Had a great time at Massanutten Jan. 9-12. Missed the frigid temps because I was Whitetail briefly on Jan. 7 (4-9 degrees between 11:30-2:00) and skied at Wintergreen with a friend on Jan. 8.  I was using my Mountainside timeshare unit Jan. 7-12.  Skied Mnut Jan. 9-12 in changing conditions.  Did the Silver Clinic (over 50) Thu and Sun afternoons, the special Women's Clinic on Sun morning with a couple Ski Divas, and had fun checking out demo skis Sat morning and Sun.  Conditions were better than expected given the warm temp and rain predictions.

Conditions were wonderful on Jan. 9.  There were many snow whales for interesting contours on Paradice, DJ, and Upper Showtime.  No one else showed up for the Silver Clinic, so I had a private with Walter. He was enjoying the snow a lot since we could work on the harder trails. If someone else shows up, they are usually intermediates and we do more drills and less skiing. Jan. 10 was cloudy, with some mist but it never rained. Biggest difference was that most of the snow whales were gone. The groomers had used the extra snow to make sure there was plenty of coverage side-to-side. Snow was soft and no one was around, so I had a good time. Sat, Jan. 11 started out fine in the morning. I checked out a few skis from the Freestyle demo tent before the rain came at 11:30am. Took a long lunch during the rain. A friend and her husband arrived during lunch. Even though Freestyle had packed up, they let her take out a pair of demo skis after lunch. By the time we got on the slopes, it was foggy but only drizzling. Quit raining completely by 3:00. We ended up skiing into the lights because the snow was great, soft but not anywhere near slushy. Sunday was very nice. Blue sky, warm enough to soften things by mid-morning but not too hot so only got a bit too soft on the lower mountain in the late afternoon.  Nice that DJ was widened a couple years ago so that it can stay open even when there is a race.  There were college training and racing all weekend.

Sunday was the day of the special clinics. One for women in the morning, then one for intermediates in the afternoon. The people who did the clinics had a very good time.  Definitely a bargain for 2 hours with a Level 2/3 instructor since there weren't many students.  I did another Silver Clinic with Walter in the afternoon. A private again so we skied off Lift 6. Had a great time. What we worked on Thu was starting to make sense. Making subtle changes that are at the same time fundamental.  Looking forward to see how things go on my upcoming trip to JH, Snowbasin, and Alta/Bird.

But enough words . . . on to the pics.

Plenty of snow on Jan. 9 near the base, looking up Southern Comfort (green) with DJ in the background

Looking down the middle of Paradice at a snow whale (black), lots of whales provided fun contours


Clouds in the valley on Jan. 10, view from top section of Paradise (black)


Sunset on Jan. 11 after the rain was gone


Upper MakAttack (black) bumps getting interesting, never groomed. A short run but challenging.


Women's Clinic with Julie (black & red instructor jacket)

Intermediate Clinic at top of Lift 6

Freestyle demo tent, happy to have sunshine on Sunday after a rainy Saturday