Magic Mountain

Friends, family and I loved skiing and boarding at Magic Mountain today. Today was my first time at Magic since I skied Magic and its backside neighbor, Timber Ridge, as a child more than 30 years ago. I had no idea what I had been missing. Magic is awesome!

Magic has a combination of fun green and blue trails on its East side (which are great for my wife and 5yo daughter) and some of the most challenging runs I have ever skied in VT on its West side.

My 8yo son today added a new word to his vocabulary while skiing with me on one of my favorite runs of the day. The word is gnarly, which is an apt description of Red Line, the run under the only chair to the top, called the Red Chair. (This is a two person chair that was likely installed and last painted red well before I first skied at Magic as a child. The only other chair serving the mountain, called the Black Chair, has been broken the whole season so far. Fortunately, Magic is a hidden gem so we never had any wait at the lift.)

Red Line is like Stowe's Goat and Killington's Vertigo Headwall and Stitch Line all in one. It's narrow, wicked steep in places, loaded with jagged rocks, huge bumps, chutes, 5-10 foot drop-offs and while you're slaying the run (or its slaying you) you have a captive audience above you cheering you on. Today, Red Line had a good amount of soft powder from yesterday's snowfall but there were also a lot of spots where vegetation, dirt and rocks were poking through to add to the challenge.

The beauty of Magic is what Magic does not do. Magic does not groom the trails flat as a pancake edge to edge like Stratton and Okemo. Most of the terrain is ungroomed. Even on the green and blue trails that are goomed, one side of the trail is left ungroomed, preserving the soft powder received recently, which, of course, is where my kids wanted to ski. They loved the powder and enjoyed skiing over the many rocks and other hazards on the sides of the trails.

Magic has some very challenging tree runs. I skied in some knee deep, untracked powder and dodged some cliffs in the woods on the skier's left of Talisman. I spent most of the day on marked trails and am very eager to go back to explore more of the woods. 

DoWork asked me about my first season as a Magic passholder.  Here was my response:

Can't narrow it down to one thing...let's see:

• Value - great skiing for a great price
• Terrain - The best within striking distance from me - 100 minutes door-to-door
• Vibe - I was a passholder at Gore for a few years...place felt like a geriatric ward. I also had a pass at West Mountain for weeknight turns last winter. That place was so awful, I couldn't force myself to go and took a real bath on that pass. Everyone I met at Magic was all about the skiing and the laid back vibe that defines the place. The guys that define the vibe are always willing to share their "secrets" and don't mind hauling an old fart around - you guys make me a better skier. There's always someone interesting to talk to in Goniff's Den and everybody has the attitude of pulling together to make the place work. I don't think I heard many complaints the whole year because people would rather find solutions than whine.
• Small town Vermont - I come from a small town in Vermont and this place just feels like home. My uncle has lived in Springfield (VT) for as long as I can remember...and that's a long time. We used to ski with him at Okemo (hated it), Round Top (pretty cool place but now a private outing club I think) and Magic back in the mid and late 70s. Magic was always my favorite of those 3. Although I like Stowe the best, it's just not practical for me based on where I live now.

You live in Connecticut or Western Massachussetts. You're watching the snow totals pile up in Vermont. But you can't afford an extended trip - where do you go for one day? You can deal with the crowds at an Okemo, Snow or Killington - and with most of the fluffy stuff being groomed into oblivion - or you can head up to Magic. It's an easy choice.

Magic is not the place to take the family for a nice vacation. It's also not the best place for a beginner to learn. But if you're looking for the natural stuff on a powder day, fantastic steeps and wicked glades and no risk of being run over by crowds, and oh by the way to save $20-$30 on your lift ticket, how could you pass up Magic? Don't be fooled by the occassions when they have long lift lines (I was unlucky enough to make my first visit when a competition brought out 100 people), you might wait a bit for the one lift they have running that day, but the crowd spreads out so well at the top that you barely notice people when you're doing your thing. It probably helps that their slow lift delivers just two people at a time to the top.

Just one warning - don't follow your GPS up there. Follow the easy route in Google Maps (91 to 103 to 11). I tried getting there using my GPS and almost died on snowy mountain roads it decided were a shortcut. Have fun!

This has been my first year skiing Magic Mountain and I'm in love.  I was convinced to try it out by the internet devotion it inspires and I can't tell you how happy I am that I did.  My fondness for it can be divided into two categories: the terrain and the vibe.  Both make Magic special.

The terrain: Unlike most of southern Vermont, Magic is steep.  Most trails on the west side are more challenging than anything I've run into at Stratton or Okemo and even the easier east side, Goniff's Glade, Twilight Zone and Greenline are runs on the map that will challenge very good skiers.  Unlike it's overgroomed neighbors, Magic is full of rocks, stumps, and drops that force a skier to really read and react to the terrain.  Almost nothing (save Wizard which serves to traverse the hill) on the west side is groomed so everything gets bumped up and exciting.  The woods are all inbounds so if you want to duck in, you might find a hidden gem.  Though you also might hit a stump or a small cliff.  Having that possibility there makes Magic feel like a much less packaged adventure than its neighbors.

The vibe: This is about the least pretentious ski area you're likely to run into.  I bought a pass a few weeks ago and it was the owner who took my photo (though ultimately the mountain wants to transform itself into a coop).  There are some of your typical racer kids (many from surrounding mountains) when a competition is going on, but aside from that it is completely missing the majority of the rich, over-geared, under-skilled element that tend to breed in other resorts reachable from major metropolitan areas.  The regulars are cool and if you come back you're likely to have some friends in no time.  Stop up at the bar at the end of the day and just watch the number of high fives exchanged.

Possible downsides: 

-If you want something fancy, this probably isn't for you.  There are minimal slopeside accomodations and no shopping village at the base (though Vermont Snow Wizards does a great job with skis and has been GREAT to me every time I've been in).  If you're looking for a multi-faceted resort vacation, you should probably look elsewhere. 

- Learning to ski here might be a mixed bag.  I brought my girlfriend as her introduction to skiing.  The lesson packages are affordable and she had a blast.  There are really only one or two ways down the mountain for a absolute beginner though, and even these have sections more challenging than their counterparts at other resorts so if beginner variety is what you're after, Magic might not be ideal.  For someone who is athletic and fearless, though, the terrain would open up within a few days.

Overblown downsides:

-The rumored unskiiability of Magic when there isn't new snow.  Once the ground gets covered up reasonably well or the season, the stereotype of Magic as a place where you can only go when there has been fresh snow just doesn't hold.  I was there this season when it had been at least two weeks since the last appreciable snow fall and the mountain was skiing great.  Even the expert terrain was skiing great, though there were a few runs where you might scratch your skis (if you have a strong attachment to the aesthetics of your bases, Magic might not be the place for you...).  It was reasonably early in the season, but the lower angle woods were in play and there were places where I was skiing 30-40 yards at a time of untracked before popping back onto the previously broken lines.  Try that two weeks later at any other place around. 

    Magic Mountain is where you need to go for REAL skiing.  If there is soft snow to be found anywhere in southern Vermont, you are certain to come across more of it at Magic than anywhere else.
    It truly is a mountain to ski from the top for all ability levels, with the possible exception of the never-ever.  Beginners have several options from the top on Upper/Lower Magic Carpet all the way to the bottom or several choices off Wand from mid-mountain.  These aren’t just boring traverses or work roads, but actual interesting trails.
    Intermediates will not be bored with a cruise down those but can also make things more interesting by getting on Trick and Show Off for a steeper cruise or Up Your Sleeve or Vertigo which often provide a nice intermediate introduction to the ungroomed.
    The mountain shines for the advanced and expert skiers where everything on the west side will hold interest.  There are also great tree shots on and off the map all over the place.  The lines under the lifts also provide quite a challenge - Green Line is a short shot on the East side.  You can show off under the lift on Red line and Black line has great terrain too.  When there’s a lot of snow, it doesn’t get much steeper than Magician.
    The best part is the lack of crowds.  If weekend/holiday lines scare you away from skiing elsewhere, this is the place to come.  There’s always a close parking spot to be had.  It's one of the friendliest places you can ski - chat someone up in the great little lodge, on the lift or in line and get some good tips on where to go.