It's April, there's somehow plenty of snow, and it's eclipse weekend! Gen and I had a slumber party/Fiddler on the Roof watch party the night before, and were on the road by 5:00am to our first stop of the weekend - Waterville Valley! We made great timing with an honorary stop at Hooksett, and were in the parking lot just after 8:00am, a little under an hour until lifts start spinning. There were definitely people around, but it was not yet crowded. We went into the lodge to get maps, use the bathroom, and wait until the ticket window opened at 8:30am to redeem our Indys for the day. We were DELIGHTED to see that there were free stickers at the ticket counter! Soon enough, we booted up at the car (Gen has QUITE the system for bucking her boots) and headed towards our first chair of the day, the Green Peak Triple.
Waterville Snow Report
Good morning skiers and riders! Waterville Valley has seen nearly 2 feet of snow in the past few days, with an additional dusting up top overnight! This snow is wind blown, with many powder stashes to be found. Get out there and enjoy this lovely April weekend with a mid-winter feel!
We plan to spin the following lifts from 9am-5pm today: Tecumseh Express, Green Peak Triple, Valley Run Quad, High Country T-Bar, Lower Pasture Carpet, and Lower Meadows. All 62 trails are open across 2 peaks! Get out there and explore!
Today's forecast will consist of more snow showers, with a chance of mixed precipitation at the base. Temperatures are anticipated to reach 28 degrees at the Summit and 37 degrees at the Base. Northeast winds are expected to reach 20-35 mph at the Summit and 14-20 mph at the Base. Expect soft corduroy on the groomed trails, with packed powder condition on ungroomed and gladed terrain!
Runs 1-3
Run 1: Green Peak Triple - Chandler's Way - Burbon Street - Baseway
[1.24 mi, 5:36, 1053 ft, 23.5 mph max, 13.3 mph avg]
Run 2: Green Peak Triple - Governor's Run - Burbon Street - Baseway
[0.90 mi, 4:02, 1037 ft, 24.7 mph max, 13.4 mph avg]
Run 3: Green Peak Triple - Governor's Run - Piano Man - Burbon Street - Baseway
[0.90 mi, 3:09, 1037 ft, 27.1 mph max, 17.2 mph avg]
We spent our first three runs on the Green Peak Triple - the first of which being the "easiest way down" to get ourselves warmed up. Thankfully, we knew which turns to make this time so we were stuck going down a steeper pitch than we were ready to like we had to last time... I also found a trail sign we couldn't find last time on a blowdown - makes sense!
The second run was down the other side of Green Peak along Governor's Run, which was new territory. The trail appeared wide, but in reality there was only a narrow bit that was of a reasonable grade/grooming up top. The trail opened up to steeper, but fun grades. The third run added a turn on the Piano Man trail (yes, Elton John was suck in my head for the rest of the day), which was steeper than Governor's Run, but nice and wide, albeit a bit icy. Gen did a re-run of the "easiest way down" for this one to practice some turns. At this point we had no lines and were having a great time!
Runs 4-5
Run 4: Valley Run Quad - Valley Run
[0.82 mi, 3:28, 715 ft, 24.3 mph max, 14.1 mph avg]
Run 5: Valley Run Quad - Fun Run - Rock Island
[0.86 mi, 4:38, 725 ft, 30.5 mph max, 11.2 mph avg]
Following our third run, we met at the base of the Valley Run Quad, which we decided to take since there was some crowding around the Tecumseh Express. We were surprised it was a high-speed quad, and even more surprised when it came to screeching hault before unloading, which made disembarking a very silly experience (I prefer the Flyer on Jay that truly launches you out of the chair). The Valley Run trail was wide and easy, which made it truly a hot spot for every family in central New Hampshire. This was an excellent run for evasion practcing... In an effort to avoid the people we hit the quad again, but took the "Fun Run" park, which was my first park! It had two hills/gullies and a few banked turns - thrilling! This led to the icy "Rock Island" trail that was still better than the millions, if not billions of people on Valley Run.
Runs 6-8
Run 6: Tecumseh Express - Oblivion - Upper Valley Run - Stillness - Lower Stillness - Valley Run
[1.67 mi, 6:07, 1657 ft, 29.2 mph max, 16.3 mph avg]
Run 7: Tecumseh Express - Oblivion - Upper Valley Run - Stillness - Lower Stillness - Valley Run
[1.63 mi, 4:57, 1650 ft, 29.6 mph max, 19.8 mph avg]
Run 8: Tecumseh Express - Periphery - Lower Tippy - Lower Periphery
[1.35 mi, 7:52, 1657 ft, 27.4 mph max, 10.3 mph avg]
We eventually got into line for the Tecumseh Express after devouring a Waffle Cabin waffle, and soon enough we were on the most comfortable chair I've ever been on. I decided I don't care for 6-packs - too many people for a chairlift, too many opinions, and it makes holding conversation even more awkward than a quad. Either way, this lift also comes to a screeching hault, which is my final complaint. Oh wait, apparently also the bar automatically comes down/up, so I was greatly confused when it felt like everyone in the chair was playing chicken (i.e., not going to be the first one to lift the bar). ANYWAY....
The first run was a repeat of last visit - Oblivion to Upper Valley Run to Stillness, but with a cutover back to Valley Run at the end to get back to the loading zone. It was fun! No bumps on the headwall, which was a nice change from last time. The rest was fast and fun. I intended to explore some new trails on the second run up there, but fully missed the entrance and ended up doing a repeat, which was still nice. We noticed how much different the snow was up top than down low - we still had fluffy powder up top but more frozen granular down low.
The third run off the 6-pack was much less glamorous... I was aiming for "And Tyler Too," but accidentally landed on "Periphery," which was steep and bumpy. Gen and I both made it down in one piece, but it was rough. Thankfully, the snow was soft! We continued onto Lower Tippy from the base of the Northside Lift (which looked like it hadn't been used in quite some time), which was equally as as steep and bumpy, but at least wider. Oof. Gen took a gentle fall here, and eventually we made it down. Lower Periphery was much nicer to us, and we decided we were well satisfied with the 6-pack after this (plus, crowds were picking up again).
Runs 9-10
Run 9: Green Peak Triple - Governor's Run - Burbon Street - Baseway
[0.96 mi, 4:37, 1063 ft, 22.0 mph max, 12.5 mph avg]
Run 10: Green Peak Triple - Governor's Run - Piano Man - Burbon Street - Stemtation
[1.02 mi, 5:24, 1119 ft, 22.8 mph max, 11.4 mph avg]
We needed a redemption run, so we headed back to the Green Peak Triple for a couple last runs. The first was down Governor's Run again which had softened up nicely. We decided we'd hit the gift shop before the last run, which was a fun way to break it up. Gen ended up actually skipping the last run, and I ended up stuck on the lift for ~10 minutes while it snowed on me. Equally beautiful and annoying! My grand finale was down Governor's to Piano Man, which was starting to get bumpy, to Burbon Street and then down Stemtation, which was a new one, filled with slushy snow, to get as close to the parking area as possible.
Our day ended with a quick pack-up, a drive to Walmart for Eclipse supplies, and another drive to the famous Parker Pie of West Glover, VT! The waitress was surprised we were both getting our own pizzas... I have no shame. We played a fun, easy ski-related card game that I got from Etsy, too! Finally, we drove the final bit over to Emmas almost exclusively on slushy, muddy dirt roads, which was... an adventure. Emma and I went to see her family at a brewery, and then it was off to a DEEP sleep before Bolton Valley tomorrow!
End of Day Stats: 10 Runs, 11.36 miles, 11,716 feet, 30.5 mph max, 49:50 skiing, 3:39:33 elapsed.
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