Trip Report - 12/29/2017

[saltyant]

Back from a very fun session at Camelback Mountain.  Since my $8.00 Wal-Mart sunglasses broke yesterday, I had to contend with the sun in my eyes on both legs of the drive across I-80. However, it was insanely rad to wear my fighter pilot style Smith goggles all day long, and I looked like a true expert skier on my new but short 170cm RTMs.

I arrived at my favorite parking spot near the Stevenson Lift around 9:30 am.  The inaugural run on my RTMs was tragic.  Not more than 10 seconds after snapping my boots into the bindings, I skied over some thin cover on my way to Stevenson Lift, thereby scratching the perfectly manicured base on my brand new skis before even getting to the lift.

My first trail of the day was Nile Mile.  The cord was sadly gone for the day, but the packed powder conditions were amazing, and I made awesome turns on my RTMs.  The RTMs felt identical to the ones I demoed last week, except I knew in my mind that the 3D glass feature of the 2018 model was absent, and that would likely ruin my skiing experience for the next several years until I could afford the extra $300 for 3D glass.

All of the runs were open except for Cliffhanger, Pharaoh, Bactrian, Lower Marc Antony, Pocono Raceway, Uncle Bill’s Way, and The Hump. My favorite run of the day was Big Pocono, which is the steepest intermediate run at CB.  Because it was mostly all boilerplate, the gapers stayed away from it, allowing me to make wide turns.  After a few runs I think I started carving correctly, and I found the RTMs much easier to move around than the Elons.

Overall, an insanely fun and rad day.  It was a little busier than I thought it would be, but the lift lines flowed smoothly, and I high-fived Kyle, my favorite lift attendant, for doing a great job pairing me with other rides all day long.  The lodge was a mad house at noon, and I could not even find a single chair to sit in, so I had to sit in a hallway near an employee door. Thankfully the hotel is open now, so I can take my breaks there instead going forward.

I plan to make another trip tomorrow, and am bracing for the largest crowds of the year. But I’m trying very hard to build a tolerance for large crowds, since I am throwing around the idea of taking a 2 day trip to a New York resort over MLK day weekend. I don’t know yet for sure – I’m thinking Hunter, Windham, or something no more than 3-4 hours.

Edited December 29, 2017 by saltyant

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

I need to SU first before I read this.  

[saltyant]

1 minute ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

I need to SU first before I read this.  

SU? Suit up? Sit up?

[poconoceancity]

Hahahaha 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

7 minutes ago, saltyant said:

SU? Suit up? Sit up?

Smoke up.  Getting dinner than will SU than read report. 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

7 minutes ago, poconoceancity said:

Hahahaha 

pocono do you have any buddy passes at JF for Salty?

[poconoceancity]

We get 25% off one guest pass per day. Not as good of a deal as before when we got 4 $25 buddy passes per season.

[saltyant]

21 minutes ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

pocono do you have any buddy passes at JF for Salty?

 

19 minutes ago, poconoceancity said:

We get 25% off one guest pass per day. Not as good of a deal as before when we got 4 $25 buddy passes per season.

Thanks for asking Steeze. Since I already have a midweek pass for JF for about the same price, I'll use that one day. However, I'll probably only check out JF one time since EAF said the lifts are too slow.

[RootDKJ]

Wow, just wow

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

I'm gonna SU in a few the. I can read this report. I hope it's good!!!

[saltyant]

2 minutes ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

I'm gonna SU in a few the. I can read this report. I hope it's good!!!

Still haven't read it? I just checked a second ago to see if you read it before you posted this because it's been 75 minutes since you announced you would SU.

Edited December 29, 2017 by saltyant

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

 Nice report..amazing how much terrain is still closed at Camelback but it's a really big mountain. Buy some new sunglasses..the most expensive sunglasses I ever had were Oakleys and they were $150 and I lost them at some point..current ones are from Kohls and they were maybe $26 but I used the company credit card and they are a rich mahogany frame with a steezy blue lens.  

 

Glad the RTMs treated you good..next you'll need some fat skis for when we go Heli Skiing in Alaska..

 

What did you have for lunch..I hate lodges..I'd rather sit in Johnny laws car and eat year and a half old lucky charms off the floor.  The lodge at Blue smells like a combination of urine, feet and French fries.  The bathroom at Blue was utterly destroyed before 10am..at least Gary wasn't there in his tighty whiteys

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

42 minutes ago, saltyant said:

Still haven't read it? I just checked a second ago to see if you read it before you posted this because it's been 75 minutes since you announced you would SU.

I SU'd had to first take out the papers and the trash..order takeout(Italian hot dog, cheese garlic bread and dr. Pepper) $10.25 plus I gave a $1 tip..then ate then went in my car and SU..then I had to poop and now catching up on PASR before I JO and PO trying to get to sleep early. Alarm set for 545am..then can catch up on Indiggios early morning posts and ski with the Saturday AM crew at Blue. 

 

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

1 hour ago, saltyant said:

 

Thanks for asking Steeze. Since I already have a midweek pass for JF for about the same price, I'll use that one day. However, I'll probably only check out JF one time since EAF said the lifts are too slow.

The lifts at JF are normal fixed grip chairs that move at about 500 feet per minute..High speed lifts go over 1,000 feet per minute.  You know Jackson hole only has 4 high speed quads, two gondolas and one Tram that goes 4139 vert in 9.5 minutes.  The rest of the lifts are slow.  

[saltyant]

15 minutes ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

 Nice report..amazing how much terrain is still closed at Camelback but it's a really big mountain. Buy some new sunglasses..the most expensive sunglasses I ever had were Oakleys and they were $150 and I lost them at some point..current ones are from Kohls and they were maybe $26 but I used the company credit card and they are a rich mahogany frame with a steezy blue lens. 

Glad the RTMs treated you good..next you'll need some fat skis for when we go Heli Skiing in Alaska..

What did you have for lunch..I hate lodges..I'd rather sit in Johnny laws car and eat year and a half old lucky charms off the floor.  The lodge at Blue smells like a combination of urine, feet and French fries.  The bathroom at Blue was utterly destroyed before 10am..at least Gary wasn't there in his tighty whiteys

Thanks. Just checked the trail report and they opened Cliffhanger and Pocono Raceway. So I'm pretty excited for those two additions. I'll try to get up at 6 am tomorrow morning to get First Trax. Yes, I'll have to find some new shades. Sunglasses are new to me since I wore glasses for over 15 years, and I used to have to wear sunglasses that go over your glasses like these:

The RTMs were a major success despite shortness. Someone mentioned that I should just rent powder skis if I ever decide to go west or to Alaska. Understandable that this forum probably strongly disagrees with that statement, but just repeating something someone else told me.

The only thing I ate today was 1 Fig Newton bar that I had in my pocket. I had 2 bowls of Corn Pops for breakfast. I skied well all day until around 3 pm, when I think I ran out of sugar and started to get physically tired from not eating enough. At least skiing I can quit and go home, but it really sucks when that happens on the bike and I'm 20 or more miles from home. In cycling it's referred to as a "bonk".

I noticed lodges are always the most crowded places on the mountain. Last year when I worked as a lift attendant for one day, we were told that we were no longer allowed to sit in the lodge on our lunch break due to the huge crowds and lack of space. So we would have to eat lunch/dinner in the lift shack like some kind of animal.

[saltyant]

25 minutes ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

The lifts at JF are normal fixed grip chairs that move at about 500 feet per minute..High speed lifts go over 1,000 feet per minute.  You know Jackson hole only has 4 high speed quads, two gondolas and one Tram that goes 4139 vert in 9.5 minutes.  The rest of the lifts are slow.  

Those options at Jackson Hole sound great to me, if you go mid-week.

Today at CB I tried two of the fixed grip chairs due to the lines at the 2 HSQs, and they were just taking too long for me. I swear, they would stop at least 2 or 3 times per ride, and the stops were always 3-5 minutes long. Nope, I found that for the Sullivan side of the mountain, it's still much faster to take the HSQ by crossing the long line perpendicular, skiing over to the other side of the line where there's much fewer people, entering the singles line, and then being cool to Kyle so he pairs me up with a group quickly.

Last year a lift attendant named Andrea yelled rudely at me when I suggested she pair people up at the HSQ, since the lines were long. I promptly filed a complaint to CB management and recommended she receive remedial training in customer service.

Edited December 30, 2017 by saltyant

[RootDKJ]

2 hours ago, saltyant said:

The inaugural run on my RTMs was tragic.  Not more than 10 seconds after snapping my boots into the bindings, I skied over some thin cover on my way to Stevenson Lift,

That’s the best way really. 

[saltyant]

3 minutes ago, RootDKJ said:

That’s the best way really. 

Yep, might as well get it over with early. I started skiing slightly off trails more today, searching for powder stashes. Guess you inevitable run into a few rocks in the woods, eh?

Edited December 30, 2017 by saltyant

[saltyant]

Lol, and you guys say I complain...

[theprogram4]

Lol at 45-50 degrees 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

5 minutes ago, theprogram4 said:

Lol at 45-50 degrees 

This isn't even that cold. Only about 15-20 degrees below normal

 

[saltyant]

19 minutes ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

This isn't even that cold. Only about 15-20 degrees below normal

 I was perfectly fine today because I took Robert2's advice and dressed like an astronaut. All I wear is a cheap base layer. This weather is the best for skiing, I'd even prefer it 15-20 colder than it is now to 40-50's. Bunch of gerries.

Edited December 30, 2017 by saltyant

[Ski2Live Live2Ski]

1 hour ago, saltyant said:

Thanks. Just checked the trail report and they opened Cliffhanger and Pocono Raceway. So I'm pretty excited for those two additions. I'll try to get up at 6 am tomorrow morning to get First Trax. Yes, I'll have to find some new shades. Sunglasses are new to me since I wore glasses for over 15 years, and I used to have to wear sunglasses that go over your glasses like these:

The RTMs were a major success despite shortness. Someone mentioned that I should just rent powder skis if I ever decide to go west or to Alaska. Understandable that this forum probably strongly disagrees with that statement, but just repeating something someone else told me.

The only thing I ate today was 1 Fig Newton bar that I had in my pocket. I had 2 bowls of Corn Pops for breakfast. I skied well all day until around 3 pm, when I think I ran out of sugar and started to get physically tired from not eating enough. At least skiing I can quit and go home, but it really sucks when that happens on the bike and I'm 20 or more miles from home. In cycling it's referred to as a "bonk".

I noticed lodges are always the most crowded places on the mountain. Last year when I worked as a lift attendant for one day, we were told that we were no longer allowed to sit in the lodge on our lunch break due to the huge crowds and lack of space. So we would have to eat lunch/dinner in the lift shack like some kind of animal.

Switched to contacts for ski days myself this season

[saltyant]

1 minute ago, Ski2Live Live2Ski said:

Switched to contacts for ski days myself this season

Last year I wore glasses and hardly ever wore goggles at all because the damn glasses would fog up. Now that I switched to contacts, I always wear goggles and they never fog up. I'll never go back to glasses voluntarily again.

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Salty what do you do in the lodge if you don't eat in there??