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21 degrees in the valley to start the morning off at Blue today. I met up with Hayata and wife for an excellent morning of empty slopes and very good conditions, snow was good on all trails, except blue baumer glade which was hard and slick but I skied it twice anyway. Razors was closed for race practice and upper sidewinder was roped off for snow making. ROTD was Burma with great snow, took 2 runs on it, had the entire trail to ourselves for run 1, and 3 other skiers on it for run 2. There was a fresh coat on the main street bumps which was very nice for a few 3D snow laps. Nightmare and chute had freshly seeded bumps, and dreamweaver still had the skier cross course on it, with banked turns and jumps for our amusement. We finally scored the 6 pack red chair, we cheered but the attendant was unimpressed. Midweek days are awesome. Hope wednesdays storm is all snow. See yer thursday or friday morning.

^^^^This NaCl-ty gets a gold star for switching it up and skiing Stowe on Thursday

Salty or stop at the Stowe bagel place and have a bacon egg and cheese bagel with a slice of onion and tomato..they have American and Canadian bacon and open at 630am heck you'd even have time to stop back at your hotel and poop on the way to the hill.

DAY ONE: Sunday we decided to take it slow and get acclimated to the mountain and the altitude. The plan was to ski at least a green run then a blue run off the gondola to get a feel for the ranking of runs and the altitude, and then make the decision about moving up to the summit. As it turned out, we haven't had any issues with altitude, and I've found that the green/blue/black ratings have been nearly on par with the likes of blue, with the exception that most all the blacks seem to be ungroomed. My dad and I had planned to be out for first gondi, and were, but ended up waiting for our suitemates to get out there, which took much longer than it should have. By the time they made it out it was nearly 9:00 and that coupled with a short shutdown meant the line for the gondola was hella long. We instead headed over to the Christie Express and took that to up, and skied down Boulevard to YooHoo and took the Thunderhead express back up to the Thunderhead lodge on the gondola level. We skied down Why Not, which was a really flat cat track like trail that in hindsight we should not have bothered with and really burned the hell out of my legs. 2/3 of the way down, at an intersection with Vagabond, a blue cruiser, we all agreed to abandon Why Not and ran out Vagabond. We took the Thunderhead back up and decided that since we enjoyed the run down Vagabond at the end we would take that trail down from the start. We had a great run down and I was really digging the conditions, as was my dad. It was nice to not have to even think about whether we were going to hit ice, or even scraped off hard spots. Even when the trail was bumped up, the tips just blew through the snow or the skis just slid right through it. We took the Thunderhead express back up and popped into the lodge to use the restroom and get some water. We all decided that we weren't having any problems with the altitude so we were going to head to the top and check out the Sunshine area. After a near-altercation with a snowboarder who decided to sit down literally in front of me in the only 30 inch opening to get to the trail head, (he took exception when I said "Why would you stop there?" after running into him and tried to pick a fight, but I just skied away) we headed down Spur Run to get down to the Sundown Express and took it up to the Sunshine Peak. Once there we skied down the green in that area, Sundial to Rendezvous Way, breaking off to ski Sunhine Lift line and took the South Peak lift to the Rendezvous lodge and had lunch. I had a Curry bowl with Shrimp, green curry, brown rice, shrimp and veggies. It was delicious, a bit pricey at about $17 with tax, but we got $10 per day on-mountain food credits as part of our group so for $7 it was a bargain. The other three decided they had enough for the day and planned to head back down, but I was unwilling to go down without checking out some more of the terrain in the Sunshine area, so I stayed out for a couple more runs. I skied down a fun short blue, Spike, and took the Sunshine lift back up. Close to the top I had my favorite "moment" of the trip to that point when the chair came out of some trees to reveal a massive, wide, intermediate grade slope stretching seeming as far as I could see in both directions. I knew we were going to have a lot of fun skiing this area the next day. I skied down Tomahawk back to the Sunshine lift, and then decided to head down so skied High Noon all the way down to the Elkhead lift. While skiing down to the gondola level, I saw a sign that said "Tired from skiing? Take the gondola down!" and my legs being pretty beat at this point it sounded like a good idea. But then I decided that I didn't want to end my first day with a gondola ride, so I headed over to ski down Vagabond again. About 1/3 of the way down Vagabond, I realized I wasn't on Vagabond, but had dropped in one trail early on Rudi's Run and ended up on a trail called Lightning. I didn't have any trouble with the run, but was disappointed to realize my tired legs would have a much longer cruise back on a much flatter cat-track like green called BC ski way to get back to the base. For some reason, while making the many turns I need to to stay in control on steeper terrain burns up my quads, very flat terrain just kills me even more. And I feel it more in the hips than the quads even. After a torturous glide back to the base, I managed to find the little trail that lead back to our condos and skied (with a little skating/poling) right back to the balcony of our unit. I popped out of the skis and walked around the front and dropped skis and poles off with the ski valet. Went in and slapped on the bathing suit and went to soak in the hot tub for about 45 minutes. Then about 25-30 of the 33 on the group trip jumped on a shuttle to head downtown to the Tap House where we had a section of the dining room reserved to watch the Super Bowl. It was a great atmosphere to watch the game in, with so many Eagles fans. Great game, and congrats to the Birds. Service at the restaurant was slow and disorganized, but somewhat expected since they only had 2 waitress working the entire section with 30 of us plus about 10 other Eagles fans that happened to get the tables we didn't have. Took the shuttle back to the condo and hit up the hot tub for a second session, great party atmosphere going on. Light snow was falling, and I was really looking forward to hitting the mountain the next day.

I love hiking toll rode during summer/fall. 10 mile round trip to summit. Plus you get to mess around on ski trails. There is a fall race that races to summit. Lots of people run that trail.

Salty....sounds like you got solid advice from the instructor....except for the ski width. Yes, we do a lot of drills on flat terrain at first in the race clinic. Then we take them into steeper terrain once we are comfortable doing them on the flats. I thought your video was pretty solid....no need to feel discouraged. A lot of times it's hard for us to soak in and apply all the instruction from a lesson. I consider it a win if I can apply one or two things from clinic in a season, lol. Keep it up! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hands out front, like a boxer. When you want to turn left, extend your left arm, like throwing a punch. Right for right. First thing I noticed in the vid is your hands are at your sides.

Awesome stuff please post video and take some pictures this afternoon. You ask a shit ton of questions..but being a curious guy is good..that's how you learn.

ok. Just wrapped up. Report to come later. He didn't tell me to quit skiing so that's cool. He told me I ask a lot of questions and called my skis "narrow", but he was a good dude and I think It was helpful. I'll post the video on YouTube that he took of me skiing but only if JF Dan or Toast text me to tell me my RTMs are rad.

I'll probably leave around 6:30. The storm is moving south to north, so as long as I get ahead of it I should be fine. 8"-12" now. 4"-6" for Blue??

Just the tip, nothing more, nothing less!

Fucking Texans.

I canceled my class tomorrow. But I have a ton of shit to do to get ready before I leave Thursday so I'm still undecided.

Hehe... Somebody didn't get $80 from me today...

Pretty funny how similar all the saltys look

Getting there early tomorrow, trying to get some good snow before all the sleet and freezing rain.

dense here. good up there.

More carve = more acceleration = more fun Learn to both carve and rotary/smear turns......one needs to do it all in real world skiing. FYI....check out the trees around the chapel. Good low angle gladed terrain in there. Some entrances may be "steep" but are very short and it is worth that initial "shock". Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This is for natural bumps and skied out glades. Zipper line on seeded bumps is a different critter

Rotary motion. Off piste skiers do it all the time. Required technique in bumps. Carve carve carve = no soul

Mussels are the baloney of the sea! $14 is a lot. Regardless, he is not on the coast and mussels are one of my faves. He’s skiing Stowe and eating well. One more 1/2 gold star for NaCl-ty. My guess is Moe Ghoul vibes rubbed off on him

Yeah I'm not sure either but they're the experts and I guess it has a purpose since we spent a few minutes on it. I guess my takeaway from that was to use less edge on short radius turns and keep the skis relatively flatter...???

Welcome back Eaf!!

Here you go! Criticize away!

Looks like a rider of the storm day tomorrow at stowe. Think of it like a Chinese buffet..free refills!!!!

Sounds cool yeah you should ski Kmart and Pico peak Saturday..no rush getting home. Camelback will be there Sunday. Arent ski trips fun..I'm trying to save enough money so that the rest of my life is a ski trip.

Just bought another ticket for Thursday lol. This mountain is so big I feel like ive still only scratched the surface. Had Such an epic untracked run down gondalier that I need to do that again. Currently eating at the top of the Gondola restaurant. Going bankrupt from this trip and now Trump has made my portfolio worthless.

Ditto. I miss Stowe and want to see pics and vids please.

If only I could be a fly on the wall during Saltines lesson lol...

Exactly how Sunday went...

Salty have a blast today...and be sure to tip your instructor!!

If you like skiing you'll ski anywhere...I was happy to be back at Blue after a week at Jackson hole but wish I could have got a extra 10-15mph on challenge and Main Street. Just not enough pitch or length for mad steezy speeds..unless it's icy death..ice is nice..speed is good..dress like an astronaut..JADIP!!

Get gravy fries.

And dont worry about getting there first thing either. So stressful. Everything will be just as good at noon. First chair is for suckers. Demo some really narrow skis, and for god sakes leave that powder off trail for others. Dont want that stuff in your face.

Yeah Saturday and Sunday was a skier-boarder cross competition and nightmare to dreamweaver was closed to the public. See indiggios post

Keep your hands up and forward. The moment you put them down at your sides, you're transitioning you mr center of gravity rearward, hence riding on your heels. Always keep your weight on the balls of your feet and your shins engaged with the tongue of your boot. Keeping your hands up and forward helps maintain this position.

Ahhhh idk. Depends what you are trying to do. Bomb the zipper line on seeded bumps , especially troughed out mofos gets real interesting fast (I originally was going to say uniform bumps but any bumper will tell you the shapes of a seeded run are not uniform). Natural bumps by definition have no uniform pattern or shape and makes it interesting to flow down. My favorites are those shark fin shaped bumps. I feel like a park rat keeping a flat ski on top before dropping down. All good. Like pizza or sex

Barneys bumps are actually named after Ryan Tuthills dog Barney..Salty you did more today than many of the PASRs did and took a lesson. I had a couple beginner lessons but never something like what you had today. I don't have the patience for lessons I just wanna get down to the bottom as fast as possible.

Next time you run chin clip, from the top of the bump reach waaay forward and plant your pole and drop down and do a turn around your pole. Link that and you are in business. Maybe practice from a standing stop on top and after the turn stop, take a breath and do it again. And then stop and go play!

He wasnt hating on my RTMs. He mentioned that he owns 4 pairs of skis, and said 1 pair is narrow like my 81s. Lol. But he said they're fine for my ability level. Thanks for your words of encouragment.

I'm only teasing about the lack of females on PASR. :-)

Lesson Report: Overall, I think the lesson was helpful. There was only 1 other person in my group, so it was basically the same as a private lesson without the cost. The instructor was very knowledgeable and gave me good criticism. I think the main things I need to work on are: Consistently staying forward throughout both the turn and whole run. He compared to proper position to an "athletic stance", like how a person stands while playing tennis. I already knew I ski in the backseat and Atomic mentioned that, so I think I need to work on this more than anything else. Pole planting earlier. I had no idea that I was pole planting too late into the turn. Stop pushing my heal out. He said I am making mini hockey stop like motions in some of my turns, but not always. I'm still trying to figure out when exactly I'm doing this, and am not sure how to correct it other than by making more gradual turns. These habits are ingrained in my skiing from doing them repeatedly without knowing any better, so it will take a lot of time and conscious effort to fix them. I would have benefited from taking a lesson sooner, but was stubborn until I realized that I could use a few pointers because my skiing seems to have somewhat plateaued this year, although I definitely think I've improved somewhat compared to last season. Ungroomed terrain is my biggest weakness in skiing because I don't have a lot of opportunities to practice it regularly. We took a run down Chin Chip, and I was struggling and felt out of control at first. Then the instructor recommended I stop trying to bomb down ungroomed runs, and instead go back to basics and traverse the slope until I feel more comfortable. Doing that helped, and I started pole planting on top of the moguls. I found it helpful to look forward to the point where I want to pole plant to make the turn. After a few minutes I felt somewhat more comfortable in soft moguls and this helped later in the day when I returned to Chin Chip. The other thing he demonstrated is turning the ski on a flat surface to help make short radius turns. I'm still trying to figure this out because I feel that my turns are too wide, and I have a difficult time making short radius turns on steep slopes. I asked a bazillion questions, such as "am I leaning into the turns too much", but he told me to focus on the things above for now which I think is good advice.

Yup, but there was plenty of other runs with fresh perder to ski until Razors opened. Razors had some sweet fresh along the fences, since people are too scared to ski close to them.

Have your instructor take a video. Watching vid of yourself is very, very instructive. And I don't mean from the end of a selfie stick.

Hey All, I'm back from a fun morning session at Blue mountain the true mountain. I pulled into the lower lot at 720am and Phillycore was already in the Hiz-ouse..Schifdawg was in the house as well as Atomic Jeff, JFBBDan, Johnny Law, Indiggio, Tarponhead, MBike Mike, Matt Edge, TP4 and many others. First civilian chair was lit. Nice carpet first run on challenge..was a good second run on challenge as well but beginning to degrade sidewinder wa salrigjt switchback and was empty and New manmade snow Main Street was the run of the day..top half was a carpet second half not bad..pretty much firm groomed and a little sweet and low. Razora was closed for racers and nightmare dreamweaver closed again so paradise was the crazy mile and a quarter. Snow really started to pick up before I left and was interesting to see the temperatures rise and fall with elevation on the way home. Should be several hours of snow for the poconos and this is heavy and wet so bonds well to existing snow won't blow into Danielsville!!

2 years skiing and starting when yer 28? Remember what I said about 10,000 hours. Yer progressing well. Focus on one thing from your lesson tomorrow until it "clicks". I might be back over early Wed AM. Tough to decide when you gots 10,000 acres to play with. What's on deck snow wise, you ask? WINTER STORM WATCH IN EFFECT FROM WEDNESDAY MORNING THROUGH LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT... * WHAT...Heavy snow possible. Total snow accumulations of 5 to 8 inches are possible. * WHERE...The northern Adirondacks, the Champlain Valley, and north-central into northeastern Vermont. * WHEN...From Wednesday morning through late Wednesday night. The heaviest snow, with snowfall rates up to 1 inch per hour, is expected between 2 and 9 PM Wednesday. Snow should taper off during the pre-dawn hours Thursday. Almost like:

That's what Sally has she has the 84s and Salty has the 81s which are the more versatile model. Remember skinny is the new fat.

Nice report. How is having a season pass at Montage going??

Not sure yet, maybe Matterhorn. I'll write a report later tonight after dinner.