Spent the weekend at Snö Mountain (old Montage) and was quite impressed. Despite last week's thaw, the conditions were good to excellent. Corn and hardpack, but very little ice. The green runs were skied off by the end of the day and resembled a mass casualty excercise with beginners falling down all over the place, but the blues and blacks were still in great shape. And their set of double-blacks in the bottom of the mountain were absolutely flawless. White Lightning and Boomer, especially. Sans moguls, but with an exquisite cover.

Snowed all day Saturday and Saturday night, covering the field with another 4-5 inches. This made for a spectacular Sunday, ended abruptly by an hour-long blizzard with gusty winds and heavy snow.

All in all, an excellent time. I'd go back in a minute.

Lou - how far of a drive is it from wherever you're at?

I'm in Leesburg, and I've got about a 3-hour-ish limit on what I can drive (each way) and ski a full day without falling asleep on the way home.


aaron

From 15th and Belmont Streets, it is exactly four hours, 123 miles. Could be considerably shorter if you live in the suburbs and are able to avoid the 16th Street nighmarish traffic. If you need to stay in Scranton, there are many cheap hotels in the area, however.

Lou, You didn't really mean 123 miles, did you?
The Colonel

Just did the trip from Herndon, took 15 to 81. Door to door was 3:50, so that makes is 3:20 from Leesburg in my book. I drove as fast as I could up 15, 75 mph to Frederick, 60-65mph till just past Harrisburg and 75 mph to SNO.

I had a great time and thought the did a nice job on the grooming. How was the park (under construction when we where there).

THIS IS MY 99th POST

Oops... Somewhere I lost a 100 mile leg. It was 223 miles. Thanks for noticing it.

The good thing is that despite being in Pennsylvania, the roads are actually in good to excellent condition, so driving at the max allowable is a possibility. And a laser-detecting Escort is not forbidden either.

What did you think of the one steep section of White lightning? To me it is almost identical to lower shays at Snow Shoe. Your thoughts?

Yes it is. With the only difference that, to my chagrin, White Lightning at Snö is kept in MUCH better conditions than Shays. And the approach to them is also identical. Last weekend there were no moguls there, just perfect corn. Took away some of the challenge, but it was an awesome steep run. And there were less than ten or fifteen people an hour skiing it, so the conditions remained absolutely excellent for two straight days. The other ones, Boomer and (can't remember the other name) were also outstanding.