riderossi

Also this... That's $5 an hour for entertainment. You can't even go bowling or play pool for that price and look at the operating expenses of a ski resort compared to that of a bowling alley. Damn I wish going to the bar only cost me $5 an hour..

You are proving my point without realizing it. Bars have happy hours and beer specials during the times where they are trying to draw people in, not during times when they are going to be busy regardless( Friday and Saturday's after 11pm). Saturdays and Sunday's are ski resorts biggest days, it isn't a wise business decision to discount ticket prices when people are already coming those days. Sno however is doing discounts on these nights with the 4/$50 night passes. So stop your bitching and moaning about $30 night pass and find 3 other people and come up for $12.50 on Saturday night. Also if you come up for some night runs in the middle of the season on a warm day you are going to find hard conditions, that's the nature of the game. What are the area mountains that currently do midday grooming? -serious question.

If you can't see the reasoning behind discount pricing on a TUESDAY I don't know what to tell you. I suppose you think that bars should do happy hour from 11pm-2am on Fridays and Saturday's too? And just FYI, they have night tickets on Saturday's and Sunday's for $12.50 if you bring 3 other people. Let me know if you find another area mountain with those prices.

The rail jam won't be on the terrain park so it will be open but I wouldn't have high expectations for the park after days of 50 degree weather and rain. If I'm not mistaken the deal is 4 night tickets for $50. Not all day...not $59...not right at all. Night tickets start at 4pm.

The guns have been blowing on those trails all day...

Yeah they are pretty pricey. We ended up getting 20% off our second night for the hotel through Orbitz, and I also hunted down a coupon code for %10 off, so we saved over $50 on the hotel just with the coupon code alone. The lift tickets were also only $45 or $46 plus the discount on the second day for buying the multi-day ticket. That's a damn good price on the lift tickets considering almost everything was open. If the lift tickets had still been around $90 we probably wouldn't have stayed at the Stowe mountain lodge.

After deciding around Monday or Tuesday of last week that we were going to head up to Vermont for the weekend we decided on Stowe and staying at the Stowe Mountain Lodge. My Girlfriend wasn't suppose to get out of work until 6 p.m. Friday so we were going to have a long late night ahead of us. Thankfully her boss let her go early so we loaded up the bags and boards and hit the road at 1:15 pm. We were making decent time until nearing Albany, NY. Everybody was getting out of work and the traffic was a bit crazy...no big deal. Then the construction sign on the side of the highway reads " RT 4 to Vermont closed, use alternate route". We didn't have an alternate route so we trucked on and thankfully there were no closures on RT 4 to be found. We arrived at Stowe around 8 p.m. where the the Valet workers and bellhops certainly made us feel at home as they proceeded to unload the car and bring our things to the room, and our boards to the mountains "ski valet". (Blurry picture sorry) We watched a bit of TV and then retired early, a bit worn out from the ride. We awoke at 7 a.m. to this view from our room: We were planning on getting out to the lifts for 8 a.m. as we received bum info from the mountains information line saying the the lifts would start turning at 8, the quad opened at 7:30. No bid deal there. 90+ trails planned for the day. We went down to the ski valet where they placed our boards outside on a rack while we laced up ( the took it upon themselves to clean my girlfriends white boots while they were checked in. We made our way out to the Over Easy gondola: We hit of the FourRunner quad and then headed over to Toll Road for an awesome top to bottom run, but the grooming was a bit sketchy on the upper half. By the time we made it back up to Toll Road for a second run ( my girlfriend is still in the learning process) the snow had softened up so much that one or two parts required some hopping to get over the flats. At the point we headed up the FourRunner again and took NoseDive down to the Gondola. NoseDive was a fun run, that I enjoyed a lot. We hopped on the Gondola and made a first run down Gondolier as the snow was really starting to soften up. We made a few laps on the Gondola then headed over to FourRunner again, which by now was slammed. We took one run then headed back to the Over Easy gondola and up the Sunny Spruce Quad. Upper Spruce Peak was closed unfortunately. By this time the snow was super slow and my girlfriend wasn't able to make it up 2 of the inclines on Spruce so we headed back over to the Gondola to finish off the day. Still 0 lift line at the Gondola which was awesome. We hit up FourRunner and had lunch at the lodge up top as they were grilling on the deck and it smelled way too good to pass up...the view wasn't bad either: When we got back to the hotel we hit up the outdoor heated pool and Jacuzzi. Quite the experience to be swimming with snow all around you and a view of the mountain covered in snow in the background We called for our car and headed down the mountain road for the Matterhorn which was like a scene out of the movie Out Cold. The place was packed and they were having a benefit for Olympic gold medalist Bill Johnson who was also there (he suffered a bad brain injury years later). We had some pizza, played some pool, and headed back to the hotel for another round in the pool. Day Two - Sunday. Sunday started off much in the same way with some runs on Toll Road. We stayed on the FourRunner for a couple more runs since it got so slammed late in the day on Saturday. We took some runs down some Blues, whose names escape me, and then headed over to the Gondola again. Again the snow was super soft and heavy and the sun was out full force. I ended up getting sun burn on my neck and face but oh well. We took plenty of runs down the Cliff Trail, which my GF found fun, and I hit up the woods along side it the whole way down. Headed back the the FourRunner for a run down Upper National, which was bumped up to all hell, and then all the way down Liftline. National Glades down to Upper National off of Upper Liftline: The GF did well without falling at all and I had a blast in the bumps. By that point in the day my legs were tired so we decided not to tempt anymore bumps and headed back over to the Gondola for a final run around 12:30pm since we still had to drive home. The hotel let us have a late check out of 2 p.m. instead of 11a.m. since we were going to snowboard in the morning and nobody was checking into our room after us. All in all it was a great weekend, we couldn't have asked for better weather or conditions. There wasn't one bare spot on the entire mountain (not including Spruce) except for a rock or two under the lift lines, but the terrain was still covered enough for the trails to still be open. It was good timing also because after Sunday the Gondola was shutting down. On Monday there were only 60 some trails open. We will be making another trip again next year.

I was there also, with my girlfriend, and had a blast. The lift lines were MUCH more manageable than last weekend. Being from Sno I'm not used to any lift lines so that was a bit of a "bummer" but I still had fun last weekend also. It was indeed a bit chilly early on but we were shedding layers by 10. Yesterday we were able to hit a couple diamonds (my girlfriend is still progressing) and it was more fun to actually ride the whole mountain, especially with the soft snow. Pharaoh was probably my favorite run with a nice pitch and turns. Cliffhanger was a close second, nice length run and not many people venturing onto it compared to the blues/greens. My girlfriend also made it down without issue which was awesome. Would have enjoyed it more if there were more bumps though, they were kind of spread out. Towards the end of the day the snow and my tired legs started getting the better of me. At one point, when I was stopping to wait for my GF, I cut a sharp toe side and my legs gave out on me and I went flying onto my back, that was fun thanks to the soft snow. Then I ended up supermaning on the flat of Cliffhanger when I carelessly caught a toe edge in a big scoop of mashed potatoes. The bump run up there was also really fun when there wasn't a bunch of kids meandering their way through. I also appreciated the groomed path on skiers right for my girlfriend to make her way down. I don't like how a lot of the trails end up with merges and people carelessly shooting from one slope to another. They also lack a seriously steep trail. But those are minor complaints and we both had a real fun time.

You really think two lifties couldn't be scrounged up to run Long Haul if they wanted it open? I think you are barking up the wrong tree.

Mainline has been closed for days for blowing but it is open now. Spike can't be an easy trail to blow on with all those trees gone. Take a ride down spike and check out all the trees that are iced up/ branches that are fallen from the wind blowing the snow they are trying to make into the woods. Now that Mainline is back open ( along with the rest of the mountain) I could see them closing Spike and putting some mobiles in there to get some more snow. The Couple of park guys are bitching about the parks but the hundreds of people that come on the weekends certainly aren't bitching that the trails are all open.

Probably not the smartest comments to be making if you are an employee.

Well I'll play Devils Advocate here... When there were larger wedge jumps last year about 1 in 20 people actually hit them. Why not cater to the majority and produce smaller jumps? Those mounds of snow can't quite be called jumps however... The "wedge" further down Spike looks like it would launch you vertically.

Actually spotted him at first aid today I believe, I think it maybe his daughter injured her arm? Hopefully nothing too bad.

So I was correct on the pricing... Thanks for confirming, does Elk still close half the mountain when it gets dark out or have they started adding lights? Sno has done discounted college days in the past, not sure about this year. "Joes quick marts" Gas station also offer a deal on lift ticket purchases of some sort, maybe buy one get one half off... I don't remember to be honest. As I mentioned in my post, I haven't been to elk "in a while", I have no desire to go back right now but I'll make it there at some point.

The sales on their website produce $30-$40 savings, pretty much buy two get one free, that's pretty tangible for my pockets. Elks prices are the same or more expensive and the lifts are slow as balls there too. The grooming sucked the couple times I was at Elk, haven't been back there in a while. Camelback has detachables, and prices are similar, more value for your dollar? Maybe, but you don't have to deal with the liftlines at Sno like you do with Camelback. Sno needs a detachable that goes from the bottom of cannonball( approximately) to the top of Spike but the income and traffic isn't there to justify the purchase. I completely agree with the layout of the mountain being the mountains biggest fault, but that can't be put on Sno's shoulders. Every run is basically the same experience at the top of the mountain. Straight shot right down... Whoever mapped out those trails is an absolute moron. Good job with Easy Street though bud... Must have really racked his brain plotting that trail out. The trails up top take under a minute to get down then you sit for a 10 minute ride back up, boring as hell and doesn't make you want to keep coming back. The northface is better, some variation and the lift ride is pretty short ride back up. The top needs some variation but there's nothing that can really be done about that now, and cutting 50 yard long new trails isn't helping at all... Enough cutting down trees pleaseee. Need to start putting up big pines near the lifts up too not keep cutting new, pointless, trails.

Lightning?

Sno Mountain will open for the season this Friday, December 10, 2010 at noon.

Lift attendants are generally younger kids though, and a lot of which lack responsibility. Believe me, you get plenty of call offs ever with 4 or 5 inches. Camelback may take more employees to run, but that shouldn't matter. If Sno had a couple attendants, they would open with one or two lifts. There is a lot of snow out there, and irresponsible workers will take any excuse not to come into work.

The "Glades" up top are pretty thin...rocks, and fallen trees showing, don't use your favorite skis. Glades in nice condition can be had, but not really up top. There was some waiting at the lifts up top today, not sure about North Face. Fireworks started off a bit slow, but got better towards the middle/end. I'd say last years were better, if only by a tiny amount.

Ah now a feel people chimed in about a good view and your story changes haha. I'm not saying that the view is spectacular everyone needs to come to Sno and see! I was just pointing out it wasn't bad at all as you suggested. I tend to stay on the Northface because the lift is shorter and you get more bang for your buck(time). I'd much rather get a full top to bottom run over just a run on Northface however, if the trails were serviced by a high speed. It would also service more than two trails. Up top you could have a couple different options depending on where the top station would be put in. If between Long Haul and Iron Horse, you'd be able to ski 5 trails (more if you include the new trails) up top without hiking and a couple down bottom. Trail options: Upper runaway to Lower Runaway Upper runaway to Lower Fast Track Upper runaway to Rattler, down Cannonbalb Upper fast track to Lower Fast track Upper fast track to Lower runaway Upper runaway to Rattler, down to Cannonball Upper Fast track to the Snake down to Rattler or Lower Runaway Switch, Whistler, or Spike to any of the "B" options above Spike to Cannonball Spike to Mainline Spike to Mainline to Bunny to Cannonball Spike to Mainline to Bunny to Connection down to Iron Horse to Lower Runaway to Lower Fast track (longest run on Mtn maybe?) You get the idea...there would be plenty of lines to take down the mountain that would sure as hell spice things up a bit, it wouldn't just be a quad that serviced 2 trails. It would definitely change the way you could ride the mountain, and get in a lot more quality runs in a less time. Only thing is you wouldn't be able to do a top run into Smoke, Boomer, or Lightning. But that's just the way the mountain is. Hell they could always put a tow rope in to go up the little connection that comes down from Phoebe to the rest of the mountain and that would make top to bottom runs including the Double Blacks possible . Or maybe another Magic Carpet..they seem to like those. I know "experts" like the doubles , but I think they too would certainly enjoy top to bottoms runs on a lift that doesn't take half an hour to get up (exaggeration I know). It would be totally pointless to replace the quad with a high speed lift, that I agree with. But a Highspeed to where I said would be pretty sweet...I'm sure we will never see it though so I just wasted a lot of time typing this up . Stay warm tomorrow fellas!

Actually I'm not talking about a "smart" lift at all. All I'm saying is that every chair will be the same space apart from the one in front of it because the line for loading and unloading will be moving at a constant speed. Therefor every chair will stay evenly spaced as long as someone figures out the correct speed ratio for the haul rope vs the loading/unloading rope. The distances between chairs have to be calculated on fixed grips for the amount of chairs and length of haul rope, detachable lifts would just throw an extra variable into the equation. But like I said, I'm unfamiliar with detachable lifts so I'm just speculating here. Fixed grips are definitely a pain in the ass to respace especially on a long lift, but only once a year so that's nice. I couldn't imagine respacing that double at Smuggs that goes to the top (if it's still there). That must make some guys want to commit suicide. As for the detach vs fixed and run quality... Sure the powder is going to last longer time wise with a fixed grip, but you are only getting a couple runs, the same amount of people are going up the hill in front of you, just at a slower pace. Seems like 6 of one half dozen of the other? Except with a highspeed you are getting more runs in a given time limit. But the same amount of runs on the "untracked" snow. If they were going to put a highspeed in, it would have to go from the bottom of Phoebe or Long Haul, to the top of Iron Horse. That way you could ski most of the mountain off one lift. From the bottom of Long Haul to in between Iron Horse and Shuttle would be idea but that wouldn't happen. Even with a highspeed going up top, you wouldn't be able to get to Smoke, Boomer, or Lightning. That kind of blows. It'd be nice to have one, but obviously it's not "needed". I do think it would bring more skiers though. Enough skiers to make their money back? Doubtful..but I would have rathered them waste money on that then that damn Zip Rider that doesn't bring anybody or any money to the mountain...

It was stupid up the top of the mountain.

Chair "A" leaves the station and chair "B" gets say 20 feet behind while in the station, chair "C" gets in station and leaves 20 feet behind chair "B" they should all stay the same distance apart? Or am I going at it wrong

Why are you saying it would have to be respaced every other day? So you expect them to charge 1980 prices, make 1980's profits, and install a 2010 high speed lift? Am I understanding that correctly?

looks so much smaller in pictures..