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Showing content with the highest reputation since 03/28/23 in Posts

  1. I first came to Utah in 2000 with all 30 some members of my family and for at least a decade straight a group of us came every year so I for sure will always have massive rose colored glasses for Mormon adjacent skiing. I left Newark yesterday at 7am Est and was skiing at 1245 MST. They got 5 inches the night before and no one was home, so I ripped the big dog groomers where fun and low effort intersect. Keno, Tycoon, Naboob they have endless fast interesting medium pitch groomers served by endless high speed lifts. I had to be back at the airport to pick up family members but I racked up 17 runs of by far the best snow I've skied all year. We went Thai from in town and I ate mad Penang curry and passed out fat and happy. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It was supposed to snow like an inch overnight but we woke to it nuking and six inches on the ground. Massive, wet, PNW like flakes it was most definitely very un-Joseph Smith like. My brother and I were out the house early on a mission to get Steins untracked, we found 30% water, mariana trenching snow. It's kinda windy windy and the snow is coming down 2" an hr kinda hard so vis is negative ray Charles on the skate from the top of Wasatch. I can find it in my sleep but I almost end up down Powderhorn it's all just white. All my money is on finding the pines on the left before the first headwall. The wind is coming over the back and left side will be plump if I can find some vis. Left side trees show up right before my luck runs out and bam its on. Boot deep chunder turns, where the snow comes off in sheets. My brother who was 15ft behind me is who the fuck knows where, you still can't see shit but I'm not stopping. , Where it's normally hot to trot its all straight down the fall line and you can jump off everything........ Best run since I went to the pnw and I still can't see anyone out. Peeps did eventually show up but until 1pm or so we did nothing but untracked........... Easy right off Ontario bowl nobody home, all of lady Morgan except the green nobody home, pretty much anything in the woods nobody was home. My brother claimed best sleeper day since the Pow Mow days. It was the sloppiest snow I've ever seen in UT and it was so, so, so much fun. Dinner was low key Italian from the place at the St Regis top golf because we ate mad seafood at Rime for lunch. All of my pics look like the second one just white and trees but my brother got one of me later in the day so you know I'm not joshing.
    20 points
  2. Definitely a nice day with awesome visibility. Could see Philly and Manhattan.
    19 points
  3. Just finished up a quick 3 days at my favorite mountain Taos Ski Valley. This was the first time that we’ve gone as a family and I didn’t put my kids in ski school. Skied a bunch with the family which was a blast. It’s nice that my kids are good enough now to follow me around some fun terrain, and I got a kick out of showing my son the steeps in west basin which he had never hiked to before. The weather was warm and sunny all three days but the snow remained nice and chalky so everything was in play aside from some slopes that face south which are rarely good anyway. On day 2 my kids and I shared a lift ride with pro skier Connor Ryan (@sacredstoke) who I was familiar with from a fifty project episode and also “Spirit of the Peaks” Movie. Awesome friendly guy and we had a great conversation and shared our stoke for skiing. Highlights were skiing Kachina with my daughter and seeing bighorn sheep up top, and taking my son into Stauffenberg and St. Bernard in west basin which are some of the most legit steeps in North America. Wish I could stay longer but I’m blessed to get it in if even for just 3 days.
    19 points
  4. In Ferris Buehlerian style I postponed work and hit the road for a super exclusive xxxlub in the Skills. Somehow it's winder than Blue, like every trash can must be in the Hudson windy but the bright sun makes it warm. While technically snowing it's so light it evaporates as quickly as it appears. For an exclusive xxxxluub the lodge looks like the first class lounge at the Scranton Wilkes-Barre international Airport circa 1973.....which I kinda love. Appropriate for the greater Winkle area the upper mtn pod has been asleep foprp a bit and it's the lower quad and the sixer thatmnemonic goes to the other nipple top. The quad pod had 3 legit ways down all pretty much variations of lazy mile. While excellent look out the window skiing probably not the thrill your looking for. The sixer pod though was the star of the show with 9 or 10 legit ways down, all good smooth super grippy snow. A short shot called the wall held soft moguls but I thought the best was one called like maverick and wheelchair, trail maps don't concern me. Long razors like straight shots with nobody home I mostly ran those. Around 230 being the good worker I am, I decided it best to get to work and now I'm driving past the scenic lamington River. Super good day and worth checking out during the week, particularly if you have an ikon.
    18 points
  5. I'm seriously feeling the post Jackson Hole blues right now as I slump into my desk chair to stare at my computer for 8 hours and catch up on emails and work BS. After a few runs yesterday morning before heading to the airport, travel back was a breeze through ORD to PHL, and I rolled back into the kunk around midnight. After thinking about it the whole way home last night, I can say is that JH is a place that feels very different from anywhere else I have skied before. My two big takeaways are: The sheer consistency of the steepness across the mountain. I like the natural feel of the mountain. It is like skiing as Mother Nature designed it. My 4 days were the perfect intro and got a taste of everything there is to offer. Yea, the first day I was not feeling well and made a vomit deposit in the hobacks. On second day I felt like a weakling due to not eating at all the first day. Had some terrible vis days and some sun at times. A little sad about no pow other than an angry inch but oh well. Last run off the tram down a sunny Rendezvous bowl then ducking under the clouds to bottom before heading to the airport was a perfect way to wrap the trip up. Can not wait to get back. Thanks to the boys @GrilledSteezeSandwich @AtomicSkier @mute1080 @NMSKI for being fantastic guides and showing me around. Oh, and a word of advice... Never trust a fart...
    18 points
  6. Rode this morning c1er in the house but he was too fast on rasins and I could never catch him. I pretty much went up to ski rasins, it looked primo from the lift yesterday and I hadn't ridden it at all. First chair I was alone and with no AS out front to give me a preview I stuck to 90% speed but about half way down I realized it was straight butter and let them go. It was so nice to open them up a bit and make endless plunging arcs in what was 9/10 razors. I rode that 4 or 5 times in a row but everyone else had the same idea and it got too crowded for speed runs. Lazy was most excellent, coming soon is exactly the same, ratty headwall but primo grip. Sadly the blew and were blowing on upper main so that was far more scrambley then the weekend but still smaller cookies so medium rippage. Not surprised but sad to see no action on switch or side, they were blowing the yellow fans, upper main and the first headwall on challenge. Maybe the biggest news I met the dude sleeping in his car. Eric from Maryland he stays at the AT lot as blue wouldn't let him live in theirs. Hyper stoked to ski blue, so much I had to re think my general bitching about all the dumb stuff they do. He was aware of our group and came up to me from my bright clothing but good dude with an interesting story.
    17 points
  7. Since the season at Blue is over decided to use our ikon passes and head up to VT with my son for the weekend. Forecast was looking rough but I’d rather ski in shitty weather than look at it out the window. Was sprinkling off and on during the morning but not bad enough to need our ponchos. It has snowed 4-7” overnight but then turned to rain so the fresh snow was heavy but there was a lot of untracked pow, especially in the trees . Skied mostly tree runs all day since they were such a a blast. Got WARM this afternoon when the sun came out and was classic spring skiing. Might have gotten a tan even. Run of the day was “sap line trees”, just a fun flowy shot through the trees off of the gate house lift. My son is a terrible influence on me. He eggs me on to do jumps and daring things and of course I do it. I think we’ll ski Killington tomorrow, maybe Pico.
    17 points
  8. The sun was bright ☀️. The snow was everything from boilerplate to pure slush. And a little bit of nice chalk in between. mountain reported 21” last week but the Cirque traverse was pretty rocky. Welcome to March sunshine. Great Scott was actually decent just the drop in was sketchy. Had a little late morning show as two guys had hiked up the peak and went into a (as I heard) a rarely open line called Pipeline. Winds were calm up top which I guess I can count as a win.
    16 points
  9. Every year we do a ski weekend for Mrs SnoBunSki’s birthday, so even though she’s still on the IRL for the rest of the season recovering from rotator cuff surgery, we headed North early Friday morning. First stop was a lunch break and a few runs at Magic Mountain. I’m trying to get a little value out of my mostly unused Indy Pass - I think I’m down to around 33 bucks a run lol - and check out the Black Line lift that is finally up and running. My second ride up I spotted the rope drop on Talisman and lapped that a few times, fun corn with a little walk across a grass patch to get back out. It was fuckin’ blue bird! Got back on the road to Lake Bomoseen, a beautiful evening to light a fire to watch the sunset while we waited for the other couple we were skiing with to arrive. Saturday we ski’d Killington, overcast and temps in the low thirties, conditions were rough with sugar piles and ice after the week’s rain. I ski’d tele all day as one of the other skiers was a beginner, it was fun social skiing putting new root combos together and I didnt feel like I was missing much with the conditions. I thought about hitting the Killington-Pico traverse and checked out the entrance, it wasn’t roped but didn’t look inviting either so will save it for another time. Mrs S made the best of her time The forecast had changed from rain/mix to snow and it started coming down hard during apres. Sunday morning woke up to a coating of slush but at Pico they had reported 9”. Got there at opening to 10” or so of thiiiiick snow. Tracked out the lower mountain solo while waiting for the summit lift to spin. The heavy snow was a lot of work, took a quick break followed by a few more down low then got word that the summit lift had opened. The snow was a little better up high, one of my favorite trails anywhere is Summit Glades and lapped that until my legs were cooked. The intermittent wet snow and sleet changed to full on nice snow after lunch. I went back out to do a few more summit runs with our friend but visibility was bad and I had no gas left in the tank so I ski’d right past the summit loading area to call it a day. Ended the trip with a nice dinner pit stop at Rip VanWinkle Brewing.
    16 points
  10. Hey All, I’m here in Jackson hole with Atomic Jeff and Mute, NMSki and Dirtwolf arrive on Thursday. Flight from Newark was at 10:09am EST and me and atomic Jeff arrived at the Jh airport at 12:46pm MST. Went to the 49er, rooms weren’t ready yet. Back to the airport and picked up Mute from his Chicago flight. Back to the 49er, Mutes room was ready and me and AJeffs not ready. We then went to the brewery for a late lunch and finally checked in. Gonna relax a little and then maybe have some supper. It’s super warm in town, upper 30s and not much snow. Looks like the mountain should ski well due to the 5-6 feet they’ve received the past two weeks. Also some snow shower activity. Not many pictures so far, the cloud ceiling was low so I didn’t take any pics from the sky.
    16 points
  11. 02/24/2024 - Travel Rick, son and myself left the house @ 2am headed for Newark to meet up with Slim, Gary, Gah skier George & Jr. for flight @ 6am headed for Toronto, then bro Vancouver. Uneventful flight and even stayed awake for all of Oppenheimer. Good flick. Since we’re actually on an Upper Bucks tour, we had to wait around a bit for the tour bus to arrive. Typical Pacific Northwest weather: rain and fog. Drove through downtown Vancouver because there’s no highway around it. Brilliant! Drive up to Whistler provided some amazing views of the Howe Sound, with mountains knitting straight up out of the water. Unfortunately I was on the wrong side of the bus for pics. After a grocery stop in Squamish, we resumed the ride into Whistler and checked into The Listel Hotel. Some pretty nice digs right next to town square. Dinner was some slices from Dat Tony’s which were delicious, the sauce was crazy good! Recommended for the food, no place to sit though. It didn’t matter since we were starving. Walked around the square a little and stocked up on essentials from the cannabis and liquor stores. Some light snow was falling and supposed to continue through the night. Leaving Newark… Vancouver airport… Vancouver… Squalmish… Witch of something imprint on the mountain… Whistler…
    16 points
  12. Fun times today even though it was a little gray. The steeps were smooth and very nice. Tower 3 was so nice we had to do it twice. @AtomicSkierin paintbrush @AtomicSkierin Tower 3 @dirtwolf in stokeville Dropping in to stokeville hot dogging after a fun tower 3 run
    16 points
  13. January 25…Day 2 of 7 Hey All, I’m back from another fun day at Jackson hole mountain resort. We departed the 49er at 805am and arrived in the village lot at 825ish. Booted up, hit the head and walked up to the gondola. First civilian gondola and down Aphitheater which was flat light but at least not foggy like yesterday. Up Thunder and down Grand which was groomed and very nice. Up Sublette and down Bivoac, yesterday Bivvy was a mogul field and today it was groomed and really nice chalky powdery surface. Skied that to Rendevous trail back up Sublette and did ten sleep bowl to the cirque. Most of the cirque was bumps and a section had been groomed maybe two days ago, first few turns a little slick and better lower down then into some 3D snow in the gully below and back into amphitheater to Thunder. Up Thunder to another grand run to Sublette and another cirque back down to Thunder then another grand to Thunder and then Bivoac to Rendevous train to Rawlins bowl to lower Sublette ridge. Rawlins bowl was pretty nice some semi 3D snow then lower down was where it was above freezing yesterday and refrozen so challenging. I got real sweaty but survived. Up union pass lift over to teewinot, then up teewinot to apres vous down one of the herb routes on AV to teton lift then up teton lift to wide open, past the Casper chair over to the bottom of lower tram line. Mute said we skied just under 20k vert and 13 runs…We had lunch at Osteria, then picked up NMSki at JH airport. Dirtwolf arrives in a half hour or so. JADIP
    16 points
  14. I had a conference in St. John's Newfoundland and took some time to do some quick exploration in the area. Got in some really nice trail runs, some good hikes, good beer, etc. It was such a beautiful part of the country. Very cool place.
    16 points
  15. 02/28/2024 - Whistler Up at usual 0-dark thirty, went to look out the window at the forecasted deluge and wondering how we’re gonna stay dry until we got up to the snow line, much to my surprise when I opened the window to see easily 12” or more snow on top of everything and still puking snow. Definitely better than rain, but this is gonna be crazy. We debated going out and standing in the already long lines, not knowing if they were gonna start spinning on time or wait for the bull rush to subside. We decided to let the bull run and we’ll pick up seconds. With the way it was snowing, that wouldn’t be terrible. Out for a walk the lift lines snakes through the village nearly back to our hotel. Stopped for a breakfast sandwich and checked the lines on the way back to find them all but gone. All the alpine lifts weren’t running for obvious reasons and the 2 main gondolas were only serving to mid station, so it was up the Fitzsimmons and then ip the Garbanzo into a snowmageddon. Figuring visibility would be better a little lower, we headed down to Creekside through some of the deepest snow I’ve ever been in. Freshies were still available if you stayed next to the trees. Snow down low was already getting sticky and some needed to drop a layer, so we split up. We headed up the Creekside and then up Big Red. Amazingly people were coming down the lift line without abandon, but we knew what was lurking just beneath the new snow. Garbanzo lift seemed to be the sweet spot holding mostly nice snow and just a little sticky at its base, so we lapped it until we had enough. Not the longest of days, but definitely the most fun skiing through boot, knee, thigh deep snow. Dinner was feee nachos on the club.
    15 points
  16. 02/25/2024 - Blackcomb Ip early as usual so searched the are for breakfast shops and came across a fitting place, Moguls. Had bacon, egg, cheese wrap that they baked after rolling it up which was pretty good. Of course it was raining in the village and pretty hard too. We made our way up to the gondy center and took the Excalibur out. Only took a couple hundred feet and the rain had changed to snow. From the gondy it was up Excelerator into heavier snow and fog. Unfortunately with the wind that was also blowing up higher, 7th Heaven and above weren’t open. Rand down Buzz Cut in the few inches of powder which was fun, but was lipstick on a pig at the bottom. Back up Excelerator as the lines were beginning to lengthen. Took the Jersey Cream express into the eye of the storm. Over a ridge and the wind rocked you like a hurricane. Headed down Wishbone to Cruiser for a nice long run through pow to crust to beginning mush at the bottom. After lunch the fog started to clear but the winds hadn’t really subsided so we headed down to the Blackcomb gondy since there shouldn’t be any lines which there weren’t and we found out why midway up. The winds were picking up and pausing the gondy. At one point we sat for 20 mins as the winds felt like they were going to blow the car off the line! People said they’ve been coming to WB for 17 years and never saw the gondy stop for wind before. You know it’s bad when the lifites are taking vids of the cars flailing. Decided to call it and head back to the hot tub. Dinner was at The Old Spaghetti Factory in high was pretty reasonable for salad, pasta, bread and dessert. Recommended. Afterwords WB on Sundays puts on a Fire & Ice show w/ slope style athletes jumping through a hoop of fire and native Canadians dancing and playing music. Sorry not many pics as it was way cold and windy. View of Whistler while stuck on gondy… Ricing the wind… IMG_8757.mov Fog clearing out… Dinner… Fire & Ice show…
    15 points
  17. 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....
    15 points
  18. Really nice day up at Montage. Probably the most crowded I have ever seen the place but 75% of the people were on the learning hill. Lots of buses. I thought they started allowing uphill but it was just gapers trying to get off of the harder trails because they got lost. Long Haul was running and I rode that for the first time in my life since it was never open every other time that I have been there. Even thought the lifts there are slow, I can't really complain about the place. The snow was great and the trails are a lot of fun there. Nice to get back there and always a good time. 8.5/10 for a PA day.
    15 points
  19. Bluebird! Snow is excellent, chalk like on piste. Off is crusty. Excellent views today. Can see the north rim on the Grand canyon pretty clearly. Sunshine and groomers kinda day for sure. They do need snow though. Still fantastic... Demoing Nordica enforcers which I really like. May purchase after the season. Great day!!
    15 points
  20. Fun day today! Nice and warmed up after my first big mountain day of the year. Hobacks, bivouac woods and washakie were all a blast today. @AtomicSkierin the hobacks. @Dirtwolfin the hobacks. @mute1080 getting silly. Shots from Stokeville
    15 points
  21. 1/24/24… Day 1 of 7. Hey All, I’m back from another fun day at Jackson Hole mountain resort. This morning dawned warm and a little foggy with temperatures in the 30s in the valley and 20s on the mountain. As mentioned earlier there was a car wreck which delayed our arrival by about 30+ minutes but still we’re about to get on the gondola around 910am. First run was amphitheater almost zero visibility..snow was good..not 4” new but about 2”. Up the Thunder lift and down Grand which was 3D snow and hard to see again. Up the Sublette chair and did Rendevous trail first which was nice and empty, some visibility on the lower half. The new South Pass traverse from Sublette to Thunder chair is way better and more direct. Back to Thunder and skied Laramie bowl..which bad vis, it was almost like a funnel from the top so east to stay in a tight line without venturing to far off and bottom half good visibility so you could let the skis run. Then back up Sublette to Bivoac which were big bumps and my first Moe Ghouls of the season. Then back to Thunder again and another Laramie bowl to Sublette. At the top of Sublette Atomic Jeff and Mute wanted to ski the Hobacks and I didn’t want to so I went back to Laramie bowl again then traversed to Casper area, then took Blacktail to Sundance gully to the base. I was a little early to meet the boys so just took the teewinot lift up once to kill a few minutes. Back at the base and Mute and Atomic Jeff were there and we took teewinot to Apres Vous the skied Werner or Hanna to Teton lift then up Teton lift and down wide open to stash park back to apres vous chair and up apres vous again. By this point I had my Phil like Mickelson and skied down to the base..snow was getting a little spring like a choppy. Mute skied a little bit more. We then had lunch at the Mangy Moose…tonight’s supper is at Gather…I also just did a little work getting 1099s ready to send out. Fun fun fun.
    15 points
  22. ...and that's a wrap on '22-23. Mrs S and I beat ourselves up on Skylarke and Superstar on two superstar days of mid/high sixties, sun and slush bumps!
    15 points
  23. Got at least ten runs on learning hill a and b. Also checked off the learning hill connector. Was surprised to see @theprogram4 and learn he was just arriving. Didn't make it to paradise but a solid session for her. Thanks @Schif for going out of your way to say hi. Good day today overall, surprised they didn't lose more snow.
    14 points
  24. Shawnee 3/1/24. Empty. Full sun made it hot and sweaty with a side of ski tan. Great snow. Thankful that they allow uphill travel here M-F. Skinning to the top of F lift is always my favorite way to finish the day. It is almost never open but there is always snow up to it from the side. IMG_6334.MOV
    14 points
  25. Fuckin dead tonight. Best beginner conditions one could ask for. Got 6 runs down the bunny hill. Great success.
    14 points
  26. I skied Spring Mountain last night more for the nostalgia than the skiing. I learned to ski there and try to get back once a year but it's been a few years. Conditions were dust on crust but edge-able. Lift line on the west side was ski-on or a chair or two wait. I had heard that they had an All Weather snowmaking system. This was the first time I saw it and it was blowing out "snow" at 45 degrees. I think it is essentially a sno cone machine inside that blows the shavings out onto the slopes. The production was low and it appears that it would take a long time to cover a slope. When I left around 7:00 there were a lot of kids in well organized group lessons on the main slope. Good to see that they are doing well. SMI All Weather Snowmaking Video.MOV
    14 points
  27. Empty, no racers, BFG and C1er in the house. Rode with Jack and Erik. When I arrived they had mad guns on and the cloud was in full effect, I figured it would correspondingly suck hairy ball sack but I was totally wrong. First run down Main I was still working on believing it was good but just an absolute carpet to arc arc arc. We followed it up with NMDW and while not perfect it was 95%, you can really honk on the turn and hit the two booters with so much speed. Challenge was next and was as good as Challenge gets, super high speed carves into big launches off falls. Rotd was Widow, le chute, lower. Chute was primed for launch and unsurprisingly the pilot was throwing shifties out in the stratosphere. It was so good we rode it like 5 times in a row just extracting every ounce of float possible. I had an absolutely must be done at 11 but between the sublime weather and booterrific conditions I used every last second. Razors was just ok, the colder snow meant the blown shit went to small cookies and coming soon was a shit field of cookies but it didn't matter one of the best mornings this year for sure.
    14 points
  28. 1/23/24 It’s the wife’s birthday “week”, so decided to head up to New Hampshire to celebrate by hitting a bunch of ski slopes on Epic & Indy passes, even through she no longer skis. Outta the house at 6am to stay ahead of any potential feeeIng rain which was successful, as we only encountered a few sprinkles along the way. Rolled into the first stop of the trip at Crotched Mountain. Interesting little hill that would be perfect for beginners, lots of variety of trails and the diamonds aren’t really all that challenging. The mountain is outta the way, so I ended up skiing right onto the lift every run, even with it being Primary day in New Hampshire. Snow was in excellent condition with chalky goodness everywhere, so there was no fear of setting an edge and arcing a turn. The whole mountain has a space theme to it, with the park even named NCC-1701 for all the Trekkies out there. Also had a Rocket Fuel IPA at the bar afterwards. Not a super challenging place, but was able to find a fun line right down under the only lift they had running today. Just a one-under-the-gun on the Epic pass.
    14 points
  29. Best day at blue all season, what used to be an hr but is now 1 1/2 hr drive became 2 1/2 but it was worth it. Everything is good but pdis was an absolute carpet, almost silent skiing which is rare at blue. Lazy was efortless arc and park as it was a hair slow but still most excellent. Crowds weren't bad first thing but they were definitely picking up throughout the morning. No matter my age there is still something about waking up to snow, the bizarre weirdness of it, the sublime beauty and the transformative nature but even that is not as good as showing up to the hill and it actually looks like skiing.
    14 points
  30. Got to CB Tuesday afternoon. Had to find a hole in the storm cycle to travel. In winter when Kebler Pass closes, it’s just as far from Marble as it is from Boulder to get here. There is a route that cuts 30 min off the time, but you skirt the road of Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Did it once in winter. It’s icy, foggy, twisty and desolate. I kept thinking if I slid off the road nobody would find me until spring! So now I drive here via Montrose and stay on the main roads. All of Colorado seems below snowpack levels. When I arrived my house wasn’t blocked by a mound of snow. But maybe winter has finally arrived. Yesterday woke up to a fresh 4”. It was negative temps and the wind was whipping. So I was lazy and took the 10:15 bus. I was told Paradise was socked in and absolutely freezing. So I stayed on the front side. It was bitterly cold. My face hurt after an hour so I left. Today the webcam said 7” when I woke up. By the time I left it was up to between 8-9”. Surprisingly quiet. Again, due to very low viz, I stayed on the front side. Decided to try and work on my very mediocre powder skilz. Did 6 powder laps and a few groomed. Snow was deep!! Only a few pics as it was pretty cold again. Supposed to snow all weekend. It’s a holiday so will probably be busy
    14 points
  31. Been a minute since I had something to post here....Early evening 4ish mile tour through the hood..I even saw a train...Sorry for the sub par pics...
    14 points
  32. Left this morning when the concrete guys were doing our second pour (on freaking Dec 11th) Decided to go to Buttermilk today, they just opened on Sat. Parked at Tiehack, booted up and walked 100’ to the lift, amazing! Saw lots of uphill peeps starting from the bottom and suddenly felt very lazy that today was a lift serviced day. The snow felt a bit better than the other day. Buttermilk is about 2000’ lower than Aspen so coverage seemed thin. Vegetation popping up everywhere. My second run I took another trail and half way down there were lots of brown spots. I was trying to avoid them and then proceeded to eat shit. Looked up where my pole was and saw a nice brown patch I must have skied over, whoops. Never took a lift with anyone, skied right on each time, very empty. When I got home I ran into the neighborhood snow plow guy (who is chatty). He asked me if I wanted to go to Highlands with him later this week, so I guess I will get to check out that mountain for the first time. It’s always good to be on the good side of the snow plow guy! ** edit food report for Doug**. I made homemade floutas/taquitos and took one for a pocket lunch. Even good cold.
    14 points
  33. Hey All, I’m back from day 1 of the 2023-24 ski season at Blue mountain the true mountain. I arrived at the lower lot around 720am and PARidge was already in the house. Also in attendance were Dirtwolf, Mute, Mixilplix, TP4, Antman, Bethlehem Ford guy, Harold, Dime, Kumar, Slim, Indiggio, West Chester crew, Voltmer and many more. On arrival it was mostly cloudy with the temperature in the mid to upper 30s on the upper mountain and around 30 at the base…mad inversion yo…arriving at the super summit safari six pack there were about 25 people waiting at the gates. Opening was on time and I was on maybe the sixth chair with the west Chester peeps who were later interviewed by the WNEP station. First run was easy out to vista to midway to lower Main Street to shuttle to lower park which was pretty good some smallish pebbles but nothing crazy..coverage is excellent midway is a little narrow but deep base. The next few runs lower main stated good, easy out to vista was butter and midway the cookies got churned up but they softened a bit after a few runs turning into small Moe Ghouls. We took the quad once just for a different few and paradise doesn’t look quite ready. I skied burma once and it was better than a lot of times mid season..the corners were surprisingly grippy on my untuned skis. Crowds were light..a few bottlenecks mainly on midway..some needle weaving..one I can’t believe I didn’t bump foots or brush shoulders. Most importantly my boots felt good..my skiing felt solid and I just love that feeling on the drive up on opening day…I rocked out to Redmans”The Goodness” a little extra hard Fun parking lot, I had two beers and chatted with a few people and got some stories from the security guard and peaced out maybe 1145. All in a better than average and earlier than average opening day…PARidge took a lot of pictures This is all I have Ski everybody tomorrow..should be interesting how crowded the runs get with the lift capacity and terrain options..I heard 2,000 tickets were sold for Saturday JAODIP
    14 points
  34. Fun day today. In the house were Dirtwolf, GSS, Mute, Dime, mixelplix and others. Conditions were your standard opening day day fare. Not at all crowded for an opening day. Just glad to be skiing for the first time in 8 months or whatever it's been. Cheers to the new season! Good to be back in the snow
    14 points
  35. I am spending a few days in Queenstown, NZ. First of all, this place is just stunning... Spent the last two days at The Remarkables which is a fun 'little/big' mountain. It is weird as the vertical is similar to Blue but skis much bigger, but all does not have a lot accessible steep terrain. All of the steeper terrain is off piste. Due to light coverage I stayed away except the heavier travels area. Overall a fun place to spend a day, but could see during a good winter this place would be really fun. Lastly, the drive up may have been more exciting than the mountain itself... Crazy windy 13 km road with the last 3km gravel. A few pics below..at add some others later
    14 points
  36. .. and well .. I had not ventured up the final lift until today as it is an old fixed grip lift. I guess that should have told me it was the fun part of the mountain. You are dropped off inside an upper mountain bowl with options everywhere (albeit a lot with thin cover). The slopes were a lot more fun and much less crowded.
    14 points
  37. It was a Good Friday at Killington with @AtomicSkier @NMSKI @Johnny Law slow start to the day, started with the gondi as some stuff was on a delayed opening. Quickly after 10 or so more started opening and things got real nice real fast. i think we are going to the Bush tomorrow. Will dip into the twenties tonight, so a firm start im sure, but should warm up nice. As skitoolives says “get hard on Saturday, and stay soft on Sundays” or whatever.
    14 points
  38. Impromptu road trip to West Mountain for some random hill skiing today. Super reminiscent of the old Blue Mountain vibe. Small place with not a lot open but thanks to Indy I got to check it out. I love these little gems that remind me of what skiing used to be. The snow was nice. Coverage good in some spots, thin in others, non existent on a few trails. A lot of fun runs here and fully open would be a total blast. If anybody gets the chance to swing by this joint I’d recommend. JADIP?
    13 points
  39. Hey All, I’m back from another fun day at Blue mountain the true mountain…closing day perhaps or likely even though it’s not officially closing day. I arrived at 720am and it was in the upper 40s under mostly cloudy skys. In the house were most of the PASRs. First I had a couple mimosas and no shortage of orange juice. JFDan brought an egg casserole and a French toast one and both outstanding. We hit the hill closer to 9am and first was paradise which was thinner than yesterday and ok. Razors edge next and it was the run of the day. It was like three runs in one..bumps and bare spots to start..then choppy non bumps then smoother. I repeated that the entire rest of my first ski session. Back to the lot for sausage, Ribs, steak and all sorts of other things..I had some of the boozy ice coffee that PSUFlyGuy brought and some of the beer Dirtwolf brought and then went back out for a couple more runs. Razors was extra slushy and more bare at the top. I hit some rocks but no damage to my skis. Lazy mike had lots of loose rocks. I wanted to do a poach of the chute and lower Main Street but didn’t. Back in the lot more food and beer and did a shot of Jack with the Boomers and the peanut butter whiskey Dime brought..hungout some more probably got a lot of sunburn, busted out a quick lap and peaced out at like 3pm. All in all fun fun fun
    13 points
  40. It's so depressing. Here are the only pics i got.
    13 points
  41. Hey all, I’m back from another fun day at Blue mountain the true mountain. I arrived at the lower lot at like 712am and only JLaw and Maryland liftee in the house..not to fear many many more PASRs arrived. The temperature was in the mid 40s under partly sunny skys. First civilian quad to challenge which was pretty smooth and a little soft. Good enough for a repeat then Main Street which was super nice soft cord on top and a little choppier spring snow lower down with some skeet spots. I also repeated that then over to coming soon which was nice chop. Sidewinder was very pleasent and I skied that a few times, a few bare spots, lazy mile was smooth and fast..and empty I think because the OG six pack wasn’t running. There were a few liftlines on the quad, as enjorales said, when the OG six pack isn’t running, they have less lift capacity than two years ago. Skiing stayed well and I pressed on repeated the runs that were nice which was almost everything…I ended up skiing I believe 15 runs by 1030..would have been about 17 if not for the lines. Fun parking lot today with a sausage Sunday and Maryland guy gave me a patch with a bird he made cause I’m an early bird..well I sure got the worm today. Rumor has it this is the last week of weekday operation then weekends only, with the forecast it could be possible…so just gotta enjoy every day. I’ll likely be back at Blue Tuesday AM. JADIP
    13 points
  42. Back home. Was a really nice trip…got to spend quality time with my kid, three excellent ski days…a bluebird / groomer day, a good tree day and a powder day, got a brand new helmet worth a buck forty for free courtesy of snowbowl, had excellent pizza and gelato, got a chance to check on the land and area around there, had two on time flights that arrived early and were half empty, racked up Starbucks points and realized that despite wanting one forever, I’m probably not a jeep guy (did come home to a broken fridge though) Till next time. See everyone at blue next weekend.
    13 points
  43. Deserted compared to last Monday. Light pretty flat early, better later. Strong wind blowing uphill most runs, better on NM/DW. All slopes very firm but not icy. Fresh edges on the RTMs helped. Razors closed until about 10:30. Widowmaker closed for gate practice. Main St. In great shape, none of the loose stuff to bother you. 19 runs before noon and my legs still felt fresh.
    13 points
  44. Sitting in Stanley’s at O’Hare waiting for my connection back home. Great trip with great guys. Flat light seemed to be a theme but we made the best of it. It’s awesome to have the best tour guides Atomic and GSS to have the answer for every weather condition. I did enjoy the unexpected room upgrade. Reserved the cheapest double queen room but ended up with a fireplace double queen that had lots of room for activities. My legs are tired so I guess that’s mission accomplished.
    13 points
  45. Since yesterday morning had few people, made a last minute decision to come today as I expected few people. So far place is empty. Somehow got first chair and first civilian run on Main Street…pure carpet. Just did a nice run down razors. This is how I remember weekday mornings pre Covid. Probably will be mashed potatoes. “I remember how it used to be.” -Dr Dre
    13 points
  46. Beautiful day. Boys are in the Hobacks meeting then at base in five.
    13 points
  47. Nice day today. Main first run, especially upper was nearly a western groomer. Everything was decent and there really wasn't much in the way of crowds to speak of. What's most impressive though is the massive amount of snow they were able to crank out with actual cold weather. Come around looked nearly ready. A huge whale on falls and even a few whales on razors. New terrain incoming very soon.
    13 points
  48. This place is insane! It’s truly three dimensional, meaning all shops, apartments, parking, etc are built on different levels. If you see on google maps that grocery store is right next to you, don’t believe it - it’s actually 50 feet down, and to get there you need to take a longish detour along narrow road with cars but no sidewalks. When we arrived yesterday night, we foolishly thought that we would quickly drive up to the ski rental place to pick up a missing pair of skis and be on our way to the apartment. Bahaha! The street is pedestrian only, and there’s no parking nearby. Actually there is, but it’s 50 feet up, and yeah, a detour would be needed and no walking shortcut. Anyway, the weather was spectacular. We woke up to 3-5” of new snow and blue skies. I don’t know why they delayed opening the upper mountain, and why they never opened pass to Zermatt (yup, we didn’t get there today). The cashier even made us sign a waiver that we understand that we’re buying Italian top to bottom day pass while the upper lifts are still on wind hold, and won’t ask for a refund if they never open. Well, by the time we finally reached the top, the entire Italian side opened up, and there was no serious wind in sight. This Zermatt uncertainty is actually very irritating. Contrary to Switzerland (where you can buy a lift ticket 24/7 using a vending machine near the lift or train station), there’s nothing like this here. You either buy the pass online and wait in pick up line, or you buy it on the mountain and wait in even longer line. And you may not even know if Zermatt is going to be reachable when you’re in line because it’s still TBD. Of course the international pass is a little extra, and the cashier cannot give you any advice. Snow is fantastic top to bottom. Nothing like last year where only the highest trails were nice, the lowest were non-existent and in the middle there was frozen teeth rattling cord. Not this time. Crowds are spread out, and lines are typically a minute or two except for a couple hub places where one could wait 10-15 mins to get on a lift.
    13 points
  49. I’m sure somebody could sleuth it if they want, but I can’t even take a guess at the last time I wrote a trip report. Maybe 2019? It’s a little weird not patrolling this year. For the first time in 15 years I bought a season pass for my home mountain, Sugarbush, which happens to be an Ikon Pass. I am up in northern NH (near the shuttered Balsams) visiting family for the holiday, so I decided to use one of my days on the Ikon Pass today for my first day of the season. Since it snowed most of the night last night here, but not SR, and was a weekday, I decided to go over for an afternoon session so the roads could clear up a bit. I left about 10:50 and rolled in about 12:30. Temp was 24. The roads were clear in the tire tracks and I never saw anyone on my side of the road. Sunday River is replacing the Barker Quad this season, which along with the Locke Triple, is their early season terrain. Subsequently, they decided on a very unique opening plan this year. Last year they replaced the Jordan Quad with New England’s only 8 person bubble chairlift, so they decided to open t2b in Jordan. It’s an interesting play because services are limited, it’s in the middle of nowhere, and the trails are long and wide, so they require a lot of snow. After they opened in Jordan, they went back to the Locke Triple, and opened Upper Sunday Punch to Cascades, making sure to avoid going under the Barker lift during construction. Since connecting those two trail pods would require going underneath the Barker Six Pack, they are operating as islands and you can’t ski/ride between the two. They have started expanding from Jordan towards South Ridge, and have some terrain open in Aurora, but they still have a long way to go. Since I was getting there late, and wanted to maximize my runs/enjoyment, I decided to go to Jordan and lap the high speed 8. The parking lot had about 50 cars in it when I got there, and there were still an equal amount of people arriving and leaving at 12:30. I had to do some work in the car, and by the time I booted up and got on the snow it was 1 PM. I went down to the base of the lift and was immediately impressed with size and scope of the terminal. It is massive and entirely enclosed. They even had a temporary customer service area for lift ticket issues inside to the left of the terminal. I scanned through the RFID without incident, and noticed the lift used a conveyor belt system. Since I first used one at Okemo 20 years ago, they have become more prevalent. We’ve got one now at Sugarbush, so I leaned up against the gate and loaded without incident. For a standard chairlift, the chair is luxurious to say the least. All the seats are designated with dividers, there’s molded padding for each seat, and the safety bar locks and automatically lifts at the top. The bubble is heated, but despite the colder temperatures, they had the bubbles locked open and not in use. The lift ride is probably about 5 minutes and was very smooth. They even have an automated PA system that updates you when the lift unexpectedly stops. There were four runs open off the top. Lollapalooza, Excalibur, and Rogue Angel are all separate t2b runs with no crossovers. The final trail was Kansas (connector to the rest of the mountain and very flat) to Northern Lights, to Firestar. Firestar hasn’t been groomed yet this year, and it was under snowmaking, so I opted to skip the bumps for the first day of the year. I hit Lollapalooza 5 times, Rogue Angel 3 times, and Excalibur 3 times. Lolla was by far the run of the day. It’s a couple miles long, has a nice steady pitch, and due to the pitch, wasn’t scraped off. It held a great edge all day. It is a wide trail, but since the snow guns are on skiers left, only about 60% of the trail width was covered and groomed. The snow was stellar. Rogue and Excal are steeper and straighter down to the lift. The top parts of both trails are the steep parts, so they were a little scraped off, but once it flattened out, snow conditions were very similar to Lollapalooza. Those trails were basically groomed wall to wall because they are generally less wide than Lolla. There were so few people that I never had to dodge anyone and only had to pass a single person on all 11 runs. Since the parking lot isn’t at the base of the Jordan Bowl, the last run of the day has to be Lollapalooza so that you can take the side trail over to the parking lot and avoid hiking uphill. The only food at the Jordan Hotel is the Northern Lights Cafe (assuming it hasn’t been renamed since I worked there), so to avoid getting swamped, there were a couple food trucks they brought in just outside the hotel to feed the early season crowds, and I was told from someone on the lift (9 of my lift rides were solo), that this weekend was a madhouse. Apparently there were a lot of upset patrons because the hotel isn’t setup as a lodge, so they weren’t allowing people to boot up inside. Doesn’t affect me since I always boot up in the parking lot, but I can see the downside to starting the season in Jordan. However, I can say that the early season offering there was absolutely stellar. I don’t think I could have had much better of a first day. When I got back to the parking lot at 3 PM, there were only 6 or 7 cars left. My legs were tired and I was getting cold. I warmed up in the car and headed back towards the in-laws. The roads were clear until the last 15 minutes. Overall, I logged 11 runs in 2 hours. That’s about 11 minutes a run round trip. Each run was about 1,250 feet of nice consistent vertical. The drive was easy and the snow was incredible. Well worth using one of my 5 Sunday River Ikon Pass days for the year. It was good to finally get out.
    13 points
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