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Day 3 Woke up to low pressure again on the tire. Loaded the ski gear in my daughter's car. Drove to discount tire at 830. My daughter picked me up soon after got to the mountain around 915 while blasting lil yachti, future, Kendrick and logic for stoke. The tire had a screw in it and they repaired it for free. So glad I did that before heading down 17 back to Phoenix. Another cloudless bluebird day. First run up the grand canyon express, left at the catwalk to find a nice surprise....they dropped the ropes on volcano for the first time this season. The trail itself is groomed but there's a chute off of volcano that is natural. They had a sign marked thin cover and this week's snow fall was waiting. Rode that a few times. also ran another unnamed ungroomed trail near volcano. So some new snow goodness early on. But the theme for today was the bluest of bluebird skiing and primarily soft fast groomers. Not quite as good as yesterday but still a beautiful fantastic ski day where I didn't want to leave but the legs were done. Posted up in Scottsdale now before heading out to eat. Done skiing but what a great few days. I feel really lucky that I came this week. Just hope things turn snowfall wise soon.

January 31, 2015 Day 3 of 7 Hey All, I’m back from another fun day at Jackson Hole mountain resort. In the house were me, Atomic Jeff and JfDan. We saw a couple moose right by the ticket office and were in line for the gondola around 830am. The temperature was about zero under mostly cloudy sky’s. First run on amphitheater had flat light and kind of stiff snow. Up Thunder and Grand was similar. Up Sublette and Bivoac still had some chalk. Next run was an empty rendezvous trail and pretty decent grooming. Over to Thunder and down the top of amphitheater over to Casper lift. Up Casper and down wide open to Teton lift then down wide open again back to the Casper chair. I skied the stash park area to right under the lift then up Teton again to Crags run which was pretty decent up Teton again to the base of apres vous. Up apres vous to Saratoga bowl which had the best snow on the mountain, it’s below and north facing where we skied so snow was chalky to styrofoam. Did a repeat of Saratoga bowl. Me and Jeff quit then and went to the mangy moose and JfDan got a few more runs in and met us at the mangy. Now back in town waiting for my weed pills to creep in. Nazareth Jay arrived about 2 hours ago and Dirtwolf is expected to arrive around 9pm. Everybody keep your fingers crossed that his plane gets in ok as it’s supposed to start snowing and blowing in a few hours. JADIP

A little wildlife this morning.

Today is fixin to be another bright…. bright… bright shiny day with highs in the 40s. Western groomer city on tap. My daughter is now in town so lord knows when I’ll actually get to the mountain. Anything past 930 and she’s driving on her own. I must’ve had a crystal ball because despite the 9 inches we got this week the drought continues. Northern Arizona has no snow forecasted in the foreseeable future sadly. I really fell terrible for the people here as they love this mountain and love to ski. All of these systems that are coming through (so stoked for the JH crew) are staying north. Something about high pressure systems…idk. But either way I really really lucked out. Gonna enjoy what’s left of the fresh snow and the AZ sunshine today before heading back down south to phoenix. Indoor rock climbing is on tap for tomorrow. We'll see how that goes.

Anyone heading up be careful 35 degrees but the roads are icing. Mosserville if you know that road was a sheet and they were out treating. It caught me a bit off guard when it understeered like a grandma in a dump truck. Wheel path is fine but get in the millionth of inch debris and weeeeeeee

He said he is going indoor rock climbing with his daughter

I just never have good luck on a Friday though its probably all my fault. It wasn't bad but compared to previous and with a wicked fog it wasn't nearly as pleasant. Grip was as expected mostly excellent but there are a few icy spots coming through that could put you in the woods. Rotd was whatever you could see on. The new blown is a slop fest, falls had alot of horizontal speed bump type shit early and it wasn't very crowded in the drizzle.

Day 6 and final day of my trip...stayed in southern NY last night and drove to Shawnee this morning. Conditions were actually really fun. Fast firm corduroy...light rain but much warmer than the past week up north. Mostly did the blue/black trails near the lift, but Renegade was great so I skated over there 5 times. No lift lines and being a smaller mountain, the high speed quad gets you to the top pretty quickly. Now at Shawnee craft brewing...nitro porter, pale ale, and a cheesesteak pizza.

Pics...

Day 2. Just wrapped not too long ago. By far the my best day of the season. It started off with a scare though. when I went out to the car the low tire pressure warning was on. I immediately panicked thinking I may have had a flat and that I'd be late or worse, but there was plenty of air to get me to the circle k. $2.50 later the tire was back to 32 psi. That snafu cost me a few minutes however and the roads were dicey, especially snowbowl road which required AWD (they were checking). Climbing the mountain I passed some guy in a Kia Sportage who was going way to slow and got there around 9:05. What a day though. The bluest of blue skies, not a single cloud in the sky with freshly fallen snow from overnight, clear views of the surrounding area and the Grand canyon to the north. Started off on the Grand canyon Express which was the move since the gondola was on wind hold. It really wasn't that windy but windy enough to blow piles of new snow into deeper piles. The first few runs were $$$. Like the million dollar man Ted Dibiasi money. Shin deep in spots and a bit of flotilla. That didn't last long however as locals don't play when it snows here. That said, the gondi opened at noon so there was a chance for round two on lower bowl or upper ridge. I was there waiting in line but it was taking long so I took my chances and skied back to the GCE. when I got to the top I saw that the gondi was loading. I hauled ass down logjam and hopped on for a sloppy seconds run down lower bowl with a few more runs before calling it. I didn't want to leave but my legs had it. My face is red as I think I got burnt. By tomorrow (more sunshine) I'll look like Kramer from the episode of Seinfeld where he fries himself with butter. A 10 out of 10 day at snowbowl which is now officially my most frequented ski resort outside of Pennsylvania, taking over the spot previously held by whiteface.

JFDan made it to town earlier this afternoon. We hung out and drank a couple beers in his fireplace suite then went to Bubbas bbq for supper. I had a vegetarian lunch, not on purpose just what I wanted and made up for it with a two meat combo brisket and smoked sausage…with fries and baked beans and an Arnold Palmer..and Texas toast. Tomorrow clouds will be moving in, if we get a few sunny runs in early that will be a bonus cause we aren’t gonna see much sunshine the next five days…

Correct…tomorrow morning. I suggested a hike on camelback mountain but climbing is her thing now and really wants me to try it. Barb she tried to teach me the lingo but i don’t remember. lol

I’m sure your daughter is a great belayer. My advice is, trust the rope. It’s hard to do when you are new to the sport. Hips into the wall, don’t stick your butt out. Try and use the power of your legs to push you up, not arms to pull you up.

Drive through the Delaware water gap area this morning had some slick spots also

This is grate. I hope Atomic Skier remembered to pack his GoPro and takes lots of videos skiing the perder, and you can hear him say "alrighty" and "milk it". Hope he hired a good photographer for an updated credit card photo

@saltyant JFDan is gonna have three powder days..maybe four…#ThisIsGettingGood

Got done riding shortly before 2...grabbed a beer from the car and back to the lodge for some pork belly and tuna onigiri and a Japanese coffee. Then headed to Burton headquarters in Burlington. Stopped at the retail store, who sent me to the repair shop next door. Chatted with the guy there for a bit, but after looking around their website, I already knew the boots were out of warranty. He told me to file an online warranty claim anyway and give him the details. I played with the shop dogs while I waited...he came back 5 minutes later and said a pair of boots is being shipped free of charge. HUGE mf'n shout out to Burton for being awesome. Then stopped at Foam brewers for a few beers. Took a walk along the marina along lake Champlain and getting dinner at Burlington beer now

Kinda. My kid and I went to outback steakhouse when I got here. I got the kukaburra wings and the ribeye. She'll be in town later so we may go somewhere if it's not too late. I really want to grab pizza at fratellis which is the bomb dot com (voted best in flag). Last night I did Mexican takeout (2 beef burritos) although (funny story) before that I went to a pizza place and ordered a veggie pizza. I'm waiting and 10 minutes later they bring out a cold veggie pizza that needed to be heated up. I asked them if they could heat it up for me as I obviously cannot. He said they don't have an oven and refunded me. Apparently they're made to go. Oops. Oh also meeting with friends tomorrow at a brewery near Scottsdale.

Thursday morning before tomorrow’s rain. Still blowing Challenge, Razors was closed; Lights were on (nobody home) and a couple were out so they might be fixing them. Lots of marbles, cookies and icy spots. Main was Ok, Freefall, Sidewinder and Switch weren’t too bad. Upper Midway was marble city. Best snow was on NM/DW, but all the features made it tough to ski with other people on it. They might be packing Challenge with snow so they can push it down to Coming Home at the end of the season like they did last year. Got to take the latest closing prize away from Boulder. I seem to recall last day of last year there was just a narrow path down coming home. The merge into the bottom of Lazy Mile from Sidewinder was like a pinball machine with people turning into it at speed from both directions (lower Sidewinder closed for grooming) and the trail down to the patrol shack had a lot of ice and snow snakes.

After swapping to a new pair of boots. I went back up the Rangeley quad...did a groomed run, then back up and did Green Weaver to nightmare glades. Great snow so I did that twice, followed by a run through Thrombosis glades. After that, I did green Weaver to upper and lower green hornet. Mostly untouched snow there but pretty flat and goes all the way to the bottom beginner lift. Got lunch at the cafeteria, chicken quesadilla and left shortly after 1. Checked out a few fishing spots on the way to Burke, but it was pretty windy and cold, so I didn't bother paying for the one day NH license and kept driving. Staying at the Burke hotel, had ribs and a Frost IPA at The Pass pub. Saddleback is one of my favorite places in the east and I'm glad I was able to hit the Casablanca stuff this time. Never got to the above treeline stuff but the steeper stuff was starting to get windblown after switching boots so probably wasn't great at that point.

Driving to Albany later tonight then hitting Magic tomorrow. Staying in Maine Sunday and Monday nights, planning on Saddleback Monday and probably Tuesday unless I feel like paying for Sugarloaf or Sunday River. Staying at Burke Tuesday night and riding there Wednesday. Not sure on the plan after that. Either Jay or somewhere in NH Thursday then start making my way back and probably a short session somewhere Friday. Snow and beer reports to follow after tomorrow

I want to see a Moose!!! I depart EWR for Denver Sunday morning!!

Yeah, Blue definitely rocks this year, esp. the last few weeks with the cold weather and with 3 expresses running in the middle of the week. WJW. I now have these occasional attacks of nostalgia remembering how there would be a mile long line in front of the only express, with the second one scheduled to open only in an hour 'cause there's no staff. Or how I'd go down from Summit lodge at 9am only to find that they're not loading any lifts yet. Those good old times...

Welcome back @eaf Now if only @guitar73 would return Camelback has been a complete joke this season. Yes, now they have the majority of their trails open, but it took long enough. There are numerous issues at Camelwhack this season, so what you heard on the lift is 100% real news. The Stevenson Lift just opened for the first time two weeks ago. That's right, January 17. Meanwhile True Blue has been nearly 100% open since probably Mid December. Here are the various reasons I heard for this debauchery: Lack of water for snowmaking due to drought, and some government agency limiting their water access (they use a lot for the water park) Mass resignation of snowmakers; I heard there were only 3 snowmakers for the whole mountain a while ago, and they had to borrow some from Blue The Stevenson Lift failed inspection 4 times, rumour has it. When it apparently passed on 1/17, they finally opened it. It continues to malfunction sporadically a lot per rumors on the Face Books Needly to say, I will NOT be renewing my Peak to Peak pass next season, 2025/2026. I will stick to True Blue. That's my Boy Blue, I'm stuck on Blue, let's all go to Blue woooooohoooooo

Huh?? What does this have to do with Arizona snowbowl

I wouldn’t feel bad for these people it’s badass they get to ski in Arizona. Weather patterns are weird. Tahoe had like 3-4 dry seasons in a row and it was 49 at the top of Jackson hole two days ago. The fact that people in Phoenix have better local skiing than Philly peeps is remarkable.

Fake news and I’m anxiously awaiting Saltys response

Hey, @saltyant, heard a ridiculous thing on the lifts yesterday about CB still being like 33% open and lots of season pass holders holding an eternal gripe against it and swearing to never ever... Something related to lack of water?? Checked the maps, and it ain't true at all. Maybe not 100% open, but definitely way more than 33%. How was your experience this year?

@GrilledSteezeSandwich Blue Mountain, the True Mountain, is getting some rain today. I bet you'll be really excited today while skiing at Jackson Hole that all this rain at Blue will be really good for the snowmaking retention ponds.

Oh I’m more than ready. Hope I don’t choke

After a quick stop at the lodge, I did Vista glades again. Some fun drops in there and deep snow. Then back to the top and did Cobrass to Five Corners, which had some nice snow. Up Timberline to Adam's Solitude, which was a fun glade...nice wind lip at the top to jump off, and a few cliffs (didnt do those). The runout is actually pretty fun, single track with a good enough pitch to avoid getting stuck in the deeper snow. Did Doug's woods twice after that. Really fun glades, hit some small drops. Also did Spellbinder twice, steeper bumps at the top and mellow powder field at the bottom. Show off under the lift was a fun intermediate that still had some powder. Did Adam's Solitude again and launched the wind lip at bit too fast and ate it...after that, I decided it was time to head back to the Vista side. Did a groomer down to the beginner double and hit a green trail with good powder but too mellow of a pitch as expected

1/30/24… Day 2 of 7 Hey all, I’m finished with another fun ski day at Jackson hole mountain resort. We arrived at the ski resort around 830am and it was -10 at the base and 28 degrees at the summit. First civilian gondola again and down amphitheater first which was decent eastern cord. Up Thunder and down Laramie which was groomed and kind of stiff. Then up Sublette and skied Bivoac which saw a rare grooming and was fairly edgeable chalky snow… We repeated Bivoac two more times then skied back to Thunder and skied Ampitheater to lower Tram line. We then took the Tram up and was basically a walk on Tram. Rendevous bowl was really bad refrozen crud and bumps…makes sense as it hit 49 degrees yesterday at the summit. Back to Bivoac a fourth time and up Sublette then down to the Hobacks. I really enjoy the spicy entrance but just like in R bowl, most of the hobbers got cooked yesterday but some decent snow along the boundary line…wow I got really sweaty on that run and then freezing cold as the valley was still about zero degrees. Then up union pass to teewinot and up apres vous and skied a random groomer and had my fill. Just like yesterday we skied about 12-13 runs for a little over 20k of vertical. Lunch was at Osteria I had some sort of Italian soup and margarita pizza. JFDan is now in town and tomorrow Nazareth Jay and Dirtwolf arrive. JADIP

An og like you is straight cross point, bless this home and stuff ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Glad the snow came around for you ridge, get some

More pics later but Timberline side at Bolton is incredibly good. Especially Adam's Solitude and @GrilledSteezeSandwich woods

Sunshine and snow LFG!!!

Bolton conditions today range from deep powder to windblown ice on the upper groomers. Lower mountain groomers are great and the glades are incredible. Did a few groomers and natural snow trails, along with enchanted forest, then 2 runs down Vista glades. On the second run in Vista, I found a pair of sunglasses so I returned them to lost and found and heading out and over to timberline lift in a few

Yup, we say that too. It's not the quality, but quantity. Gotta get all the slopes open, regardless of how shitty the conditions.

What do they care. They’re selling lift tickets and season passes regardless. Our gripes are irrelevant. Especially when they know that’s ours asses will all be buying passes again in march.

Been so dry here! Haven’t had a good storm since Christmas week. This week we are having beautiful sunny skies and warmer temps. Took my XC skis to the top of McClure Pass this morning. Lots of peeps snowmobile there so it’s packed down. Saw some tracks veer off the road and decided to follow them. Didn’t get too far as my skis were just too skinny and I was just sinking. Fell once going downhill and there was no bottom, was hard to get up. Looking forward to bringing my fatter XC skis back there and play around off road Someone had a beast of a machine in the lot. Said they have a cabin 7 miles up the forest road

Day 1...hella fun with a bit of fresh snow. It was exactly what I had anticipated. Sweet and soft western groomers with some playful stuff off the sides of the trails. Off piste is probably not very smart given the drought situation, although I saw a few tracks here and there. I didn't want to risk it. Started off sunny up top then the clouds rolled in with a little bit of pixie dust falling from the sky. They may call it an inch when it's all said and done. Either way my best runs of the season so far. High or low tide... There's just something about the snowbeezy that just feels like being at home. And I probably love it even more than I did yesterday. The locals were pumped this morning. High fiving each other and blasting bob Marley. You'd think they be bummed over the lack of snow but instead it's like whoville on Christmas morning. It didn't matter. Excellent ski day!!

Day 32. Short day. Fit in a few runs before noon. My daughter and son-in-law and their dogs are arriving later so they can leave the dogs with us while they are in Japan. l

So far so good!

Umm it's pretty clear from town. Unless something rolls in here I think we're skiing under the AZ sunshine today

Fun night runnin' NASTAR GS gates with @NastarGlenn and OG posters/PASR RACR's @Johnny Style and @Racechick. Lots of grunting, laughing chills, spills and that darn speedy Darnell ate all our wings lol!

Went down muleskinner and off into the trees next to it, which were wide open glades and really good snow. Tried hiking another spot but it was pretty deep too. Didn't take any pics on the glades but took a few on muleskinner and lower peachys peril. Boot is done for at least for now. The part where the set screw threads into is totally ripped out. Back at the car for a beer and figure out what to do next

It's good this morning. About 3" up top. Did a few powdery groomers and then started to attempt the hike to the above treeline snow fields. After like 1000 feet of trudging through waist deep snow i felt something dragging at my boot...boa coiler hanging off. Shit...popped it back on but it's not coiling or loosening. Gave up on the hike after that. Heading out muleskinner and back to the base to see if I can fix it. If not I have a spare pair in the car although brand new so they are gonna hurt

im waiting for Tomers lastest video, but yesterday he had 16" for the weekend at JH, and used words like jackpot for JH, but we shall see. Doesnt sound bad, thats for sure.

After lunch, I rode the Rangeley quad up and did a green trail to Wooly Bugger glades. Steep and tight trees up top, along with a couple bands of big rocks. Obviously didn't jump off any. It flattens out towards the lower part so I hiked back to a groomer and back to the Rangeley quad. Went down Green Weaver to the Kennebago quad and took a run down upper governor and over to Family Secret, which is under the lift line. Back to the top and then took the Firefly traverse to Dark Wizard glades. The first part is pretty steep and at least today, required a mandatory drop or straight line depending on where you drop in. Then hit Casablanca glades again and tight line after that. Took that all the way to the bottom, found a ton of powder on lower green hornet, but it's a mellow green trail so couldn't stop or mess around too much. Finished out the day riding groomers until 3. Hit Portage tap house in the next town over and had a flight and duck for dinner. Tomorrow is gonna be bitter cold and windy so I'll probably stick to the glades and some groomers. I won't do the hike to terrain again but doubt that'll be open anyway

After lunch, I headed back out. Did Sorcerer and Talisman again, then two runs on twilight zone. Left around 1 and stopped at a new brewery about a mile away, Twisted Horn. They weren't serving anything on draft yet due to legal stuff but I sampled their American pale ale and hazy IPA. Picked up a 4 pack of the pale ale. After that, I left for Saddleback. It was snowing a lot so it took longer than expected. At a brew pub in Rangeley Maine now, got an IPA and blueberry BBQ chicken pizza

Hey all, looks like another grate weekend is coming up. Does anyone plan to be at Camelback this weekend for First Tra x?? Rumor has it Coolmoor carpet is open and maybe Marjorie's Delight will be groomed.