Schif

Now that my mountain is closed I guess I can make the trip to Blue this saturday.

Montage was fantastic on Saturday. Great snow, fresh snow, and winterfest was a good time too. The woods on Lightning were still very skiable and a ton of fun. Jumps in the park were super smooth and fun. Good times were had by all.

Closing time Open all the doors and let you out into the world Closing time Turn all of the lights on over every boy and every girl Closing time One last call for alcohol so finish your whiskey or beer Closing time You don't have to go home but you can't stay here I've Been Really slacking on this board this year, especially with getting out and seeing y'all. Well here is a last ditch effort, Montage is closing this weekend. They have tremendous coverage and the trees are still accessible, but I guess they hit the tipping point financially, or perhaps the bears are coming out of hibernation, no one is really sure. Anyway, I'll be there bright and early Saturday morning, they are having some sort of big giant party on the mountain that I keep getting emails about, and they are even advertising it on the radio so that might be cool. I'll probably have a cooler of beer, perhaps a small grill or just a microwave and ramen noodles. I'll probably do some pond skimming and/or slush jumping, depends on how much beer I drink. They are also advertising a bikini ski race, which may or may not pique the interest of a certain steeze sandwich in a borderline creepy way. Also, it's a safe bet that the lifties who haven't cared at all this season anyway will let you get away with using your morning pass up until 8pm so $29 bucks is the name of the game this weekend. If anyone is interested in branching out of the blue mountain monotony, it's a quick drive up the turnpike Peace, Love and Shred.

Debating between Blue and Frost for tomorrow.

You've never even ridden long haul, which is sad because it's a chill lift for drinking fine craft brews. Long Haul was running most days that I was there this year.

I'm staying at Montage. Haters gonna hate I suppose, or whatever the hip kids are saying nowadays.

Are you up for the whole weekend? Tomorrow is my town's St. Patrick's day parade so I will most likely be there all mid morning to late afternoon. I'm planning on being there Sunday morning though. **Notes: Long Haul was not running last Sunday for some reason, I hope it's running for you tomorrow. The woods to the right of White Lightning are pretty great right now The deep woods in the glades are a tad crusty but still skiable This was in my inbox this week: March 7th, 2015 Pay it Forward Weekend Montage Mountain’s Pay-It-Forward Program is about extending a hand when needed and the enrichment of our community! This March 7-8, not-for-profits in the surrounding area pre-sold discounted lift tickets to collectively enjoy a GREAT day out on the mountain! On these two days, our upLIFTEES from the “Giving is UpLIFTing” Team will be performing random acts of kindness throughout the Resort! A few guests will end up enjoying a full day of fun ON US; lift tickets, food, the whole shebang! So keep climbing, the summit is near! See you for Pay-It-Forward Weekend!

I'm not surprised it's down at all. That kind of weather is miserable for most people to be outside in. Weekend warriors don't typically have the kind of gear that would keep them comfortable in sub zero weather. The question that I'll pose to the PASR crowd is this; will the lack of revenue during peak season cause New England mountains to stay open even longer than usual to try to make some money, or cause them to close on time or early in an effort to cut their losses? Also I saw a pass for Killington for $199 that will let you ski the remainder of this season, which could easily be late may this year, and would be totally worth it for a few weekend trips.

I was up on Sunday morning from 8 until 1. Snow was great like burton71 said. I was able to find fresh stuff in the right places all the way up until I left at 1. The woods on White Lightning are completely filled in and super soft and deep. I didn't go in too deep since I was riding alone, but there were a few tracks in there to tell me that even farther back was worth checking out. They were running a race on Whistler all day on Sunday so there were girls skiing around in race suits aka the snowsport equivalent of yoga pants so that was nice. Crowds were light, the sun was out the snow was soft, and conditions didn't force me out by 10am. What more could you ask for?

About 4 inches

There is a Vermont plate parked next to me at montage. Must have left elk

Montage is sweeter than high fructose corn syrup right now. Fresh stuff everywhere. Long haul is running. There is a bar made of snow.

What happened to Melissa from Sno Mountain?

Bad few weeks for me to comment on conditions as I haven't been out much, but from what I have seen conditions at Montage will be pretty good. They have been making snow on the northface a night or two a week to freshen up the surfaces in addition to the natural snow so it should be pretty good this weekend. I'll be out on Saturday Morning unless something comes up.

That's an impressive record, when are some of you blue guys going to show up at any other mountains? I'm getting lonely up north this season and blue's pricing structure is off putting for a weekend morning.

That's rough news man, Heal up soon!

I love Elk, but when it comes to costs,

I was up at Montage on Tuesday. Wasted 99.8% of my night trying to teach my lady friend how to ride, then I cruised the North Face for a bit while she pouted in the Lodge. Bunny slope was in great shape, and the lift was running superbly for all 66 vertical feet, snow was machine made packed powder, and the top 40 from the past decade was blasting from the Bose sound system. All the double diamonds on the north face had bumps, and some solid snow in them too. I didn't go on Lightning, but the bumps looked really big from the bottom.

I'll be down that way tomorrow. I'll have to see what my friday looks like

Just saw in an email that starting tomorrow and for the rest of the season, they are having "Throwback tuesday" where tickets are $19.84 and rentals are $5

Roads in the general area of Montage are OK this morning and the threat of ice will go down as the day goes on. Not that it matters to me since I'm typing this from my office.

If it was, were you going to go catch it?

Conditions were good today, lift lines were short when they existed at all, and the mountain was a good time all around. White Lightning was groomed so no bumps and lots of speed. Upper part of the mountain was socked in some fog for a while, but it's all good. Snow was smooth all around. Run of the day for me was Spike to Rattler to Cannonball. Smooth and fast. The only place that had a lift line over 3 minutes was the North Face which took about 4 minutes to get on a chair. Everything except Upper Runaway, Upper Fast Track and Lower Fast track were open. I got there a few minutes before 8 and got a parking spot just feet away from the top of Phoebe Snow. Temps were high 30s with high humidity.

I'm on my way up now. I'll report back.

Long Haul gets a lot of criticism for not running a lot, but at the end of the day the people that want to use it do, and the ones that don't use the other lifts. Long Haul is the farthest lift away from the lodge and until all of the trails over there are open, it doesn't make any sense to run a lift to nowhere. Last year I timed a ride on long haul to be right around 11 minutes. Not exactly a fast ride, but you get a solid 1000' feet of vert for that, no lines to get on it, plenty of time to drink a good beer, uncrowded trails and glades and almost 800' of tree skiing from there (1000' if you're willing to hike a bit). At the end of the day it services 3 top to bottom trails, or some more if you're willing to cruise in and out and across a bunch of others. I learned to absolutely love long haul last year. It's an experience. At montage you don't have to rush around to get your runs in before the place tracks out and gets too crazy. A nice relaxed day riding the long haul is fantastic. You hardly see any other people, it's quiet, it's relaxing, it's what skiing is supposed to be about.