TR Massanutten Jan. 11-17, 2023

[marzNC]

Not sure I've ever done a trip report for Massanutten. It became my home mountain before I joined TheSkiDiva in 2009. Usually just post comments in the annual Mid-Atlantic/Southeast thread. Thought it was worth a separate report because of the new trails and other changes for the 2022-23 season. Massanutten celebrated 50 years last season with major announcements about additions that have taken years to become reality. It's a 4-season timeshare resort in northern Virginia (a couple hours drive west of Washington DC) that opened up in 1972 with a ski hill as the primary winter activity.

After the warm spell in late December and early January that melted off almost all the early season snow, luckily cold weather returned in time for me and my friends to have a very good time Jan. 11-17. We stayed in timeshare units on the mountain per usual. The bonus was that my daughter was able to come for MLK weekend for the first time in quite a while. It was her first ski weekend as a working adult after graduating from college in 2022. She learned to ski at Mnut starting at age 4 with the help of the children's ski school program. A lot has changed since then, all for the better in my opinion.

New trail map, showing trails opening on the upper mountain in 2022-23 and 2023-24


Mueller's Mile with lights on in the late afternoon, view from Ridge Triple

 

[marzNC]

The two new trails on the upper mountain at Massanutten are blue groomers. Ridgecrest extends the flat section of ParaDice over to near the top of the Ridge triple chair where Showtime and Mass Transit start. Paradice has been split into Upper ParaDice (blue) and Lower ParaDice (black). There hasn't been any snowmaking on Lower Paradice yet, which is typical when Mother Nature doesn't provide enough cold weather in December and early January. Heading right off the Peak chairlift aka Lift 6 goes to a brand new long trail called Mueller's Mile.

The new trail signs feature the updated NSAA Responsibility Code.

Looking towards Ridgecrest from Upper ParaDice


End of Ridgecrest


New trail signs near patrol hut at the top of the Ridge triple


The process in the rental building and ski school building was changed quite a bit for 2022-23. The old rental building is for check in online and getting boots. The area in the ski school building that used to be for children only, including children's rental gear, has become where people go to pick up skis or snowboards. Then they can go directly out onto the snow. The extra space allows more computer terminals that are used to streamline the rental process. However, it meant shrinking the teaching area. The stairs (on the left) used to be the corner of the teaching area. Figuring out the best use of the space available for lessons is a work in progress. Having Meadow as an isolated green (where the big terrain park was for a while) is good but it's hard to get enough snow coverage before late January.

Snowsports School building, public section on the left, instructor locker room on the right (2-story)

 

[marzNC]

Mueller's Mile is named for Mike Mueller, who has been in charge of major construction projects like building new trails at Massanutten for quite a while. Construction of the trail started in early 2022 even before the 2021-22 season was over. Clearing and installation of snowmaking infrastructure must have gone well because Ridgecrest was completed too. The original plan called for Ridgecrest to open in 2023-24.

A few other new trail names honor long time managers associated with the ski slopes. That continues the tradition started by naming the black trails for important leaders for the resort. Diamond Jim and ParaDice honor Jim Lambert and C. Dice Hammer who helped bring Massanutten out of bankruptcy in the 1980s.

March 2022

Massanutten Resort building new slopes for guests

MASSANUTTEN — The expanse of east Rockingham County spread out below Massanutten Mountain — the quiet of the solitary ridge disturbed only by the churning and groaning of heaving machinery

www.winchesterstar.com

Mueller's Mile (blue) is about a mile long, early January 2023





Uphill skiers heading up Mueller's Mile, viewed from Peak chair aka Lift 6

 

[whiteface4ever]

Appreciate the update - first skied there is in mid 70s... great memories then

 

[marzNC]

Appreciate the update - first skied there is in mid 70s... great memories then

Massanutten has changed a LOT since the 1970s. They probably spend $20 million improving snowmaking and lifts starting around 2007. That's what enabled them to finally expand terrain and put in trails that were envisioned from an early Master Plan. There hadn't been enough water and pumping power to expand upper mountain snowmaking until recently.

If your username is related to Whiteface in Lake Placid, that's where I first rode a chairlift long ago.

 

[whiteface4ever]

Sounds all to the good... Appreciate the thoughts...
My first chairlift was at Charnita (now Liberty).... what a ride and dismount...
We can both relate to Whiteface and LP... skied there , over and over, in the late 70s through 80s. Problem is that I was spoiled - no crowds, low priced weekend lift tickets, great snowmaking after the Olympics, a very impressive mountain, LP amenities, a skiers' mountain atmosphere (we call it old school now), and if one stopped and took it in on an upper hard packed mogul run, then the easy, unassuming talent of so many was beyond belief and beautiful to watch...
( Oh, btw, those burgundy Rossi Strato 102s in as long as you could handle were the stuff of these skiers...)
Yes, I was a lucky one to take all this in... very lucky