013)

I'm sure they were following orders from management. But when I saw them starting up lower smith I strongly considered skiing over to them and asking them to change their minds lol.


----------



## dmw (Dec 19, 2013)

KD7000 said:


> I can send an angry text to one of the guys on the groomer crew, if you think it will help!



I'd say do it. I was making suggestions about leaving some stuff ungroomed to one of the owners on the lift Sunday, she liked the suggestions and told me to submit a comment form at the info desk (which I did). The more they hear it and from multiple angles can't hurt. I suggested maybe leaving Upper Salamander as a natural ungroomed trail most of the time, pointed out it has nice natural contours which are lost once its filled in and groomed flat repeatedly.


Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone mobile app


----------

