Skiing Wachusett Mountain Ski Area

What's this? A ski post? Not sure if I'll keep this up or not, but I just finished up a day at Wachusett Mountain Ski Area and am feeling the same drive to reflect and write about it, so here we area! I've gotten much stronger, more comfortable, and slightly more confident this season, and I likely won't be getting out to ski again this season, so here we are!

Some stats...
Distance: 10.46 miles

Time: 1:00:37

Total Descent: 7,933 feet

Max Speed: 21.9 mph

Number of Runs: 16 (19 if you count the magic carpet!)

Snow Report

"Happy Sunday Skiers and Riders. It’s going to be a partly sunny day today with temps reaching the high 40’s. Conditions are looking good with an average 4 foot base depth on hill! We have two great events going on today that you won’t want to miss; The ride with River railman and the annual Cardboard box race! One week until closing day, don’t miss out on some spring skiing!"

The Day

Our day started in the teaching/slow skiing area where we did three runs on the Easy Rider carpet, which were vital. I had just bought my first pair of skis and Gen and I are still newbies who are flying solo without Emma for the first time. I STRUGGLED with the first one - the last skis I used were 160s and my new ones are 176s. Thankfully it started coming back to me after each run. The snow was crusty and a bit icy, but thankfully not sheet ice. There were a few other kids out learning, but the mountain wasn't crowded at all at 8:15am. Truly the hardest part of this warm up was getting to the front of the carpet - it was slightly up hill and these long skis were throwing me off. The attendant did compliment my skis, so that's a win!

After our magic carpet warm up we scooted over the Monadnock Express Quad, which we hopped on like NATURALS (except for me getting caught behind a fence post and then ultimately falling out of my skis). Up top we learned why it was called the Monadnock Express - there's an EXCELLENT view of Mt. Monadnock from the top! I loudly told Gen and derailed a ski instructor's lecture, which brought me some joy. We spent some good time here, doing six runs, alternating between Sundowner/Easy Rider and Indian Summer. I was a big fan of Sundowner - you get speed dropping in, then it levels out for a while so you can coast, and then there's a mini headwall that requires some brain time. It's also wider and less crowded than Indian Summer. Indian Summer was fine, but pretty uneventful. It was the faster of the two runs, and I really got to practice my passing skills. The snow on both was frozen but groomed, so it was LOUD loud. By the sixth I was starting to feel more comfortable with my skis, so my personal challenge was hitting a steeper section that joined the two trails near the bottom. I was feeling good!

We took a water break and then the next goal was to take the Minuteman Express to Ralphs Run - a blue run that's listed as a "Family Trail - Use Caution" - perfect for us! I ended up doing 10 runs on Ralph - Gen took four of them off to work on a boot crisis she was having. I'm so glad that I got mine punched out after our last Jay weekend - my feet actually felt great today (minus my burning arches during the first few runs on the magic carpet, which has become standard for me). I really enjoyed Ralph's Run - it started off not too steep, picked up some speed, had a few speed humps (no idea what to call these), and then a STEEP (for me) ending. I fell twice around the steeper sections, both times when I lost control from going too fast. Partially my brain overloading, partially me leaning back because I get scared, and partially me trying to fight my skis/boots. Both falls were graceful and I remembered to put my downhill ski on first! My last few runs were devoted to trusting myself and not leaning back, and it was terrifying, but I did it! Aside from the panicking, I'm still finding myself getting more confident. When I had my four solo lift rides, one of them was completely solo which was DELIGHTFUL, one was with a silent snowboarder, one was with a lovely college student who seemed like she skis like me and Gen will next year, self aware, and another one was a group of three 12 year olds who were blown away by the open terrain park and they were really looking for Uncle Charlie, who can really do backflisp, apparently. The only embarassing moment I had was coming off the chairlift toward the end - my thighs completely forgot how to stand up, so when I got off the lift I was in a full squat, hand on the ground, fully butt sliding 20 feet away from the lift. I have no idea how it happened, but it was highkey fun... 

Our original goal was to get to the top and take the other family friendly trail down, but Gen's crisis took a lot of time so we decided to finish on what we knew, which I was more than fine with. We scanned in for our last lift ride right as it was about to time-out, had a nice last run, and then went to the upstairs restaurant for some lunch before making our way home. It was a great day! I kept Emma updated all day on our progress, and I reminded her that I'm mad at her for costing me so much money. We're likely done for the season now, but I'm thirlled that I have all my gear and already paid for our Indy Passes for next year! Now to rest my very tired body.