Ski

Well, Jamie sure sounded like she knew...I PM'd you with the Carlson name...

Sib: it's Richard G. Ford, according to the newspaper. I don't want to be too specific regarding kid's names, but there are two very local racers that you know of with that name; one boy and one girl. And one very good Carlson that was three years behind our girls. The same families? IDK. Sounded like Jamie knew more than us about them. Gus would know for sure. And Mr. March, too.

OMG, Jamie, I'm such an idiot...I thought the names were a coincidence... Are they really those families? If so, then they are GREAT people. I've talked to both on the phone trying to 'force' them to volunteer at races. Cool news...

Washo was appointed to his position by the democratic party...hopefully they've learned their lesson.

There is an agreement for the sale and closing is in two weeks. There is also a lawsuit filed to hold up the sale. There is no simple yes or no answer. A lot depends on a judge's ruling. There is a scumbag twit named Michael Washo that is the minority commissioner of Lackawanna County trying his best to screw up the deal. The majority commissioners openly mock him in public meetings. With good reason.

Montage. Wrong. No company has EVER purchased a golf course, invested $14 million in new construction, then tore it all down to subdivide. Why don't you know that?

Show me a 400 acre parcel priced at $28 million in this region....I found one 400 acre parcel listed at $1.25 million. There are hunting and fishing clubs all over the Poconos that have hundreds of acres...and a lot of them are for sale. Monroe County just paid $312,000 to a club that wanted to sell to a developer. And that was 413 acres. I really don't think the Brodhead Fishing Club turned down a multi-million dollar offer to sell to the county. That parcel, btw, is on rt. 447, a half mile from Alpine Mountain. Exactly.

So instead of buying one of more than a dozen current multi-hundred acre lots in the WB-Scranton area for $3 million, or less, the conspiracy theory is that they are shelling out $18 million in guaranteed funds to then level the buildings and tear out their new wave pool? That is beyond paranoid, to me.

Sno Mountain can sell the ski area any time they want...to a company that will continue to run it as a ski area. There is a 10 year obligation to do everything "reasonable" within their power to continue operations. Sno Mountain LLC is spending millions of dollars, so their own best interest is in being a success. Right now, Montage is not a success. It's losing $1million annually and everything is broken. We open late, close early, have limited terrain because of poor snowmaking, and there's no direct lift to the top. How much longer would Lackawanna taxpayers be willing to foot the bill? The ski area was one vote away from shutting down. Sno Mountain wouldn't build lodges and throw millions upon millions of dollars into improvements, then tear everything down and subdivide. That doesn't make sense. It happens all the time, but it doesn't surprise me that you don't know it.

Okay, so you are judging my contribution to this site as a whole. What you get is what you get. This site was founded by a group of people that expressed opinions that got us banned from the other boards. So you only want positive posts from me? Sift through my posts and go ahead and let me know what's acceptable. Should I do the same for you? Should we rate the value of each contributor? How many technical contributions have you made? I don't know---not a loaded question. I help people with waxes, racing, instruction, and gear. Are people suffering from that, too? EDIT: So when Rob threatened to call the county regarding Montage and try to block the sale, it brought a lot back. It's a huge deal---the sale, that is---that has a great effect on our home hill and whether or not it'll be there in five years. And I can almost hear you typing, "No, dude, just chill out with Rob." But that's not how it works. You get what you get with me. Rob had people call my house and yell bad shit at my wife. If Greg wants me gone, then so be it.

From the one hardboot snowboarding MB I could find: "Racing is the foundation of hardboot snowboarding. Although there has only been one racing event(GS) in the Olympics for the last three games. There has been a GS Snowboard race in the Olympics for the last three games! And this year they are bringing the Viewer friendly Boardercross into the mix it too a race on snowboards. A race that will give builders athletes and coaches a chance to step into the ring and leave with a winner."

C'mon what???? I was posting that hard snowboard boots are hard for a reason. Is that so off topic? Rob posted that it wasn't true ("hard booting does not = stiff racing boots"). If parallel GS racers (that's the snowboard giant slalom competitors) could ride faster in a soft setup, then some might. None do. It's all about the fastest transition of energy from body to board. And that comes through a hard setup. What's the problem with that? If it's wrong, then tell me. I'm no parallel GS expert.

I really wasn't judging your question one way or another...what's their intent? Why the ski area, too? The prez of Sno Mountain had been in the area and had some connection to bond sales for Lackawanna County, although I don't know the specifics. And Montage struck him as something of interest, so he looked into the possibilities. Having the existing ski area makes a lot of the construction much easier. All the pieces start falling together when you consider what the company looking to start a new ski area from scratch will have to go through. Not exactly the same, but whenever we want to work on our dock at our shore house, we have to be careful about never moving any pilings, and never taking down all four walls...additions are vastly different than new construction. But mostly it comes down to them wanting a four season attraction, is my guess.

Well, they are business people that spent a million bucks to research that question and the answer they arrived at was that it was a good deal. Firstly, I'm sure they aren't going to try and lose money on the ski season. Having a ski area and being open during the winter enhances the summer visits. Camelbeach gets more visitors because of skiing at CB, and vice versa. And the price of everything is a lot different up here, as opposed to 'down there'. $19 million would just about get you the right amount of land in the Philly suburbs, but that's about all. Montage is a gem. It's a diamond in the rough. It needs a million in upgrades, just to start with. But when someone comes up with that million, it's then worth twice that.

Did you see the latest meeting? I just watched it and it was HILARIOUS. Cordero basically called Washo a pussy and a pain in the ass the whole time. Kind of a loose example: "All in favor of complying with the law?" "No." "What do you mean, no, Washo? You don't want to pass a motion to comply with the law? Didn't you just file a lawsuit to make us comply with the law? You just vote 'no' for the sake of voting no? That's just stupid."

No, really? Hard boot means that? It's a freaking FIS sport, Rob. And you're calling other people noobs? And I wouldn't be calling it the equivalent of monoskiing, which was just some stupid and minor fad that some French guy tried to make money off of.

Having a majority and minority commission is an adversarial system by definition. Washo, of course, is the minority commissioner. He doesn't pay for an attorney out of his own pocket for county business. If the case has merit, it'll proceed; if it doesn't, it will likely be dismissed without prejudice. In just about every legal proceeding, attorneys request their fees be paid by the other side. In 99.9% of cases, they are not granted, no matter how frivolous. You have to really piss off a judge to have it happen. And when a judge grants attorney fees to the other side, it's almost an automatic appeal...and appeals are bumped to an appelate court, which means more fees for everyone. The key to this is the appraisal. When the appraisal comes back at $5 million, or so, Washo's arguement disappears. The old timers that got up and shouted that they "knew" Montage was worth $9.6 million will have nothing to say about it. Every expert has said that ski areas aren't where the money is made. You have to have a summer attraction. Sno Mountain LLC intends to build a water park; Snow Time has no summer plans. And it seems that everyone has forgotton that Snow Time did their own valuation---not an appraisal---of Montage two years ago and found it was worth about $4 million. I don't think any pipes fixed themselves since then. What are you worried about, Rob? Nothing to stir shit up about today?

That's not a noob question. It's actually fairly complex, just as it is with ski/boot setups. Both skiers and riders that first get into racing buy boots that are labeled "race" and are too stiff for them to flex. A lot of USSA kids are using boots that are keeping them from getting better. I think I recall that Sib made a decision to keep her daughter in soft, recreational boots as a J3 or 1st yr J2 and she had really good success because of it. So it's soft boots until you max them out. Then a hard boot setup, although a lot of kids and lighter skiers/riders will have their boots cut to increase flex.

Wow, that's great that they offer a Wed morning clinic. We're not even OPEN then. Exactly why are you and 1st Grade pissy at each other? I think 1st Grade is a wiseass in a good way. You two should make peace. Maybe get together over a few beers and skanks.

From today's T-T: Debate over the majority

I don't disagree with ya, TP4. But the majority of race kids at Hood have goals of making the US Ski Team, or at the very least, to make post-season USSA, FIS, or race in college. If you can take 10% off your times by running and lifting, then it's the difference between making the team and staying home. The stronger you are, the more you can hold a turn at a faster speed. The most overlooked aspect of ski racing is strength, even though strength equals speed. Race coaches in this area let kids off way too easy, mostly because they only have them for short weekend days and don't "waste" time teaching strength training. It's a big reason most PA kids get their butts kicked outside this region. Look at Doug. I know why he's got a running program going: no more meteors crashing down on him this season. He's becoming a driven machine...eh, except for the booze, nachos, and skanky broads.

You might just want to hit reliableracing.com for a suit, Doug. Ski shops in this region generally get a couple of large junior suits in and that's it. Not big sellers. EBay's not a great source for suits, although I have bought a few from there. You have to get lucky for eBay to have anything worthwhile, which is surprising since there are so many NASTAR kids with suits---and kids grow out of them in a season.

There are different levels of camps, Doug. Some camps are for elite racers that you have to apply to attend. Some club teams and academies run their own camps and have a small number of openings that outside racers can qualify for. On the other end of the spectrum, there are camps that are better suited to NASTAR kids and first-timers. At 'Dude's camp, they'll divide kids up by abilities. Some of 'Dudes coaches have been World Cup racers from small countries, with low budgets. My daughter had a WC downhiller for a coach one year at MHSSC. Neither he nor his country could afford to send him to a glacier/snowfield for the entire summer, so he had to coach to earn his room and board. And, DH, most athletes perform better when they are stronger and in better shape. Crazy, I know...not to diss dodgeball, or anything... What was your coach's name, 'Dude?

ha, yeah, same here...but it's not free. Except when I sit closer to my neighbors house and pick up their router.

Not sure if Commissioner Washo or certain guy on this MB is a bigger A-hole....both seem to hate anything great happening at Montage....amazing how one sh*thead with a chip on his shoulder, mostly because he feels left out and isn't the center of attention, can possibly cause so much damage: Lackawanna County Minority Commissioner Mike Washo is through with simply taking his colleagues to task over their pending sale of Montage Ski Resort. He