T, Ski

[dmaze]

Yesterday I took the commuter rail out to Wachusett Mountain. This turned out to be reasonably functional. Wachusett gives credit for a one-way commuter rail trip off the lift ticket, which makes it somewhat more attractive.

The big downsides are the time overhead and, well, being at Wachusett. The outbound train is the one that leaves North Station at 8:35 and gets to Fitchburg at 10:06; in between the bus out to Wachusett, getting tickets, finding the ski rental, and actually getting skis it was after 11 when I got on the first lift. Similarly, I squeezed in my last trip up at 4, got back down around 4:15, and was ready to leave at 4:30; the train left Fitchburg on schedule at 5:35 and I got home around 7:00. So, five hours of transit and overhead for about five hours of skiing.

That having been said, yesterday was a beautiful day for skiing: it was not-frigid but not uncomfortably warm, the snow was pretty good up until late afternoon, there were enough people around that you didn't feel alone but not so many that you were waiting forever in the lift lines. And Wachusett isn't a bad mountain if you're starting the day with "what am I doing on this mountain, what are these things on my feet, and why do I keep going down the mountain?" (With the flip side, of course, being that I was able to start on the bunny slope yesterday and do both of the "black" "diamonds" twice by the end of the day.)

Comments

[eichin.livejournal.com]

mmm, zipcar? (it's only 45m from my house, so probably an hour from yours... after all, anything you can get to on the Fitchburg line is a straight shot out route 2 :-)

Wachusett has some nice hiking trails at the top too, mostly of interest in summertime though.

[dmaze]

The problem with Zipcar for this kind of expedition is that you're still paying for the car the entire time it's sitting in the parking lot, so that's going to be what looks like a $68 daily rate just for transport on top of the lift ticket and ski rental. Wachusett's big draw in general is being imminently driveable from Boston, though, it's not a bad drive. I suspect that for a 2+-hour time commitment you could actually make it up to something more plausible in New Hampshire.

The Wachusett-oriented summer activity is the Charles River Wheelmen's Climb to the Clouds century, modulo ukelele's terrible experience with losing a spoke at the top of the mountain and somehow having lost the ride trailers.

[gigglefest.livejournal.com]

Yay, I'm glad you went and that it was good. I was on my way to the airport on Saturday and marveling at how beautiful it was and thinking skiing would be just the thing on a day like that.

I have vague interest in doing one of the MIT Snowriders one-day trips (something like $55 for charter bus and rentals and lift ticket) but they generally involve meeting up at 4:30am and I'm not convinced I can enjoy skiing when all tired and disoriented. :)