saltyant

Haha, thanks, but I'll always leave it up to GSS to do the weekend TRs for Blue. That express lane sounds nice, I think that'll win me over in the long run and hopefully the disastrous crowd size today will soon be a distant memory.

So far, here's how I rank my 4 days out from best to worst (considering crowd size, lift speed, terrain, snow quality, parking, etc) 1. Opening Day at Camelback with Ski2Live (fun snow, fast speed, no lift lines at all, free cocoa) 2. Opening Day at Blue (no lift lines, fun terrain for early season, decent snow; slower lift than CB) 3. Camelback yesterday (got stuck on flats, Marc Antony got crowded) 4. Blue today (long lift line is a deal breaker regardless of snow quality) I use tracfone which is $6.33 a month and have limited data. I refuse to pay $50 a month or whatever for Verizon, so I try to find free wifi whenever possible.

I'll wait until most terrain is open at both to make a decision, obviously. I'll pick a busy weekend (MLK Day or President's Day) to see how the crowds move, and how the VIP line compares to Camelback's singles line. To me, the most important thing by far is how long it takes between runs because I get bored if it takes too long, and anymore I just want to leave.

Wow, what a difference the high speed quad makes.

Camelback looks pretty empty today, but they moved the webcam so you can't see the lift line. I guess everyone is getting tired of one green run and went to Blue! Can't wait to hear what Ski2Live decided to do.

I agree. The only solution was more scanners, which didn't appear possible. Which is why I'll be waiting for the six pack to open.. shouldn't be too long now.

The lift attendants can still direct people to Burma. Sure, people can refuse, but I think most would comply. I think this would be easier to do if the RFID reader was moved back, or if an extra reader or two were installed.

Lol. Both options are equally bad, and I'm not sure which one's worse. I'm done for the week unless some mid-week skiing opens either at Blue, Bear Creek, or Spring Mountain. After 6 runs at Blue I complained and got a full refund, a $39 gift card. I'd rather not ski at all than stand in line for 15-20 minutes, and then ride a 6-8 minute lift. No thanks. I'll stay home the rest of the day and wait until the real skiing begins next weekend. The management of the lines at the Main Street and Burma chairs was a complete joke. At one point, 1/4 to 1/3 of the chairs were empty despite 100-200 people in line. The RFID reader bogged it down, and the lift attendants put absolutely no effort into managing the line, such as pairing singles and queuing people up at BOTH lifts after passing through the RFID reader. After I quit for the day, someone mentioned that they started doing more traffic management, probably due to my complaint. Whatever though. I had a decent time during the few minutes I actually spent skiing, and tailgated afterwards with the PASR crew. The snow was pretty decent, though Upper Main Street was horrible - the first third was nothing but death cookies. Lazy Mile was a very nice run until the left turn, and even then it wasn't too bad. I even had a good time on Midway, which was far better than it was on opening day, and not too crowded.

Lol dont bother. 15-20 minute wait only going to get worse

Why dont the lift attendants get people through the rfid readers and queue them up for both chairs ahead of time? The terrain is great but I'm just baffled at how the line is stagnating with so many empty chairs on both lifts.

Wtf wheres the singles line. 99% of Burma chairs are empty. Very inefficient.

No thanks. I didn't eat anything because there was no free food this time. I stopped at Burger King on the way home but they forgot not to put ketchup/mayo on my Whoppers, so that kind of ruined my dinner.

A ski shop wants to sell me Volkl RTM 81's for $599. My plan is to wait until April and see if he'll give me a lower price. But if I find a deal online I'll consider it.

Good idea. My plan for tomorrow is take the vista chair fist, then hit lazy mile a few times, and then both main streets. I'll get out of the way so all you experts can tackle the fresh stuff on Midway at rope drop.

Nope, I just wing it. I was too eager to hit the slopes today and didn't feel like spending extra time eating soup. I just ate whatever was most efficient and fast. I had a bad experience with sushi once - ate a whole spoonful of wasabi in college. Not fun. I think I need new skis then. I saw other people moving across the slopes effortlessly.

At Blue when you turn right at the top of Main Street chair, there's a slight uphill grade. It was somewhat tiring on opening day but nothing like what I had to deal with today. Fortunately tomorrow I believe I can avoid that by turning left and hitting Lazy Mile.

I tried everything today to move on the flats. It wore me down. Either I'm just not doing it right, or my skis need wax or it's my skis in general. Liftlines were a little longer than last week but still not bad at all.

Thanks. Yep, I mentioned that I had white rice. I hate noodles - they are way too difficult and time consuming to eat.

I don't know what you're talking about, that's an actual photo of my fortune cookie wrapper and fortune.

Same, debating whether I want to get up early or save $14 and go at 12. Don't go to Camelback unless you enjoy going really, really slow (see my brand new report)

It has always been my dream to try cross-country skiing, and today my dream was finally realized at Camelback Mountain. The day had started off promising with ample freshies inbound. I headed to East Gourmet Buffet and had pepper chicken, oysters, white rice, bananas with red gel, and tap water. I tipped the waitress one dollar. Then I headed to Camelback and received the awesome news that preferred parking was free for all today. My day was just getting better and better, and I saved 72 steps (mostly uphill). Little did I know that I would need all the energy I could muster to survive cross-country skiing. The snow was coming down like crazy, and the mountain looked identical to Colorado. I knew crowds would be pretty heavy because other mountains (i.e. Blue) are in extreme remote Alpine tundra backcountry and only accessible by sled dog. I called it right - Upper Marc Antony was indistinguishable from the Schuylkill Expressway at rush hour. Due to the massive undertaking earlier this season to open snowtubing before Blue, no other trails were available, and all skiers congested the narrow passage, causing major delays and several near-misses. At this time I discovered two new cross-country trails. The first was at the top of Upper Marc Antony, and the second was right before Honeymoon. Due to the slow snow, getting down the mountain required an incredible amount of exertion at both of these spots. I pushed and pushed and wore my arms out. I also tried using the ice skating technique, but that wore my legs out after a while. A former instructor gave me a lesson on how to ski cross-country more efficiently. I improved a little after receiving his wisdom, but by this time my energy levels were drained, and ski wax was far beyond my reach. I made 25 runs today, less than half compared to last Saturday when conditions were epic. To conclude, the scenery today was spectacular, and the snow was amazing. If Camelback had opened either Upper Cleo, or even James’s Way, those trails would have replaced the need to ski on ultra flat terrain, and I'd likely still be skiing for 4 more minutes. Those two trails would not have required a lot of snow, and Upper Cleo would have also alleviated much of the congestion on Upper Marc Antony. Overall, I am a little disappointed with the terrain today, which could have been much, much more fun especially with the surprise blizzard. But a Camelback official assured me that half the mountain will be open by next weekend. Hopefully by this time the gnarliness will return to Camelback.

Possibly. At BK now. Once I get home I'll reassess available options. I just know I cant do another day of these 2 trails at CB.

Up to 73 seasonal runs on Upper Marc Antony and Honeymoon. Kind of getting repetitive. But still fun enough to keep riding the lift back up and doing another run.

Im only taking 5-10 minute breaks in the lodge. Cross country skiing is exhausting and I need frequent breaks. i'm an old man. Hell I'm almost 30.

I poached some glades. Skiied between like 2 trees.