Ride Delaware ?

I had a great time and it was a blast meeting you guys even though I was the only boarder... Rode without my knee brace for the first time this season and felt pretty good... Ill be getting out next Saturday for a couple more hours, so I hope to see some of you there again...

Lastly, for you weather buffs, I checked the hourly forecast, and we are clear till 10 am, and then only a 30% chance for the rest of the day...

What do you think the chances are that Belleayre makes it to the 11th? They have stuff planned for the 10th, so I think there is some hope...

hopefully cb will keep that core 8 trails open for the 4th... They were money last year, even with the rain... That will probably be my last day before Whistler... I may get in a day on the 11th at belleayre if they are still open, but if not I will settle for a last day at cb LOL

They say tomorrow will be the 124th day in operation, and they plan to end on the 4th with 130 days... Thurs, Fri, Sat, and Sun put us up to 128... Looks like they will be closing midweek and opening back on the 3rd and 4th?

So where are we meeting at what time?

As for the rumor that they would make it until April 4th, there are signs all over guest services stating that they will be open until then weather permitting, so that date is set... With that being said, when do the lifts start for sure? They have opening and closing times for the lifts posted there and the times can be changed... On Saturday it said that the Sullivan lift opens at 7:30... Anybody have some actual times? On another note, although I have a bum knee from a boarding accident early in the season, and cannot likely keep up with you guys, I am looking forward to meeting some of you and will be in attendance for sure... If its about 50 degrees, which the forecast is calling for, I will be riding a Burton Raven 159 with stickers from Northeast mountains, a black helmet, a brown jacket, blue pants, and black boots with red laces...

I got there at 10 AM on Saturday since 33 was closed at wind gap with a reroute to Bangor and up 191 due to a tanker with HCL wrecking, but the 2nd and 3rd lots were fairly full... Liftlines were only about 1 minute at the most with no lines from 11-1 for lunch... To answer your question Doug, the core 8 trails they kept open until April 6 last year, off of the Sullivan lift, should make it until April 4th with some snow pushing... The east side for next weekend may be a stretch... Coverage on the trails looked good, with only a little encroachment on Nile... However, several of the connecting trails, especially the flat from the Sunbowl to the Stevenson, looked pretty thin, and if they dont have all the connectors open (even if there are ways around those), they will close those from past experience... I would say that the cold nights tonight and the next 2 nights may make it possible... I overheard the lady giving me my pass in the office saying that they were committed to staying open till the 4th even if they have to truck snow from some closed parts of the mountain... However, real warm weather could kill that lol

I went last April 10th to Belleayre and they were riding with great coverage on 34 trails... Some bare spots but mostly fun spring snow... They have some nice cruisers and its definitely worth the 35 dollars... If CB doesnt make it to the first weekend in April, I will most likely hit Belleayre that weekend...

PASR Day at Camelback next Saturday? Edit: Doug, I might be at Blue Sunday midday for closing, say 12?

Yeah, two years ago they were blowing snow the 13th of April, got hit with that 20th snowstorm for 2 feet, and stayed open till the 24th... Hopefully when the economy recovers that will too... Im hoping to ride cb this weekend and next, and then maybe hit up Bell the first weekend in April...

I usually try to stay away from the mountains on the weekends with the crowds being disastrous, but at the beginning and end of the season I get a little more adventurous with it... How do you think the crowds will be this weekend? Im thinking of making a trip up on Saturday but I dont want to wait in liftlines all day...

I took advantage of this deal (season pass at Blue) last year on April 3rd and was not dissappointed. The coverage off the 8 trails under the Sullivan was spectacular and not crowded. I hope to make it up again this year.

As I wrote in my trip report January 30th, which I dont think anyone read lol j/k, Belleayre was to close the last weekend in March. They have decided to stay open into April, but the length of that has not been discussed. Im sure they extended it to the first weekend with a possibility if the demand keeps up, of going until the 2nd. While economics say go to Camelback for the free pass for a season pass if they stay open through the first weekend in April again, which I assume they will, I may hit up Bell if it by some chance makes it to the second weekend (my birthday) in April.

Although today was a little warm, about 45 on the mountain, the snow was hero snow and ice was nearly non existent... Rode on Ramshead a little then went to the top... I accidentally hit some moguls, but if I skied, I'm sure I would have loved the soft bumps... I had to leave at 12 for the ride home, but it was a great morning session... It was nice today, but it's going to be an icy mess when the temps drop...

Another good day on the mountain... I wanted to get out early due to the impending bad weather, but I didn't get out until 9:30... I pretty much dedicated this trip to riding switch, so I started at Ramshead... It was a little warmer due to the fromt coming through, and the cord was plentiful with very little ice... I soon headed over to the K1 and Skyeship and lapped cruise control and great eastern... I rode until 3:30 without stopping so I could get the good stuff before the precip... It spit a little at the end for like 2 minutes, so I really lucked out... Tomorrow is supposed to be in the 40s with rain at night... However, I will be leaving at 12, so I may get some soft snow with only cloudy weather... I'll follow up tomorrow...

Well, I broke through the cruz and was maybe shin deep... I could buy knee deep, since it's a week later, but I have trouble believing chest deep...

Sorry it took me so long to post this, but I've been drinking some brews in front of the fire and relaxing... Got out about 9:30 at Pico... Snow was firm and plentiful, and the inch and a half of fresh last night didn't hurt... Trees were rideable and were surprisingly untouched... Just make sure your edges are sharp because there was a layer of cruz on top... The summit was closed in the morning, and after pushing back the lift opening, they decided not to open it... I was dissappointed and left for lunch... I went to killington after lunch and went straight to the skyeship gondola... Hit some runs off of Great Eastern, which is green but has a good pitch and is ridiculously long... I hit some other runs off of Skye peak after that and then headed back to Trail Creek via the Whiffletree trail, which is surprisingly long and winding... The snow was getting a little skied off at the end, and some ice was showing, but overall it was legit... Tomorrow might have a little mixed precip, but I'll keep you informed...

I'm at killington staying at trail creek, and it's snowing heavily even though there's nothing on the weather report... I'll be at pico tomorrow since it's not open the rest of the week... They say that there may be some light but short lasted ice tuesday, but I don't expect a problem... I'm on my iPod touch, but I'll keep you posted...

I went to Belleayre last April 10th for some spring skiing and was thoroughly impressed by the state owned and operated Catskill Mountain. I wished to go back this year, and my father, who skis, had not been on the snow yet this year and decided to tag along. We left Delaware about 2:15 on Thursday, and arrived around 8 or so... There was some traffic at the I-287 and I-87 interchange mostly attributed to rush hour traffic... We stayed at the Northland Motel... It is in Fleischmans and is only about 1.4 miles from the mountain... The room was discounted for the week and was only $59 per night... The rooms are your basic 70's style room and the rooms probably had not been upgraded since... If your looking for a close cheap place to stay, this is your place... If you want some more class, look elsewhere... The beds are strengthened by plywood, the carpet is coming up, and the shades appeared to be mostly homemade... However, the bathrooms were in excellent shape and I found the use of the room to be rather enjoyable also lol... The motel had a restaurant, but it was privately operated and was moving, so it wasn't open... The owner of the motel told us La Cabana, a mexican restaurant in town, was within walking distance and would be open... The walk would be quite enjoyable if it wasn't close to 10 blocks away and it wasn't 8 degrees out lol... It was pretty cool being able to walk on the road in town without seeing a single car... Unfortunately, the town seems to be economically depressed and has many vacant stores... After enjoying some enchiladas, we went back and went to sleep ready to wake up and hit the slopes... We arrived at the mountain at about 8:30 and parked at the Overlook lodge about 75 yards from the lodge... I was surprised to see so many people there, but it was Winterfest, and all lift tickets were only $20. My dad headed inside to grab some coffee and a sandwich, but I stuck true to man law and booted up in the parking lot... I found my dad, bought our lift tickets, and hit the slopes... My dad wanted to warm up on the beginner slopes, all of which are located below the overlook lodge, so we decided to meet at the double lift that serviced that terrain... Well, I lost my dad and he ended up at the Super Chief quad and went to the top... I on the other hand ended up lapping some slow beginner terrain for about an hour while I looked for him... After realizing he clearly wasn't going to meet me, I decided to hit the Quad... There was actually a slight line, but getting in the single line made the wait about 15 seconds... The longest I waited all day was maybe 2 minutes because the entire day seemed to be dedicated to amateur hour, and seriously, 3 people fell off the lift trying to get on... I lapped almost all of the terrain not dedicated to the moguls for the next two hours before finding my dad at the lodge enjoying a cup of hot cocoa... The snow was excellent east coast cord... The 6 inches they received from the last winter storm were groomed in nicely... At the end of the day there were some icy spots, but in reality, there were very few and they were small... The areas that weren't groomed were a little crusty from the freezing rain, but not too bad at all... After lunch I finally got to the slow quad and the triple and got to try out some of the right side of the mountain... It was in great shape and Deer Run is a great cruiser... We travelled the whole mountain pretty well the next 3 and a half hours and most of the trails were still in great shape... Very few glades were actually open, but it was obvious that you could probably poach them without any repercussions... Several trails were closed for the first couple hours and had snowguns on them, but they opened them later and kept the guns on providing for some pretty sweet deep manmade... The crowds began to thin at about 2 and we left at about 3:45... It snowed pretty heavy through snow showers most of the day... They picked up about 2 inches of snow, and these snow showers continued throughout the evening... After leaving we went to the hotel, showered, and embarked for somewhere to eat... We ended up at the Phoenecian Diner which is about 12 miles away... It is an old school diner that serves your normal diner food... The upside is that they make alot of their food homemade... The downside is that they don't accept credit... There were only several people eating, but it appeared to be much busier the next morning when we left... All in all, it was a great day of boarding... Unfortunately, I got to talk to one of the employees, and due to the budget cuts, this means their closing date has already been set as the last weekend in March... The employee said that skier visits have been slightly down, but it isn't an alarming amount, and if the upcoming holiday is decent, they may consider pushing it back another week, but nothing is set in stone... Sorry Steeze, you may be heading North a week earlier than you thought... I may try to make a weekend trip in April... The spring skiing last year was awesome...

I always try to make a trip up there every year... Im hoping to get 2 days in... It really is my favorite mountain in PA... I love it all from the slow lifts to the base before expansion snowmaking theory... I thought about coming up this weekend, but 4-6 trails isnt worth the gas or the lift ticket... Plus my knee is still banged up from Sunday River and Sugarloaf...

I'd think about checking out Shawnee... They seem to have some decent terrain open, and if Sno opens it will split up the crowds... I think Shawnee might be a good alternative for decent terrain and the chance to miss the crowds... I'm sure Blue and CB will have crowds... If CB had the other quad open I would go there hands down, but it is december now and the word is out... Crowds will be picking up everywhere... I know Elk wont have crowds, but they historically have not offered lift ticket discounts for early or late season riding, so its not worth the money for the 4 trails they have open...

Not to be confrontational, but it was the Sullivan lift that was open, and I heard that Tut's wasn't open, and if it was, it surely doesn't lead to Honeymoon Lane... That being said, Camelback is always r tarded when it comes to their operating policies... Thats why I switched to a Blue season pass last year... They often don't run both high speed quads in the middle of winter on weekdays... Many a time I have gone to find them closing the Stevenson around 5-6... It gets a little old... That being said, they should stay open, but it doesn't surprise me... Their early opening was bittersweet... It should have been the weekend before, regardless of less terrain, they should at least stay open midweek 9-4, or 4-9 if they want the after schoolers, and they definitely should have more open than the sunbowl and the park... Im guessing that the only reason they even have the sunbowl open is to allow passage to the park and give those parking at the main lodge a return lift...

I talked to one of the PR guys through some emails a couple years ago when I was doing a little research for an article I was writing for dcski, and I asked if there would be anymore lights added, and he said there wasn't enough night business to justify it... So naturally, I suggested that maybe adding more lights and making it more of a night time destination would increase business... He said that may be the case, but it just wasn't logical... At the time, I was younger and thought that was a good way of saying we don't want or don't have the money to spend... Even if that is the case, I see his point... Midweek most of the night skiiers are locals no matter where you go... And if they aren't, they are vacationers.... Unfortunately, the nearest hotels are nearly 20 minutes away if not farther, and you can get a pretty good workout during the day at Elk... I love Elk, and would therefore love to see an expansion, but I don't know when that is likely to happen... If there were more hotels closer and it was more of a destination area instead of a weekend warrior area, I think you would see more of a desire to do so... But, the last expansion, which I believe was the addition of the quad and a couple of trails off of the quad, occurred in 97' If that is the case, maybe some small expansions are due (ie a trail or two), but I unfortunately dont see them spending any massive amounts of dollars in the next few years...

They have updated their site, and only a terrain park will be open this weekend in the tubing park... However, they will open for skiing/riding on November 28th including a park in Rhodo... Still seems silly not to open this weekend, but they have added a new trail or two to the snowmaking list, so opening day should boast close to 10 trails!!!