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Reminds me of…

Sunny cold… 8:45 Made my way to the Quad and noticed the cattle chute. Ok …. There’s going to be some law and order today. Thought I was going to be first chair but someone in Orange blasted past lol, I figured he would head for Challenge but he went elsewhere. It was a bit disappointing later on to see the cattle out of control and cramming up to the front loading area on the quad and the line built up to the gates. The six had very little line to speak of. First tracks on Challenge was the best grooming I’ve seen all year. The icing on the cake was a couple inches of snow that drifted over from the fan gun up top. I think I hit my terminal velocity, but felt safe the whole time and was able to launch off the falls lip with just as good of grooming. Challenge was so good I kept lapping it then went to main street and a little bit of snow is drifted over from sleepy, hollow onto the bumps. Blue Balmer glade was also being blown. Fortunately , the roulette wheel of fate spared me and I didn’t get stuck in front of the gun on nightmare when the quad stopped for a good five minutes. Great day like C1 said.

Finally made it down to Whitegrass WV Sunday. This place is awesome. The realest of deals. 4 1/2 hr drive each way was worth it but I think I will get a hotel next time. Elevation is about 4300ft so just about as high as anything in the East and storms dump snow from the west in this spot first-nothing is taller till the Rockies. Before it was a nordic area it was a downhill area so there are some old school downhill runs you can hit in addition to the nordic trails, the trees, and some meadows. The higher you go the skinnier the trails get and the more alpine it looks. There are three summits on the trail system as well as access to trails in Dolly Sods and neighboring Canaan Valley and Timberline downhill areas. At the top is as its name Bald Knob would suggest, epic views. 25k of trails are groomed out of 50k in the immediate resort, and a number of them are fairly steep across 1200ft vertical. Tracks set on the lower trails and up the three mile run to the mid summit. Well maintained glades are all over the hill with untracked powder everywhere. At the bottom they have a system of fences set up to catch the snow blowing across the valley and keep it skiiable. The best part though is just that the vibes are absolutely unmatched. There were probably several hundred people there and everyone was having a blast - Hooting and hollering through the woods, hanging out by fires at the little huts all along the trails, chowing down on delicious food in the shack of a lodge at the bottom with all the rental boots hanging from the ceiling around the wood stove to dry off. And there were people of all ages including little kids just ripping through the woods. People were sliding on the whole spectrum of equipment: cross country, telemark, AT, splitboard, sleds, snowshoes. Everyone was so happy and friendly. Granola paradise A place that is good in every meaning of it. I havent been anywhere else quite like it.

best part of manhattan was getting in the car to get the hell out of there.

Who the fuck would want to ski camelback for 7 days lol one day of its free is plenty for me.

Some nice fast snow at the BC tonight...Rode for about an hour and a half...Not a lot of people there...I bounced at 6:15 and the parking lot looked like it was filling up....They got some good coverage from the past storms...and it looks like they are making snow...Was a fun evening session....

I never said I was going elsewhere. Just that, for $699, I think I'm gonna wait it out and see what the options were. What if Icon has more blue days? Or maybe I'll mix it up a bit more next year. Besides how the hell would I survive without you telling me which lift to ski to, or how I should hold my my fucking skis over my shoulder.

Blue is still making snow. Because it’s a superior skiing mountain.

lol if only.

Skiing's definitely not the profit center, but the motivator to bring people to the mountain where they've got (most) people captive in terms of food and beverage sales, where the real margins can be made. Skiing is definitely a loss leader for the mountains, but tubing on the other hand...

We’re all every age once if you make it that far, so you better enjoy it.

Just got back from a quick threefer after a day in the big city. Really nothing much to write home about after how great this weekend was. Ran lazy, switch and main. Everything pretty much the same. Some scraped slick spots with some nice stuff in between. Overall just nice to be outside for a bit.

The pricing is definitely giving me pause. One part of my brain says," just buy it" And the other part says, "build a spreadsheet to examine the cost/benefit vs other passes". Snowboarding/skiing is absolutely my favorite activity and I would really miss it and miss the parking lot if I didn't have a pass. That being said the price is getting so high that the value proposition isn't really as appealing. Devils advocate though, the price of everything has jumped. Wages, electric, steel for pipes, replacement parts for lifts, you name it. This is a pricy business and they can't give it away for free. There really isn't a good answer. My brain still prices a ski day in the Poconos between $50-70 and that's just not true anymore. The days of getting on the snow without a pass for under $100 are over so the pass makes more sense in that context.

Just got home from a most excellent afternoon sesh at Blue The True. Was busy around noon but lines dissipated as the morning tickets left. Snow was most excellent considering the crowds. I think the only ice sketch spot I found was the landing of the 2nd rail on Come Around. Be back tomorrow for more of the same!

lol ... have fun elsewhere.

Another great day today. Love riding Switch and Sidewinder. All trails were in great shape. We’ve had some beautiful bluebird weather this week

This is the proper way to ride Chute. Not me, the beast Alex Caccamo. Snapinsta.app_video_614BA3F33721E8A4DDCD50F61A0CEDAB_video_dashinit.mp4

Salty there’s a ton of old “Flying “ themed songs. Steve Miller, Pink Flyod .

Nice report, I wonder how many more years the quad will last? With coming soon, it gets used more than ever and it turns 30 in December.

14 days of Poconos skiing is a fair amount when it also gets you 7 in Catskills and unlimited in VT, Rockies, etc. Might be worth going to Blue less often to get all that.

theres usually at least one big boarder/skier-cross race on NMDW each year Was a nice evening, with the exception of a few slick spots and some weird rolly polly areas the snow was pretty good. Finally got a run on sidewinder! Run of the night was far right main st. I saw @momskeeztoo on the way in, looked like you had a long day lol

Seniors skiing is actually saving the sport right now. They’re the people with the most money and free time.

that's awesome, it's on my bucket list for sure. Trying to parley it in with a trip to visit family is Pittsburgh but it hasnt worked out.

Now i havent listened to this, and im not going to, but from the comments i have read on the other thread here.......this is from the guy that couldnt put two intelligent sentences together, and talked mostly about the water park and hotel? Just curious.

You know the feeling is mutual. And if I came off defensive in my replies above I apologize. This crew, who I consider friends, obviously enjoy being around and have a ton of respect for, is one major reason (if not the biggest) that one doesn't just walk away from blue; and when things are good at blue they're really good. So Blue will never not be part of the equation..at least if and until I am physically no longer here. But the consumer side of the brain says...do you continue to fork over the pass $$, no matter the cost, given the number of gripes I / we've had (that have seemingly been higher this year). whether it be lifts, bad grooming, snow, sugar, questionable decisions, poor lighting, school groups, litter, crowds, lack of line management etc? But on the flip side, CB is never going to be an option, I like montage and JF but they aren't either at this point. so my brain goes back to...is there a way to get the good that comes with Blue without having to reward them for poor decisions by purchasing a pass yet again in Feb or March. It's quite the conundrum to be honest. Or maybe I'm just overthinking it.

People be crazy. I try to diffuse those situations immediately. Not for fear of a fight fear of goinf to jail if someone forces me to fight em.

Where is this discussion being held?

You’re a chill dude…some people would want to fight in that situation even if it’s their fault. One time like a day or two before a ski trip I was skiing down shuttle back when it was empty at blue and you could fly down it, and some guy who was prob tucking since midway clipped my ski tails and cause me to spin out but not fall and he fell..he was all pissed…and I said you hit me…and he kept going and I repeated you hit me… ski and ride with your head on a swivel

Try saying peak to peak poconos pass perks five times fast I dare you. At least we know early bird is until April third…

I get it and sorry I don’t think I blasted you…if Schif or Salty or JFDan or anybody said they are thinking of not buying a pass I’d be like WTF..why?? Cause I like seeing all of y’all at Blue.. Friends can ask questions and goof like atomic picking which lift…or saying how to carry skis..or him calling me a pussy if I choose to sleep in over skiing..or saying I ski slow which I do sometimes relatively…don’t let it bug you we all like seeing you at Blue and I’m not buying my pass till March or April and prob do payment plan.. Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

I'm not going back to JFBB Not sure why I'm getting blasted for actually saying that I wanted to think about something before actually dropping nearly a grand. Damn

Looks like $699 is officially official. Gonna think about it this year. Not diving into it blindly this go round.

Why aren't they at Camelback then?

-Just talks in circles about waterparks. -had no idea camelback charged 75 dollars to replace a lost season pass. -repeatedly told the host of the podcast that the host knows more about lifts/infrastructure at camelback than he did. not a good look for a GM. I listen to the podcast on long car rides, and every other GM from any ski area knows the ins and outs of their operation. I don't know if I’ll finish this one.

Cracks me up…meanwhile there’s more alcohol consumed on the lifts at blue mountain daily than there is at a St. Patrick’s day parade in Boston and they don’t enforce that. They just put giant trash cans out to accommodate it. At least be consistent.

Wow that's rad. I bet you were singing "I believe I can fly I believe I can touch the sky I think about it every night and day..I spread my wings and fly away"

On the super radical Saturday Pow day I got air off the falls a few times. One time the front of my skis were like 3 feet off the ground and the tails were just high enough to clear a credit card..would have looked extra rad shot from a small aircraft a mile in the sky..

I got accidental air off it Friday (like maybe 1 cm) and felt like a bad ass skier.

A lot less difference for me 3:40 RT to Blue or Cbk 4:00 RT to JF or RTop 5:30 RT to Hunter Given my strong preference for Catskill skiing it is often worth it to go to Hunter - particularly with option of going for 2 days and staying at Snowed Inn 10 minutes away for $70 Yeah Windham may be off Ikon next year - one of the things we will see when Ikon goes on sale and why I am waiting til then to make my decision. If there is no Catskill option (Plattekill seems the only likely replacement, or maybe Catamount which is more NY Berkshires), I will likely stick with Epic.

This is true. I wonder what the plans for blue will be another version of camelback or if blue remains the "ski area" of the two. The guy did say they have 42 lanes of tubing. That must print money faster than the Fed.

Way to get after it. I haven’t been in Manhattan since like 2010 and gonna go with my friend one of these days. When I used to go I’d park in Chinatown. Think about all the hours we spend outside during the winter compared to most it’s healthy AF even if we’re eating tubuler meat and drinking beer. It’s well earned.

And on topic I’m always going to encourage people to buy season passes or go on ski trips or buy skis or order the nachos if they’re gonna share. I remember several years ago you had a hotel booked at Stowe and it was a forecast of rain and you had the chance to fly to the Colorado and you were in the fence..and me best salesman convinced you to go..and you even went to the mint. Next time visit @Barb

Now this is interesting. $200 to add on skiing at Camelback, no thanks. But add in the waterpark access, particularly the indoor waterpark, that's interesting. Wording is a little vague about if you get the perks of both mountains though, or only the one you buy from.

joint camelback/blue season pass

right, but you'd still need to buy the blue pass.

The fact that he was all excited about the waterpark and hotel and knew jack shit about the ski area shows what the focus is over there.

I was there eve of 2/13 - got the $30 night ticket - didn't have time to get anywhere bigger but was nice to check out again the place the girls and I all learned to ski

Yesterday morning was the single best hour ive had at BC. Left extra early not knowing the road conditions and quickly realized they were simply wet so I arrived in the lot about 45 minutes before opening and was the 2nd non worker there lol. First in line at about 805 and hung out with some others till rope drop. My plan was to hit E lift so I could beat everybody else to F lift and get untrack Sasquatch. As I got to E lift I was told F lift was closed. So I took a run down and back to E lift and by this time F lift was open so I shot down there and was still one of the first people down Sassy. Single best run Ive ever had at BC. After that I hiked back over to F lift so I could hit Extreme which was simply incredible. Back up E lift, down to F lift and took another run down Sasquach. By this point both trails were basically tracked out so I spent the next 90 minutes enjoying the mountain. Simply amazing morning.

Woke up at 5 to find it hat snowed 8-10....Shoveled driveway/walks/deck.....Road didn't look bad though....Don't get many chances to do non resort riding so I made my way to Pulpit Rock trail/road...Arrived around 8....Maybe 4 cars in the parking lot....About 30 with a brisk breeze...Absolutely fantastic skin up...Clouds broke for some blue sky.....The ride down was super floaty....At the bottom I put the skins back on and went around the reservoir and up the blue trail to the AT...Skinned back until it the trail had some pitch and was able to ride it back to the car ....Total distance 6.3 miles....Elevation gain 1385'....Somethin about earning your turns just feels good...One of the best days....