Blue Knob is replacing sections of snowmaking pipes on several of their trails including Sno Drop beginner area, Lower Mambo Alley, Expressway, Deer Run, Jack Rabbit and Run Out. Photos are posted on their Facebook page. I haven't been to Blue Knob in years because of the lack of reliable coverage. I wonder what the status of snowmaking on Extrovert and Stembogen? I'm pleased and impressed that they found the money to invest. I'll definitely check them out this winter.
Patrol told me a few years ago that Extrovert has leaky pipes that reduces the pressure, so snowmaking capacity was dropped to about a third of what it should be. With limited capacity, fewer people skiing it due to the difficulty, and steeper trails requiring more snow (see the limited capacity issue again), expect it to the last to get the love, if it does at all.
If they have a good enough cold snap, they've been able to get Stembogen open as that snowmaking still seems to work fairly well. I don't know it needs pipe replacement either though.
66 doesn't have any hydrants and is all natural. Lower High Hopes does, but I don't know what kind of shape they're in. This will be one of last to see snowmaking.
I'm glad to see them put some money into it. It's long overdue. It's going to take a few years of effort with finishing the rest of the pipe and getting more guns/fans. Maybe these owners will pull it off. Who knows.
I have never skied at Blue Knob, although I have been in and around the place kind of off-season while I was in the area at Bedford Springs. Would like to try it out. I'm kind of centralized at HV, so I never seem to make the time to make the quick jaunt. Same with Wisp, although I've skied there a bit.
There were a lot of regulars at HV who started changing over to Blue Knob right around the time ownership changed from Buncher to Nutting. Sounds like under good conditions and maintenance it's a fun area.
You'll be hard pressed to find better in the area when they have the snow. Unfortunately, it's been lean the last several years and they just don't have the snowmaking capabilities to let it shine. Hopefully the new pipe will help with that and allow them to get things open sooner with better coverage.
That said, if it's actually gets to be as snowy and cold as expected, this could be their year. As long as you don't go expecting anything more than barebones amenities with great terrain, you'll have a great time. The vibe is more Laurel and Roundtop, but much more run down.
superguy wrote:
That said, if it's actually gets to be as snowy and cold as expected, this could be their year. As long as you don't go expecting anything more than barebones amenities with great terrain, you'll have a great time. The vibe is more Laurel and Roundtop, but much more run down.
It might be my old age and imagination, but i think someone used to have a tagline quote for BK that was "It out Timberline's Timberline"
(And you have to keep in mind that's pre-Perfect era we are talking about!)
That was JohnL!
GGNagy wrote:
It might be my old age and imagination, but i think someone used to have a tagline quote for BK that was "It out Timberline's Timberline"
(And you have to keep in mind that's pre-Perfect era we are talking about!)
Looks like some nice improvements to snowmaking:
I've started my preparation for my 1-2 trips of the season this week. I was just thinking about how much I hope Blue Knob gets dumped on some Thursday this winter so I can convince my regular ski buddy to go. He's never been and we usually go to Elk since he is around Hershey.
Is the rasta hut still there?
While I still have access to the Free Preview for the Snowmaking forecast graphs . . . starting Nov. 26 there should be good weather conditions for snowmaking at BK for a couple weeks.
Not much improvement it would seem:
12" - 19" base on MLK weekend, 2 lifts open.
I was hoping they were going to start turning around this season, but it's not looking good. Maybe someday...
I can give some insight on why their new equipment didn't have much impact - at least some of their new TA sticks were Borax mid energy towers, set up as manual snowguns. I'm pretty familiar with those and they're mostly fine when you have an automatic valve to run them, but in manual they're very picky. That's even more true if small/long pipe and adjusting the water going to other guns is changing the apparent pressure. They also burn a ton of air compared to modern equipment (half the output or worse compared to an Impulse).
I'm not saying there's no place for them in today's snowmaking environment, but given what I know is on property I would definitely not bought full price old school air water equipment. I'd have gone to SMI or HKD and gotten Grizzly, SV14, or Impulse for manual equipment.
That said I also know you could either buy first party or have a local shop make you smaller nozzles for the Larchmont Z-1 old blue air water guns and that can't be more expensive than swapping for entirely new mid energy towers above the midstation.
If they could manage a real infusion of new equipment, say every other stick on Expressway and Lower Mambo with surplus equipment bounced down to Runout, plus some essential transfer and water storage work, plus reliable central air supply, plus having the fan guns they own maintained... yes, that's a lot of capex, but that's what it would take to get the focus off just opening to Expressway and onto Runout/Jackrabbit/Deer Run for an average Christmas, with Stembogan and friends in play for more than a week or two. And they apparently bought at least some of the worst new build sticks now sold for their situation (which I thought were actually discontinued, since they're such a niche product).
