elkskibum

Yea I just saw that, I am pretty surprised, they had March 28 pretty much set in stone unless the weather turned bad, guess this week is warm enough, oh well. So much for my good information, guess being just a race coach doesn't mean you know everything

I know this was mentioned in an other thread, but on this Sat Elk is having their annual Spring Carnival, and because of the theme this year being the start of their 50 celebration, you can buy one ticket and get a second for only 50 cents. To my knowledge this is the first time in a long time Elk is doing something like this, so if anyone wants to take advantage of some good spring skiing on a discount this Saturday would be it. Also word is that they are going to be open until March 28, however if this weekend is a big success (i.e. money wise) they might try and stay open till April 4th, as long as the snow holds up. Here is the Carnival schedule: www.elkskier.com/springcarn09.html

That's great that the snow held up after all the rain and warmth they had over the weekend, the difference between friday and monday was pretty depressing, and I was starting to get a little concerned about the snow staying around. How were the bumps? They were fantastic in the soft snow but with the freeze up they might be a little "firm", haha. As far as making snow, the only thing I can see them doing is pulling out the cannons on the West Slope, just to make sure the base by the lodge and on West stays around for the slope style comp for spring carnival. Also, on said spring carnival (march 21st) they are going to offer buy one pass get a second for 50 cents in celebration of 50 years, which will make the awesomeness of spring carnival even better. (as there will be more people to see me in my costume, haha.)

This past weekend was one of the better ones in a while, bluebird on sat and then some snow and more bluebird on sun. Hopefully this winter never ends.

Thursday was a little hard, to put it nicely, but Friday was pretty nice. And today was nearly perfect, the snow was nice, and the bumps were at their mid-winter form. Glad you had a good time man.

Opening Weekend 08/09: After seeing how much snow Elk had on the trails thanksgiving weekend I was hoping the first weekend would be a good one. Got out on Saturday around 930, and was impressed at how much snow was being made: upper and lower Tunkhannock, the terrain park next to west, the lack spur and hiawatha, and the Wissahickon. However on Sat only Tioga and Susquehanna were opened. (normal for early/ mid december) The snow was pretty good for early december; good base, no real death cookies or weird snow, just good ole fashioned pa hard pack perfect for carving. As the day wore on Susq got kinda icy, which was expected considering it was the trail everyone was skiing. Sunday they opened up the upper tunk and lower to the hiawatha (so they could open up new trails but not open the quad yet). However, they more than likely rushed opening these trails, as they were quite firm and fast. (with some cookies) Upper Tunkannock had a huge amount of snow on it, but when you flatten out the piles right before the trail opens, well im sure everyone knows what happens;) Nevertheless the snow quality was good and it was nice skiing some variety on only the 5th day of operations. Both days the slopes were not that crowded, as im pretty sure that everybody skiing or riding was a season pass holder or employee, and it seemed like everyone knew what they were doing, so little problem as far as crowd control. The amount of terrain they have open so early in the season is great, and even with the warm up tues and wed they are in great shape for a fun December. I gotta give them some credit, with all the cold temps it must be tempting to open trails as fast as possible, but they really try and get a good solid base down before opening the trail. (For instance on sat the wales of snow on tunk were huge, it prob could have opened on friday, yet they were still blowing snow) All in all a good weekend to get the ski legs in shape and they should have a good amount of terrain open at this rate for christmas week.

Thats pretty cool, I remember talking to the terrian park guys at the end of last year and them saying that they were gonna have some new stuff for this year. I think the idea was to have the park next to the west slope be like a beginner/ rail only thing and the park on delaware have more advanced stuff, like bigger and better than ever before. Im not a park skier by any means but although elk's park is small they seem to do a pretty good job with it.

Wow sounds great, was Elk blowing on anything else this morning other than the bunny slope? (Just making snow during the day on a weekday is a win I guess) The area between the east and west slope used to be their terrain park before they moved it, it would be sick if they opened it up again as an early season park. Can't wait for this weekend.

Just wanted to make this the top thread. I know not as many elk skiers/riders on this board as the other mountains but how many people are planning on hitting the slopes this weekend? (or if local tomorrow?) with all the snowmaking last week and some more hopefully to continue they should have a good amount of terrain opening shortly, much more than their normal early season stuff

Yea I believe the shortest you can rent is for a month. The village doesnt want the situations of people coming for the weekend, don't know much about them, etc. There are some very wealthy homeowners who are part of the village, mostly the reason behind the rental situations. Hope you find a place to stay and have a good skiing experience at Elk.

The only thing "slopeside" is the village (the place with the pools and tennis courts) which is a private community that only rents houses for the season. Your best bet for a weekend is in the places mentioned above, or for a longer weekend/week elk medows will sometimes rent. (Down the road) Other than that its the various small motels/ b&b locally and then clarks summit.

I too am a little angry if they are indeed not even attempting to blow a little snow. Its almost positive that they wont open before december, as most of their staff is not on until then, and I don't see them changing it. But my god, its only 20 some deg there, just blow a bunch of huge piles and let them sit there, its not like they have never done that before. I remember a thanksgiving a few years ago when they had so much snow made, into piles, that you could have skied top to bottom even before they groomed everything out. Over the last few years they really have gotten better with snow making, as far as actually making around the clock and on more than one trail, it would be a shame if they got cheap now. (I have heard they are special rates with ppl for certain times and months, but its not like they havnt blown snow in november before.) I really hope they take advantage of this weather, but really wouldnt be that shocked if they didnt. However, you never know with them, the last few years they havnt even said anything or shown any snow making pictures till like a week before they open, so who knows.

Cant wait for winter, should be a good one! On the regrading of Lenape, when I first saw what they did (made the flat run in and headwall much wider) I was not happy, but to be honest after seeing it again a few weeks ago it actually is a good improvement. On weekends it was a complete bottle-neck at the top of the headwall, and I think now it is a much more enjoyable trail for everyone. Oh and it will be more fun to take it very very fast on the non crowded days

As of two years ago there was the rumor floating around that they were planning to go ahead with the lift reconstruction project, which the details of are really only know by upper management. However, either because of price or change of heart they went back to a very old plan of adding another water pond. The mountain and the village of four seasons (the houses at the bottom) have been fighting over the lake for many many years, as the mountain owns the deep side but the village owns the side with the natural springs. (Thus the weird looking barrier between the two sides, in fact the village once blocked off the mountains side during an argument, needless to say the mountain caved in and I believe that the village can no longer to that.) The land across from the mountain (the tree farm) is where the pond is supposed to be, the mountain has owned that forever and actually has the pipes already built (or so im told) to build the pond. However, I heard this was going to be built two summers ago, so who knows with them. The new lifts and trails have been an idea I think before they expanding the other side in the mid 90s, the original plan was to build the other way, but land usage and ownership was a problem then and most likely will be a problem for a long time. *This is all word of mouth and can be completely right or totally wrong

Its not a full refund, its how many days short they were. So if the pass for a season was say $500 and they were only open 95 days, they would give a pass holder a credit of $25 (5 days at 5 dollars each) for the next year. Its not a true 'guarantee' but it shows a commitment to their product. *this actually happened a few seasons ago: they were short a few days and gave a credit for the next season