I, and two friends, headed-up to Snowshoe this Sunday to get in a solid day of snowboarding and use our Kroger ticket vouchers. As we cruised into the parking lot at Top of the World we noticed it was nearly full. We headed over to the building to cash-in our vouchers for tickets and the line was just poking out the door. Line for tickets? No. Line for check-in.

Snowshoe has reduced mountaintop check-in to ONE location. Unfortunately, for anybody wanting to ski, it also happens to be at Top of the World, where the general public is forced to park. If you arrive on a busy check-in day, which just happens to be Sunday (or Saturday, I think, if people are checking-out), expect to wait 15-30 minutes for the next bus to Shavers, or park at Silver Creek and catch the bus up after you get your ticket. You DO NOT want to wait for several hours in that ToW mess.

I was impressed with the amount Snowshoe had open and maintained (things didn't even get icy until late afternoon). Of course, nobody was on the slopes. The resort was packed, everywhere off-slope you went it was a madhouse, but very few people were actually hitting the trails, at least, nothing like I'm used to seeing this time of year.

Then there's the issue of the Big Top. Ugly. Nothing says good aesthetics like a huge, puke green yurt right behind that boxy, poorly-colored Shavers Center. Sure, Spruce Lodge was a bit of an eyesore, but it could've been replaced with something more appealing than an big, ugly green yurt.

One final note, the freestyle terrain was over-hyped. Spruce Glades had two massive drop-ins for two tables that were both less than 20 feet. They had a good wallride, but the transition was too rough, park crew should be doing better. Rails? Boxes? Not in the actual park. No, you have to slide over to Whistlepunk under the Powder Monkey chair. A few jibs leave literally INCHES between your head and the lift above you... seems like an accident and lawsuit waiting to happen. The features, even with it being a "Terrain Garden" were tiny and people were constantly harassing you (esp. skiers, not that I want to point a whole lot of fingers) and snaking you to fly off the side of those small run-in ramps. Not to mention the constand clodding of snow on your head from people above you on the lift. Real cool .

Snwoshoe is great, but the focus has shifted from being a mountain with amazing terrain to just the "party resort" image. It's a hassle to just have fun on the snow... something that should be paramount at a SKI AREA.

Other than the check-in experience, that sounds perfect with no one on the slopes. It may be better to start at Silver Creek, ski a few runs and shuttle up. You can also shuttle over the Shavers Center from TOW. The Big Top is a temporary structure. In a few years the plan is to level Shaver's Center and rebuild a new day lodge with conference center. SS is going through some growing pains currently. Certain projects are behind schedule making for some inconveniences with the strong early conditions and crowds.

Canaanman, I think I shared a ride with you in the Ballhooter lift. If it was you, you told me about the Kroger tickets. If I hadn't bought a season pass, I would have headed directly to the nearest Kroger....

What is the offer with the passes from Kroger's??

If you go to your local Krogers and purchase THREE fridge packs of Coke (Diet Coke, Cherry Coke, Vanilla, regular, etc any combo) and use your Kroger Plus Card you should not only get the discount on the fridge packs (leaving a total of about 9 bucks) but also a COMP ticket to Snowshoe valid during the non-holiday season (I"ll find out what the dates are for after the Christmas/New Year's season, I know it's only valid thru 12/21 and then sometime in Jan. thru Feb.). You take the receipt to the ticket window and VOILA! you get a comp ticket. There was a post about this a while back.


lbotta, there were 3 of us on boards, we only rode Ballhooter twice. Strange coincidence.

ibotta, i think me and my friends were the ones that rode the lift with you sun. the tic deal is now mon-thurs Jan 4-mar31. I got 3 more from different friends that dont ski,and me returning to the desk 3 times saying "i need to get a kroger card" (i made up some really good names too )

ibotta... Drat! .. missed you again! We were up there this weekend and had a geeeeeorgous time. The trails were perfecto and not too crowded except for Sat afternoon and Sunday morning; we went over to Silver Creek those days so it made no nevermind. Silver Creek away from Cubb and the ski school was practically a ghost town. Only bummer was that the blacks were not yet open; morning news had promised Flying Eagle but the ropes were still up and they were blowing Sunday afternoon. It's quite an experience to have a whole run to yourself and it seemed every run we hit was the same story, awesome conditions, practically no one there. Sunday night we hunkered down at Red Fox for booze and food with Jay our favorite instructor. The menu has changed considerably; our favorite steak salad is gone but some of the new entries are outstanding. All in all a hell of a weekend; quads still aching and endorphins still circulating.

Snowcone--Did you see the expanded terrain park at Silver Creek? What is it like? Does it detract from the experience for conventional skiers?

Tom

TOMF ... As far as Silver Creek is concerned, I'm not up on terrain parks and I wasn't sure if those whales were the expanded park or not. Basically I didn't see much difference from last year but then again, it was early in the season and maybe they didn't have all of the elements installed yet. As far as the basin side, it appears they split a narrow section off of Powder Monkey and put maybe 3 elements there.

Wish I could help ya but I have to say personally, I was relieved that there didn't appear to be as many park elements as advertised on the SC trails.