Maybe CB doesent feel the need to have their mountain infultrated with park rats...ever thought of that? I think they are going for a different type of crowd...especially with the new hotel. As far as free ski areas go, CB is about as good as it gets in the poconos. It is huge compared to pretty much everything else in NEPA, and there is a nice variation of all different types of terrain. My only gripe with CB is that their rangers always seem to have a stick up their asses, but ski patrollers pretty much everywhere in the poconos are getting closer and closer every year to the way ther rangers are at CB (with the exception of jack frost, but im sure that will change as well as soon as they lose a big lawsuit like CB has in the past).
There are plenty of mountains in the poconos with outstanding parks now, why bash on the ones that choose to keep more of a traditional ski area? Dont like it, dont go; no one is forcing you to.
anyway, enough rambling...
Jordan