C1erArt

One bad thing about Jack Frost is the need to stop at the top of the east mountain headwalls to check if it is clear. Fortunately you can check the slope out on the way up to see if it is likely that rentals are traversing the slopes.

Had a family of fairly good skiers from the Poconos get in trouble at Loon 15-20 years ago. The dad crashed on a icy closed slope after a rain/freeze event (a lawsuit claimed that the method of closing was inadequate). The daughter and son-in-law took their skis off to get him. Father and daughter died, son-in-law had a concussion.

“If you don't do it this year, you will be one year older when you do.”

So much depends when demoing on the tune. If they sharpen the side edge, and don't polish the bottom edge, they can develop a hanging burr that will tend to have the ski rail (get stuck going straight or catch an edge). Also, if you are used to a ski with a detuned tip and tail they can also be hard to initiate a turn and tend to catch edges. If they don't have the right wax, the skis can feel like slugs. My daughter would ski with us, but got into soccer, and that got to be an all year thing.

The race team seemed to be having fun on it.

One of those days I wished I switched over to Blue. Conditions were good, but there was a race on Challenge, so it and the glade was closed. Got to east mountain right at eight and found Already closed for the race team practice. Skied River Shot until they started the second lift about 9:30, then with both lifts feeding one slope it became downright dangerous. The only other black slope, t-bolt, was packed too. Decided to call it a day. On a brighter note, my new Bluetooth tunes controller seems to work better than my old Square Jellyfish. Had to put some gel epoxy on the buttons so it would work with my gloves.

No coats or gloves, the table is open for use. JF did remove one bin near the cafe for gear, but they do have a free bag check in area.

When you hit 65, it takes a little longer. Plus I had some surgery in November to fix a legacy of the old raft guiding days. Feels good to get out.

Floyd's was the 52 mph. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

Second day on the slopes due to the flu around Christmas. Got there today at 8 and left about noon. Blowing snow on River Shot and Challenge when I got there. Great conditions, Floyd's was well groomed, with no sign of the race team. The bottom of River Shot was ungroomed and had some firm rollers. T bolt was groomed and very fast, Challenge had a few inches of soft stuff over a nice hard pack, didn't see any ice anywhere either. A couple of people being sledded off late morning. The highlight was Challenge glade, buttery soft, flat among the trees, pretty well filled in down to the race shack. No lift lines anywhere, but T Bolt slopes started getting crowded with classes and toddlers when I decided it was time to leave. 17 runs, top speed 52. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

Fracking central for PA now.

If you have a moderately high clearance vehicle there are some nice gravel roads on the west side of Pine Creek (grand canyon of PA). Fishing, camping, biking, float canoeing - nice area.

Based on yesterday's report, went out for a few runs today. Got there about noon, things were pretty soft, but Draufganger was nice. Mittle-weg was almost unskied and was almost like skiing it mid winter. A few parting shots:

Haven't heard one way or another, plenty of snow, base depth is pretty good. But the lifties were new, so they might be having people leaving for summer jobs. Before you ask, Floyds was 53.8 mph. Got the skis tuned at Whiteface, and they did a good job with the edges and put a nice spring structure on it (no grabbies on the soft stuff yesterday), but put on a warm wax that was pretty slow and hard to manouever in the soft stuff we got. Did a home tune and it turned out great on the slopes, love that Dominator Zoom was - great range, skied on it all year. Touched up the edges too (a lot of rocks peeping up a Whiteface at the top of Mountain Run, they got 35" of snow and it was all blown off at the top of Mountain run lift). Skis definitely aren't new any more.

Out for a couple of hours before the rain started on Saturday. Was there at eight and the temperature was 51, 58 when I left. Cloudy with no wind but a few sprinkles once in a while. Only five cars in the lot when I got there but people arrived later in the morning. All slopes are open with a lot of snow on the ground. Everything was groomed to a very good condition, except the right side of Floyds which they left bumped up. Snow remained pretty solid all morning, packed up and left about 11 after some really nice sets of turns. Crowd first thing in the morning, Really crowded mid morning. Some nice cord first thing.

Well that's embarrassing, I checked my charge card from last year and the prices are the same. Just the $60 insurance add-on. When you get to be my age and still try to do the stuff you did when you were 50, the insurance is not a bad idea. Drifter pass is 18 to 29. Gen Y?

On a less encouraging note, looks like JF tickets went up $160 for my wife and I. $100 ticket price and $60 'insurance' (without which it appears the ticket is completely non refundable for any reason). Have to decide before the end of April, but my wife is skipping a season pass next year, with all the rain and Friday low price ticket floods, she didn't come close to getting the money's worth. The $300 'millennial' offer is good until December. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Back from Whiteface, skied 7 of 8 days with 2 travel days. After the storm on Tuesday, only the lower mountain was open on Wednesday due to high winds. Thursday the upper was open but totally not groomed, so I didn't head up. Friday Mountain Run and Skyward were groomed, but bumped up quickly, Saturday the grooming lasted longer. Top of Mountain Run was totally blown off down to ice, but the lower 3/4s and Freeway were great. Wilderness was pretty bumped, but had a groomed path down the side. Niagara and Victoria headwalls got pretty bumped after lunch. Lookout lift was running on Saturday (!) but the runs looked pretty sketchy, and a bunch of people were poaching the slides, with blind eyes from the top chair 6 lifties. Weather was cloudless and warm on Saturday, with Mount Washington beyond Lake Champlain clearly visible from the top of Skyward on Big Whiteface. Great trip. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I'm a groomer kind of guy. Besides, you're looking at one of the reasons I usually buy used skis on eBay. Too many other toys.

The KOA near Whiteface was bought a couple of years ago by people that keep it open all year, so we have electric. Not locking hubs, just standard Ford 4 (6 actually) wheel drive. With all that weight, it handles pretty well in the snow. They make triple slide outs now, ours is a single, which is plenty for my wife, our dog and I.

Goes pretty much anywhere. We use it to have my wife come out to the projects I work on, since retirement is a ways away.

Just Rossi 88s

Icy skiing over the weekend (although lower Mountain Run, Wilderness, Niagara headwall, and Thruway were nice. 35 inches of snow yesterday, spent the morning digging out, and hit the mountain in the afternoon. Gondola, Cloudspin and Mountain Run lifts closed, but Face Lift and Freeway lifts open. A lot of people on the slopes, most struggling with the poof like I was. This morning after cleaning off the truck and camper roof twice yesterday. No snow on the ground Monday. Last night, our Pilot and brother-in-law's trailer. Actually that wasn't our Pilot, it was his F-150

I think probably. Get the weekend one with blackouts. My wife will skip it, though. Hopefully they will have the black Friday sale again.

So I didn't have much time Friday due to a eye doctor appointment to get more contacts, so I decided to hop over to Blue 4 or 5 miles down the road from me. Get there about 10. It wasn't awful, after waiting on line 20 minutes to get a ticket, the 6 pack line and slopes were uncrowded. Fans were blowing when I got there, but stopped after the first couple of runs. Challenge and Razors were pretty nice, but kind of gravelly after picking up some speed and with some ice in the middle. Mainstreet and Dreamweaver were a lot smoother with some loose stuff, but had people on them. Liked the high speed lifts, but had to talk to people on the chair-what's with that? At Frost, once I have to start sharing a chair, it's time to leave. Back to Frost today. 14 degrees at 8 o'clock. They actually blew a lot of snow (in March!). Floyd's was groomed pretty nice, the bottom of Rivershot wasn't groomed and was a little rattle-ly. Headwalls were a mix of soft cord and machine powder. They did get half an inch from flurries last night. Telstar was closed and pretty bare, never ski that anyway - no great loss. T bolt was groomed and very smooth and fast, Challenge was left with some powder laid down after the groomer finished. A fairly strong wind blowing up the hill covered tracks pretty quickly. First run on Challenge-see anything missing? Hint: starts with t and ends with ks.