JFskiDan

Conditions saturday were more like i thought friday would be. mixed conditions all over the mountain. the first groomed trail was reminiscent of trails in PA after a rain/freeze cycle. Areas of the mountain definitely went through a thaw/freeze cycle. Within the same set of trees, you could have some decent powder, packed powder, and crusted up frozen snow, so it was pretty unpredictable. Day 3 proved to be the great equalizer for all of us, as we were all feeling a little beat up. Our first run we hiked up to the radio tower and took wake up call, and it was straight up shit. Chunky, frozen, hard to navigate snow. Back up to the radio tower for some redemption, we took St Pats. Decent snow in there all around, some pretty tricky spots to navigate, but a fun time. St Pats Back up to Morningside again, which, takes a little doing, since you still have to ski down to storm peak express, down to morningside lift, and up morningside. Unfortunately you just cant lap the chutes/Christmas tree area, there is still quite a ways to go down, and it was really taking a toll on our legs. So RR and myself decided we would do the chutes again. Now i was completely content skiing chute 3, which we did the previous day. It is steep enough that it is challenging, but not off the charts. RR talks me into chute 2. Chute 2 is straight up nasty steep, the god damn steepest thing i have ever been on. Makes the fucking elevator look like a beginners bump. Cliffs to navigate around, and it lives up to its name, since to get around the cliffs you have to ski through a series of chutes in between the cliffs. Its was one of those deals were i kind of said to myself, if this goes bad, its gonna go real bad. Luckily the snow is still really good in there. The pictures dont do it justice here, it really just doesnt show how straight down to the bottom of hell this thing goes. i cant imagine what chute 1 is like. PC didnt join us on that run, and that actually proved to be the smart move, as he found some nice trees that were still skiable on the other side by Rolex. By the time RR and myself got to the base we were cooked, and PC was still off skiing. on to Winter Park. The place we are staying in Winter Park is baller.

I was a little concerned how conditions would be today, since it got so warm yesterday afternoon, but to my surprise, the boat didnt disappoint. Morningside and Christmas tree where just as nice as they were yesterday. We traversed farther back past christmas tree, into no names, and it was well worth it. there is still a little untracked back there, nothing to get overly excited about, but the snow is soft and plentiful back there. Chute #3 was a big suprise. it gets a ton of traffic, and from the bottom looks pretty exposed to the sun. the snow was really nice back in there. We saw some decent trees above morningside that need to be explored tomorrow, just need to figure out where to get into them. We skipped lunch, and called it quits a little earlier. Tomorrow, maybe a little more crowded, should ski very similar to today. RidgeRacer in christmas tree RR middle rib PC in christmas tree. look close, he is in there. PC and RR in No Name No Name And my favorite pic....yes, we had someone take the typical touristy pic. its not my favorite pic because its with my buddies, and not because PC forgot to take off his multi-purpose weather station/cell phone antenna/GoPro off his helmet, but because of the steamboat employee in the background photobombing us.

I have been fired as tour guide since i lead us over to the worst snow on the mountain. Pony express lift is a one and done. Back over to christmas tree.

Fish and chips for lunch. Chutes look a little more tracked out than christmas tree. The further we traverse back towards no name the more untracted stuff we find. Christmas tree is staying decent since its not getting much sun.

Our Jeep Cherokee is similar to driving a toboggan. Advantage rental cars blessed us with the "sport", which really means stripped down basic car with just a little more traction than a yugo, and drag radials. luckily the anti lock brakes seem to do their job, it might be the best function of the vehicle. Berthoud pass is kind of crazy to drive, but looks like a huge playground if you dont mind earning your turns.

Anything for you. i am putting together my "in case of extra ski days" plan right now.

I would put bank on the Sunday/Monday thing. Monday is our travel day back from CO.

Holy crap. where did that come from? Like like like. we are going to Steamboat first. Our trusty Jeep Cherokee or similar should handle the trip no problem.

I was there for about 2 hrs in the am. The closing of challange and half of East is really starting to crawl up my ass, and i made it a point to discuss that with any individual that would listen. The little 12' stretch that was open on Solitude was a joke as well, i get why they did it, but it was just a waste of time to set up all those poles, since mad tree glade was still closed. I know that my opinion and complaining wont really amount to much, but it did help pass the time since i was so bored with such limited terrain to play on. I am convinced the person responsible for thinking this is a good idea, doesnt ski. closing all those trails cuts the mountain in half. If i came to ski for the day, and purchased a day ticket, i would have been pissed. Rant over. On to Colorado.

6 AM Wednesday morning.

Rivershot. Guitar73 and myself saw her being packaged up. Didnt know it was her at the time. My spidey hearing overheard some patrolers talking about it in a lift line.

Im still on board with this storm, nice work keeping the stoke market up Moe. no mixing issues at Blue or JF. Just titty sparkles.

as stated earlier, i have different living desires than alot of people on this site. here are the reasons i personally think New York City sucks: 1. its unbelievably crowded. 2. alot of places you have to wait 30 minutes or so just to access basic amenities like grocercy stores, convenient stores, etc. 3. there are alot places look like Beirut. 4. its a major city 5. no auto racing 6. driving through NYC is incredibly depressing. 7. Lots of diversity, 9mm, .38 special, 50 cal, AK-47 8. walmart 9. billboards 10. its shit 11. lots of trash, (people, streets) 12. its part of a state that actually has decent things to do outdoors, just not in the city, and it can be unbelievably hard to leave the city. 13. people from New York think they live on their own planet. 14. public transportation Like you said, to each his own. I wont question why you would want to live there, or call it stupid, its just that i personally dont see the draw to living in NYC. Thats my list of why i think NYC is shitty. I wont hate on Vermont. Its not real hard to get to, and does offer up some great skiing, most of which i have yet to actually get to.

Monday looks promising. not many people throwing numbers out there yet, but i think 6" of snow would be somewhat conservative. This storm seems to have a low bust potential. the moisture is there, unlike the other storm that had to pull moisture from the ocean.

It is. Being a blue noob, i just thought that was new park feature.

i think this one got the best of everybody. i heard "high bust potential" from maybe 2 of the 10 weather dealios i pay attention to, and by high bust potential, they meant totals going down. Nobody predicted Elvis setting up camp around state college to party and ruining PASR's powder day. I think this all started to fall apart very late last night, so up until 10 or 11 everyone was still on board. It is what it is. we had a decent snow Saturday, and nobody should be crying in their Wheaties. Its happened before, and it will happen again. in case you are bored, this is kinda funny. http://www.crossingbroad.com/2015/01/stormcast-2015-everyone-was-wrong-and-the-ones-who-were-less-wrong-are-gloating-about-it.html

Did i mention 0-16"? im still going with that. Patience. it will do something, or maybe nothing.

weighing the options. Blue would be my first pick, but we shall see.

0-16". im still sticking with that. Blue is gonna be saweet on tuesday.

I need to agree with PC on Thunderbolt Glade. i have zero interest in it without tons of natural snow, and at that, i still think its sketchy. i have seen too many people get messed up in there. its like thats where they dumped all the boulders they picked up somewhere else. Without the flight!

Pretty nice day today, Guitar73 was in the house and PC was back and forth with the instructor thing. All the normal things you would expect. Eglade is ok, elevator wont hold any snow. Best snow was on exhibition, one park glade was holding snow pretty good, still a few rocks to be found. Mad tree glade is actually pretty good. Stoke stomper for the day was all the trails closed for racing. they are now closing solitude and floyds for the race team, which takes out telstar as well, so basically half of East Mt is closed so the spandex squad can do their thing. As if that wasnt a kick in the ass, they also had Challenge closed, which takes out Challange glade, so just kick me in the nuts now. It was a very busy Sunday. To busy for them to have all those trails closed. Sunday fail JFBB. So the big news is, celebrity weather person, and skiing sensation Cecily Tynan was taken off East Mt via toboggan by ski patrol. Looks like she will be forecasting our next powder day sitting down, with some type of knee injury.

Oh my. Nice forecast this morning. ?????

0-16" on tap for Monday night - Tuesday. Stay tuned for updates.

JF skied great today. it would appear as if they groomed just after closing yesterday, so it was just a wonderland of un-groomed powder everywhere. As temps started to rise the snow really got packed down, and by noon what wasnt tracked out was pretty heavy. Trails will be nice tomorrow, but there isnt much left to be had off trail. Today was the day.