Mess

Snow report is looking good for mid march. If the long range weather is correct up to 35 inches before we get there on 15th.

Floyd's looked good. Saw a few people go down it. River shot was real nice snow. Challenge was the best run. Have found that Presidents day is always the lightest day of the weekend. I think the fact they were calling from rain really helped. Never waited in line and no problem finding seats in lodge. Arrived at 8:30 and parked real close to lodge.

I was there today too. Pretty great conditions and no crowd. A real fun day.

I am heading up Middle of March. Booked a room for three nights at Snow Lake Lodge. Great Location and price. The hotel is old but does the job. Kind of like a college dorm. I also stayed at Big Bears lodge a little more money but they give a nice made to order breakfast every morning.

I understand putting gear under table but for someone to be annoyed when you sit at a table is my problem.

Not sure why people don't use the free bag check

Happyland was a good time

First day out for me. Arrived at 9:15. Crowds were small to start the day. Snow was pretty good. Only a few icy spots. My son and I worked our way across the mountain. Started on snowflake/ridge and did all of the blues before taking a break to warm up a little. The lodge was full when we went for our break. I find it funny that people throw their bags on and under tables and think that they have claimed the area. We got a coffee and hot chocolate and sat down and a father/daughter came in from skiing and acted annoyed that we were sitting in their spots. I gave him a friendly hello. He didn't respond and started riffling through his bags. Also a lot of women just sitting at tables reserving for their families as the rest skied. After our break we skied the rest of the mountain. Thunderbolt was nice, challenge had some small moguls skiers right next to happy land, East Mountain was really nice snow. River shot was a lot of fun. We did it about 5 times and Floyd's was also good. Most times I am there I avoid Floyds because of ice. This was my son's first time on Floyd's. Great day overall.

Got to Mountain after stopping at 940 ski shop to get rentals for my 6 year old daughter. My wife and son also went u for the day. Arrived around 10:30. Crowds were moderate and snow was awesome. I spent most of the day teaching my daughter on Snowflake and Powder Puff while my wife and son hit the rest of the mountain. I bought a wedgie to keep her skis from crossing and we started on the little hill at the top of snowflake. It was awesome to see her go from struggling and not liking to ski to skiing a few blues and not wanting to leave at the end of the day. The scariest part of being on the easier trails is the fear of someone going out of control and hitting my daughter since she weighs 40 lbs. Saw a few big wipeouts when we made our way to Ridge Run. When my daughter took a break i took a few runs with my son. Lehigh was moguled up and as the day when on started to have some brown spots. Challenge had some great snow and the glades were pretty good in fact most of the skiers on East mountain were in the glades. River shot was pretty great except in the middle got icy since a lot of beginners were skiing and plowing the hero snow. Last few trails were ridge run and Easy rider. My daughter handled it better than many adults I have seen on it. My son hit the glades in the area. Awesome day and my wife said it was better snow than Vermont. Season might be over but wouldn't mind getting 1 more in. 10 days this year which is a great season for me considering how bad the winter was until the past few weeks.

Went to Blue for the first time in a few years and had a great time. Snow was awesome and trails were a lot of fun. Made a rookie mistake and parked in the upper lot. Was pretty annoying having to use connector to get back to lodge a few times later in the day. Bought 2 $17 tickets for myself and my son used his 4th grade pass. Every trail was great to start the morning (9:30). Started on Burma and realized how good conditions were so quickly moved to the black Diamonds. Favorite trail was nightmare to Dreamweaver. Not sure why Nightmare is a double black but it was great for my son's confidence. He was pumped and wanted to do razors next. He looked great on Razors and wanted to go again. Next time down he jumps in the Moguls when we get to the bottom he says I needed to make it more challenging. As temperature rose the soft bumps were a lot of fun. I started to get cocky and decided to jump a mogul at the bottom of Razor back and fell. Probably my son's favorite part of the day as he skied over and laughed at me. I loved skiing Blue today and was glad I got such great conditions and low crowds compared to a weekend. I most likely will not make it up again for a while unless I can get a day off during the week.

Arrived at Lodge 8:20. Temperature 10 degrees. Pretty low crowds in the lodge and on the mountain all day. 1st run was snow flake to ridge rider and was able to go into Spunky's secret at the end of trail.. Snow was pretty good groomed hardpack. Got on Lift and saw Lehigh was icy,lots of brown showing and closed. Next run was Jane's way which once again was pretty great. Sons hands were cold so went in lodge to get him hand warmers. Headed to Exhibition snow wasn't great had some snow that reminded me of marbles at the bottom. Demise was much better on the next run. As temperatures rose up to 36 snow continued to get better. Next run was Thunderbolt which was a fun run. Best trail of the day was challenge, conditions were awesome. They must have blown a ton of snow on it and by the end of the day it was hero snow. Went to East mountain for a run down Rivershot. Snow seemed good but I hit a big ice patch skiers left on the last headwall. Decided to stay away for the rest of the day although snow seemed good on the other side of the trail. Floyd was open but looked like a lot of ice on the runout. We were getting a little bored so we went down terrain park. 1st time trying to hit some jumps in a terrain park. It was fun for my 1st three "jumps" on the trail but as my confidence rose I thought I would jump off the side of a bigger Jump and said oh shit when I saw the drop and realized I was a couple feet of the ground. Ended up falling on that Jump and realized a 41 year old man with reconstructed ACL should not be trying a terrain park for the first time. We lapped Challenge a few times. Ended our day at 12:45 and then headed to White Haven Diner. I have 2 more lift tickets for Frost and 1 for Montage. Not sure I will get to use them this year.

Had another good day today. Stayed at Clarks Summit Comfort Inn last night. We pulled into a pretty empty parking lot around 8:45. Was pretty pissed when the lift ticket worker told me there was a blackout on the 4th Graders ski for free but that is my fault for not reading the fine print. Mountain held up pretty well from he warm up. The snow varied from trail to trail. Delaware had good snow early and by the end of the day good spring conditions. There was sugary powder early on Tioga and as the day went on some icy spots were exposed but there were some awesome soft bumps. My son enjoyed getting some air and I have to admit I did too. A few of the steeper trails were fast hard pack early. I was shocked how steep Iroquois was and it was fast since it was very shaded. My wife and son both did Wyalusing which is a nice black trail for beginners. I went to Tecumseh to check it out and it was challenging with the soft snow and icy spots so I kept them off that trail. Toughest spots to ski were the bottoms of the trails. Very soft mashed potatoes. Took my son down Lackawanna (pretty steep). He handled it well but his legs were burning because he was turning so much to control his speed. Overall a good day. Never really waited in lift lines and the lodge was much less crowded then Friday.

Awesome Day at Elk. Lift lines were pretty non existent. Lifts are pretty slow, Lodge is really basic but the snow was the best I have skied this year. Ski patroller I rode up with on the lift said they had blown 3-4 inches on about 9 trails and were going to hit another 9 trails tonight. We pulled into the lot around 9 and skied until 2. Took one 10 minute break. Snow was too good to be sitting in a lodge. Road most of the trails. I know people make fun of the "like skiing in Vermont but closer". It is obviously not as good as Vermont but the trails layout is the best in Eastern Pa in my opinion. I know that some of the better skiers would like tree skiing but I am fine staying on groomers. Upper Tunk was a really nice mogul trail. The blue trails skiers left are a lot of fun and the trail layout is better than most of the trails I have skied in the Poconos. The extra 30-40 minutes driving is worth it.

Might make a trip up on a Sunday. Stay over night then ski Monday. Which mountain has best trails for intermediate skiers? Thanks

Didn't even think about beers in backpack. Still always makes me nervous with people getting on/off lifts. A few years ago at Pico I saw a guy get hung up and it scared the shit out of me. Glad I didn't take my son down Rattler. We were going to but he changed his mind when we got to the trail.

Got to mountain at 9:45. Lodge was a little crowded but no lift lines for the first few runs on Switch and Spike. Conditions were ok with hard packed powder and some ice spots. Grooming was a little uneven. Trails were a little crowded since they only had 2 beginner trails and 2 intermediate trails open. We went to the lodge for a short break and it was packed(Awesome for Montage to make some money). It was a very diverse crowd. There were Italians with thick New York accents, a large group of Jews, many asians and quite a few Indians. I am shocked how rude people can be in the lodge. People try to reserve tables by just leaving bags and shit everywhere. Makes it very hard to find somewhere to sit and rest for a few minutes. Our next runs were on Cannonball and Lower runway. Both trails were fun and fast. The headwalls were definitely a little icy. I was shocked to see lines at the Phoebe lift. I have never waited in line here in all of my trips to Montage/Sno. Saw some people on White lightning and it looked steep as shit. Not sure I would go on it with the icy terrain on other trails. I saw an adult helping a young kid down between their legs. Not sure what the hell they were thinking. Saw a lot of funny shit today. 2 times I saw skis/snowboards sliding down the mountain with someone running after them(luckily no one got hit by them). I also saw a few people wearing backpacks skiing. Not sure what your thoughts are but seems funny skiing at a small resort like Montage. it is not like you are in the backcountry of the rockies. Seems like a unnecessary risk of getting caught up on a lift. We went into lodge and got a table in Slocum Hollow Bar. Had to go in there since no spaces were available in the main lodge. It was pretty good food for a reasonable price. Had a good atmosphere and I will go in next time I am at mountain. Overall a great day spending time with my son.

I have been using gloves but have never spent too much money on any of them. Looking to make a purchase soon especially after today. My fingers were freezing. I have heard mittens might be the way to go. Thoughts?

I got 3 tix's at Montage for $99 and 2 at frost for $30 per ticket. Son has the 4th grade ski for free($30) this year as well. I also still have over $200 in Montage gift cards from last year unfortunately they don't have the morning session anymore and would not let me use the cards I bought last year to buy their $30 Thursday-Sunday deal. How much does the Pocono ski and ride card cost and how does it work? I saw it is sold out for this year but might have to grab one next year

I hear you about lapping if you really want to ski but my priorities have changed every year. Just turned 41 on Christmas and tough to get up every weekend with 3 kids. My wife lets me go most weekends but I have become a little bit of a ski snob. I think I might ski Vermont 2-3 times a year and start cutting out Poconos.

I understand they have to make their money. I can't justify paying that kind of money for limited terrain. I like Blue and Camelback but do not think I will go to either because of the high cost of a lift ticket. Wish Blue still had that morning ticket but it has been gone for years. Most of my trips are to JF and Montage because of the discount tickets. I wanted to go to Montage but they only had a few trails open and it just isn't worth the drive when they are limited. I am sure the resorts have done the math and a lot of people go because they are off for the week but wonder if they would get more business if lift tickets were discounted or cheaper overall. It could also lead to a bigger shit show with such limited trails and too many people. Last time I was at blue the lift lines were back to the lower lodge asphalt.

I decided yesterday to get room near a ski resort so we could ski in the fresh snow today. I started looking at open terrain and cost for the tickets. I checked out Shawnee, Montage, Elk, Camelback, JFBB and Greek Peak. I thought it was funny that they are charging higher holiday rates when the only resort that had most trails open was JFBB. I am sure they have done the math and it pays for them to overcharge because people will go on vacation for the week but it seems shitty to charge full price when so much terrain is closed. I also was shocked to find that Greek peak has 1 room left for $500 for last night. Hope everyone had a good day on the mountain. I will have to wait a little longer until more is open.

Long John is the main green but gets really crowded at times. I like snow dance. It used to be classified as a blue but it is a really nice trail. I also think Canyon is a nice wide trail. When things get busy I lap canyon and stay on canyon express. Everyone waits for the bubble which is nice but lines for canyon are always small.

I was trying to use my gift cards that I purchased last year to buy $30 tickets on the 12 days of saving online store. I was unable to use the cards. I called and they said I could not use them on the online store. Kind of shitty since they said it was good to purchase anything when I bought the cards last year.

Delco. I am still up in the air. Are the Catskills much better than Poconos? I love Vermont but it is tough skiing with my wife. She is only comfortable on beginner and intermediate trails. I don't leave her except when she takes a break to hit a black diamond.

I misread it is only good until Dec. 21. Back to the drawing board. Might have to talk her into driving to Mount Snow or Killngton