EdBacon

Not if he's leaving tomorrow. Isn't this not stopping until Wednesday morning?

How the... heck are you gonna get up there in all this weather?

Out nearish Bear Creek. I figure by the time I can get out wherever I would want to go would be a madhouse or tickets are sold out. I might try hiking something instead.

How are the roads gonna be tmw? Dad says 2 feet on the ground in Berks Co.

Looks like you had fun skiing im gonna come.

Turn comments on.

It's the mountains, it shouldn't feel too built up. I don't like going somewhere and feeling like im in a strip mall parking lot. I mean, I know that's an exaggeration to a certain extent. I'm kinda just joking around here. Jay Peak, for instance, has a paved lot and a whole indoor water park circus thing at the bottom too. But I have to say that you can definitely get a feel for a mountain by hanging out in the parking lot. If a place is loved you see that reflected in the community of skiers, and you can find that expressed when folks are out tailgating or otherwise having a fun time. If there's a party atmosphere in the parking lot, you know the mountain is a good time. If everyone shuffles in and out like they're on a schedule, then maybe not. Best lots, in my experience are at Smuggs and Plattekill. Belleayre used to have a good tailgating scene too. Not sure now though. Jack Frost has/had a good one as well. edit: I can't speak for Blue's lot I haven't been in a while like 6 years

Were they 16 year old? Maybe I know them.

They said on insta im coming or whatever is pow only. They opened it as a natural trail with like 10 inches of snow?

Was there like a week after they'd gotten two feet of snow and the woods were untouched around most of the place.

Feels like I'm at the grocery store or something.

I feel like it hits snowboarders worse than skiers. I see a lot of skiers got started at a young age by their parents, and they stick with it as it becomes a kind of family tradition. Most snowboarders got into it because it was the cool thing to do when we were younger, not because our parents took us with on trips. Some might have skier parents who decided to snowboard instead, but for a lot of kids once they grew up a little and got into other things, or moved or had kids or whatever it just dropped by like other things do. There's not the same "its a family thing" keeping it going.

Well check it out soon because the knob is one of those places that may not be with us for too much longer.

Go to the Knob.

Almost everyone I remember snowboarding with at BC back in the 2000s has since quit.

Bear Creek has been posting more park content than I've seen in at least ten years. New Parks at BC Insta handle and I've noticed a bunch of BB regulars have moved other there.

Does anyone send it off those boulders or is it all ice?

I ran into a French guy at Camelback and broke my finger one time.

Its a bit like JF. Upside down. Lodge on the top. Similar amount of vert on the river bluff. Same kind of short stepped headwalls where it did get steep. Nothing sustained or difficult and there's only like three or four ways down from the top, and too many merges/crossovers but I guess they do that to boost trail count. Could still be a cool spot if they put the money and care into it.

9AM I got up late.

Looking at the closed trail. Not poaching just looking.

Left my bank cards at home. Had to find a bank for emergency cash to get gas. Lucky I didn't start looking around the middle of nowhere that this place is in. Big Bear still had tickets available going into the weekend and since I'm checking out Shawnee tomorrow I figured I'd get another day in somewhere. It was the only place with space available. Parking lot is paved, so I wouldn't go back anyway. Place feels more like a country club than a ski area. It used to be private, I believe. It was designed by the same guy who built Shawnee and also private vacation community ski areas like Pocono Ranchlands and Winona Lakes. Anyway, advertises 650 vert. Can't be more than 500. Snow was scratchy but not too bad. Not good though. Doesn't feel like they're aggressive with snowmaking. Not all their trails were open, including their two steepest. Terrain park was very sad. Honestly just felt like things aren't kept up so well. But then they have RFID. So the basics are not great but then they spend money on things like that. Lifts are old but so what. They have a couple cool vintage 70s Borvig doubles, one with the original towers if you're into that. The one looks like it never runs anymore. Got yelled at twice by a 16 year old ski patroller. Started singing on the lift ride for entertainment. Feels like their business is mostly people who still own in the community, and they're content with that. There just doesn't seem to be a ton of effort compared to other hills in the area. The lodge is very nice though, and looks like they dropped a bunch of money on it. Wouldn't recommend even if you wanted a mountain to learn at as there's just nothing else going on, and the snow quality is inferior to other Poconos hills which have the added benefit of more terrain variety. And look, size isn't everything but what you do with it. They just don't do anything with what they do have. Also paved parking lot which sucked. That 16 year old would probably yell at you for tailgating too.

Don't get me wrong, I have enjoyed CBK for years. When I started snowboarding again after college CBK was my home mountain for three seasons while I was living in north Jersey. It has a good lift and trail layout. I was never that bothered by shorter steep pitch because you can lap the trails easy enough, and its really degrees of hair splitting given the competition in the area in my mind. The snow is a little more consistent than Blue imo. The old terrain park setup was creative, sort of self contained with its own lift and they had that street art program for the park features which made it feel unique. But after the hotel opened and I was dodging parents in sneakers with three year olds in tow walking to the mountain coaster, the crowds, the over zealous patrol and parking lot crackdowns I just had enough. To me, at least before Vail took over JF was so much better. Slower pace, no circus and less distractions. The slow lifts never bothered me. My favorite mountains like Platty and Magic are all old slow lifts. They're also laid back quiet places where you just go to ski and maybe tailgate after. That's just my speed and JF was closer to that than CBK.

Only the old heads will remember Sharp Mountain. This is the area from above, right on the west side of Pottsville. The ski area has been greatly altered by coal mining since closing in 1973.

CB is more amusement park than ski area now.