When I was younger, New Year’s Eve meant a night of good food, fun and a struggle to stay up until midnight and see the ball drop. Since I’ve gotten older, I have to confess that New Year’s Eve has lost some of its appeal. I seem to spend at least one or two nights each week unwillingly awake until the early morning, staying up with work and watching the clock switch over from PM to AM. Perhaps this is why my past few New Year’s Eves have seemed to fall flat. In search of rediscovering that magic, I decided to try spending New Year’s Eve at Wachusett Mountain Ski Area in Princeton, MA. From the start this was a bit different from any other New Year’s celebration that I’ve had. It may have been because I had changed into my thermals in my office bathroom, but even after 8 hours of work, on the drive to the mountain it felt like I was just beginning my day.
The weather report had it cold but not too windy, and the snow report at Wachusett promised 18 trails freshly groomed and with natural snow from a few storms earlier in the week. I signed up for what Wachusett calls the “New Year’s Eve Champagne Celebration”, which includes skiing and tubing from 4 pm to Midnight, a reserved table for the Gourmet Buffet at the Black Diamond Café , a live blues band, DJ, fireworks, champagne toast and a magician to boot.
On our first trip up the chairlift, the dense fog over the mountain told us that they had been blowing a lot of snow in preparation for opening the “Look, Mom” Terrain Park shortly after the New Year. This was also my first time skiing at night this year, so I was ready for it to be a bit icy. To my surprise, most of the trails were in great shape, and I could dig my edges in with ease. My group took a quick 3 runs down Ralph’s Run, Challenger, and Frannie’s Folly in order to get our bearings, and decided to head back in to our table for hors d’oeuvres and much-needed water. On our way up to the table, it was nice to see many other families participating in the event. When so much of New Year’s is focused on the young revelers and heavy partying, it was refreshing to see families and people young and old at Wachusett to enjoy good skiing.
The food was simply fantastic, not tomention the amazing variety of desserts. While the fog made it difficult to see any of the fireworks, I was glad to take advantage of the no-wait chairlift as everyone else was squinting up at the sky from the lodge.
Afterwards, we took a few more runs down the mountain, and then enjoyed the countdown from the Black Diamond Restaurant, complete with big screens showing Times Square and our very own balloon drop. Afterwards, I was almost sad to see a mountain fully lit but empty of skiers, lift chairs frozen in the midnight air. This was something I’d never experienced, as I’d usually finish my skiing just as the afternoon crowd is coming in. While I had been up for 18 hours straight, the energy and excitement I still felt on the ride home proved to me that New Year’s Eve At Wachusett Mountain is the perfect way to recapture the old magic!