Okemo, VT 2/1 & Magic, VT 2/2

[Talisman]

Saturday I decided to burn some bulk discount tickets at Okemo. The weather was warm but foggy with a few snow flakes and some water droplets. Vision was a problem on the upper mountain because of droplets on goggles, but not a lot of vision is required to ski buffed corduroy. <BR> <BR>Okemo had a big crowd, so some strategy was required to avoid long lift lines. At various times some lifts would be ski on for several runs and then the corrals would fill up. Lots of runs on good snow made for a fun day of skiing. <BR> <BR>Magic had a race on Sunday, so it was hopping earlier than usual. Lots of race families skiing Magic for the first time requiring directions to find the race registration on the second floor of the lodge. There was a 10 minute lift line on the Red Chair and the Black chair didn't run. <BR> <BR>The warm temperatures and perhaps an inch of snow over night made for some great skiing. The bumps were soft with fluff on top. Many trails are still groomed wall to wall like Sorcerer and Talisman, but there are bumps forming at the edges of the trail and the fake snow was nicely edgable. Master Magician and Heart of the Magician are still wind scoured with the troughs of the bumps filled with a melange of ice, rocks and wood. <BR> <BR>Once the wind came up some trails started to 'recharge' with wind blown, including Witch and Twilights Zone. Unfortunately the'Zone had a few backs of skiers side slip through and scrape the cover off of the main lines, not to worry still lots of cover. Pick of the day was Witch, Lucifer back to the base lots of bumps and few people.