[2024 resurrection weekend]

On 3/31/2024 at 10:21 PM, DiMe said:

Anyone still gonna be up this week?  Im riding Killington Tuesday, Stratton Wednesday and Thursday.

I was at Stratton on Easter Sunday and things were nice .. empty.  With the snow they are getting tomorrow, should be great 

[2024 resurrection weekend]

On 3/29/2024 at 9:08 PM, momskeeztoo said:

I’ve had an Ikon pass for past 3 years, love it. Was considering not getting another for next year- had a pretty good discount working in healthcare, but now I’m retired. But IDK, think I’ll regret it if I don’t. 

II had an Ikon the last three years and loved it. However I decided to get an Epic pass this year as there are some trips I want this coming year based on a Epic Pass(namely Japan with Rusutsu and Hakuba Valley).  But I'm really hoping I don't regret it... I'm not overly looking forward to JF/Hunter/Mt Snow as my local day trip mountains.  

I will plan to go back Ikon the following year, but I guess it will be nice to force myself to some different locations .

[Stratton 3/22/24]

1 hour ago, PSUFrankenstein said:

Tree house in Deerfield?  Jealous...

Yes, Deerfield.. kind of out of the way .. but so worth it... As always

[Stratton 3/22/24]

53 minutes ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

Nice report, don’t you follow the weather?  

I had looked earlier in the week and saw some snow, but it looked like it was mostly northern VT 

I was planning to just go to Blue on Sunday, but made a late switch Saturday night and never looked back at the weather.  

[Stratton 3/22/24]

I drove up this morning..  honestly had no idea they got as much snow as reported.  MT is reporting 28".... Boy I wish is had a different board with me, my powder boards are at home.  The first couple runs were a blast, but oohh soo much work!

[Blue on IKON Pass]

1 hour ago, JFskiDan said:

Correct.  its not unlimited, so for those of us that do more than 7 days, just crumple it up and put it in the circular file.  Even if you are thinking i will do the 7 days on Ikon, and then buy day passes for the balance of my days, i think after about 6 weekend day passes it would be going negative, unless Ikon offers discount tix after you use up your days.  i guess thats something to consider as well, but again, for the weekend regulars at Blue, like myself, its a mute1080 point.  

Maybe next year it goes unlimited.  but part of me thinks thats a horrible idea, as i do think that would add a lot of new skiers at Blue, and im not sure we need that.  I have always said im willing to pay more for less traffic.  

The Ikon is a no brainer for @pcklein31 , he even posted 3 times about how excited he is about it.  If you just want to ski 14 days in the Poconos, and arent brand loyal, its a good deal.  So that being said, i may take back my statement that i doubt we see an impact, to i think we will see some type of uptick in skier visits.  

Ha.. yeah.. i thought my WiFi on good old trusty United was failing me... but should never have doubted them!

[Blue on IKON Pass]

18 hours ago, skiincy said:

Holy shit. This is wild.

@Schifdog just ran down the stairs to tell me.

------------------

Here's the TLDR

• If you switch from Blue to Ikon, you have limited visits to Blue Mountain, lose the free buddy pass, and access to the VIP line.

------------------

I'm currently working like 20-hours a week and have been thinking ... man, this would be so sweet to ski midweek and go off to Utah again... 

• So, I've contacted Ikon to get more details and they said to contact Blue.
• I contacted Blue asking if my season pass is now valid at Ikon Resorts - it's not. 
• I asked Blue if there's an option to upgrade - there's not.
• But, the agent did offer to refund my season pass. And then you buy the Ikon.
• But, Ikon will be limiting visits to Blue Mountain and has blackout dates.

Hope this helps others considering switching to Ikon.

--------------------

Me: as a current season pass holder, are you offering any options to upgrade to Ikon? I called Ikon and they told me that you would be offering a promotion to cancel my season pass and upgrade it to Ikon

Blue: We are happy to work with you to find the solution you need! If we refund your Blue Mountain Season Pass, you will lose all pass holder benefits including access to the VIP line at high-speed lifts, your free buddy pass, free snow tubing, and year-round 10% discount on food and retail. You will also be limited to 5 or 7 visits to Blue Mountain and subject to IKON blackout dates (depending on your Ikon Season Pass type). If you would like to continue with a refund on your Blue Mountain Season Pass, please let me know.

Me: is there a deadline that you're offering the pass refund option?

Blue: You can get a refund for your pass as long as you haven't used it yet. No specific date

 

If Blue will refund an unused season pass if you have an Ikon, I might just take them up on that offer.

 

I typically only get 15-20 days at blue .. plus about 15-20 at Ikon mts.  If I can get 14 days between Blue and Camelback, I'm pretty much covered.  I can also easily add in a few days at other local. mountains 

[The Remarkables, NZ]

On 9/7/2023 at 3:56 PM, Johnny Law said:

Siiiiiick !!! Nz is almost all club fields so the skiing is all dirt bag which I love and shitty lifts. 

Super cool pics and way to get to a place most don't. 

Thanks: Definitely making plans to get back and spend more time in NZ. I was only there for 4 nights, so I was maximizing my time and my Ikon pass.  But would be great to explore more.

[The Remarkables, NZ]

Currently on my flight from Sydney to San Fran... Found this picture which shows the uniqueness of the NZ ski fields.  They say they get very little snow in the valley and the snow level is typically quite high in the mountains.  In this picture of you zoom into the bottom of the V of the snow line ... That is the base of the Remarkables resort.  Quite the drive to get up there ..

[The Remarkables, NZ]

1 hour ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

Nice pictures..1,000 vert can ski short at Blue and long elsewhere.  Shit the last 1,000 vert of the Hobacks wears me out more than 200k vert at Blue but other 1,000 vert sections at JH ski shorter cause steep and groomed 

.. and well .. I had not ventured up the final lift until today as it is an old fixed grip lift.  I guess that should have told me it was the fun part of the mountain.  You are dropped off inside an upper mountain bowl with options everywhere (albeit a lot with thin cover).  The slopes were a lot more fun and much less crowded.

 

 

[The Remarkables, NZ]

I am spending a few days in Queenstown, NZ.  First of all, this place is just stunning...

Spent the last two days at The Remarkables which is a fun 'little/big' mountain.  It is weird as the vertical is similar to Blue but skis much bigger, but all does not have a lot accessible steep terrain.   All of the steeper terrain is off piste.  Due to light coverage I stayed away except the heavier travels area.  Overall a fun place to spend a day, but could see during a good winter this place would be really fun.

Lastly, the drive up may have been more exciting than the mountain itself... Crazy windy 13 km road with the last 3km gravel.

 

A few pics below..at add some others later

[5/15 BIG Snow American Dreamin]

On 6/9/2023 at 11:09 AM, theprogram4 said:

Has anyone ever witnessed the t bar at American dream open?

I have not seen it run since the first 6 months or so of their original opening.  Even then, it only ran when the chair line got backed up.

[Multi-Mountain Pass Pricing]

Pretty cool that Alyeska was added to Ilon... Hmm?, will strongly consider a trip to Alaska next season..

[Utah 2023]

I enjoy Level Crossing Brewing for good beer and pizza near SLC... and always make a trip to Bohemian Brewing in Midvale(solid lagers and good German/Czech food).

Also 2 Row has some solid beer for takeout.

 

 

[The 2022-23 ski season thread.]

1 minute ago, pcklein31 said:

 

.. Also, try to get to Powder .. just a fun low key mountain like Brighton.

[The 2022-23 ski season thread.]

3 hours ago, PSUFly said:

Weather is looking promising for Utah next week.   Doing Brighton Tuesday, forecast is 6 to 10" through Monday evening.   Deciding on snowbird or snow basin for Friday

Nice! .. enjoy; I'm heading out mid April(11-19).

[Seattle 2023]

Day 1 at Crystal Mountain,. Arrived at Crystal Mountain around 10:00am after a 2.5 hour drive from my friend's house near Olympia.  Not terribly crowded on the slopes but park lots were full and it was a pretty good hike to the lodge from the main lot.

Kept pretty low-key and stuck mostly to groomers.  Visibility was not great and was pretty non-existent at the summit.  The gondola was shut down around 1130 due to winds.  

Overall, the snow was decent,  only found a few slick spots later in the day, but nothing terrible   I did not feel their groomed terrain was that steep compared to Utah.  The abundance of evergreen trees reminded me of Elk( HAHA).. 

Road mostly off the Ranier Express and the Forrest Queen Express..  

A few pictures.. hard to take much at higher elevation due to fog.  You should be able to see Mt Ranier, but no luck today 

 

[Seattle 2023]

30 minutes ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

Have fun…you’re back in time..we’re all here thinking about what’s for supper(Wawa hoagie the best lol) while it’s barely afternoon in Seattle.  Have fun!!!

Thanks .. and .. I may have lived in NJ for the last 6 years, but Sheetz will always reign supreme!

[Seattle 2023]

While I'm not big on writing long trip reports..I am almost ready to land in Seattle for a quick 3 day trip to visit a friend and hopefully get two days on my snowboard before catching a red-eye back to EWR Friday night.

I plan to hit up Crystal Mountain and Snoqualmie (Apental).  At minimum some pictures to follow.

[23/24 Season Passes Released.]

My most recent email now states 3/19 as the end date for getting the $50.

[Blue bumpers invade Canukistan - 2/24/2023]

Love the pic of the Bighorn Sheep!

[23/24 Season Passes Released.]

Unless I'm wrong, this is unusual to have the new season pass available in Feb, correct?  Maybe my memory is bad, but seems like we don't get the option until March. 

I could just be projecting my faltering memory based around an expectation of Blue not lasting after mid-March.... Unless we get some better weather soon 

[Walts in Winter Park]

1 hour ago, AtomicSkier said:

but @pcklein31 you only earn PQPs for the bus, not PQFs.  Sad.

Thanks, good know,, there goes an easy way to reach 54 PQF!  I've been at 54 and 56 the last two years, so hopefully I maintain.

It is nice that using miles for flights now earn PQP and PQFs.  

[January 29th...gonna be busy]

After yesterday's conditions and these reports, glad I decided to drive up to Windham today instead.  Things were ok, but not great up there ... There was not much sugar l, but did have to watch out for some  of ice on the 'steeps'.  Overall, nice to at least get a change of scenery with the crappy conditions around.  

Hoping for a return of better conditions in February for Blue!

[Wed. 1/25]

2 hours ago, C1erArt said:

Holding down the fort while people fly off to have fun somewhere else. Fairly light crowd today, no lift lines and slopes weren’t too crowded. Upper parts of the slopes were in pretty good shape, but pretty much all the lower parts had heavy sugar snow develop, especially lower Main, lower paradise (both have some very sketchy  cover areas), and homestretch. Razors was a lot smoother than yesterday. Lazy was pretty nice, with sugar snow piles starting to develop after the turn. Even Falls was starting to get fluffed up. 
 

First flakes  started about 1130, snowing pretty heavy now. 

I was there for opening bell today.  First run was down CS(FF) and it was was good until you reached Paradise and things were surgary right off the bat. I then did two runs down Razors and they were fantastic with smooth nice snow everywhere.  

The rest of the mountain, including Main St, Lazy, WM were less good with sugar on tht bottom half everywhere and cover getting thin on Main through the stained area. 

I kept coming back to CS and Razors as they continued to be better than the rest of the mountain even though they did deteriorate throughout the morning.  I left shortly after the snow started to fall.  All in all a very nice morning even though the snow started later than initially stated