Rather than try to have different threads for a small mumber of people skiing a small number of resorts around here I was thinking a meet up and general goup thread for all might work better on a forum with this volume of traffic..
I'm up for a day trip short session Sunday or Monday.. Wintergreen is top of my list but open to other places less than 4 hours away. Where's everyone else skiing this weekend??
Plan is to take my friend and her kids to Massanutten. Skiing Sat-Tue because the kids have a 4-day weekend. They all skied blues at Alta last April so I expect to be on Lift 6 after some warm up runs off Lift 5 the first morning. The boy was skiing black ungroomed at Alta, including powder, so he'll be enjoying all the bumps on Paradice, MakAttack, and perhaps even the little ones on Geronimo.
White helmet with red ribbon on the back. Old Scott poles with grey wraparound grips.
Probably going to Bryce on Sunday. They usually have lighter crowds on holiday weekends and it will be my first day on snow this season. Bryce is a good place to warm up and find those ski legs again.
I’m skiing at Perfect North in Lawrenceburg Indiana (Cincinnati). Why? Because I live in Cincinnati. I have a toddler, a pregnant wife and demanding job. I haven’t had a day to myself since sometime mid summer. Monday I am taking my son to day care. My wife has to work. And I am going to enjoy a glorious day on all 400 ft of vert.
Momday is also hopslam release day, so I plan to grab a sixer of it on the way to Perfect North. They don’t have a liquor license and have no issue with byob. I can not wait!
We are here at Snowshoe for MLK weekend. Here's what my crew looks like;
I will be skiing in Taos, doing their ski week next week. =)
fosphenytoin wrote:
I will be skiing in Taos, doing their ski week next week. =)
Great place. Tough season they're having though. .
Somewhere in Pennsylvania -
If I'm with my oldest, Whitetail. If I'm with a friend, probably Camelback, but possibly Montage or even Blue Knob.
crgildart wrote:
fosphenytoin wrote:
I will be skiing in Taos, doing their ski week next week. =)
Great place. Tough season they're having though. .
This will be my first time to visit this iconic place. I am an intermediate. I figured whatever they don't have open, I won't be able to ski those terrains anways, so it's not gonna make any difference for me.
I"m thinking the same thing about Bryce but I plan to be there Monday morning when they open. I had thought about Massnut. but Bryce will be less crowded. I live in Luray and it's raining pretty good right now so hopefully they can make plenty of snow starting tomorrow evening.
I'm going to Wintergreen tomorrow,, At the worst time hahaha. I'm finding less and less motivation to miss half a night's sleep to ski before the crazy crowds pack the place. Hopefully I can get a few laps on Highlands between 11 and 3 then hit the madness at blue ridge express to return to the lodge and my car... wherever I end up parked since arriving at 11 am-ish will probaby be a horrible parking spot hahahaha! Sleep in.. get there when I get there.. ski a couple runs while standing in long lift lines.. then head home early..
Sheesh, it certainly was cold this weekend in northern VA. Stayed in the 20s Sat and Sun all day at Massnutten. Going to enjoy Monday, which typically is not that busy.
marzNC wrote:
Sheesh, it certainly was cold this weekend in northern VA. Stayed in the 20s Sat and Sun all day at Massnutten. Going to enjoy Monday, which typically is not that busy.
Did they make any snow after the rain? How was the trail surface?
JohnL wrote:
marzNC wrote:
Sheesh, it certainly was cold this weekend in northern VA. Stayed in the 20s Sat and Sun all day at Massnutten. Going to enjoy Monday, which typically is not that busy.
Did they make any snow after the rain? How was the trail surface?
Oh yeah, lots and lots of snowmaking at Massanutten this weekend. Including during the day on Sat once it got cold enough in the afternoon. Pretty much all day and night on Sunday on Showtime and MakAttack, as well as Paradice and DJ. By the afternoon all the blacks and Upper Showtime were well covered with manmade powder. The expanded water supply is making quite a difference.
Monday was some of the best conditions ever. Packed powder, mostly blue sky, in the upper 20s, and no crowds on the blues and blacks. Even the greens weren't too crowded, which is normal for a holiday Monday at Massanutten. Especially on a relatively cold day. The only major slick spots by the afternoon were on Mass Transit and the center of the Upper Showtime head wall. But it was easy to find good snow at the top of Upper Showtime. My friend who learned at Mnut as a cautious adult in the last few years skied Upper Showtime for the first time today after doing a 2-hour intermediate clinic. Her tween daughter skied off Lift 6 for the first time. It was a perfect day for that type of exploration.
Sounds like Massanutten did a very good job to recover from the rain event. It appeared T-Line and CVR did not make snow to freshen up the surface, but the groomers were skiing fairly well on Sun and Mon. Fun fast skiing. I heard was challenging though.
I think the folks at Massanutten are quite happy the cold weather has allowed them to show off the expanded water supply in the last month or so. Especially since Wintergreen ran out of water before finishing Highlands. For quite a few years, it was Wintergreen that had the benefit of an extra water supply and 100% automated snow guns. Mnut has been adding new guns and retrofitting old ones at a steady pace. The number of big guns, including 1-2 new portable ones, has doubled or tripled in the last few years.
Wintergreen had pretty good yeild out of their arsenal of snow guns. There was some patches where the wind and traffic scraped down to the refrozen slabs. But, all in all it was pretty good yesterday. And, NO LINES at Acorn or Highlands.. Blue Ridge was a bit busy but never more than 3 minutes in the singles line..
Next up that I know of will be our first encounter with Winterplace Feb 9th and 10th. Never really looked interesting for being almost an hour farther than our usual stops but the scout troop has rented a bumk house cabin on the mountain there so we're in!
Son's in the Brain Games playoffs Feb 3rd and next couple weeks we'll probably be saving some money.. Things got tighter financially this year unfortunately.
Getting a good solid dumping at my house today. Looks like I'll get to take the tele rig out to earn some turns around the neighborhood tonight after work..
Won't be able to take advantage of the current snow in WV today. Will be at Snowshoe Sun thru Tues. I may also try for a half day this Friday at MNut depending how the rest of the work week goes.
marzNC wrote:
I think the folks at Massanutten are quite happy the cold weather has allowed them to show off the expanded water supply in the last month or so. Especially since Wintergreen ran out of water before finishing Highlands. For quite a few years, it was Wintergreen that had the benefit of an extra water supply and 100% automated snow guns. Mnut has been adding new guns and retrofitting old ones at a steady pace. The number of big guns, including 1-2 new portable ones, has doubled or tripled in the last few years.
Wintergreen was blasting quite a bit of snow pretty much everywhere Monday. They should be 100% open this weekend with nice deep base on the main runs to hold up through the next warm spell.
Looks like we will end up with close to a foot here near downtown Durham. Would have been more if it was dry instead of wet.. Can't wait for work to be over so I can go touring in it!
I have a vacation planned at Wintergreen starting a week from Sunday. The weather forecast for next week is on the warm side with a little rain :( Unfortunately, Wintergreen does not allow you to reschedule within 2 weeks of your reservation without keeping your huge deposit. I shot for the end of January to increase my chances of good conditions... This will be my first trip to Wintergreen since 1985 (best guess). I sure do hope the forecast ends up being on the high side.
I skied Timberline thru Tuesday and conditions got progressively better. Tuesday it snowed and added to the surface nicely. The mountain that was open skied great Tuesday. They appear to be trying to get Twister, The Drop and a couple short connector trails open. Off the Wall was closed the entire holiday weekend and Tuesday. White Lightening is about half open width-wise and is quite skinny in depth (it could use a refresh and expansion).
I did wind up at Whitetail on Monday. Lots of fresh machine-made snow, but the blues weren't groomed so it was a little trickier than normal. My 9 year old was with me, so we mostly stuck to the greens. It was crowded and the lines were long, but overall a solid day.
Next up looks like Camelback which I haven't been too in 8 years. I'm eager to hit Nile Mile.
Is Twister the last to open at T-line? Granted it I only went once, five years ago, but I really wanted to ski it. Despite Facebook promises that I'd be open, it ever was that day.
Generally Twister is one of the last trails to open. It is very long and takes a lot of snow resources to open
Wasn't able to get away today for a half-day to Mnut but I am still tracking Snowshoe for Sun-Tues. It will be a bit warmer Sun/Monday and we may be dodging some precip but a good time will be had by all.
I was at Massanutten on Thursday afternoon, Conditions were great, granular. Cool, not Cold. Had to scream at a snowboarder at base Diamond Jim who was flying full tilt and way too fast...I am still nervous when I see a person carrying too much speed for conditions or crossing trails or near groups of people. I am slowily getting back into it (mentally and physically) since having an snowboarder, paying no attention and carrying racing speed smash into me breaking six of my ribs and causing a small lung puncture, last Feb 1 at the base of Cupp. Took 6 months to heal as much as I am going to heal!
MorganB aka The Colonel
The Colonel wrote:
I was at Massanutten on Thursday afternoon, Conditions were great, granular. Cool, not Cold. Had to scream at a snowboarder at base Diamond Jim who was flying full tilt and way too fast...I am still nervous when I see a person carrying too much speed for conditions or crossing trails or near groups of people. I am slowily getting back into it (mentally and physically) since having an snowboarder, paying no attention and carrying racing speed smash into me breaking six of my ribs and causing a small lung puncture, last Feb 1 at the base of Cupp. Took 6 months to heal as much as I am going to heal!
MorganB aka The Colonel
Sorry I missed you. Glad you are getting back on the slopes.
Got back to Massanutten last night. Very nice conditions all day today. Temps in the high 30s but really not much snow melt.
I fussed loudly at a couple tween boys over the weekend who were racing on Lower MakAttack and continued the race right up to the Lift 5 liftline. They got way too close for comfort to me and my friend's daughter. They looked at me in confusion. Clearly had no idea how close they got to other people . . . well past the SLOW sign.
Will be at Massanutten Jan. 20-21. White helmet with red ribbon on the back, grey pants, white Head Absolut Joy skis.
wfyurasko wrote:
Is Twister the last to open at T-line? Granted it I only went once, five years ago, but I really wanted to ski it. Despite Facebook promises that I'd be open, it ever was that day.
Twister was open this weekend.
Looking to get my `14 year old daughter out on the snow for a few hours next weekend after she expressed interest and disappointment about the scout trip being likely all boys due to bunkhouse lodging..
We will ski Sugar Sunday the 4th unless Big Birch isn't open.. If that is the case we will instead ski Appalachian. That terrain is best for her right now, beginner venturing on to easier blues..
Plan is to drive up mid day Saturday, grab an early dinner, check in to the hotel.. hit the indoor pool, crash early, then head for Sugar (or Appalachian) Sunday morning for a couple hours, (3-4 hours tops) then head home.
Then Boy Scout Troop 461 will invade WinterPlace WV Friday Feb 9th to ski bell to bell Sat the 10th and maybe Sunday morning the 11th. As mentioned, we have a bunkhouse cabin on the mountain in the resort complex walk to slopes location reserved..
crgildart wrote:
Then Boy Scout Troop 461 will invade WinterPlace WV Friday Feb 9th to ski bell to bell Sat the 10th and maybe Sunday morning the 11th. As mentioned, we have a bunkhouse cabin on the mountain in the resort complex walk to slopes location reserved..
I remember around 2000ish the church I was attending went to winterplace for a weekend. We slept on air mattresses in the restaurant at the bottom of the black slopes.
I haven't been to Winterplace in years. Do the slopes still get really really crowded to the point of things being dangerous? Specifically I remember this on the trail that runs the length of the resort on the skiiers left.
AndyGene wrote:
crgildart wrote:
Then Boy Scout Troop 461 will invade WinterPlace WV Friday Feb 9th to ski bell to bell Sat the 10th and maybe Sunday morning the 11th. As mentioned, we have a bunkhouse cabin on the mountain in the resort complex walk to slopes location reserved..
I remember around 2000ish the church I was attending went to winterplace for a weekend. We slept on air mattresses in the restaurant at the bottom of the black slopes.
I haven't been to Winterplace in years. Do the slopes still get really really crowded to the point of things being dangerous? Specifically I remember this on the trail that runs the length of the resort on the skiiers left.
This will be my first trip there. I've avoided it due to the reputation for what is mentioned above and not much in the way of advanced terrain,,, and mostly it being thirty minutes farther away than the other places I ski. Having slopeside lodging is the only reason I am open to it personally, but will be fun for the kids regardless. We can ski late Saturday night and early Sunday morning when crowds shouldn't be that bad. I might just hang out inside between 1 and 5 Saturday though. Pretty much every place gets busiest during that 4 hour slot.
crgildart wrote:
Looking to get my `14 year old daughter out on the snow for a few hours next weekend after she expressed interest and disappointment about the scout trip being likely all boys due to bunkhouse lodging..
Then Boy Scout Troop 461 will invade WinterPlace WV Friday Feb 9th to ski bell to bell Sat the 10th and maybe Sunday morning the 11th. As mentioned, we have a bunkhouse cabin on the mountain in the resort complex walk to slopes location reserved..
If your daughter doesn't mind skiing with a tween, my friend and her kids will be at WV for the Scout weekend. You met her son, A, at Blue Knob. Her daughter is a couple years younger and was skiing blues at Alta last April. Mom is a cautious intermediate now too. She did Upper Showtime off the top of Lift 5 at Massanutten on MLK Day. She'd probably be happy to ski with your daughter for a few runs.
The night session is a good time to ski, especially staying slopeside. Definitely worth taking a break in the middle of the day from what I remember taking my daughter and friend to Winterplace about 10 years ago. The lift that serves black terrain also serves blues and a long green, so cannot get away from newbies who can have trouble loading and unloading. The winding blue through the woods was a favorite under the lights during a late season trip when it was in the 60s when the sun was out.
crgildart wrote:
This will be my first trip there. I've avoided it due to the reputation for what is mentioned above and not much in the way of advanced terrain,,, and mostly it being thirty minutes farther away than the other places I ski. Having slopeside lodging is the only reason I am open to it personally, but will be fun for the kids regardless. We can ski late Saturday night and early Sunday morning when crowds shouldn't be that bad. I might just hang out inside between 1 and 5 Saturday though. Pretty much every place gets busiest during that 4 hour slot.
Don't know what's available to the Scouts, but can be fun to get tubing tickets in the middle of the day. Should be a discounted rate with a lift ticket. Pretty fast tubing run. Some people even go tubing in their ski boots! There are lockers in the lodge near the tubing where shoes or snow boots can be stashed.
Daughter can't go to WV because the overnight accomidations are boys only due to layout and logistics.. Bunk house, no privacy for girls. I'm taking the girl to Sugar/.Applachian next weekend instead so she gets a trip too and I GET TWO trips hahahaha!
I get to do a Scout trip to Wintergreen next Saturday. Night skiing, so no Highlands. I am supposed to be a Merit Badge counselor for the snow sports merit badge - we'll see how that goes.
wgo wrote:
I get to do a Scout trip to Wintergreen next Saturday. Night skiing, so no Highlands. I am supposed to be a Merit Badge counselor for the snow sports merit badge - we'll see how that goes.
We talked about checking off some snow sports requirements but I looked at them and decided it would really be best to spend a couple evenings finishing up all the classroom oriented stuff in advance. I think we'll do that next season, spend a few weeknights doing the book stuff and preparing then a couple hours on the snow. I brought it up in the instructor forum over at PubSki and one of the instrustors there has done it before.. and is also an adult leader like us. I just added the #42 Merit Badge Cert to my creds last November..
I'm currently at Denver Airport on a two hour layover before continuing to SLC for a ten day visit to ski Utah. Skiing the Bird this weekend, then mix it up with some days also at Park City and Alta. Utah is in a bit different shape than my "Snowiest Week" last year at same late Jan time frame, but they just got 8" last night so all is good. Will try to post a few photos/comments as week goes by. Ski on my friends!
obolon999 wrote:
We arrived yesterday to SLC, and plan was to stay down low to adjust to high altitude. But everything went so smoothly that morning: boarded plane at 5:30am at IAD, landed at 10am at SlC, got our stuff in 15 minutes (nothing got lost), jumped on Uber, we were at our Midvale hotel before 11am. Room wasn't ready, so we went and rent a car at Enterprise couple blocks away. After that we had lunch and went to grocery store to load up on snacks. Checked in our room at noon. We simply runned out of things to do........so we jumped on 2pm bus to Brighton 😀😀😀 For us, being first time out West, it was very nice experience. Light fluffy snow, it's so much different from hard groomed slopes of our home mountain Snowshoe. Looking forward to hit Solitude this morning.
Sounds like a great start to a ski vacation! Especially first time out west.
Did you notice that JimK is also in SLC this week? If you can connect via PM and exchange phone numbers, he's a great guide.
Looks like you have the SuperPass. When you get to Snowbird the first time, the free mountain tour is worth the time.
Went to Camelback yesterday (Friday) for a day-trip. Conditions were very nice on most of the trails. Firm, hard pack underneath, but a good layer of snow on top. A few of the black trails were closed because they were still grooming out the huge snow-whales they had made sometime recently. Probably they have those black slopes open today (Saturday). Camelback seems to be very crowded on weekends, but if you can go during the week, it’s not too bad. $53 for open to close lift ticket on a weekday. And they have night skiing on all their slopes. It’s just under a 4-hour drive from the MD suburbs. Camelback has two humps (mountains) and each is served by a high-speed detachable quad lift, plus there are some fixed grip lifts that serve the terrain parks and beginner areas. My favorite run is Nile Mile. It’s a mile-long easy blue groomer that winds it’s way down the mountain to looker’s far left. The views from the top are great, it’s a wide slope so there’s plenty of room to make huge turns, and I love the switch-backs. There are lots of other fun runs too, but for me, it’s worth the drive to make laps on Nile Mile.
I love Nile Mile, it might be my favorite run in Pennsylvania. In the early 2000s, it was a double-green, but they wisely made it a blue about 10 years ago.
Some pics from Alta today here: https://northeastmountainsports.com/topic/900-alta-ut-12718/
Pics from snowbird here from 1/28/18:
https://northeastmountainsports.com/topic/901-alta-sunday-128/
Keep on living the dream Jim.
Sugar Mountain tomorrow with my daughter.. And Old Boot/Robin
JimK wrote:
Pics from snowbird here from 1/28/18:
https://northeastmountainsports.com/topic/901-alta-sunday-128/
More photos from Park City this week: https://northeastmountainsports.com/topic/905-park-city-13018/
Groomers are fine out here for the most part. Off trail is thin, but there are some good spots as my photos show. Believe Wasatch will get 6-8" snow over next 48 hours. Hope to ski Alta and/or Bird next three days, then back to VA for a while.
Well, Sugar Mt was the worst crowd cluster chaos I've been around in decades, maybe lifetime. Kinda expected it taking a 14 year old daughter on their schedule.. arriving at 12:30pm to completely FULL parking lots, even the last satellite lot all the way down the mountain riad filled to capacity right as we were pulling in to it.. Attendents waived us off right as we pulled in... Asked where we can park and they just shrugged and said "I don't know". So, we made a spot.. Booted up and half full shuttle bus pulled away when we were about 50 feet from the stop location. They totally saw us trying to catch it. Waited 15 minutes for another shuttle. Lift ticket lines were 100 people deep. waited it out and paid $115 for two half day tix.. Daughter went the wrong way to get to the beginner lift... which has the terrain she prefers.. first ski day of the year for her too.. Given the choice of a much longer walk back down and around to the beginner lift with what looked like a 45 minute wait or the Big Birch lift, moderate blue, kinda solid blue the very top but green for the bottom half.. we went to Big Birch. She skied it in short sections then asked to go inside. The skinny jeans under her ski pants and terry socks were hurting her shins and calves hahahaha.. I had put good ski socks in her boot bag and warned her about the jeans.. Oh well. Went inside where we met Old Boot/Robin who had been trying to catch up with us frm the moment we arrived looking for parking. I had told Robin to just ski all morning and we'd call him when we were booted up and on the snow. Well, daughter never did put the boots back on so we called it a day/washout and all three of us got on the shuttle back to our cars..
Regardless, 5 minutes skiing with my daughter and watching her figure out how to safely get down the steeper part and then pretty much own the easier part at the bottom was more joy than an all morning solo day on totally open slopes. LOL@ $115 for five minutes of skiing. I'll get more actual skiing in next weekend when we have walk to slopes housing next weekend with the scouts.. Pretty sure there will be dad laps while the kids go do their own thing in smaller groups together..
As we were grabbbing our gear to leave I was chatting with a ski partrol who told me the place got slammed about an hour before we arrived because the main quad at nearby Beech Mountain broke down.
Next weekend WinterPlace, also known to be a zoo. But we have a place to take refuge during the worst of it.. Looking foreard to early morning and night skiing Saturday with a sabbatical mid day when it is crazy out there!
Been there, done that and yes, it was worth it.
crgildart wrote:
Well, Sugar Mt was the worst crowd cluster chaos I've been around in decades, maybe lifetime. Kinda expected it taking a 14 year old daughter on their schedule.. arriving at 12:30pm to completely FULL parking lots, even the last satellite lot all the way down the mountain riad filled to capacity right as we were pulling in to it.. Attendents waived us off right as we pulled in... Asked where we can park and they just shrugged and said "I don't know". So, we made a spot.. Booted up and half full shuttle bus pulled away when we were about 50 feet from the stop location. They totally saw us trying to catch it. Waited 15 minutes for another shuttle. Lift ticket lines were 100 people deep. waited it out and paid $115 for two half day tix.. Daughter went the wrong way to get to the beginner lift... which has the terrain she prefers.. first ski day of the year for her too.. Given the choice of a much longer walk back down and around to the beginner lift with what looked like a 45 minute wait or the Big Birch lift, moderate blue, kinda solid blue the very top but green for the bottom half.. we went to Big Birch. She skied it in short sections then asked to go inside. The skinny jeans under her ski pants and terry socks were hurting her shins and calves hahahaha.. I had put good ski socks in her boot bag and warned her about the jeans.. Oh well. Went inside where we met Old Boot/Robin who had been trying to catch up with us frm the moment we arrived looking for parking. I had told Robin to just ski all morning and we'd call him when we were booted up and on the snow. Well, daughter never did put the boots back on so we called it a day/washout and all three of us got on the shuttle back to our cars..
Regardless, 5 minutes skiing with my daughter and watching her figure out how to safely get down the steeper part and then pretty much own the easier part at the bottom was more joy than an all morning solo day on totally open slopes. LOL@ $115 for five minutes of skiing. I'll get more actual skiing in next weekend when we have walk to slopes housing next weekend with the scouts.. Pretty sure there will be dad laps while the kids go do their own thing in smaller groups together..
As we were grabbbing our gear to leave I was chatting with a ski partrol who told me the place got slammed about an hour before we arrived because the main quad at nearby Beech Mountain broke down.
Next weekend WinterPlace, also known to be a zoo. But we have a place to take refuge during the worst of it.. Looking foreard to early morning and night skiing Saturday with a sabbatical mid day when it is crazy out there!
That was a chaotic day! If the line wasn't so long, I'd suggest stopping by customer service or whatever to try to get a refund on the tix; maybe a rain check or something. I've seen something like that at a couple of ski areas, but never made use of it.
eggraid wrote:
crgildart wrote:
Well, Sugar Mt was the worst crowd cluster chaos I've been around in decades, maybe lifetime. Kinda expected it taking a 14 year old daughter on their schedule.. arriving at 12:30pm to completely FULL parking lots, even the last satellite lot all the way down the mountain riad filled to capacity right as we were pulling in to it.. Attendents waived us off right as we pulled in... Asked where we can park and they just shrugged and said "I don't know". So, we made a spot.. Booted up and half full shuttle bus pulled away when we were about 50 feet from the stop location. They totally saw us trying to catch it. Waited 15 minutes for another shuttle. Lift ticket lines were 100 people deep. waited it out and paid $115 for two half day tix.. Daughter went the wrong way to get to the beginner lift... which has the terrain she prefers.. first ski day of the year for her too.. Given the choice of a much longer walk back down and around to the beginner lift with what looked like a 45 minute wait or the Big Birch lift, moderate blue, kinda solid blue the very top but green for the bottom half.. we went to Big Birch. She skied it in short sections then asked to go inside. The skinny jeans under her ski pants and terry socks were hurting her shins and calves hahahaha.. I had put good ski socks in her boot bag and warned her about the jeans.. Oh well. Went inside where we met Old Boot/Robin who had been trying to catch up with us frm the moment we arrived looking for parking. I had told Robin to just ski all morning and we'd call him when we were booted up and on the snow. Well, daughter never did put the boots back on so we called it a day/washout and all three of us got on the shuttle back to our cars..
Regardless, 5 minutes skiing with my daughter and watching her figure out how to safely get down the steeper part and then pretty much own the easier part at the bottom was more joy than an all morning solo day on totally open slopes. LOL@ $115 for five minutes of skiing. I'll get more actual skiing in next weekend when we have walk to slopes housing next weekend with the scouts.. Pretty sure there will be dad laps while the kids go do their own thing in smaller groups together..
As we were grabbbing our gear to leave I was chatting with a ski partrol who told me the place got slammed about an hour before we arrived because the main quad at nearby Beech Mountain broke down.
Next weekend WinterPlace, also known to be a zoo. But we have a place to take refuge during the worst of it.. Looking foreard to early morning and night skiing Saturday with a sabbatical mid day when it is crazy out there!
That was a chaotic day! If the line wasn't so long, I'd suggest stopping by customer service or whatever to try to get a refund on the tix; maybe a rain check or something. I've seen something like that at a couple of ski areas, but never made use of it.
They already were half day mid day session tickets.. Good from 12:30-4:30 only. And we didn't even get on the trail until almost 2:30.. So I already knew it wouldn't be much skiing regardless.
Appalachian will refund $10 on an 8 hour flex ticket if you ski less than 4 hours. We do that all the time because we never ski more than 4 hours there.
Sounds like you earned extra Ski Dad points!
Headed up for Presidents’ Day weekend up to the Laurel Highlands. While I’m a little worried about crowds, my buddy has a place at Hidden Valley, so free lodging at least takes some of the sting out of the potential crowds, and it’s looking like my only ski trip this year unless we get lucky with mid-March weather. I’m not sure which areas we’re hitting each day, but I imagine we’ll do 7S Friday or Monday to avoid the holiday crowds as much as we can and 2 days at HV.
I haven’t skied 7S since my first ski trip 20-some years ago in middle school, wonder if the tree I crashed into going to the Avalanche lift before my first run is still there. I was pulling bark out of my braces the rest of the weekend, lol.
Punk Wonk Mike wrote:
Headed up for Presidents’ Day weekend up to the Laurel Highlands. While I’m a little worried about crowds, my buddy has a place at Hidden Valley, so free lodging at least takes some of the sting out of the potential crowds, and it’s looking like my only ski trip this year unless we get lucky with mid-March weather. I’m not sure which areas we’re hitting each day, but I imagine we’ll do 7S Friday or Monday to avoid the holiday crowds as much as we can and 2 days at HV.
I haven’t skied 7S since my first ski trip 20-some years ago in middle school, wonder if the tree I crashed into going to the Avalanche lift before my first run is still there. I was pulling bark out of my braces the rest of the weekend, lol.
7S will be packed, but HV and LM should be fine on Presidents Day. I'm planning on taking the kids up for a few hours. Should be a nice weekend. If you're looking to avoid crowds (and there won't be many) head to North Summit.
We are headed out to Salt Lake City to hit Alta/Snowbird/Snowbasin this Thursday. It will be our first time skiing at any of those resorts. Keep your fingers crossed for some snow for us; we have terrible luck getting snow on any trips out West.
eggraid wrote:
We are headed out to Salt Lake City to hit Alta/Snowbird/Snowbasin this Thursday. It will be our first time skiing at any of those resorts. Keep your fingers crossed for some snow for us; we have terrible luck getting snow on any trips out West.
I think you'll be okay at Alta/Snowbird. Have heard Alta is skiing better than Snowbird as far as off-piste goes. Haven't been following Snowbasin.
If you want some ideas about terrain in LCC, here are guides I did last summer based on my experience in recent years.
https://www.snowpak.com/utah/salt-lake-city/alta/ski-and-terrain
https://www.snowpak.com/utah/salt-lake-city/snowbird/ski-and-terrain
The pictures that aren't action shots at Alta are mostly ones I took during late season trips. The pictures for Snowbird in the terrain section are actually mine too, even though that's not obvious from the byline. That's me on the rope heading into Door 3 because my ski buddy and I met up with the man in the bright yellow pants and his friends that day. They know Snowbird very well.
I'm skiing at Taos next week. At this point, I think the groomers at Massanutten may have a deeper base than some of the open trails at Taos. But my friends and I are doing the Taos Ski Week so decided to stick with the original plan. A couple of my friends did a Ski Week last year. Learned a great deal. We are also going to check out Telluride for a few days since it's on the MCP this season. Telluride is becoming a perk for Vail's Epic Pass for 2018-19.
I may go with (a) friend(s) to Camelback Presidents Day Sunday. Not ideal from a crowd perspective, I suppose, but I haven't been there in many years or skiing with that friend. Perhaps their improved Apres Ski will free up the slopes.
We might consider Montage as well, depending on whether my other friend is up there. Any insights on crowds at Montage?
wfyurasko wrote:
I may go with (a) friend(s) to Camelback Presidents Day Sunday. Not ideal from a crowd perspective, I suppose, but I haven't been there in many years or skiing with that friend. Perhaps their improved Apres Ski will free up the slopes.
We might consider Montage as well, depending on whether my other friend is up there. Any insights on crowds at Montage?
I have friends who live in Philly that opted for season passes at Montage this winter. Having a separate lift and section that is essentially black terrain only helps to stay away from the worst of the crowd. Although my sense is that Montage never gets as crowded as Camelback since there really isn't that much lodging right near the slopes.
wfyurasko wrote:
I may go with (a) friend(s) to Camelback Presidents Day Sunday. Not ideal from a crowd perspective, I suppose, but I haven't been there in many years or skiing with that friend. Perhaps their improved Apres Ski will free up the slopes.
We might consider Montage as well, depending on whether my other friend is up there. Any insights on crowds at Montage?
I have friends who live in Philly that opted for season passes at Montage this winter. Having a separate lift and section that is essentially black terrain only helps to stay away from the worst of the crowd. Although my sense is that Montage never gets as crowded as Camelback since there really isn't that much lodging right near the slopes.
I went to Montage once, a Friday night in '97 with $10 lift tix. I should have done that sort of thing a lot more often. It's about as far from my friend's place near Hershey as Camelback. We'll see.
marzNC wrote:
wfyurasko wrote:
I may go with (a) friend(s) to Camelback Presidents Day Sunday. Not ideal from a crowd perspective, I suppose, but I haven't been there in many years or skiing with that friend. Perhaps their improved Apres Ski will free up the slopes.
We might consider Montage as well, depending on whether my other friend is up there. Any insights on crowds at Montage?
I have friends who live in Philly that opted for season passes at Montage this winter. Having a separate lift and section that is essentially black terrain only helps to stay away from the worst of the crowd. Although my sense is that Montage never gets as crowded as Camelback since there really isn't that much lodging right near the slopes.
Agreed with MarzNC above. I visited Montage in late December, chatted with couple ski patrols on a lift ride and they said Montage never gets crowded, beacuse of their location. Most people (depends on where they are coming) opt for Camelbak or Blue mountain, not bothered with the additional short drive to Montage.
Also true, the "dedicated" lift that serves blacks and double blackes is a big plus. There was hardly anyone rode that lift when I visited on Dec. 24th. In fact, lift attendent had the time to step away to take photos for me.
Looks like where I'm skiing next will be in the rain!
https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/today/Ghent,WV,United-States/we-city?iso=US&el=ndfAe91Rwl4w9DuSE6%2F41g%3D%3D&ocid=iehp&day=5
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We just came back last Thursday from out first trip ever to Utah (actually first trip ever out West). We like Solitude the best, Alta took second place, Snowbird third and Brighron last. Conditions were great, plenty of snow. We liked it very much. My daughter said that it was greatest trip ever. Heading to Snowshoe this weekend. See some photos below from last week.
Leaving for Jackson Hole on Sunday. Haven't been there in 10 years so it will be good to hit it again.
In case you missed it JH had a cool contest last weeknd. I used to work with the guy that does the front flip into Corbets.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pMVaC4D3ps
jimw wrote:
Leaving for Jackson Hole on Sunday. Haven't been there in 10 years so it will be good to hit it again.
In case you missed it JH had a cool contest last weeknd. I used to work with the guy that does the front flip into Corbets.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pMVaC4D3ps
JH/Foghee skied incredibly well this past weekend. Some new snow most days. Enjoy!
Lower mountain did suck and got some rain. You had to stay above the base of the Casper chair
https://www.pugski.com/threads/jackson-hole-2017-2018-season-reports.7201/page-10
I skied Brighton/Snowbird/Alta two weekends ago, Jackson Hole/Targhee last weekend, and likely slumming at CVR/T-Line in the rain this weekend. But they are turns and turns in the rain can be fun.
Mr. Fish can bash me. LOL.
Have a scout trip to the Green Bank telescope this weekend. We should be done by mid-morning on Sunday so my son and I will head up to Snowshoe afterwards. We'll miss having the great powder conditions we got on Monday but like JohnL says they are turns.
Looking to close out the season at Appalachian next weekend.. Saturday or Sunday depends on weather and other committments..
Been back for a few days from a week at Taos and three days at Telluride because it was on the MCP this season. Got lucky. Two snowstorms at Taos and then the second day at Telluride. Got to see the Telluride views for the first time before the snowy day with good skiing but no visibility. Telluride is moving to a long term agreement with Vail as a perk for the Epic Pass starting 2018-19.
Maybe Wisp on Monday.
Then Utah, TBD, VT and then Utah in March.
Four days at Mammoth coming up next week. Zero local days for me this year!
I might ski at 7S this week but next week it will be Snowbasin, Alta, and Snowbird the following week then up to Jackson Hole for a few days. I was hoping to hit Sun Valley but we need to get back home. Later, I'll finish the season at Sugarbush, All this on the MCP.
Laurel Hill Crazie wrote:
I might ski at 7S this week but next week it will be Snowbasin, Alta, and Snowbird the following week then up to Jackson Hole for a few days. I was hoping to hit Sun Valley but we need to get back home. Later, I'll finish the season at Sugarbush, All this on the MCP.
I was at Snowbasin today (and might be back tomorrow); it had some of the best snow I've ever seen. They've received 30" of fresh powder in the past 72 hours. I tried to save some for ya. ;)
Scott wrote:
Laurel Hill Crazie wrote:
I might ski at 7S this week but next week it will be Snowbasin, Alta, and Snowbird the following week then up to Jackson Hole for a few days. I was hoping to hit Sun Valley but we need to get back home. Later, I'll finish the season at Sugarbush, All this on the MCP.
I was at Snowbasin today (and might be back tomorrow); it had some of the best snow I've ever seen. They've received 30" of fresh powder in the past 72 hours. I tried to save some for ya. ;)
That is so thoughtful of you, Scott. I've enjoyed following your much deserved western road trip. I'm looking forward to your Snowbasin report. We are thinking about doing the Yellowstone tour. It sounds amazing. I'd love to do the snowmobile tour, my wife too but she has lung issues and fears the exhaust will aggravate the problem. If we do it, it will be the snowcat tour.
Laurel Hill Crazie wrote:
I might ski at 7S this week but next week it will be Snowbasin, Alta, and Snowbird the following week then up to Jackson Hole for a few days. I was hoping to hit Sun Valley but we need to get back home. Later, I'll finish the season at Sugarbush, All this on the MCP.
When do you go to Sugarbush? Planning a trip to NE first week of april.
JohnL wrote:
Maybe Wisp on Monday.
Then Utah, TBD, VT and then Utah in March.
Do you have the MCP? Is it possible to upgrade an MCP Pass for Alta or Snowbird to a combo for a day?
jimmy wrote:
Laurel Hill Crazie wrote:
I might ski at 7S this week but next week it will be Snowbasin, Alta, and Snowbird the following week then up to Jackson Hole for a few days. I was hoping to hit Sun Valley but we need to get back home. Later, I'll finish the season at Sugarbush, All this on the MCP.
When do you go to Sugarbush? Planning a trip to NE first week of april.
We will be leaving here on Thursday before Easter 3/29 and returning either Easter Sunday or the following Monday.
Bonzski wrote:
Just finished 3rd day at Vail, one more to go.
Please give a trip report. My first day there is in 24 days, and I’m getting excited.
Excited to ski with LHC, Jimmy and JohnL (& MarzNC?) in Utah next week, then continue on for Scott Smith-like road trip through northern Rockies and up to Banff and Revy. 26 day trip all told. Will try to post some reports and photos on DCSki during March.
jimmy wrote:
When do you go to Sugarbush? Planning a trip to NE first week of april.
I'll just be getting back from the West when LHC goes north, but will you still be up there over weekend of Apr 7 & 8? Where?
JimK wrote:
jimmy wrote:
When do you go to Sugarbush? Planning a trip to NE first week of april.
I'll just be getting back from the West when LHC goes north, but will you still be up there over weekend of Apr 7 & 8? Where?
Planning to go to Killington the week after easter, probably be driving back the weekend after.
JimK wrote:
Excited to ski with LHC, Jimmy and JohnL (& MarzNC?) in Utah next week, then continue on for Scott Smith-like road trip through northern Rockies and up to Banff and Revy. 26 day trip all told. Will try to post some reports and photos on DCSki during March.
Not early March for me. I don't get to Alta until March 26. Plan is to stay until mid-April because there are several groups of friends coming and going during those three weeks.
Looking forward to trip reports. Just discovered what Scott's been posting as news articles about his trip that started Feb. 13.
http://www.dcski.com/articles/1539
Son and I just returned from a very pleasant morning harvesting spring corn at Seven Springs. Avie, Tyrol, Stowe, Wagner, Fawn, Boomerang open on the Front Side served by the Cortina quad and Avie triple. The Spot, Super Pipe, Deer Pass, Alpine Meadows on the flank between Front and North Face served by the Blitzen triple. We arrived a little after 9 and skied to just around noon. The morning began with frozen nibblets and ended in firm cream corn with a good helping of buttery smooth all morning long.
The Super Pipe was a contrast of warm and soft on the left wall and the right side cold and hard. No, I never got to the top. I chickened about 3/4 up and pivoted back, just high enough to feel the free fall down to the bottom.
We stuck to the tried and true program for skiing limited terrain, we skied it all beginning lookers left and moved one slope or trail over until other end then repeat again, or dally on a favorite for an extra run. It was a great spring day. Too bad the calender says it's still winter.
NC is all but dead. Appalachian is running but only from the mid station. Unless they can blow enough snow to open the summit Firday and Saturday we're done. I'll look at their webcams and check the site Saturday night but not driving 3 hours to ski 200 feet of vert..
Wintergreen seems to be hanging on to some vert..
Looks like Snowshoe for Mar 2 + 3 instead of Holiday Valley NY. Conditions appear to be similar.
Deciding factors are all financial:
crgildart wrote:
Wintergreen seems to be hanging on to some vert..
It was OK yesterday! Upper Cliffhanger/Lower Turkey combo gave the full 1000 ft of vert. Eagles Swoop was open but you needed to take off your skis and walk there since upper X trail was closed. If they can get a couple nights of snowmaking in this weekend I think they can make it to March 10/11.
I'm rolling the dice on Appalachian tomorrow. They were close to getting Upper Big Appal open today,. Tonight ought to deliver cool enough temps to get it open tomorrow morning. I'll be going retro on old school K2 233 mids just to be sure I'm properly entertained. Will also rock some old school US Freestyle Team gear and Vuarnet shades. Weather should be fabulous!!
Just to be safe I also have some 1080s in the ski box should my 40 year old K2s blow apart on the first run hahaha. Same model and length I skied at age 15. $9.99 with matching poles and bag at the thrift store last month.. and look to be only skied a couple times tops, not a mark on the bases anywhere and only a couple smakk topsheet scratches.. Solid metal bindings, 444s set a half click below what I used run on eons ago when bindings only went to 4 hahahaha Not going to push them much though.
Kept it simple. Skied at Hidden Valley today on nicely groomed slopes with beatiful sunshine. Techno Alpin guns running tonight as well, so looking forward to another nice weekend a week from now.
Heading to Whitetail on Monday 3/5 for one last time to see what is left. If any DC skiers are there let me know.
Skied Hidden Valley today, for what was open the conditions were excellent. My kids only lasted a few hours, so it was a session cut short.
We're going to head to Snowshoe on Thursday. Looking forward to a few inches of fresh plus the snowmaking.
Appalachian was delicious this morning! Soo tasty for manmade conditions. Got grappy in the afternoon though.. Car said 58 degrees when I was leaving at 2.
crgildart wrote:
Appalachian was delicious this morning! Soo tasty for manmade conditions. Got grappy in the afternoon though.. Car said 58 degrees when I was leaving at 2.
I did not believe your temp obs of 58 at 2pm so I checked....ur a ly....an Honest Boy Scout!...Canaan,wv was 31 at the top and 35 at the bottom...I had to walk my bike here in FL because the windchill of riding was too intense,,,(should have dressed warmer!!)
Whitetail was empty as you might expect on a Monday. This was a treat since I normally can only get there on weekends with the rest of Northern VA/DC. I typically get there as soon as the lifts open but work/Family delayed my arrival until noon. It was unfortunate as they put Down 3-4 inches overnight. By the time I got there the snow was really soft and heavy. This proved useful in humbling me once again. Around 2pm I saw a bunch of instructors standing around with no students so I hoped in a “group” lesson all to myself. I’ve always wanted to take a lesson. Turns out my rear sits too low and I’m not far enough over my skis which contributes to my uphill ski lagging and getting weighed down in the slop.
I asked around and the general consensus is that if the night time temps continue to stay low then they should be open through St Patty’s day weekend. With the sun during the day they are just keeping enough snow on the trails to be rideable but I found my far share of bald spots.
Unexpectedly skiing at Jiminy Peak in the Berkshires during the blizzard being called Quinn. Had a long weekend in Boston planned months ago. Free change to my original flight led to a slopeside unit at a timeshare for a couple nights before I need to be in Boston. The high speed quad at Jiminy reaches 80% of the terrain. I hear that at least a couple of the blacks won't be groomed out. Good fun!
marzNC wrote:
JohnL wrote:
Maybe Wisp on Monday.
Then Utah, TBD, VT and then Utah in March.
Do you have the MCP? Is it possible to upgrade an MCP Pass for Alta or Snowbird to a combo for a day?
Not sure if you had your question answered or not but I was at Alta/Snowbird late last month and I transferred between the two in the same day. I asked their season ticket sales rep if it was possible to go through the gate as a MC holder. It's totally possible but you use a day at each resort (one day at Alta and one day at Snowbird) during the same day. I had my extra third day at Alta so it wasn't so much of a problem for me.
Alta quickly became my favorite resort ever! They received 20" while I was there and had a day and a half of powder skiing. I had my first handful of face shots there!
marzNC wrote:
Unexpectedly skiing at Jiminy Peak in the Berkshires during the blizzard being called Quinn. Had a long weekend in Boston planned months ago. Free change to my original flight led to a slopeside unit at a timeshare for a couple nights before I need to be in Boston. The high speed quad at Jiminy reaches 80% of the terrain. I hear that at least a couple of the blacks won't be groomed out. Good fun!
Wow NICE! That should be pretty good and easy logistically as well!
Jackson Hole
nakedskier wrote:
marzNC wrote:
Do you have the MCP? Is it possible to upgrade an MCP Pass for Alta or Snowbird to a combo for a day?
Not sure if you had your question answered or not but I was at Alta/Snowbird late last month and I transferred between the two in the same day. I asked their season ticket sales rep if it was possible to go through the gate as a MC holder. It's totally possible but you use a day at each resort (one day at Alta and one day at Snowbird) during the same day. I had my extra third day at Alta so it wasn't so much of a problem for me.
Alta quickly became my favorite resort ever! They received 20" while I was there and had a day and a half of powder skiing. I had my first handful of face shots there!
Good to know. Interesting way to get a little more money. The upgrade charge for a regular multi-day ticket is $45.
Alta remains my favorite place to ski out west. Don't think that's likely to change. Even as I have a chance to explore other destination resorts.
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