NewEnglandSkier
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I thought I'd do a quick trip report on my impressions of Magic.
The short version is I really liked it. Long version below. No pictures--sorry!
I'd never skied Magic before but I was looking for something more off the beaten path and decided to see what it was like. I just bought a day ticket online and it was pretty reasonable given how much other day tickets can go for these days. They use RFID cards so I just had to go and pick up the card.
Parking was easy--I got there at like 8:20 and got into the 2nd row in "lot B"--just a couple minutes walk to the base lodge.
They have 3 fixed grip lifts--2 doubles (the green and the red) and a quad (the black). All 3 move pretty slowly--it seems to take forever to get to the top.
I didn't wait in any lines all day--the doubles were mostly ski on and the quad was a little busier. The trails were not super crowded either which I loved!
I started off on the green lift and was joined on the lift by a college student who informed me he had never been on skis before and his friends who race convinced him to go with them--and join in on some sort of fun/costume race thing! I was like
. He asked if I had any tips--I tried to give him some basics since his friends seemed to have ditched him. He got to put my tip on getting up after falling to good use as he got off the lift. He followed my directions and successfully righted himself. At that time someone he knew got off the next chair so I escaped. I felt bad for him---I can't imagine his day was that much fun.
Anyway, I took a couple greens first--Magic Carpet and then Wand to Hocus Pocus. Both had really good snow on them and were quite nice and flowy runs. Hocus Pocus was half groomed and half ungroomed which I really appreciated. I love when places leave beginner terrain ungroomed as it makes for a nice way to get into skiing ungroomed terrain--and so many places just groom the heck out of everything leaving only the advanced terrain untouched.
Tried Carumba, next which was an easy groomed blue.
Went up the Red lift next and did Enchanted Forest which was an ungroomed green---part trees and part open trail. This was another one that I especially enjoyed. Also did Medium and Up Your Sleeve. I LOVED Up Your Sleeve. This was an easy blue that was left ungroomed and the snow on it was really nice. I think my favorite combination of runs of the day was Enchanted Forest to Up Your Sleeve---I did that quite a few times. Also did Trick and White Out off the red lift. White Out had thin cover signs but I took it anyway. Well they really mean thin cover! Lots of rocks and grass coming through so I didn't repeat that one--I'm fussy about my ski bases.
Took the black lift up just for comparison, though it goes to the same place as the red one. Took Upper Wizard to Sorcerer. I feel like the snow on that side wasn't as nice as over on the other side--it seemed much firmer and had more icy spots. Seeing as the snow wasn't as much fun--at least on the trails I selected, I went back to the other side.
Overall, the snow was really nice and I liked the layout and flow of the trails. One thing I think they could improve is their trail signage. White Out was not labeled but I inferred what it was. Also Slide of Hans was also not labeled where it cuts off from Wizard (Wizard was not labled at that point either). It would seem that someone could get them selves into trouble by not knowing which trail continues as Wizard and which is Slide of Hans give that Slide is a double black.
I definitely plan to return in the future. I think it would be fun to go when there is more snow so the coverage on some areas would be a little thicker. It's an old school type of area---nothing fancy--just good uncrowded (at least today) skiing.
The short version is I really liked it. Long version below. No pictures--sorry!
I'd never skied Magic before but I was looking for something more off the beaten path and decided to see what it was like. I just bought a day ticket online and it was pretty reasonable given how much other day tickets can go for these days. They use RFID cards so I just had to go and pick up the card.
Parking was easy--I got there at like 8:20 and got into the 2nd row in "lot B"--just a couple minutes walk to the base lodge.
They have 3 fixed grip lifts--2 doubles (the green and the red) and a quad (the black). All 3 move pretty slowly--it seems to take forever to get to the top.
I didn't wait in any lines all day--the doubles were mostly ski on and the quad was a little busier. The trails were not super crowded either which I loved!
I started off on the green lift and was joined on the lift by a college student who informed me he had never been on skis before and his friends who race convinced him to go with them--and join in on some sort of fun/costume race thing! I was like
. He asked if I had any tips--I tried to give him some basics since his friends seemed to have ditched him. He got to put my tip on getting up after falling to good use as he got off the lift. He followed my directions and successfully righted himself. At that time someone he knew got off the next chair so I escaped. I felt bad for him---I can't imagine his day was that much fun.Anyway, I took a couple greens first--Magic Carpet and then Wand to Hocus Pocus. Both had really good snow on them and were quite nice and flowy runs. Hocus Pocus was half groomed and half ungroomed which I really appreciated. I love when places leave beginner terrain ungroomed as it makes for a nice way to get into skiing ungroomed terrain--and so many places just groom the heck out of everything leaving only the advanced terrain untouched.
Tried Carumba, next which was an easy groomed blue.
Went up the Red lift next and did Enchanted Forest which was an ungroomed green---part trees and part open trail. This was another one that I especially enjoyed. Also did Medium and Up Your Sleeve. I LOVED Up Your Sleeve. This was an easy blue that was left ungroomed and the snow on it was really nice. I think my favorite combination of runs of the day was Enchanted Forest to Up Your Sleeve---I did that quite a few times. Also did Trick and White Out off the red lift. White Out had thin cover signs but I took it anyway. Well they really mean thin cover! Lots of rocks and grass coming through so I didn't repeat that one--I'm fussy about my ski bases.
Took the black lift up just for comparison, though it goes to the same place as the red one. Took Upper Wizard to Sorcerer. I feel like the snow on that side wasn't as nice as over on the other side--it seemed much firmer and had more icy spots. Seeing as the snow wasn't as much fun--at least on the trails I selected, I went back to the other side.
Overall, the snow was really nice and I liked the layout and flow of the trails. One thing I think they could improve is their trail signage. White Out was not labeled but I inferred what it was. Also Slide of Hans was also not labeled where it cuts off from Wizard (Wizard was not labled at that point either). It would seem that someone could get them selves into trouble by not knowing which trail continues as Wizard and which is Slide of Hans give that Slide is a double black.
I definitely plan to return in the future. I think it would be fun to go when there is more snow so the coverage on some areas would be a little thicker. It's an old school type of area---nothing fancy--just good uncrowded (at least today) skiing.
