rgrwilco

Since this will be my last year on a super pass situation, I figured I would try and hit some hills I’d never go and pay a day price for. Last time out I went to Liberty and roundtop. This time I’d go to whitetail. Watching the weather and their webcams, they were basically brought back to nothing and had to close. Before today they had about a solid week of snowmaking temps. I also noticed the weather at whitetail is pretty much the same as my home in south jersey save for a few degrees here and there, so today was my chance to hit them with good conditions this year. I left early and made my way three hours across southern pa through china level smog. There was also a terrible chemical/fecal smell the entire way from KOP to just past Harrisburg. Made me miss the somewhat decent environment up in the pokes. I checked whitetail out on google earth and watched some videos, and thought I had an idea of the area and what to expect but I would say the area exceeded my expectations. From google earth you cant really tell its nestled in a valley. The trails also make full use of the almost 1000 feet of vert as there is barely any runout. Some of the trails actually have a pretty steep head wall right before getting back to the lift. The snowmaking power was impressive, and even the blue trails rode like black trails you would see at other places. As there are three main lifts with three sort of peaks, we worked left to right and started on the beginner side. They were making snow on all the trails and it was a bit sticky so I could never really get that much speed. The beginner hill was about 500 ft of vert per my tracks app, and had a carpet loading triple. Pretty impressive. Two options were open from the triple, including one almost mile long trail that wraps around the side. Decent warm up. Base area with beginner triple to the left and high speed quad to the right. Looking up the triple. View the blue trails from the beginner triple. View of the rest of the resort from the top of one of the beginner trails. We moved to the intermediated pod, serviced by a high speed lift. Really fast with tight spacing. Snowmaking on all trails served, and they were pretty steep and used the full vert of the mountain. View of the beginner area from the quad. After quite a few runs we moved to the expert lift. only two trails were open out of the three, and the vert is a little shorter here at 7-800, but the trails use absolutely all of it without any runout whatsoever. Didn’t get any photos from over there are since I stopped pulling my phone out due the snowmaking. Nothing crazy steep but sustained and fun. Overall I was really impressed with the area. The snowmaking power was insane, and everything was really nice and well kept. It is interesting that they built a resort like this south facing, in an area with high temps and low snow, considering the north side of the mountain was undeveloped and would hold snow much better. If it was an hour closer I would even consider it for a home mountain pre-vail. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Looks like the buildings are gone. Report says other resorts are risk. Pretty crazy situation down there. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Roundtop Took what seemed like 45 minutes to get from liberty to Roundtop. Roundtop reminds me of spring mountain, it’s lame and there’s houses nearby. You can see the strange looking bump quite a while before you get there I got a a spot right at the lift. The snow was some of the iciest snow I’ve ridden in years. The layout it very boring and nothing steep was open. The crowds were crappy too. They would always stop right at the bottom of an icy headwall and Wonder why someone almost hit them. So that was that. I’m glad I went but these bills are way smaller than advertised, ski tracks showed around 500 vert. Both resorts reminded me of skiing in the Midwest. Conditions aside, the terrain in the Poconos does seem light years better. If it gets cold soon I’ll definitely head out to whitetail as that place looks legitimately fun. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Since peak bought snowtime, I wanted to check out some resorts that I’ve never been to, and probably won’t have the chance to get to again. The original plan was to drive to whitetail, then hit liberty, then Roundtop on the way home. Whitetail is by far the biggest of the three but only had one trail off the top open so I figured I would just check out liberty and Roundtop. The weather didn’t help things, but these hills are so boring and lame great conditions wouldn’t help. Liberty is super weird. You can see if for a while driving up to it, and it’s just a small bump sticking out of farmland. As you drive around to the front side, the roads change from moderately maintained backroads to perfectly paved two lane. The actual resort at liberty is insanely impressive, the lots are paved and marked. Multiple sit down restaurants and a hotel slope side. I just can’t fathom why all this was built on this tiny hill. The park is serviced by a j bar. Super cool. It looks like this was a trail at one point. Shame it’s gone, one of only a few short steep pitches. At the top you sitting on a ridge maybe 50 feet wide. And you have quite a few trails to try. The front side (lodge and park side) looked boring so I tried the back. Conditions were soft and fun but if it doesn’t get cold soon, they area gonna have to close I hit each open trail twice and got bored so headed to Roundtop. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

They said today totaled 27. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Saw they were in the jackpot zone for the storm, so I set my alarm for 4am, checked the thruway cams to see the road conditions, and headed up. No traffic at all on the way up and roads where clear until you entered the Catskills themselves. I gave myself more time than needed to get up there so I hung around in the car and listened to a few podcasts once I arrived. It was puking snow at the mountain The 6 pack was down. So you had to take B lift to F lift to get to the summit. The lifts didn’t open right on time but I got pretty close to first chair. There were some skinners coming down too. I realized I should get a split board if I’m gonna keep up with storm chasing. This is the base of f lift. The snow was heavy but extremely deep. Never bottomed out. Poached some closed trails with some people, it was great. No photos or video because I’ll probably not ride pow this deep again for a long time. The crowds were pretty big for a weekday. Lots of people saying they have epic passes from Vermont or nyc that followed the storm. It got tracked out pretty quick and with the heavy nature of the snow it made for some interesting conditions later on. I bailed a bit before noon. The snow came down hard until I got to the six flags exit. The Catskills are nice. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Surprising and I had to check the date to make sure It wasn’t 4/1. I would have to assume this purchase was for mount snow and hunter mostly. The infrastructure at jfbb and places like attitash is pretty non-vail so I wonder if there’s gonna be some big investments to bring them up to speed.

the holdouts are very vocal. its also surpising who they are.

Whitetail looks fun. It’s on peak pass so I’m planning a southern pa day next winter. Whitetail morning,Roundtop noon, liberty until evening, then hoof it home. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

https://www.attitash.com/blog/lifts-/new-blog-61/ And they call out peaks as being unwilling. It’s a good read. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nothing. And they won’t replace attitashs triple that’s been down all year. No summit access. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Mount snow is way better after peaks. West lake snowmaking, so there is legit like twice as many trails opening day as before. New Corinthia lodge, widening and regrading big long john to help with crowds. The money is going to snow and hunter. However they are screwing over attitash as they have been without a summit lift a lot of this season. Jfbb are stuck in time man. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The front Side of the mountain was perfect. My guess is this side froze hard and never softened up enough to groom it right. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

went to hunter to get my peak pass/check out the new trail pod for the first time. Left southern NJ at around 530 and made it for like 7th chair or something. temps were in the forties when i got there, and everthing on the main face was nice and soft. All the trails on north were not, and I assume its becasue they are in the dark most of the day. Hunter west never opened and hasnt been open for a while. I took the main 6er up, and headed down belt parkway to make my way to the new terrain, which as you guys know has had an eventful first year. Hunter wanted this terrain to expand their intermediate terrain, and it fails to do so. The new trails though are my favorite on the mountain, and it makes hunter feel like a totally different resort. The trails were all open but sleep hollow, which is strangely the only “blue” and not “blue diamond”. first one i hit was the overlook trail. It starts mellow, then is immeditally followed by a pretty steep pitch as seen here. I knew that the north and west side of hunter stay dark most of the day so luckily i remembered to change my lenses. If not i would have gotten pretty hurt. The snow wasnt too edgable, and under each snow gun was a barely visible roller, that if you hit at any speed over 20 will send you airborn. The fall line will send you right off the side of the trail if you get into an uncontrollable slide, which is why im assuming these trails are shit shows for your average “intermediate” skier from the city. After the headwall theres a long runout with really tall edge to edge whales of snow that are super fun. The new lift is stupid fast and steep. After riding it i thought there was no way it was 1k vert, but checked my tracking app and it sure is. The twiglight trail crosses under the lift towards the top. The grooming on this thing was pisspoor with pretty deep trenches. Once you enter the part of the trail thats still in the shade, you cant see them, and this trail also had the large unexpected bumps under the snowguns. there really isnt any room at the top of the lift. you get off and theres a cliff right in front of you. the options you have are to go left and imediately start downhill or go slightly uphill to the right and try and strap in on an area maybe 8 feet wide before heading down wayout. I cant imagine this shit show on weekends. The next trail was rips return. Fun trail. bad grooming. Same as the other trails. Weird almost invisible bumps waiting to throw you into the woods, and without lenses made for flat light, good luck seeing them before 2pm. Didnt take a photo of this but whatever. Now onto the good. It may sound like im blasting this expansion, but I am in love with it. The parking area is 2 miles down the road from the main area. you can tell theres a lot of work to do as the only sign telling you where to go is small and in front of an abanoned farm, leading to a winding dirt road through the forest. I love it. Theres food trucks and a small ticket shack, as well as a bridge from the lot to the lift.Its surrounded by pine trees and smells like pine trees. Its the anti hunter as a self contained 1k vert ski area. The trails feel classic and way less “manufactured” than the main face. But lableing these as any kind of intermediate trail will only result in more deaths. heres a shot of some of the new trails from rt 23 Ill be back a few times this year and quite a bit next year just to lap the new area. Hopefully it snows next year becasue the new glades look stellar. But hunter needs to bribe someone in NY govt because if its real deal intermediate terrain they want, and given the reality of the usual conditions, they can really only expand upwards from hunter one. And for the third or fourth time...The expansion is fantastic for most of us on here, they just missed their own mark. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Went to Hunter today. Will post in depth report. Them new trails ain't blues. If someone comes off of belt parkway onto these trails expecting them to be similar, they are in for a bad time. There was a ton of ski patrol at Hunter north hanging around the entrances to the trails . Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'll record a video of them tomorrow for y'all. The sleepy hollow trail has been closed for over a week so not sure what's up there. Two others are on hold right now per snow report. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

All 3 of the deaths at hunter this year were on the new trails. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

How the hell am I supposed to use it for the rest of the season if they deliver by mail in may? there's no option online for resort pickup (unless im too impaired to find it)

Smoke signals. Great bbq and good drinks. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

There’s more discussion over at alpine zone. Apparently these new trails are becoming a shit show with crowds that can’t handle them. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think everyone would use the bar if there weren't footrests. Im known to not bring the bar down if there are footrests due to how much they suck with snowboards.

What app are you using? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I would like to thank blue the tru for opening the valley for my first day on snow this season. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I've never ridden the long haul because its never open. and I've been to montage a lot past couple seasons. I don't care if its fixed, or replaced with a newer fixed grip, just run the damn thing. I shouldn't need to take two lifts for 1k vert. The speed doesn't bother me. Anytime I think a lift is slow, I just think back to my time at smuggs. Holy hell does smugglers notch need some new lifts.

Nope just this stand alone business Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk