Skiing Magic Mountain
Sunday, February 2nd, 2025
Runs: 16
Distance: 21.54 miles
Elevation: 24,518 feet
Max Speed: 33.4 mph
Avg. Speed: 14.4 mph
Moving Time: 1 hour, 37 minutes
Total Time: 6 hours, 30 minutes
After my sunrise hike I made it to Magic Mountain around 8:15am. I was COLD at this point - apparently my car has a hard time staying toasty when it's decently below 0 degrees outside! I was maybe the 20th car in the lot and excited to get my day started. We had a solid crew coming for the day including Sarah, Emma, college friend Linnea, her boyfriend Andrew, Sarah's friend Andre, much of Sarah's extended family, and most importantly, Sarah's mom! Everyone else was running a bit late, so I got right to booting up to get some quiet solo runs in before the real fun of the day began. Picking up my Indy ticket was super easy and the lodge had plenty of cubbies (it did fill up by mid-day, but I had zero issues finding space at 8:30am). Once I was suited up, I headed up and out to the Black Line Quad for my first couple of runs!
Snow Report
February 2nd 7am: Happy Groundhog Day! Let's do it again...another fun ski day on top with the Black Line Quad and Green Mid Mtn Double spinning at 8:30am-4pm. The Red Lift will be in reserve as needed and the beginner conveyor lift goes at 9am. 40 trails and glades start the day, with 16 groomed out to perfection, and many all-natural variable trails with thin cover, and two whale skiing trails in Talisman and Sorcerer. Lower Black Line is open via Bail Out, but Upper Black Line is closed. It's going to be a very chilly start with 0 degrees at the base and then rising to a high near 20 degrees in the afternoon under partly cloudy skies. So bundle up and be aware of frostbite. We are expecting 2-3" late Sunday prior to our private mountain rental on Monday to keep the freshies coming. More snow also expected next week. Don't miss out on another magical day of skiing and riding as that furry forecaster groundhog gives us plenty more winter ahead!
The Black Line Tavern is open from 11am-7pm after a huge party last night with the Mallett Brothers Band packing the house!
Runs 1-2
Run 1: Black Line Quad - Upper Magic Carpet - Wand - Hocus Pocus
[1.49 mi; 6:22; 1,617 ft; 26.4 mph max; 14.0 mph avg]
Run 2: Black Line Quad - Magic Carpet
[1.61 mi; 5:25; 1,611 ft; 28.7 mph max; 17.8 mph avg]
The goal for my first two runs of the day was just to ski on something that was not a sheet of ice. There were two long green routes down, so what better way to start than with them! My first lap was up the slow-but-beautiful Black Line Quad to Upper Magic Carpet, Wand, and then to Hocus Pocus. Signage for "easiest way down" was abundant, and I chose to go to Hocus Pocus because it ended right back at the lift. It was COLD at this point of the day, but beautiful. Snow skied well, and honestly, anything was better than Berkshire East!
My second lift ride was equally as beautiful, but I did share it with one other person. We chatted about mountains, skis, what other resorts we could see from the lift (Stratton & Bromley, prominently), and then we got onto the topic of work. He was close to retirement and drove out here from Ohio (Magic was one stop on a four-day solo ski trip, next on his list was Killington). I mentioned I was a teacher, he asked what I taught, I said music, he said he was the clarinet professor at Bowling Green State University, and I said "I majored in clarinet!" Such a small world. Even funnier is that Sarah also majored in clarinet, Emma majored in tuba, and Linnea majored in voice - it was a whole bunch of musicians! We chatted a bit more on the way up and eventually parted ways - I didn't see him again. I followed the whole Magic Carpet run down which was just lovely. Not too flat, which I enjoyed, and again, not ice! Definitely hard and crispy, but not ice! Back at the bottom, I ran into the lodge quick to grab some water and get some feeling back in my toes. Sarah and company had just arrived, too. Yay!
Runs 3-5
Run 3: Black Line Quad - Wizard
[1.56 mi; 5:57; 1,614 ft; 27.1 mph max; 15.8 mph avg]
Run 4: Black Line Quad - Upper Magic Carpet - Medium - Wand - Show Off
[1.49 mi; 7:06; 1,644 ft; 30.7 mph max; 12.6 mph avg]
Run 5: Black Line Quad - Upper Magic Carpet - Trick - Wand - Show Off
[1.29 mi; 4:58; 1,608 ft; 33.4 mph max; 15.6 mph avg]
I first met up with Sarah and then with her mom and Andre and we all did a few runs together. It was nice to chat with Mom and meet Sarah's friend Andre, and soon enough we were up top again. Magic Mountain has a Blue/Black rating for a couple of trails, and we went down one of the two: Wizard! Wizard started out as a very easy, winding trail past cliffs with stunning views, and then traverses a couple headwall sections. It is kind of what I wish Ullr's Dream was actually like at Jay Peak. Super fun! They mentioned it got skied off yesterday afternoon, so I was glad to be hitting it this morning.
We hit a couple more blue runs for Runs #4 and #5 - Medium for #4 and Trick for #5, both ending in Show Off, which was a super wide, super fun racing run. I was having an absolute blast at Magic! After these runs, my toes were fully numb, though, and Linnea/Andrew and Emma had all arrived, so Sarah and I took a quick siesta inside to gather the crew. I also bought toe warmers for the first time ever, and boy, am I converted! They brought me right back to life and my toes felt great for the rest of the day. When I was putting them on, though, a child imprinted on the two of us (he must of smelled that we were teachers). He started by giving his two cents on toe warmers and how to apply them (top or bottom of the sock) and then started asking us for food. Apparently, without my knowing, Sarah did offer him some snacks, which I was appalled at - you never feed the wildlife!!
Runs 6-9
Run 6: Black Line Quad - Wizard
[1.61 mi; 10:36: 1,624 ft; 29.5 mph max; 9.1 mph avg]
Run 7: Black Line Quad - Upper Magic Carpet - Medium - Wand - Show Off
[1.49 mi; ~5:00; ~1,500 ft]
Run 8: Black Line Quad - Upper Magic Carpet - Up Your Sleeve - Lower Magic Carpet
[~1.50 mi; ~5:00; ~1,500 ft]
Run 9: Black Line Quad - Upper Magic Carpet - Trick - Wand - Show Off
[1.29 mi; ~5:00; ~1,500 ft]
Run #6 was a repeat of Wizard, which was already starting to get pretty icy, but it was fun to be with the whole crew now! Sarah and Mom took Sorcerer down halfway through, which sounded like it was not me-friendly. Disaster unknowingly struck for Runs 7-10, through! My watch paused!!! The tragedy!!! For the stats, I copied from repeat runs, or guessed based on averages. Truly tragic. Regardless, they were fun! More theme and variations on the runs off of the Upper Magic Carpet. I did take one run with Emma, "Up Your Sleeve," that was "thin cover," but wan't too bad. It had some bumps and some grassy spots, but overall manageable, and I need to force myself to do runs like that more. I get scared becuase I'm not good at them, but I want to get good at them so I can actually decide if I like them or not!
This pod brought us to lunch time. Emma and I shared a spread of hot chocolate, fries, chicken tenders, a cinnamon roll, and mac and cheese. All was delicious! From here, Emma and I went to check on her dog, Lola, who simply loves coming along on these ski days and chilling in the car, and we'd all slowly meander back onto the slopes.
Runs 10-11
Run 10: Green Mid Mountain Double - Wand - Show Off
[0.86 mi; 4:28; 805 ft]
Run 11: Black Line Quad - Enchanted Forest - Upper Magic Carpet - Medium - Lower Magic Carpet
[1.51 mi; 7:32; 1,578 ft; 28.1 mph max; 12.7 mph avg]
Next, Emma and I had had a couple runs just to our solves (we're such romantics). The rest of the crew wasn't done with lunch when we got back from Lola, so we decided to get a quick run off of the Green Mid Mountain Lift. Only thing was, it was NOT a quick run. That was a SLOW chair. Fun, though! Old and wooden. We told the rest of them to not wait for us, as we had chosen our fate. We went over to Show Off after disembarking (and almost losing my pole like a FOOL) and noticed that they had a bar at the bottom of that run! Interesting...
Still just the two of us, we headed over to the Black Line Quad and tried out "Enchanted Forest" - a thin cover/natural green run that was... fine. Emma hit a rock - I did not! Again, I just need to keep trying these things and get used to it (also need to get used to making tighter turns). We followed some usual runs down, and eventually met up with our friends! Emma had also engaged in "ski instructor mode" for me, which was deeply appreciated (she wanted her free beer as payment, I will always happily oblige). She said my right turns are getting good but my lefts are still heel-engaged, which I noticed once she pointed it out. Thanks, Emma!
Runs 12-16
Run 12: Black Line Quad - Upper Magic Carpet - Medium - Lower Magic Carpet - Vertigo - Lower Magic Carpet
[1.38 mi; 6:06; 1,575 ft; 28.1 mph max; 13.6 mph avg]
Run 13: Black Line Quad - Upper Magic Carpet - Wand - Show Off
[1.56 mi; 6:16; 1,608 ft; 28.1 mph max; 14.0 mph avg]
Run 14: Black Line Quad - Upper Magic Carpet - Medium - Lower Magic Carpet
[1.49 mi; 6:04; 1,591 ft; 29.2 mph max; 15.2 mph avg]
Run 15: Black Line Quad - Upper Magic Carpet - Wand - Carumba - Lower Redline
[1.49 mi; 5:51; 1,588 ft; 26.1 mph max; 15.6 mph avg]
Run 16: Black Line Quad - Upper Magic Carpet - Wand - Show Off
[1.41 mi; 5:15; 1,555 ft; 31.8 mph max; 17.0 mph avg]
We eventually linked back up with our lil' crew (I love skiing with a lil' crew) and got our last bunch of runs in! At this point the day was just so fun and silly - I'm grateful for Emma for many reasons, one of which being getting me into this silly activity, but I'm also grateful for how learning this silly activity has opened up a whole new community of fun and silliness. I also haven't mentioned yet, but it was my half birthday! Everytime someone did something cool (or silly), Linnea would shout "DO IT FOR THE HALF BIRTHDAY" - which again, so silly, but so fun! Run 12 brought us down "Vertigo," which was one of the few (non-black) runs that I hadn't hit yet, which was fun! Run 13 was another lap down Show Off. I split up from/lost the lil' crew for Run 14 - they went down Up Your Sleeve, but I wasn't feeling thin cover/natural snow so I went down Medium again, but I never saw them again! We talked about Hocus Pocus being our final destination at that run, but I never saw them cross over, so I just wiggled down Lower Magic Carpet, and it appeared everyone split up because they all appeared out of different directions after!
At this point, we were getting cold, especially at the summit, so we called three more skip the last. Run 15 was another split-up one where I went down Carumba and the Lower Redline (I didn't realize I missed these trails, too), and Run 16 we made it a point to stop at the "Sunshine Corner" for our ski pole photo, which was perfect! We ended our day back on Show-Off, pretending that we (Sarah, Emma, and I) knew how to go off of the ski racer bump ramp thing.
Afterwards, we changed, spent QUALITY time in the gift shop, and then went upstairs to the Black Line Tavern for a nice apres drink. The final crew was me, Emma, Linnea, Andrew, Sarah, Andre, and Mom. This was such a fun day - probably my second favorite day skiing after last year's eclipse day!
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