Resort or Ski Area: Wachusett

Conditions: Wet granular on top of hard pack

Trip Report:

I went to the much-maligned Wachusett because it’s close and I had a short day. It was surprisingly chilly in the morning, when it was overcast and breezy at the summit, but it warmed up later. The surface was a couple of inches (increasing as the day went on) of loose, choppy wet granular, with a fair amount of exposed gray hard pack. The hard pack was surprisingly hard in the morning but softer by afternoon, and by 1:30 still hadn’t turned into slush. The overall coverage was very good, with very few patches that looked thin (only on the narrower trails, like Salamander Cutoff). The moguls on Tenth Mountain were tight and steep but soft on top.

The lake at the base of the mountain is still frozen:

They will be open through Sunday the 6th, closed Monday–Thursday, then open (current plan) April 11–13. Then closed for the season.

Finally, they have upped their trail count. They count Mass Pike (which is just a traverse) as two trails now and the top of Salamander is now called "Oxbow Chute." The one thing that may have involved some new cutting is "Middle Balance Rock." Some of it was definitely an unnamed cutover from Conifer to Tenth, but there’s a short section that may be new.