Waterville Valley 2/28/2014
Waterville
Conditions: MG PP
Trip Report:
We went to Waterville in late December after some rain and they had recovered fairly well so our thinking was they would be in good shape this week! They were! The winds on the other had were a little tough at the top of White Peak Express. Our first run was off that chair down Oblivion and Stillness. Due to the winds we opted to lap the Sunnyside Triple. At the same time my wife was interested in skiing more steep and difficult terrain! A progression that we have focused on all this season. She has skied blacks in the past but not often. This year we have been determined to get her more and more comfortable with it. Early in the season, I accidentally took her down Upper Sel's Choice and Tommy's World Cup Run and she was not thrilled. She did fine and that is when we decided to focus on everything black. On this trip, that is exactly what we did. We skied two blue runs all day the first one mentioned above and Tippecanoe to get to The Boneyard.
Our goal now was to ski every difficult trail there to continue my wife's journey into steeper terrain and getting her to ski moguls. Unfortunately, Bobby's Run was closed, so the exposure to bumps for her was only on The Boneyard. There were some spots that had been skied off but other parts of that trail where some of the few inches of new snow got blown around and softened up the bumps. It is a short run so it is well suited for those venturing (her) or returning (me) to bumps. Other than that trail the remaining difficult terrain was groomed and carving was easy. The only trail that posed any real challenge for her was True Grit and not because of the steepness but more due to the icy spots she hit from time to time. Ciao and Gema skied like steeper blue trails as did Sel's Choice and Tommy's World Cup Run. In fact, she was surprised how easy the later two were and thought back to how she felt in December. She is a new skier!
I do not want to take away anything from my wife's abilities, but we skied Jay Peak the very next day and that was a whole different ball game. While she skied runs off the Jet Triple and a couple here and there on the Tram side - she was not up to doing all the difficult rated trails at Jay Peak - but she could at Waterville. I think some of Jay's intermediate trails seem harder than some of the Waterville's difficult rated.
Over all we had fun - cold fun (-11 with wind chill) and the conditions were great throughout the day. We never experienced a lift line the entire day and based on the pictures below - we had the mountain to ourselves. I have to admit, while I often am critical of Waterville because you can easily ski the entire mountain in a single day (trail count seems exaggerated), it is a fun place to cruise. The glades that my son and I skied (sunnyside - flat run-out though) were actually pretty fun too since the wind blown powder was stored there. Could not see myself with a season pass there but do not mind skiing there once or twice a year.
Headed up Quadzilla to get to Sunnyside Triple (trails are pretty empty)
photo 2.JPG
Gema
photo 3.jpg
True Grit
photo 1.jpg
Snow drifted bumps under Sunnyside Chair (actually skied very nice)
photo 4.JPG
Conditions: MG PP
Trip Report:
We went to Waterville in late December after some rain and they had recovered fairly well so our thinking was they would be in good shape this week! They were! The winds on the other had were a little tough at the top of White Peak Express. Our first run was off that chair down Oblivion and Stillness. Due to the winds we opted to lap the Sunnyside Triple. At the same time my wife was interested in skiing more steep and difficult terrain! A progression that we have focused on all this season. She has skied blacks in the past but not often. This year we have been determined to get her more and more comfortable with it. Early in the season, I accidentally took her down Upper Sel's Choice and Tommy's World Cup Run and she was not thrilled. She did fine and that is when we decided to focus on everything black. On this trip, that is exactly what we did. We skied two blue runs all day the first one mentioned above and Tippecanoe to get to The Boneyard.
Our goal now was to ski every difficult trail there to continue my wife's journey into steeper terrain and getting her to ski moguls. Unfortunately, Bobby's Run was closed, so the exposure to bumps for her was only on The Boneyard. There were some spots that had been skied off but other parts of that trail where some of the few inches of new snow got blown around and softened up the bumps. It is a short run so it is well suited for those venturing (her) or returning (me) to bumps. Other than that trail the remaining difficult terrain was groomed and carving was easy. The only trail that posed any real challenge for her was True Grit and not because of the steepness but more due to the icy spots she hit from time to time. Ciao and Gema skied like steeper blue trails as did Sel's Choice and Tommy's World Cup Run. In fact, she was surprised how easy the later two were and thought back to how she felt in December. She is a new skier!
I do not want to take away anything from my wife's abilities, but we skied Jay Peak the very next day and that was a whole different ball game. While she skied runs off the Jet Triple and a couple here and there on the Tram side - she was not up to doing all the difficult rated trails at Jay Peak - but she could at Waterville. I think some of Jay's intermediate trails seem harder than some of the Waterville's difficult rated.
Over all we had fun - cold fun (-11 with wind chill) and the conditions were great throughout the day. We never experienced a lift line the entire day and based on the pictures below - we had the mountain to ourselves. I have to admit, while I often am critical of Waterville because you can easily ski the entire mountain in a single day (trail count seems exaggerated), it is a fun place to cruise. The glades that my son and I skied (sunnyside - flat run-out though) were actually pretty fun too since the wind blown powder was stored there. Could not see myself with a season pass there but do not mind skiing there once or twice a year.
Headed up Quadzilla to get to Sunnyside Triple (trails are pretty empty)
photo 2.JPG
Gema
photo 3.jpg
True Grit
photo 1.jpg
Snow drifted bumps under Sunnyside Chair (actually skied very nice)
photo 4.JPG