Magic, Vt 2014-03-20

admafw

New member
Day 5 of a 6 day trip. I usually don't consider skiing southern Vermont hills but after speaking with one of the "Ski Vermont" reps at the Toronto Ski show this past fall she suggested that if I really liked MRG then I should give Magic a try. Turns out they have a $15 Thursday lift ticket deal on non-powder days so that, and the fact that I was coming from Killington and it was less than an hour drive, clinched it.

Magic 15 dollar deal (Large).jpg


Stayed overnight at a small inn at the base of the hill - wet snow started around 5 pm and mixed occasionally with rain through the night. By morning there was about 4" on my car, but luckily Magic doesn't declare a "powder day" till 6" so the $15 lift ticket deal was still on. The mountain facilities are pretty basic, but hey, I'm there to ski. The "red" chair was the only one running, a pokey old double, but since the crowd maxed out at about 100 people it was ski on all day long. (I suspect many people went further north hoping for drier snow.) First chair line was about a dozen people - I was number 5.

Magic - 1st chair line(Large).JPG


Yes the snow was wet and heavy, but 100% untracked! General amount was 4" but some sheltered areas had about 8", which really tried to force your skis in different directions - you had to have your skis snapped together tightly. (Old school skiing to match an old school area.) Never did get to see the whole hill as low clouds and intermittent flurries/showers were the order of the day. With so few people on the hill I was able to pickup clean lines on the lower angled runs pretty much all day long.

Upper Wizard - Magic 2014-03-20.jpg


Skied till just after 1 pm then took advantage of the 50 cent wings deal upstairs in the bar. (Sorry, but even at $2 I'm not drinking PBR when Switchback Ale is on draft.) Did a couple of runs after lunch but by then the legs were really tired and I wanted to leave a little in the tank for Stowe the next day. Am definitely planning to return in the next few years - especially if the $15 deal is still in place.
 
Glad to see that you made the effort to head south to Magic; it's a great hill. Heh, the "pokey old double" is probably, out of necessity, going to outlive both of us. Did you talk to any locals to see how the ski area is doing (fiscally/operationally) these days under the co-op model?

It's been a couple years since they designed that new logo, but I'm always impressed by how it manages to look both modern and old-school, at least to my eyes.
 
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