I skied Massanutten on Saturday 1/26/08. Conditions were quite good -- packed powder -- and there was at least one run open from the top of each lift. The ski team was on Upper Dixie Dare for the morning, but I had a chance to get in some runs later. As usual, you could ski onto the upper lifts until lunch time without waiting. Lines got heavy on the Southern Comfort lift by mid-morning. The lodge was crowded, of course, over the lunch hour but I like the layout and space.

Then...

The line at Lift 5 that feeds the blue runs such as Rebel Yell began to back up. At 2:30 p.m., I waited more than 20 minutes in line, and the ride to the top took longer than that because that lift stopped so frequently. These weren't the 10-20-second stops when someone had trouble getting on or off, these were the two-to-five-minute stops for ... well, I don't know. It took me more than 90 minutes to get in two runs off Lift #5.

Since the Yee Ha run that connects the blue runs with the summit lift wasn't open, the only ways to shift over to the summit lift were to walk uphill to the lift's base or else ski down Southern Comfort and fight the masses in that lift's line.

What's with Massanutten's lifts? Are there any near-term plans for replacing entire lifts, or at least upgrading them? Why not lay down some snow on Yee Ha to make it easier to shift between the blue runs and the blacks?

Woody