abe
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Posts posted by abe
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4 hours ago, AirheadD8 said:
👍 Obnoxious blue jacket with Loaf sticker on my helmet.?
I got quite a few runs in talked to a bunch of people.Yep I had gray helmet and jacket, green pants, boots, and rossi tele skis
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7 minutes ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:
Did you get to skiing???
48 minutes ago, AirheadD8 said:Fun couple hours, still light crowd. After the sun went in things firmed up a bit .
Razors bumped up a little but to much pizza traffic it’s starting to get icy.
Had fun patch hopping Razors near the woods on skiers right .
I think I’m done for the season ☹️
Think I rode lift with airhead
Dreamweaver snow very nice and soft but crowded
Razors moguls not too big yet to rip and are soft, middle sections a but icy, bottom is very nice
Burma road is just slow
Run at the very top of vista Actually quite nice
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2 hours ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:
At the base and what rock have you been living under lol
I have a very nice rock thank you very much
Never parked at the bottom before but couldn't get my ticket online and I guess they don't sell up top anymore
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Just realized Blue is still open, en route now. Could not get online store to work... Guest services is still in upper lodge?
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High speed lifts at Elk would destroy the snow quality, scenery, and lack of crowding on the slopes, which is why I go there anyway... I don't even know if there is enough room for detachable terminals at the summit.
Funny how the old Hall doubles keep chugging along as one does but their quad seems to have most of the issues
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Finally made it down to Whitegrass WV Sunday. This place is awesome. The realest of deals. 4 1/2 hr drive each way was worth it but I think I will get a hotel next time.
Elevation is about 4300ft so just about as high as anything in the East and storms dump snow from the west in this spot first-nothing is taller till the Rockies.
Before it was a nordic area it was a downhill area so there are some old school downhill runs you can hit in addition to the nordic trails, the trees, and some meadows. The higher you go the skinnier the trails get and the more alpine it looks. There are three summits on the trail system as well as access to trails in Dolly Sods and neighboring Canaan Valley and Timberline downhill areas. At the top is as its name Bald Knob would suggest, epic views. 25k of trails are groomed out of 50k in the immediate resort, and a number of them are fairly steep across 1200ft vertical. Tracks set on the lower trails and up the three mile run to the mid summit. Well maintained glades are all over the hill with untracked powder everywhere. At the bottom they have a system of fences set up to catch the snow blowing across the valley and keep it skiiable.
The best part though is just that the vibes are absolutely unmatched. There were probably several hundred people there and everyone was having a blast - Hooting and hollering through the woods, hanging out by fires at the little huts all along the trails, chowing down on delicious food in the shack of a lodge at the bottom with all the rental boots hanging from the ceiling around the wood stove to dry off. And there were people of all ages including little kids just ripping through the woods. People were sliding on the whole spectrum of equipment: cross country, telemark, AT, splitboard, sleds, snowshoes. Everyone was so happy and friendly. Granola paradise
A place that is good in every meaning of it. I havent been anywhere else quite like it.
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Bumped this by accident because I am big dumb... since I cant delete this I have been wondering how crowded old ski roundtop has been lately if anyone has been
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I was here last night with some friends. Couldnt make it anywhere else after work because everywhere closes so early at 8 or 9 these days. Snow was actually very nice surface all over and the snow cone machine was spitting snow out the tube all evening despite being 40s. The base was thicker than expected even on the west side. Not much of a line anywhere but it was fairly well patronized mostly with kids and the new ice rink seemed popular. For 30 bucks the place is entertaining enough for a few hours with the west side open and it's a lot easier to drag your infrequently skiing friends there than to get them to drop $100+ elsewhere
Ya gotta be entertained with how the whole place seems straight out of the 70s too
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The place was pretty happening today, parking lot about full. Was a lot of fun. They have a nice warming hut with snack lunch a wood stove and resident dogs. I am appreciating the xc experience more every year although I wish there were closer places like this with maintained and groomed trails
Got about 25km in twice around red once around blue orange yellow and black and they were grooming all day to keep the snow fast as it came down
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Awesome conditions in the Laurel highlands today after a bummer of a year last year for xc in PA. 3" base with 5" yesterday and steadily snowing all day a couple additional inches. It is amazing how much more snow they get there. They had about 20km groomed plus some nice shin deep snow on the ungroomed trails that descend down the ridge. Great seeing the crowd that was there having fun - they were only open I think for one storm last year and the snow was rapidly gone there by the afternoon which was not ideal to say the least
I was happy to see as well that the Crystal Lake center over by Williamsport may be back in action if they can accumulate a little more snow. Had some sort of staffing issue last year.
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Waiting for Tussey to announce the Colonel Boal express Peak to peak gondola to bald knob
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It's fun to visit some of the more low key areas around. I would have loved to have a place like this 5 minutes from the old U of DE
4 hours ago, toast21602 said:Thanks for sharing this! I really enjoy reports from smaller hills like this.
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6 hours ago, rgrwilco said:
Looks like a fun time.
Fun fact: Tussey was actually a much taller ski area on the other side of the gap, but was relocated to this location. The prior spot had 900 feet of vert.
That's pretty interesting, I didn't know that. I've wondered driving by along 322 through all those mountains and hiking in the area why the ski area isn't on one of the larger hills. Now I know why. This seems like the general idea as I tried to picture it from those maps:
Another 900ft vert area in the state would be a nice thing to have. Add that to that list with the 1200ft thompsontown area along the juniata just past duncannon and the 1200ft area up by tunkhannock past scranton as places that I really wish had materialized.
Out of all the huge mountains in the middle area of the state... we get Tussey Mountain and Blue Knob as ski areas. Which is not to knock on them at all but you wonder what could have been
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I took a nice drive up 322 to visit a cousin at Penn State and ski Tussey. I made use of my Indy pass (finally) and with another friend we took advantage of the 2 for 1 college ticket monday which is pretty rad that they offer specials on a holiday. A bit of a line for the two lifts formed early afternoon but it was not too crazy I thought considering schools had off. Blue sky day and the sun had softened the snow up nicely except parts of the Deer Run green from the top (narrow shaded cut and the only green from the top today so it got skied off) and Upper Tuscarora (double black with massive whales they just opened for the season).
The hill is actually a bit steeper than I imagined. It is a consistently steep pitch down 400-500ft under the quad. From the quad the green would be a blue and the blue a black at a lot of other PA areas. The beginner slope at the bottom is a good setup but it is really a big step up to send beginners down from the quad after that- narrow, crowded, slick and kind of steep. If they were to get that outer Lions way green open in this wacky weather that might be a better less steep next step and way to spread the traffic. They had some jumps set up at the bottom of the one blue.
Classic sort of lodge with a fire and that ancient quad lift are fun. Fun place with everyone just having a good old time skiing for a few hours.
That T bar straight up the side would be a wicked ride...
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44 minutes ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:
I know that being open today would require grooming which at these sorts of temps melts more snow and also even a couple hundred skied making ten runs each in warm weather melts more snow then that sloppy soupy mush has to be groomed again in 50 something degree temps. I just hope the weather moderates a bit.
Probably a good move on their part to preserve snow. It's supposed to get colder this weekend
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Blue and Spring weren't even open today. CB Shawnee and Montage were but idk what their snow depth looks like
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It was a nice spring day noon until mid afternoon at least, and very few people - parked in the first row. Soft snow is better than ice.
Bummed F lift wasn't spinning but oh well. Hopefully they are able to make snow this weekend, they will almost be starting over. Bare spots got a lot worse over the course of the afternoon, the top especially is pretty patched together.
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12/29/22 Elk
in Elk
It was a good day at Elk. First ski day of the season for me and the closest I have got to Vermont since March. Freezing temperatures in the morning warmed up to 40s for a blue sunny day, but not too the point of too warm I don't think. Snow surface softened up nicely on most of the trails and was quite good except for a few heavily trafficked or shaded spots. Generally the trails got slicker again in the afternoon. There is still natural snow cover in the area. I am not sure what conditions will look like later this week with the temperatures, they may or may not be able to blow tonight yet.
It was busy but lines were not bad at all especially after they started up the north double next to the quad to get all lifts spinning. Ski on north lifts, lodge side was a minute or two wait until after lunch.
Excellent snow surface for telemark skiing and there were a half dozen other guys I spotted. I switched over to downhill at lunch to avoid the slicker spots later in the day and to rip some runs. Also I did leg day tuesday for the first time in a while which was not a forward thinking move.
Tunkhannock - nice snow, icy patches, not quite bumped up yet but it was getting there
Lackawanna - ungroomed, bare spots, was somewhat icy
Seneca - ungroomec, bumps starting to appear, bare spots
Wyalusing - very good shape
Susquehanna - mint 👌
Slalom - good
Delaware - narrow spots got icy but it was regroomed mid day from like 2:30-3:30 and was pretty nice afterword
Tioga - slick, crowded 🎳
West slope - soft, nice condition
Lower tunkhannock/spurs - good soft surface
Wissahickon - crunchy but not too slick
Lenape - good shape in morning becoming icy in afternoon
Natural cover has been poached and there seems to have been attempts to make snow on the yet to be opened trails. Terrain parks are not open. The ticket printer by the north lifts is convenient even if you order on your phone while already there. Just make sure you get the email because there is nowhere else with your qr code unless you talk to guest services...
Also it would be nice if you could ski back to the north side parking lot at closing time rather than taking the shuttle since patrol ropes it all off like half an hour before although I do understand they need to sweep it.
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I think they are having the big pond skim event and band on Saturday
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I was there the one time and the top lift attendant waved at every single person all day coming up. Pretty funny
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5 hours ago, AirheadD8 said:
Amen! I’m still having happy Dreams from Storm Riley 3/3/2018 36”
wow is that a lift line at Plattekill
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Stembogan is open and fully staffed for 3 lifts operating today per facebook... but yet again no mention of it in the snow report
this place is wack
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Sounds awesome Plattekill is one of the best places to ski, anywhere, imo especially when they get snow!
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Believe it or not... Blue Knob still claims to be making snow and is aiming to open additional terrain
Maybe Stembogan will be open again next weekend.
If it is I will visit
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3/22…pretty nice…Darn quad keeps stopping
in Blue Mountain
Posted · Edited by abe
Fun to be able to get up to Blue, haven't been there in a couple years. Snow was actually quite nice what was open and not too crowded, 3 runs pretty varied for what they were. I'm glad they were able to make it happen and did not expect to be skiing in PA this week. Talked to a lot of people on the lift and great vibes today all around.
I do miss when they were open to 10:30 at night or whatever it once was. Makes it hard to get up there with friends for a night session when they close at 8. Also they need to fix their online store, it kept saying "unable to verify participant, please try again later" no matter what I did to try to check out or add a name of the guest to the ticket. I think I had the same problem last time I was there a few years ago too.
Regarding the "fly paper" maneuver, had a pretty good one at Blue Knob on a wet whale at the bottom of Extrovert onto runout this year on the tele skis - hinged head over toes for a straight up face plant lol.
If they are able to plow some of the snow from up top down over the thin spots at the bottom, I can see there being a chance the three routes could make it to Monday. Tuts lane connector worst patch of the lot probably.