Many many inches of snow piled up on the Black Chair at Magic Mountain, February 27, 2010.
I met Magic Mountain on a whim almost exactly one year ago. Really, I think that’s the only way to be introduced to Magic Mountain.
I’d been riding in Vermont for almost 15 years, but for silly reasons Magic was never crossed off my list. Whenever it came up in conversation, it was sandwiched in a sentence like “Ahh it sounds like such a sick place. I need to get up to Magic on a powder day.” Serendipitously, my buddies Kunkle and Alaina, both employees at Mount Snow, decided one random Tuesday last March that they were going to drive up and check out the “one that got away.” Of course I was on board. There wasn’t much fresh snow to speak of that day, but it was my best day of the season. The challenging trees, the abundance of double black diamonds, a variety (an actual, quality variety) of cliff drops, and one hell of fine breakfast sandwich in the tiny base lodge… I had a new favorite Vermont mountain.
Big 'ol heelside slash in the 40+ inches of fresh at Magic Mtn.
So as I was driving up Vermont Rte. 100 this past weekend, tapping along to Yeasayer on my steering wheel, giddy with anticipation, I could barely keep the Volvo under the speed limit. Vermont had been roundhoused by almost 4 feet of snow in 5 days, and I was about to shred its “Steep and Deep” capital.
Steep and Deep
You’ve probably heard Vermonters or in-the-know out-of-staters declare that “Magic is the place to be on a powder day.” And if you’ve been lucky enough to find yourself in the trees off Magician, knee-deep in fresh, you are one of those people.
And if you find yourself at the top of Witch, slowly lowering your goggles to get a better look at the 40+ inches of virgin snow like I was this weekend, you better stop and remind yourself that, no sir, it don’t get any better than this.
Rippin’ with Todd
I met up with Todd, an all-star at Magic, at 10:15am. I’m calling him an all-star because, like seemingly everyone who works at Magic, he wears many hats. At the beginning of the day, he said he was “just someone who loves snowboarding.” By mid-morning, he was the “Mountain Operations Guy, I guess.” And when the camera was rolling, he was “whatever the bosses tell me to do.” Simply, this guy does it all at Magic, from liftie, to mechanic, to heavy machine operator to ticket seller to mountain ambassador.
Todd at the top of Goniff Glade.
That’s the beauty of Magic. You feel like you’re riding a true family resort, run by one big happy family. It may not have all the amennities of its 100-plus-trail-count mountains to the north, but Magic lets its terrain do the talking. Speaking of terrain, let’s get to the good stuff…
Todd was my guide. A little about Todd: he is part of the Old Guard of snowboarding. He was riding sideways on a single plank while Reagan was in office and snowboarding was still banned at many Vermont resorts. He remembers when Ross Powers “was about three feet tall.” So when this guy recommends a trail at Magic on an epic powder day, you don’t ask questions.
The lifts had already been open a few hours, but Todd knew where to score the new. We headed to a classic New England trail, Goniff Glade, which is a hybrid tree-run/ungroomed double black diamond. The wet and heavy snow that fell earlier in the week created a healthy base, and we found oursleves floating through about a foot of fresh, dry stuff that feel overnight. Todd was slashing the fresh stashes on the side of the trail with the authority 25-year shred vet. I did my best to keep up and keep my camera dry at the same time.
On the liftride back up I asked Todd, “What’s THE trail, like the best place to go when you’ve got this much snow and you can bombdrop cliffs with reckless abandon.” Right away, he said “Blackline,” a double-black underneath the Black Chair lift. I’m not going to try and describe this trail to you, dear reader, because my words can not do it justice. All I can tell you is that it’s 300 yards of rock-and-dirt poetry, and you have to experience it yourself. When you get to the bottom, it’s a guaranteed magic moment.
No Pressure, Brah
On our last run, with the camera rolling, I asked Todd to describe Magic Mountain to someone who’d never been there. “It’s a relaxed atmosphere. No pressure. Be yourself and enjoy the mountain.” I smiled on the inside, because I instantly knew that Todd just came up with my closing line for this blog post.
-Luke
Ya know, you can own your very own chunk of Magic Mountain. It’s true.
Head out to Slide of Hans, as far left as you can go at Magic, and you're in for a treat.
