Magic Mountain led Vermont in new snow reporting in with 10-14″. It felt deeper in spots but never felt less. The snow was extremely dense and super surfy. I was expecting more people but crowds were light and the double was ski on all day. It felt great to have a relaxing powder day.
Red Line and Black Magic were closed to conserve snow conditions for this weekend’s Ski the East Freeride Tour stop. It was disappointing not being able to ski one of New England’s best liftlines, but I could certainly get behind the cause of ensuring Magic has a great event on Saturday. Otherwise, the mountain was completely good to go, though there wasn’t much base to speak of underneath the new dense snow.
I dropped into Goniff Glade on my first run which was extremely surfy and felt essentially bottomless. This was by far my best run ever down Goniff Glade. No stopping, I just hugged skier’s left and swooshed back and forth. Amazing turns and Goniff was just the right pitch for the snow conditions.
I followed that up with a still untracked Green Line for my second run. Not as surfy due to lower elevation and more spicy line options. I’d return later to tee up at the airs. But for now, I just tried to find the path of least resistance to gently flow down.
After Goniff and Green, I decided to sample a little bit of everything: Magician, Sorcerer, Talisman, woods, woods, woods, and finished the day off with a still barely tracked Green Line. Despite the insignificant crowds, Magic really gets tracked out fast. By noontime, all of the main routes and most of the glades were well tracked out.
The snow gradually transitioned from very dense to manky thick due to increasing temperatures. Rain never fell but it certainly threatened and was definitely falling in the valley below the mountain. I called it a very satisfying day at 12:30pm just as the snow conditions started to deteriorate into thick mank.
10 thoughts on “The Magic of Mid-Week Powder Days”
That looks nice. How long a drive is Magic for you?
Google Map puts it at 2:15 but it really depends on a number of factors because much of the drive is local town roads. On a weekend leaving early for first chair with dry road conditions, I could make it in two hours easily. Mid-week commuter traffic combined with a later 9am lift opening and more single lane traffic means as much as 2.5 hours.
Most of my drives are east/west which involve mostly single lane roads. I can REALLY cook on the back roads when there is no traffic. But getting behind even one slow poke around bends without a passing chance is tough.
From this spot in my cubie in the flatlands… those pictures are really nice. The trail side trees look very healthy – assuming limited snowmaking at Magic?
How many days do you have this season?
Yes, not much snowmaking at Magic, just the key groomer routes for the most part. That was day twenty, not even halfway there yet! 🙂
Looks like you hit this one right. No Magic for me this year. Had to hang up the skis early this season. Looking forward to getting back there next year on a day like you had.
I had one voucher and I agree that I hit it just right. It is amazing to think about how much the place has evolved since you patrolled there! In many ways, still the same place. But now it actually tracks out even mid-week by noontime! That never used to happen.
Bummer you had to hang up the skis already. Injury?
One other thought. For me, (lack of) competition is a factor that now ranks with terrain. Snow quality, competition, and terrain. As long as the pitch is enough to keep me moving.
Best to you Sled.
Agreed on competition being a big factor. For me, I would order those as Snow Quality, Competition, and Terrain in that order. I can deal with low angle terrain if I am blasting through untracked all day. I’ve kinda soured on Jay a little bit lately because the competition has definitely gone up. But I feel that is the same everywhere as more people take to the trees and go for powder. But more so at Jay than other areas.
I can remember when Magic was connected to an old ski area on the backside. There was an extremely flat road that connected the two. I will always remember Magic as a badass little VT gem and I am so glad to hear that it still draws the powder faithful
Thanks for the comment, Mike. That old area was Timber Ridge / Timberside at Magic. They are still connected but Magic no longer owns Timberside and it hasn’t operated in a very long time but it still can be skied with a car spot.
Magic’s prominence on the short list of New England’s best for terrain and natural snow has risen considerably over the years to the point that there are very long lines on many powder days. But it is still hampered by inconsistent openings. They have really stepped up their snow making capacity but it is still primarily dependent on natural snow. Which is both good and bad, just like Mad River.