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skiincy

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Everything posted by skiincy

  1. Day 2 - Cloudy with a chance of Apres - Monday Here's a quick video recap of ski day 2 in The 3 Vallees. It was still raining when @Schifand I woke up. The clouds were thick and visibility was low in the morning. The day started with breakfast of eggs and sausage with the gang at the chalet. Given Schif's wrist and the weather, we got on the chair around 10am instead of 9am — hoping the clouds would pass. But it didn’t. The visibility was crazy low. I’ve never skied in worse conditions. Since we could only see about 10 feet in front of us, the slower wet snow, and the wrist, we weren't going very fast on Monday. Our goal was to go to Val Thorens and get up high where there would be snow. We found snow but couldn’t go off-piste much because of the visibility. The videos and pictures I took were during some of best moments of visibility. When we could go slightly off trail, the snow was wonnnnnderful. To start, we took these 7 lifts 1. Tougnete 1, gondola 2. Granges 3. Bruyères 1, gondola 4. Bruyères 1, gondola 5. VT27 6. VT35 7. VT33 - Cime Caron, tram We skied over to Cime Caron and found a tram that took us to one of the highest points at 3200 meters (about 10,400 feet). It's the purple star that I marked on the map below. For comparison, the BASE of Loveland Ski Resort is at 10,500 feet. So for the most part, elevation sickness really wasn't a problem during the trip since the french alps are quite lower (in comparison to the US west). BUT - Being at the top of the tram with full-on white-out conditions, it was a bit trippy in a vertigo sense. At the top of Cime Caron, it looked like hamster tunnel. We couldn’t see a damn thing. On a clear day, you can see into Italy and Mount Blanc - I suppose. We skied down and holy cow. It was a group effort. Wind was howling. Visibility was awful. No more than 5-6 feet. Everyone was in it together and the cluster of random people helped each other. People stayed in small pods. A solo skier asked if she could ski with us. It was quite the experience but we made it down. It wasn’t that steep or challenging, just truly couldn’t see anything. The run was either a red or black. Here is a video of Mike heading towards Cime Caron after that wild run. The line of snow / mountain / ski was just all white especially at the top. We took VT31 (a small gondola) and then we took Plein Sud ... only to find Folie Douce - Val Thorens. Since Mike didn’t party yesterday, we stopped for some fist pumping. Bonus: mike was instructed to elevate his arm. Fist pumping is essentially elevating it.. right? Folie Douce is a bit of a chain. I believe there are 7 across Europe. https://www.lafoliedouce.com/en/ After the pitcher of beer, we headed back to Meribel to apres with the gang. But the gang went in early because of the awful weather. One thing about 3 Valleys is there’s a ton of variations in lifts and gondolas. We took VT4 which is a double cable gondola that runs 3 gondolas together. It's in the video above (^^) We could probably write an entire post about the lifts we experienced. On the way back we took: 8. VT4 thé three gondola 9. Plan des mains 10. Pas du lac 1 to 2 We stopped at Round Point which was so fun. They have a giant umbrella that goes up and down, which was super helpful with the weather. They had a live British band. We danced to the hits of Queen with a ton of brits. Crushed a pitcher of beer - again. And had a great time despite the conditions and injury. Mike was holding off on getting the Rx but by this point - he was in pain and the swelling was getting worse. So we stopped at Le Pharmacie for meds. Note: Turns out the green cross in France is the pharmacy and not @GrilledSteezeSandwich favorite establishment. We had dinner with the gang in the chalet. I think it was some rice and chicken combo that A made. And B made a homemade carrot cake that was banging for dessert. We ended the night playing a tortilla slap game and spent the rest of the night bullshitting with each other.
  2. What do you think of Carv @C1erArt? I've been watching and reading about them for years. Looks super interesting. I really think they need to build partnerships with ski schools & rental shop where people could test them out on the mountain.
  3. Day 1 - Afternoon Session - Part 2 “This is about to get good …” - @GrilledSteezeSandwich But seriously anything would have been better than the mishaps of the morning of day 1. @Schif goes to the airbnb to rest his broken wrist and I went to try to find the group. I take the Saulire gondola up and ski the main front face of Meribel trying to locate the group. I took the Adret lift about 3-5 times because I only kind of had phone service, so it was a bit challenging to coordinate. After a few runs, I found them at Monche Bar (https://www.meribel.net/en/apidae/le-monchu-meribel/). They stopped for shots, espresso martinis, and champagne - so I joined them for a shot and champagne. We took one lift together then we heard the sounds of Folie Douche in Meribel so we made our way over around 4pm. At Folie, we had apérol spritz and pitchers of beer. We danced on tables and sang our hearts out for about an hour. In the gang was Amy who I brought to Jeff's preseason party maybe 2 (?) years ago, B&S who lives in London, L&D who lives in Philly near us (maybe we'll bring them to blue sometime), and S who lives in Atlanta. It was a fun group. Folie Douche closes at 5pm so we shut it down. Then skiied over to Round Point which was wild. There was a line to get in so instead, we headed back to the house. Just as we got in, it started to rain and continued throughout the night. We were reading that it was snowing at higher elevations, so fingers crossed. We ate tacos with the gang at the house. Played some games. And went to bed hoping tomorrow would be even better.
  4. Ski Day 1 - @Schif and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day 7:15am: Woke up! Grabbed some fruit and granola bars and strolled to the lifts. 8:30am: We scan the QR code and grabbed our ski passes 9:00am: We're in the first 5 gondola cabins heading up to the mountain. We took the Saulire 1+2 gondola up. The rest of the group was slooooow moving so it was just @Schif and I. So we talked about meeting up later for apres. While at the top, we dipped towards Corchevelle. The runs were looooong and the grooming was beautiful. It was mostly cloudy with the sun peaking out occasionally. I think we took Creux or Marmottes down to Roc Mugnier. At the top of Roc Mugnier lift, we decided to do that area again because it was so fun. The trails were for the most part empty. I got one of the Insta360 camera. I'm not sharing to show off my sick medoicre skiing ability but really posting the video to show how empty the trails were. This all sounds amazing. Why is this such a negative nancy title? [dunnnn dunnnnn dunnnn] Mike caught an edge and fell hard. He sat there for a moment then slowly got up. As he was just starting to move going hella slow, a small 8-year-old French girl hit his snowboard from behind and brought him to his knees. I was behind him so I skied down to the chaos. Side Note: I'm not sure how he manages to avoid the PA ski resort chaos, but somehow in the French alps with 4 other people on a ski trail - there was a collison. @Schif had crazy pain in his wrist. So we tried to find some sort of ski patrol. We went up the Roc Mugnier lift again and then skied to the bottom hoping to find a medic center. We didn’t find it. Instead, we luckily shared a gondola with an Italian doctor. Mike was just going to push through it but the Italian doctor suggested it might be fractured. I speak French - kind of - so we stopped at patrol near the top of Signal and they told us where the medic center is. We ended up taking about 5 lifts to to get back to Meribel and skiied down the front. But wait - THERES MORE We skied down Mauduit and it was lovely at the top. The trail got more slushly as our eleivation decreased though. Then all of the sudden - it got very thin. Like east coast thin. Like closing day at Bleu thin. Then it became a dirt trail and we had to take off our skis. There was not a single sign closing the trail. We watched a few people do the same thing. I took off my atomic skis and started to stroll down. I stumble a bit. My ski goes flying. I butt-slide through mud and slush trying to dig in my heels to stop. Mike fortunately watched my ski as if it was a golf ball going the distance. Mike’s wrist is starting to swell very large. His fingers were swelling and there was a ping pong size ball on his wrist -- so he’s going slower. We retrieve my ski. Laugh it off and head to the medic center inside the Parc d'Olympic at the base. Mike gets an xray and a cast. Turns out it’s fractured. He was advised to not snowboard and gets a prescription for some medicine. We’re exhausted by all the hoopla so we get on the bus hoping it takes us back to the airbnb. But WAIT THERES MORE the bus goes the wrong way and stops at a bus depot. So we end up back to where we found my ski and trudge through the snow. Bad things happen in a series of 3, right? We say F it. Let’s get food at the base. It was quite the first 4 hours... Mike goes back to the Airbnb to rest and told me to go find the gang…..
  5. The Commute to France Friday: 2:30pm ET we drove from Philly to Newark. The flight took off around 7pm. Saturday: Arrived at the airbnb around 6pm france time (about 1pm ET). The group stopped at a grocery store and bought an absurd amount of food. We also spotted this vending machine of cheese in Moutiers, France. We hit lots of traffic so we had to take some side roads to avoid the traffic. We later learned that there's a ton of Saturday traffic because more rentals go from Sat-Sat. Thought the humor of PASR might like this destination sign. The Airbnb The house was lovely but had European quirks. • Pro: It was the penthouse with a gorg view, walking distance to the town & slopes, and also on a bus route • Con: a weird bathtub/shower situation, slopped roofs that made some of the rooms feel small We went to dinner for pizza and wine. We headed to bed with the goal to be on the snow as early as possible.
  6. In December, @Schif and I were at a friend’s house and got invited to a planned ski trip. There were 8 people total (including us) on this trip. The dates, airbnb, and the bulk of the trip were already planned so we really just went with the flow for the most part. This was our first time traveling with so many people - we had to fold into what the majority of the group was doing. We had a great time (with a few blips). But if we were to do it again - we would do 5-6 ski days and ski longer. It was awesome. THE SIZE OF THE 3 VALLEES The 3 Vallees claims to be larger than the top 5 largest resorts in North America — combined. The mountain’s main resorts are Meribel, Val Thorens, and Corchevelle. There are something like 151 ski lifts and 364 trails. It was bonkers. There were so many different types of gondolas and chairs. SKIING IN THE FRENCH ALPS SOUNDS BOUGIE. WAS IT EXPENSIVE? I’ve seen some videos about how skiing in Europe is cheaper, so I’ll drop our major expenses below in case anyone else is considering. All prices are per person. 4 ski days at 3 Valleys: $142 Flight from EWR with 1 checked bag: $760 Shared car rental in France: $93 Airbnb with the group, in town (5 days/4 nights): $308 / $77 per person per night Brides-les-Bain Hotel for 1 night: $52 I left off things like airport parking and food because they would vary by person and exist whether you fly to Jackson Hole or France. Generally, I thought the on-mountain drinks were cheaper than in the US. Shots, champagne, and pitchers of beer did seem cheaper in France though. A pitcher of beer was about $20-35 depending on the bar. I remember paying $16-20 for a beer in the back bowl of Vail. So yes - ski tickets, lodging, and booze were cheaper but the transportation costs made it about on par with skiing in the US. Optional expense. More on this later…. • Emergency medical visit for a broken wrist. It included x-ray, custom cast, opium, and anti-inflammatory: approx $350
  7. Did you all see that Jon from Jon & Kate Plus 8 was DJing at camelback? is this real?? 😂😂 also this is the type of content that needs to be on Pocono Television
  8. I loved challenge today. I must have done it 6x in a row snapped this pic of @enjoralasin his element
  9. Once you go bib, you never go back. ——— i have the flylow foxy insulated bib. Previously bibs wouldn’t work well for me because of the chest/shoulders but they recently made it with more flex up top. Love that companies are like actually innovating like @Barb bottom zips
  10. Solid day at Bleu. Took some candids at the top @Johnny Law got there around 8:30, skied 11 or so runs, and then had some beers in the row. put skis back on, had some pocket beers, and got the half price pizza. We got the dreamweaver. But fan of it for $9.50. Not sure if any pizza is worth $19 though…
  11. How did you find my house? 🥳
  12. This is a great point, @indiggio. Other ikon resorts have them in place. i can only imagine the ikon deal closed without enough time to implement a reservation system.
  13. Blue put up ropes on near the ski patrol shack for the new 6 around 10:30/11. —— The morning started like this in Cherryville. Lots of traffic. I took the new 6 (going far right) and each solo lap took about 25-30 min. I was solo most of the day and trying to fill in the chairs lots of people I chatted with were ikon or day pass people. But @Benmwas fav line buddy of the day quad opened around 10/10:30. I snapped this photo around 10:45 on lazy mile. Slopes were a good time @enjoralas killed it in the lot. The steak sandwich was amazing ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Although…blue mountain management, 0 stars
  14. En route with @Schifdog. We’re in Cherryville. Traffic is wild on Blue Mountain Road near Soaked Winery… kinda near the Turkey Hill on Lehigh Drive. left at 6am. So many slow drivers going 10 mph gripping. 🧐
  15. Found a gem at @Schif's mom's house. Montage Mountain season pass from 2007....
  16. I mean... I know there are going to be haters out there on Ikon & Epic. But I love the idea of not having to buy 2 passes next winter.
  17. Maybe not asssssss crowded this season, but for everyone who has an Epic Pass to ski JF/BB and then vacation out west--- they'll definitely get people to convert to Ikon & Bleu next year.
  18. Holy shit. This is wild. @Schifdog just ran down the stairs to tell me. ------------------ Here's the TLDR If you switch from Blue to Ikon, you have limited visits to Blue Mountain, lose the free buddy pass, and access to the VIP line. ------------------ I'm currently working like 20-hours a week and have been thinking ... man, this would be so sweet to ski midweek and go off to Utah again... So, I've contacted Ikon to get more details and they said to contact Blue. I contacted Blue asking if my season pass is now valid at Ikon Resorts - it's not. I asked Blue if there's an option to upgrade - there's not. But, the agent did offer to refund my season pass. And then you buy the Ikon. But, Ikon will be limiting visits to Blue Mountain and has blackout dates. Hope this helps others considering switching to Ikon. -------------------- Me: as a current season pass holder, are you offering any options to upgrade to Ikon? I called Ikon and they told me that you would be offering a promotion to cancel my season pass and upgrade it to Ikon Blue: We are happy to work with you to find the solution you need! If we refund your Blue Mountain Season Pass, you will lose all pass holder benefits including access to the VIP line at high-speed lifts, your free buddy pass, free snow tubing, and year-round 10% discount on food and retail. You will also be limited to 5 or 7 visits to Blue Mountain and subject to IKON blackout dates (depending on your Ikon Season Pass type). If you would like to continue with a refund on your Blue Mountain Season Pass, please let me know. Me: is there a deadline that you're offering the pass refund option? Blue: You can get a refund for your pass as long as you haven't used it yet. No specific date
  19. Hey! I’m considering some April backcountry adventure on the east coast likely Vermont or New Hampshire. Hopefully April 8-9 but maybe April 1-2. I read that Mount Snow and others do uphill but would prefer to be on a mountain. where have people been? I know Tuckermans is popular but are there any others to consider?
  20. Friday, March 17, 2023 Night out in Denver, CO ------- Vail was incredible. I’ve skied Vail a few times but it was years ago and on weekends. It was awesome to ski mid-week. After Bart & Yeti’s, we got to the car around 4pm. There was traffic eastbound, so we got to Denver around 7pm. On the way home, we stopped to check out the bison alongside I-70. We unloaded the car quickly and then went to return the Kyte car rental downtown. This was my first time renting with Kyte. I liked that you could specify AWD/4WD and know the type of car. I've had bad experiences with traditional Hertz, Enterprise, etc providing a front-wheel drive SUV, which always seems like an oxymoron to me. The car was pristine, perfect condition, and significantly cheaper than other options - if anyone needs a rental in CO .. check it out. We hung out at Union Staton near Terminal Bar. For a train station, there seemed to be more people hanging out than waiting for a train. Choo choo. Even for non-train lovers - it's a cool spot. This isn't my pic but you wanted to give you the vibe. Then, we went to Happy Camper in the Highlands area with my brother and his fiance. It had disco balls, light tunnels, campers, unique furniture, and groups of millennials taking 20 million selfies throughout. The four of us had the Mike Pizza with Italian sausage, sun-dried tomatoes, red onions, parmesan & spinach/ricotta sauce. It was a bit pricey but good. We hopped in the car and went to Bierstadt Lagerhaus in the RiNo neighborhood. It was St Pattys weekend so it was more interesting than usual. Bierstadt is a brewery with giant games. It has a giant game of beer pong that uses trash cans on rollers, corn hole where you toss a giant pillow-like bag, and a 7 ft connect four. There's old school Nintendo that plays as the backdrop for the DJ. And free pineball machines. Someone (cough me cough) got a high score. On our way out, there was a giant machine. Some of these buttons made me giggle. Maybe it's an old printing press? Only PASR people would know. To cap off the night, @Schif scooted to the car. It wasn't a Bleu parking lot scooter but it was still tons of fun. Since Friday started at 7am and we were nonstop until 2am, we crashed hard and slept in on Saturday. It...was...glorious. We packed. I met up with an old friend and then I showed Schif around my old 'hood. We drove by my old house which is now for sale. Denver real estate is mind-blowing. Our flight left at midnight and we got back to the Philly house around 7am. It was a whirlwind of a trip, so we ended up sleeping for about 90% of Sunday. Bummed we missed the End of Season Party but hoping to be back this weekend!
  21. March 16, 2023 Vail, CO — @Schif and I woke up at the Evergreen Lodge. Earlier this week, the reports were showing about a foot of snow. We woke up to only 5- 6”. Booo. but it was still great. We had some coffee and microwaved breakfast We took the Lionshead Gondola up. There were about 4 people ahead of us in the singles line. We dipped into Game Creek again. It had some untapped powder but got tracked out quickly. If you watch this video, mute your sound because I’m clearly out of breathe. This is after a couple runs. 😂 We dabbled on the front then headed to Sun Bowl and down Wow & Windows. It wasnt quite crust on dust... It was like crust on dust (in a frat boys house where the cleaning lady never came.) It was thick crust. Around 12, we were at the top of Blue Sky Basin. Had some water, carrots, and granola We skied all over. Got lost. Used the find my friend with EpixMix. I rested then we reunited. I skied about 20k of vert. Schif got 36k of vert. He’s insane. we cracked some champs & beers, freshened up and hit up the apres scene. but first - hot pocket. This is my fav post skiing hotel snack. I don’t care if the top of mouth is forever burned. We strolled to the village and we saw a @GrilledSteezeSandwich lookalike. Then we hit the George for their happy hour. It was $5 beer & cocktails and discounted food. We got duck quesadillas and buffalo fries. Duck quesadillas were amazing!! it was a cool scene. I loved it. We chatted with at least 4 Lehigh valley people, Penn State alum, and a pittsburgher. we headed back to the concert in the village near the ice skating rink. there we’re free high noon “samples.” We snagged a lot of samples. I really wanted their ski outfits though. Someone… Did some shots with strangers while the Sponges played house music Then we stopped at Frost and found some rad acoustic music and eventually headed back. it was fun but the scene really ranged in vibes. It felt like the apres ski concert area was trying to be Whistler but there were just too many khakis and furs in the concert area to really hype it up. We’re finishing off the champagne and beers, while Schif is saying “We are” & I reluctantly respond “Penn State” while penn state plays Texas a&m in basketball.
  22. March 15, 2023 Vail, CO ——- On Tuesday night, Brian dropped @Schif and I off near Coors Field and we strolled downtown. I was blown away by McGregor Square. They had bars, stadium seating, and an arena style tv & surround sound- it felt as if you were in stadium. It was awesome. We had a rental car reservation through Kyte. It was significantly cheaper and I loved that we were able to specify AWD/4WD. On Tuesday night - We loaded up the Dodge Durango, watched some Ted Lasso with the gang, and went to bed. Wednesday, we woke up at 5:45 and we’re out of the house by 6:15am. No traffic to vail, so we checked in to the hotel mostly to get our parking pass at 8:30. I was surprised the room was already ready. We both had pretty low expectation for the Evergreen Lodge because it was the cheapest accommodations in Vail. But it’s great and so close. It’s next to the ice skating rink, library, and hospital near Lions head. We dropped our gear. Picked up a coffee and danish from the lobby and strolled to Lionshead. Eagle Bahn Gondola was closed so we took the lift to another lift to the top, then dipped into Game Creek. Snow was the best on the north facing slopes like the front and blue sky basin. We doodled around the entire mountain. We saw this area and I was reminded that @Johnny Law told us to pack pocket dogs to grill. We should have listened to him. But instead we stopped at the Dog Haus for a girthy dog with a Hot Mess Blonde Ale by Vail Brewing. We hit up Poppyfields which was fun then it felt like it funneled you into a natural half pipe. The tight gully can be seen in the white narrows. We skied about 50 miles, 30k vert and we’re both exhausted. We came back to the hotel and had some cookies, champagne, and beer. Appetizers of champions. We napped then hit up Vail Village for a couple of hours. We saw these ice skaters, and couldn’t help to think they were paid by Vail to ice skate - they were legit so good. … but maybe I’m just use to the shit show of an ice skating rink in Center City Philly. We stopped in Frost for a beer. Schif had a Coloradan IPA. One of my fav runs was off of Pete’s Express, so I had Pete’s Stash by Vail Brewing. Awesome day and went to bed excited to do it all again
  23. Yeah! Heard good things about Westbound and Down Brewing! Didn’t get there but maybe next time
  24. Nope. My hands get so cold. If he thinks I’m degloving, @Schif doesn’t know me
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