eaf

There is a problem with skiing new places... You go somewhere new, you like it, and then you figure, what the hell, let's go there again, because, well, it was pretty good! Net result - no new places. We're off to Jungfrau region again with a one night stopover in Bern. This time the weather has played tricks on us, it was a massive washout lately, with temperatures above freezing and rain, rain, rain, at least in the villages. But WTH, if it's not snow, at least there will be trains! We're not in Grindelwald this time, rather in Lauterbrunnen, which is somewhat lower elevation, but provides easier access to Murren & Birg - the flank that we've totally missed last year. And the local trains still make it possible to easily get to Mahnlichen, Kleine Scheidegg and car-less Wengen. Will we get to First, which used to be next door, and now on the opposite end of the area? IDK, we'll see!

Paradise was remarkably trashy today, especially in the early morning. But the almost-2-mile-trail was actually rather good. I never enjoyed Burma because it's typically full of slow skiers and degrades quickly, but today it was niiiice. Firm, smooth and fast. And you could ski Connector not fearing that someone would cut you from the left. The most bizarre thing today were clocks. The one on the lodge one hour behind, the one on the quad one hour ahead. It was very tiring to count down 90 mins of skiing.

That's all they have there right now?? A big hole? The season's doomed. Don't even start that thread.

Both lifts but no chairs?

Any word about heated seats? Damn, I should've bought a CB pass instead!

It was rather obvious even on Monday that at least half of Wednesday would be good to go. I remember, I was picking then between yesterday and today. Good thing I picked right 😂

You’re not missing much. The entire mountain is dogged up, only upper lodge and Vista are in the sun. Get better!

With discounts like $70 passes for 70+ folks, I doubt that raising generic pass prices is going to do anything to the crowds on the mountain.

The 4-hour ticket price this week is just $44, which makes season pass a somewhat questionable investment for an average person getting only 4-6x days a season. I bet that your bet is wrong.

How so? Works beautifully for US government. And did Biden just approve some $13.6 billion in Ukraine aid?

Today was the most delightful skiing day at Blue. So relaxed and completely void of the usual anxiety. Skiing directly to the lift, warm and sunny, and yet with pretty good snow. Too bad I have to work sometimes, otherwise I'd just stay there all day. Nobody at the rope drop, and the pic of the pool under construction as a bonus.

Eaf is mourning the loss of a CV axle boot and lower control arm bushing today. I bet, the long winter and great snow at Blue are both to blame here. It was a great day, thin and sleepy crowds despite a Ski-A-Thon up until noon, but then all of a sudden it became a little too much.

Well, you know what I mean. It's gonna be 60F next week.

I prefer to ski weekdays lately, but will be there tomorrow, to celebrate the time change and the last day of winter.

Nah, it was slow from the start, and from the start it was cold. Was most noticeable and irritating on Paradise with groomed seas protruded by blown islands, but made Razor so comfortable and soft that it has seemingly attracted everybody.

WTH, no report today? I have to leave one, if only to send deserved praises to management for running both express lifts after 10am and leaving TCS nicely groomed for mere mortals like myself. It's the number of lifts and runs I could make that are responsible for the speedy part. Slow was the snow. IDK what was that, freshly blown snow on top of the groomed surface, me being lazy and not waxing the night before, temperatures or something else, but it felt slooooooow. Other than that - great day!

No, but it’s definitely worth getting one. I think early bird weekday pass was under $400 last year.

Another beautiful and relaxed sunny day at Belle. When I got there, all trees were covered with a thin layer of ice, but snow was A-OK. No ongoing snowmaking due to warmer temperatures, and I guess that was also the reason for more people today - hard to resist going out and skiing when the weather is so nice. Still, no lines, just a sudden déjà vu of quad periodically stopping for no reason. Chuckled at one mom sorting out heaters, gloves and helmets on the table and mumbling to herself: "it's ok, there is plenty of time, this is not a race". Oh yeah, it seems like there is never need to race anywhere at Belle, plenty of time for everything.

You just need to learn to ski, as I've heard 🤣

LOL, what wasn't too bad? It's what it looks in the pic. It was a crazy busy Tuesday. The busiest Tuesday ever. Kudos to them for proactively opening Burma chair. Maybe an hour into skiing or so I was about to say "screw this" and go to the slow lift, but then realized that lines there were even longer. It's at that point that they apparently started the second lift. Very weird choice of time for doing maintenance on the 6-pack. Got me fooled with the moving chairs, luckily I spotted that trolley and didn't get my hopes high, but some folks were camping before the 6-pack's gates way before it started to load. I'm glad it got open eventually, I rode it maybe 4 times before noon, when it too filled up, and then I just left.

50 minutes after opening