Ski

That's GREAT news! Not exactly a shocker, though, eh? A bank will NOT give a mortgage for more than a property is worth, especially without collateral. The developer who joined in the Washo lawsuit was totally counting on a mortgage...he's SCREWED. All those idiots that got up at the meetings and demanded Lackawanna get over $9 are proven WRONG. The Times-Tribune editorial staff should take their feet out of their mouths. They were WRONG. Time to do the right thing. Time for Sno Mountain.

Mark, there are a ton of missing pieces to accurately summarize what's happening, but I'll give it a go tomorrow night...but it seems like you know more than most people, since you have an inside contact that's been right. Where would you ski if they closed for a year? Elk's sort of a pain to get to....Tanglwood, with all due respect, is a little too small for a season pass. Ah, a year at Elk, I guess. Lackawanna will get a dose of reality if they closed for a year: people don't come back. And, yeah, Senor, but I was just letting that math slide. No edit button when you write a letter to the editor. They should fight it out on this MB. I've invited the T-T reporter to sign up for PASR, but I guess he's not interested. He's doing a great job reporting; it's his editors that have their head's up their behinds.

There's still time for you to join the Washo lawsuit. Senor posted Washo's work number. He'll be glad to have you aboard. Unless people have seen the interaction between Washo and the majority commissioners, they just can't get the real feel for just how much of an idiot Washo is. They really do act like 5 yr old's. Washo says things like "So you're a big important lawyer and I'm not. So you just bully me." To which Cordaro replies, "If you weren't such a little baby, then maybe we'd treat you better." Entire meetings go by with Washo pouting and voting 'no' to everything, even things that are just routine. He's the anti-everything voice. Pretty pathetic. Is it attention he craves? IDK.

Urgency overlooked in Montage sale Editor: As reported in your newspaper, another party, Chris Speicher, has joined Lackawanna County Commissioner Mike Washo

Titled "About the Truth" "Editor: I read with amusement the Aug. 4 letter from Sean Hanlon looking for truth from the Munchak/Cordaro administration. This came on the heels of a similar tome from Bill Risse regarding the sale of Montage. In the interest of clarity, Mr. Hanlon was a key member of the Joe Corcoran political team and an administrator at the Lackawanna County Health Care Center. Mr. Risse was chief spokesman for the administration of former commissioner Joe Corcoran. Mr. Risse, in his letter, bemoaned the sale of Montage as a public asset which is

Wow, that's pretty cool to have grandparents that work at a ski area. Hmmmm...your grandparents are more cool than mine. I suppose your considering Hood for a freestyle camp... Well, enjoy NH...you must be getting some chilly nights. It's 33 degrees right now on Mt. Washington, with a windchill of 17....wish that was our current weather.

Ha, yeah, that's it. Because Ty surfs on my laptop, I usually have it set on "strict" filtering. Pretty freaking amazing how different the internet is with and without filters. C'mon, Doug, that's terrible. We don't need to know stuff like that. Next thing you'll be showing us pictures of the pearl necklace she got.

Glenn and I were curious about your name change. "Guts" was an awesome chick tag; why the switch back? And where else besides JF/BB do you ski? And are you going to ask for a ski trip for your Sweet 16?

Well, after doing some quick research, there seems to be quite a gathering of them in Brazil. And there's sure no shortage of pics and movies of them. The internet sure is great for learning about new things. Who ever thought giving someone a pearl necklace could be dirty?

Thanks, Glenn, I guess there's an answer for everything except why Megan wanted to be known as guts.

Just to add a specific eBay store: http://stores.ebay.com/Pinnacle-Ski-and-Sports Some gear is priced only a little cheaper than shops, but they do have some great deals. We just bought Atomic Race 5 100cm skis with Atomic bindings that were "like new" for $89, plus $30 shipping (that's $119).

How was Megan's post edited by guts? And, Megan, you get the award for earliest 'when's it gonna open' question...it was chilly last night, but the 10 day forecast doesn't look good.

Ha, well, if Jamie says it's okay....

Okay...cool guy doing a bad thing. I just wish somebody had photos of Washo and a transvestite hooker. These problems would disappear fast.

Thanks for the info, SMS... Yeah, and a local developer has globbed on to the Washo lawsuit. It was the guy that had put in a really low bid, with no money for any improvements and a history of throwing up cheap housing units. Now Washo is looking at that turd as a good thing for the mountain. The developer is crying foul that his low bid was rejected, despite the fact that his offer was a transparent deal that would have closed the ski hill within a couple of years. Washo is a scumbag that is getting off on trying to ruin what would be a dream come true for a struggling mountain. What do we know that the people that don't want the So Mountain sale to go through don't? Non-skiers/riders see Montage as a ski area. Period. They don't get the fact that the top to bottom lift doesn't work. That you have to take TWO very slow lifts to get to the top. They don't know that it hardly ever snows anymore, let alone enough to ski on natural snow. And the snowmaking on the left side of the mountain has been BROKEN for years. The non-skier/boarders are like people that own an older luxury car that needs a crapload of work, but demand someone pay a new car price for it because they don't have the brains to understand the engine needs an overhaul. Okay, so what do these idiots want? Well, if Washo gets his way, we'll have 26 crappy snowguns again this season, unless more break. There will be no direct lift to the top. A great business will be really pissed off because the deal was broken. No taxes will be paid to the county from private owners. And the good people of Lackawanna will have to come up with another MILLION DOLLARS to subsidize Montage losses. Washo is such an asshead.

Two things: It generally takes 15 guaranteed people in a group to get the group discount. Most mountains are very helpful when you call about group discounts; it's a deal they like and will usually make sure there's minimal hassles. The big issue, as Glenn says, is the 15 people. Anyone wanting to be the organizer gets a great deal, with free lifts ticket and food vouchers. At CB, group members get an open to close ticket for $36 on weekends (worth $55, otherwise). A midweek group ticket is $26 for open to close, while it's $41 at the window for a day pass, or $48 for open to close. I can't imagine PASR won't eventually come up with an offer from a frugal skier/boarder with a credit card that is willing to do a little phone work in exchange for free skiing. At Sno Mountain, the group leader skis for free. Ticket prices for the group are $31, instead of $45 on weekends; $23 instead of $34 during the week. We are STUPID not to use our power of numbers. And I also really like the idea of making PASR days at hills we don't normally ski. That's one of the great things about racing...your forced to go to places like Plattekill that you might just skip otherwise.

Well, that's as good as any explanation. But for Gurp: does that mean at least one is open on both days? If so, that doesn't suck.

Yeah, and cord on greens can actually be squirrely. The lines pull your edges. I know, 'cause I follow Ty down them a lot. But I just have no use for powder. It cancels races and is hard for our kid on 90cm skis. That's why I thought the TGR guy posting powder pics and acting like he was having an orgasm was so strange. A big dump means having to REMOVE all of the snow by shovel and side slipping. I know I'm in the vast minority...

Hard to really describe what race skis do in powder...but the narrow waist sinks and it's sort of like roller blading through mud puddles. Ha, oh, yeah...and I don't sleaze out of deals...you gotta remind me come winter, since my brain is like a siv, but a deal's a deal.

Yup. I love fresh cord on skis, Glenn...I would rather ski fresh corduroy than any amount of powder. Not that I'm the norm when it comes to that...but it's what race skis are made to have fun on. The Poconos can't offer much powder---if any---but they could sure improve their grooming just about everywhere.

Ha, TP4, do you owe me money or something? Anyway, I don't mean to give Heather crap...but want to encourage Heather to pass along to the 'powers that be' some crap. And I'm sure she wants to hear honest opinions. I think 3pm first tracks is great. I love that Sno Mountain doesn't open until noon on weekdays. Who is crazy enough to want to ski before noon? Gives you plenty of guilt free time to shed those midweek hangovers.

Heather, listen, the daily validation idea is the WORST idea to come along in years. If you have to go to a ticket window prior to skiing, then you shouldn't even call it a "season pass"...it's more like a Gold Book or Camelcard, or whatever else you'd like to call it. In a survey we took at the small ski area we own, the #1 privilege sited was no longer having to use the ticket windows. You may want to hope it's not all that important to your customers, but I can tell you definitively that it is. When we were CB passholders and I had a toddler, they didn't want to issue her a season pass, but have us go to the ticker window every time for a comp pass. I fought that and won. It was a huge deal. Same thing after we moved close to Sno Mountain. We had to plead with them to issue her a photo pass...we had even offered to pay for it. The convenience was that important. They finally gave in and issued her a toddler pass. If JF/BB is having a security problem, why take it out on your best and most loyal customers? Fix the problem with more ticket checkers and better photo passes. This isn't the same as having to take your shoes off in the airport; people are tolerant of that because the added hassle is for their safety. This added hassle is just an easy way out for JF/BB's bottom line. I'm not a JF/BB passholder, but just wanted to pass along our own experience. Good luck. And then there will be those "season pass" holders that have questions. They are bringing three friends and want to know if there's a rental discount. Or any number of questions. There will be the non-English speaking family that mistakenly gets in the validation line. What if dad wants to wait in line to validate for the whole family? It's kind of funny to "tell" your customers what not to be upset about. They are focusing on what is important to them.

The key to the entire process will be the appraisal. What the land is worth as development property is moot, since any new owners are required to maintain it as a ski area, so it's good that the County hired an additional ski area management expert to aid in the valuation. Some people that are really negative for the sake of being negative will argue that all the new owner has to do is pretend to go through the motions, then turn it into a subdivision. But talk about lawsuits? And the judges at that point would be from the county. Washo constantly calls it a "back room deal", which really pissed off the majority commissioners. The three commsissioners voted to give Cordaro the power to negotiate the deal. And what negotiation takes place in front of newspaper reporters? They went into a room and hammered it out---on the record. Just like most business deals, whether it's private or government. Cordaro was simply required to report all the facts, which he did. Washo is just such a complete weenie-ass loser. And the editorial staff of the Times-Tribune is perfectly happy to treat this deal like they treat their own business, which is to run it out of business. Their paper recently had to fold one of it's editions (it used to be a morning and afternoon paper) and lay off a bunch of staff. The reporter working the story is awesome, though, and has been completely fair.

Outside judge to hear Washo's lawsuit BY ROGER DUPUIS II STAFF WRITER 08/02/2000 Like the sultry summer weather, Mike Washo