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Hey All, I’m back from another interesting session at Blue mountain the true mountain. Everybody was in the house except for Toast and Nancy. It was around 30 degrees and initially guns were blasting on almost everything except Razors. First run on razors was ok..mostly firm and mostly smooth. Next up was Main Street and the wet guns on tuts lane owned many people. Main Street was guns top to bottom and variable…some fast spots and some slow spots. With the guns blasting on lazy and the narrow section it was mad technical. Paradise also had guns blasting as well. The guns turned off around 9ish which is about when I went to the lot. it was a very good lot with sausage Sunday which consisted of soup, sausage, brisket, shrimp and pork..was most excellent. I got to ride the scooter again and the parking lot was way smoother than the ski runs. JADIP

We saved First for last! All jokes aside it was super-tough picking a place to ski on the last day. We knew that we had to go high, had to be cautious of Sunday crowds and also beware of the cloudy weather with snow forecast. Will high be too high and get us into the clouds? Birg at 2600m was an obvious choice, but we lacked imagination to invent a third way of skiing it. Mähnnlichen is at 2300m, has many trails, but we’ve been there already, didn’t like occasional bare spots, and it’s a direct target for the crowd of Wengen… First is at 2500m, has fewer trails (half is closed actually), but is on the side, so less chance for crowds. Mähnnlichen is next door, and First is an hour away… We’ve been to Mähnnlichen but haven’t been to First… Do we want more yucky trails or less better ones??? This nightmare continued until one of us just shouted “I’ll go to First, and you can go wherever you want”. The rest barked back, but also exhaled and went out to get tickets. Woke up at 5:40, had breakfast, geared up (No rain? Cool!) and started for First. The commute was a train wreck. First bus - no show. First train arrives to the wrong platform. Display on the platform is in direct contradiction with the display inside the train. A human on the interchange station is directing traffic to Grindelwald to skip two trains and board the third one. It was fun! 15 mins late in the end. Got to Grindelwald… Such a contrast with the last year! When I was making jokes about lack of snow in Bern, I had no idea that Grindelwald would laugh back at us with its bare hills. Started our ascent… Went by a hotel with half brown kiddie slopes. What a disappointment it must be for some! Suddenly noticed that the peaks were not visible any more, and prepared for the inevitable… Higher and higher we went, passed two stations already, started to approach the cloud, and suddenly… snow! It was neither cloud, nor fog, it was snow, falling just over the peak! No precipitation whatsoever down below, and yet snow around the peak. Weird! Next thing we’ve noticed was that there was infinitesimal number of people on top compared to any of the past days. As it turned out, it wasn’t just because we came early. It was like that throughout the day, and for a few hours on one slope the lines were well in negative territory for we were the only people on the trail AND the lift. It was tough at first. Close to complete whiteout, worst thing were the rollers. That feeling of piste suddenly taking a dive from underneath you, and you brace for impact… But with every new track being laid, the contrast was getting better and better, and we could afford skiing faster. Today was the first day I regretted not taking warmers with me, got too relaxed. Yesterday’s basking in the sun with cocktails changed into “let’s take a quick break and go inside for a shot!” Speaking of breaks, I remember this place crowded so much that we couldn’t even get inside. Today - empty tables. It was totally weird feeling skiing Alps like you owned them. IDK where everyone was all day long today! Gradually the snow stopped and skies cleared. More people came, including the most remarkable group in the video. When I first saw them, I almost fell off the lift. Hey! Hah! Ein! Zwei! Drei! And chanting like this down they went moving in synchrony, regrouping and changing formations. The video sucks, from above they looked unreal. All in all, today was awesome! When you go skiing, you look for good snow, good weather, low crowds… I’d say that we got 3 of 3 today, for finally it felt like winter here. Left in the dark, skied for as long the lifts were spinning, came back in the dark again. And it’s the last day too. Bye, Jungfrau, it wasn’t ideal this year, but I feel like we’ve managed to get the most out of it. https://youtu.be/F1zb2HfG6qQ

@AtomicSkierapproaching Blue at 12:30 today, pictured below. I couldn't see the parking lot well from the co-pilot seat but I think we saw MattEdge and some other folks down there. I can't wait to give @Enjoralescousina flight ride

Well, we figured that today we would build upon our yesterday’s success and revisit Mürren, this time skiing it the “right way”, i.e. starting from top. Took us unbelievable 50 mins to reach it via bus and three gondolas, yuck, started in the dark, and by the time we got there the sun was rising somewhere behind the ridge, still not visible. But even so, somehow reflecting off the white tops on the opposite side, it illuminated the trails just fine, and we had no difficulties seeing where we were skiing. Grooming was perfect, hardly any people, both allowing us to ski at top speeds, and we’ve done more runs in the first two hours than in the entire afternoon yesterday. Then it gradually became busy, but unexpectedly not as much as yesterday, despite the “Kids ski free” Saturday. It was a perfect half day on top. Took a couple of outdoor bar breaks while enjoying the sun and scenery. After lunch decided to shift lower to Winteregg and get closer to another exit point, which wasn’t as busy as gondolas yesterday night… Bad decision, should’ve stayed up top. It’s true that all the trails were now in the sun and there were no viz issues, but OMG, what a difference 700m in elevation can make! 1900m vs 2600m… Sugar coated boilerplate all that was left for us. Did perhaps half a dozen of runs, and left for the day. Tomorrow - clouds, snow late at night and colder… They’ve been helicoptering snow canons around Winteregg in preparation for the cold.

@Dirtwolf said he recognized the paint job instantly as we passed overhead.

I got passed by Salty today on upper lazy mile…he put the hammer down while I was doodling around.

Welp. Never thought I’d see a day where A and B lift aren’t open and E & F lift are but that’s the situation today.

As always, thanks for sharing!!

Back home now. still on a ski high from yesterday. Overall great trip. Snowbowl, Flagstaff, San Francisco peaks, northern Arizona period is a special place. Hope more PASRs visit. Tha ks for reading.

Yeah twins even scoffed at the idea of a hypothetical Blue/Cbk pass for next year. They like some variety in their ski life and don't want to be limited to PA. I have raised them well.

Welcome to PASR. Honestly if midweek low crowds is your only criteria Montage is probably going to be your best bet. That said....all things considered Montage is great but however there's way less variety, terrian, slower lifts etc than blue. North face is fun but skiing solely that for a whole season would probably get old and skiing the full vert at Montage is sorta cumbersome. No sidewinders, paradises, switches or NMDW (RIP) at montage. Also going from JFBB to blue is going to feel like you're going from pop warner to high school...trust me, I've been there. To me there's only one option. Follow the light.

Blue obviously. Montage is good for a once a decade visit and camelback is terrible...short runs and scummy people.

Welcome! Sorry to hear the Epic/Vail fail is making you leave your ‘home’ mountain. Buttttt, anywhere but camelback. That place is a circus. Blue and Montage both have their draws but I enjoy Blue more just for the better terrain. You will get more runs in at Blue than Montage because of high speed lifts but Blue is definitely more crowded. Montage always seems eerily empty. Just my 2¢.