https://newenglandskiconditions.com/viewreport.php?reportid=2871
Dec 22, 2022
After hearing about the good conditions following last Friday’s storm, I just had to check them out for myself. Groomed trails were good in the morning with packed powder and loose granular, and only got a little skied off later in the day. Old Tecumseh and Tommy’s World Cup Run were some of my favorites and were very fun to cruise down at high speed.
Ungroomed trails open included Rock Island, Gema, Psyched, Lower White Caps, Lower Sel’s Choice, And Tyler Too, Utter Abandon, The Boneyard, Lower Bobby's Run and Tippecanoe, although I didn’t ski the last four. From afar, the natural snow looked soft and powdery but was in reality quite heavy and hard to turn in, making skiing on the ungroomed trails a real workout. To get to And Tyler Too and Tippecanoe, one had to ski under the wind fence on Upper White Caps as their main entrances were closed.
Tecumseh Express, Valley Run, Lower Meadows and one or two of the carpets were the lifts running today. Valley Run usually had a few-chair wait while the Tecumseh was a few chairs to a few minutes at most. While I found the Tecumseh's seats comfortable, they are relatively narrow (not an issue unless the chair is full) and the plastic slide-prevention bars are a bit annoying. In addition, the bubbles do not close on the way down unlike other bubble lifts I have ridden, which could be an annoyance on rainy days. The lift was also not running at full speed. I hope Waterville Valley can work out the kinks soon to make the most out of their new lift.
Snowmaking was in progress on Ciao, Bourbon Street and the High Country trails, which were closed. Stillness was listed as open in the report, but was probably the worst trail of the day as there were large ice whales on one side of the trail due to active snowmaking and a snowmobile track (golf balls) on the other.
I skied 14 runs off the Tecumseh before it had a mechanical issue at about 2:30. After about half an hour they were able to get it running to let everyone off but it did not reopen; meanwhile I took a final lap on Valley Run and called it a day. Employees around the resort were helpful and friendly and I was grateful to ski on what looks to be the last day of good conditions for the foreseeable future.
Looking uphill from the base area
Riding up the Tecumseh Express
Snowmaking in the High Country area
Morning view from the top of Oblivion
Oblivion
Sugar Shack Glades
Tecumseh Express
Old Tecumseh
Lower Sel's Choice
No Grit
Stillness
Upper Sel's Choice
Valley Run
Upper Bobby's Run
Psyched
And Tyler Too
Gema
Terry's Trail Glades
Riding up Valley Run
Edit: added a photo of Psyched which I forgot to put in the original post
