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Our ice climbing guide filled us in about a good ski tour off red mountain pass. She said it was about a 45 min skin in so we thought it was relatively short. She must be super human because by the time we reached the top it was just under 2.5 miles and about 1600’ elevation gain. Gorgeous weather, but cold. Will let the pictures speak for themselves. This is the area people lap, one was enough for us today. Really nice snow conditions. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Hey All, I’m back from another fun session at Blue mountain the true mountain. I arrived at the lower lot at dark o’clock and it was around 30 degrees under overcast sky’s with increasing winds. In the house were Johnny Law, JFBB Dan, Atomic Jeff, MBike Mike, BenM, PSYFly, Mixilplix, Enjorales dad, Enjorales cousin, Slim, Indiggio, Bethlehem Ford Guy, Justo, Rose, theRealKt, Cuong, Phoeng, Ying and Joan’s husband. First run was challenge which was a western groomer. Second run on challenge almost as good except for the race kid being a trail whore. Both the six pack and quad were running a bit slower maybe 3/4 speed. Main Street was good especially upper left where the Barney’s bumps used to be. Switchback is open now but I didn’t ski it..lazy mile was crazy mile and nice having lower park open. While i skied from 8-9:42am no serious lift lines but by like 1030-11 lines looked very long as more and more people kept spilling in. I hungout in the lot for awhile then ate at point Phillips hotel with MBike Mike and Atomic Jeff was very good. All in all nice ski conditions and good to see blue mountain making some johnny cash.

Speaking of parking lot folk, forgot I snapped this omw out.

Somebody took all the snow away! I even climbed a bridge, and then a hill, and then a whole mountain, to see if perhaps there would be a glimpse of whiteness in the distance... It was all in vain.

Good day. 40 degrees in Philly. Started snowing on the way up the turnpike as I got up into the Poconos. Snowed all morning then on and off snow and some breaks of sun starting around noon. Groomers were fun, soft snow but some ice scraped off here and there on the steeper bits. No woods in play. Blow over from the guns mostly melted out so runs like Happyland were bony. You could bag a couple turns here and there but not top to bottom. They only probably picked up about 4 inches. But it looked nice and improved conditions on the groomers. Trees were all rimed up too which looked cool. Very crowded with the A lift down.

This year we opted for a private guide and arrived in Ouray a week before the Ice Festival. Kind of nice how quiet it was. Starting our hike in. Our climbing area. My friend Shannon always kills it. My friend Natalie is an incredibly fast climber. Here is me totally stressed that I can hardly keep up with her pace belaying her. The climb out, always feel steep. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Tomorrow morning is going to be great. See you there.

Holy cow, another trip to the Skiers Paradise! A place with endless groomers and highest number of sunny days in Alps. A rough start with crazy outbound weather with snow peaking right around the departure time. When it hit, it hit hard, and I even started looking at rail options, but then miraculously the snow took a break, and I zipped to EWR in no time at all. Stupid United flight this time. Far from the luxury of Emirates, longer en route, but timely departure and free booze in the United Club. The only thing left before departure is deicing. Whoo-hoo, looking at the webcams and forecast, it's gonna be truly epic. Lots of sunny days has its unfortunate side effect on snow quality or even availability, plus this time I'm flying earlier than ideal, but the storm that drowned Venice in December dumped enough in the mountains to last till now.

It is a lodge and a hut next door. We already googled renting space at the hut. $180 per night for 6 people max, short skin in. Here is a link to the lodge. we tried to check them out but the guy in charge was dealing with guests and said we couldn’t go in. https://www.skimag.com/uncategorized/st-paul-lodge-co

Without bumps the world is flat? Ok boomer.

If you wanted a picture of my new car, just ask me.

Almost forgot about the parking lot shitshow. People waiting 10 minutes for parking spots, trying to squeeze into parking spots, and just shitty drivers in general. It made for great parking lot entertainment.

Correct. Boarding Spirit Wings 1430 with service to Philadelphia in 10 minutes.

Lol, I think I mixed up my flight somehow...

Put skis on the de Havilland for some flights from the snow.....

That sounds like a great deal.

I’m really excited about tomorrow. Some decent skiing followed by free entertainment.

Seems like they got switchback opened pretty quickly. I skipped this weekend but am going to get out tomorrow morning.

Bumps on chute (hopefully it’s viewable) https://www.facebook.com/92181707870/posts/10158676543962871/?d=n

As long as you get to the bottom lol That's legit grade a stoke

That's a Benz wagon they are nice lol Today was super super awesome and considering how bad it was yesterday the snow was really good

You're a legend Barb.

After yesterdays less than awesome grooming, i had pretty low expectations for today. Pleasantly surprised. good day today.

Snow was good this morning, lapped challenge until about 9, then hit Nightmare/Dreamweaver and Lazy Mile. Conditions were good but started to get crowded. Hung out in the parking lot until 12 or so, which is always fun. Only thing missing was some grilled meats and burgers.

Conditions were pretty nice this morning...Which was good cause I brought the skis out today....It's always fun to go skiing.....

Snow was decent today. Glad I missed yesterday's shit.

This is great! Sounds like the snow is a lot better than yesterday. 9:42 am is pretty specific, TFTI.

It will be good tomorrow Am.

I might come into work late tomorrow and hit up Blue tomorrow AM I agree conditions are gonna be grate.

They just want everybody to know that they’re expert skiers from jersey.

Can't wait to see what's in store for today! 🤣

Hillcrest lodge (stupid name - it’s at the bottom of a hill) is on the K access rd and it’s cheap too. Problem is it’s cheap so if hanky panky going on down the hall you hear it. My go-to, especially for solo travel is Turn of River Lodge (more on this later). Not on k access rd but 1 m from sky ship Gondi on Rt 4. Not my fav starting point as it takes 20 min to ski after loading though. My pro tip is park at corner of lot trail access next to snowdon bubble chair. Super short and easy access and car is right there for lunch and tinnies. Other convenient start is bear but car is a bit farther away. If staying at ToR two great breakfast spots, First is about 0.2m down Rt 4 toward k access rd on your right. Dream makers bakery. A little $$ for breakfast Sammy (~$8) but crazy good farm-to-table Vt goodness. Problem is their midweek hrs are no good. The second option is Water wheel trading post. Mom/pop operation and will have half dozen local pick up trucks parked in front scoring breakfast. Cheap homemade breakfast sammy’s and is about 0.8m on left Rt 4 heading toward k access rd from ToR. Last suggestion is sun up bakery on k access rd on right just before hitting rams head area. ToR is a throwback. Got a huge common area with huge fireplace, tv (folks play jeopardy every night - I suck at it but blame it on the boxed wine) and access to full kitchen so that’s where I ate dinner almost every night. Lot of regulars there (ski instructors, mountain ambassadors patrollers) but always welcoming. Last trip I went with 2 other guys who never been there and they loved it. Bunks downstairs is $40/night (separate woman’s and men’s dorms). Private rooms available upstairs with shared or private baths. Another ski option to consider is Pico if they got most of their terrain open. Cheaper than K and worth a day if you’re in the mood. Good luck

For those of you familiar with the Ironton Rail Trail, here are some photos from when it was in operation. Some of these photos should be familiar spots.

https://www.ouraynews.com/news/ice-climber-killed-avalanche-south-ouray Not part of the ice park but very close by. Happened yesterday, incredibly sad. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk