Awesome day done up proper at Magic Mountain. All trails were open despite some thin cover. Action on the groomers got the morning off to a fine start. You could say I began my morning by turning a Trick. Lower sections of the mountain featured ripping groomed snow great for opening up the turns and picking up some speed. Magic is extremely underrated for their groomed terrain. All the groomers except Wizard were great in the morning and stayed great all day. Wizard featured frozen granular surfaces that were not enjoyable in the morning but finally corned up late in the afternoon.

While riding the lift, I spoke with a college kid racing in the Thompson Division (my former racing division when I attended UMass Lowell). The kid skis Stratton all the time due to his girl friend having a Condo at the mountain. He had never skied Magic before and he was raving about the mountain! Another convert, I love it! You just have to ski it on a good day to understand.

For natural snow, things started out very hard with frozen granular surfaces. My legs were not moving quick enough as I was tired and undernourished. Essentially, I was making it look like amateur day on Talisman, Sorcerer, Twilight Zone, Heart of Magician, and Goniff. Talisman and Heart were pretty nice at lower elevations but I did not care much for the unforgiving frozen bumps of Sorcerer. Goniff was significantly better Twilight Zone which is rarely the case.

Red Line was skiable despite sparse snow and thin coverage. I nailed it three times. The cliff section was a little difficult to navigate but definitely doable. Bumps until the really steep section were sweet. The steep pitch was scraped off with rocks, sticks, and bare spots and an occasional bump. Yum! Had to psyche myself up for Master Magician which had a horrendous looking entrance! While picking out my line, another skier asked if I was actually going to ski it! Staying skier’s left, I found a decent but hairy line. Red Line and Master Magician need more snow to remain open through the next weekend.

Slide of Hans completed the afternoon with solid bumps towards the bottom of the trail and sketchy bumps up top. Slide was followed by corn snow on Wizard to run it out! Awesome day at magic, I will be back Friday with another report from Magic.