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Last night, I headed up to Brighton for some night skiing. It's been so gorgeous. every. day. I have today, Saturday, and Sunday left in Utah and then I go back to Colorado. Then back to Pennsylvania.. I've been on this little nomadic adventure for almost 50 days. It was 'IGHT and I was able to park right by the ticket window. There were A LOT of people. College recently started and you could tell it was the hangout spot for the local college students. On the chair lifts, I heard some interesting stories. One of the guys was a freshman and I overheard him tell his friend - "I'm totally going to propose to her". That's just not a common phrase you hear at frat parties of big state schools in between their keg stands. Besides the lines, the snow was great. I got under 10k of vertical feet because of the crowds though. It was some of the best night skiing snow I've ever had. It was like a warm cream cheese. Thick, creamy, and smooth. My favorite run was down Winter Green. When you turn off Crest Express, there's a short black/blue with some bumps. But, the bumps were more like ungroomed powder rather than tight balls of snow with very few people on it. Here's a view looking up at it. This was the view from off of Crest Express. In comparison, below is the view from January 4th This was cruising down a blue (I think Hawkeye). Tonight, I might do some touring at Park City. Saturday is Alta/Bird and Sunday will probably be Brighton to explore the full mountain.

Some unexpected work stuff came up so at first light I drive to the Gunnison Walmart to buy a printer. At least the sunrise was nice After I got my stuff done I was on the mountain by 10. Warm today, no mid layer and still had all my zippers open. Getting spoiled here with the lack of crowds because a 3-5 min lift line wait felt long. Did some warm ups on Paradise then headed over to East River. The bumps on Middle Gallowich get me every time! Can’t seem to flow through there without stopping. Then onto Teo for some trees Snow rolling in tonight. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wao, what a grate night at Montage. Arrived around 1800 and walked down like 100 steps to get my $30 discounted lift ticket, then walked up like 100 steps and moved my Chevy Sonic as close to the Phoebe lift as physically possible. Skied some blacks and double blacks like Cannonball, Smoke and White Lightning. Also did Lower Fast Track (dark and icy) and Lower Runaway (even more dark and icy). Then toured the flatlands (blues) at the top of the mountain for old time sake, and did 3 runs. It was a bit windy, cold, and flat so I went back down to the expert slopes which are protected from much of the wind. On my way down I skied Upper Fast Track which was pitch black much of the way. Boo. Skied more expert runs and mostly stuck to Boomer since they're blowing fresh perder and it was like literally amaze-balls for night skiing. The snow was nice and soft. Also did White Lightning a few times. The main Expert slopes (White lightning, Boomer, Smoke, & Cannonball) are very well lit compared to the rest of the mountain. Overall a grate night and conditions were pretty nice. Not a death cookie or sugar pile in sight, just a few slick spots here and there but nothing crazy. JADIP ice is nice.

Wow.

I bought the Kästle FX96 188 length. Good thing there’s no breathilizer for online purchases.

Last night was fun. Snow was really nice. Even some man made blowover to be had on razors from challenge...woo hoo. They were blowing a ton and grooming out challenge and falls which was of course closed. Rode the quad all night as lines were silly on the 6 pack. Blue is making bank this season...they have to be and good for them!! Maybe coming soon will get lights and snowmaking for next season. JANIP (just another night in paradise for the acronym thread).

Appreciate it. 😂 I usually only get eggplants from @Schif

Got reservations for Roundtop Sat (my third trip there) and Whitetail Sun (my second trip there). Pretty perfect timing as both announced today that for the first time this Skison they are 100% open. Particularly psyched that they have Upper Gunbarrel open at Roundtop. I have never skied that before and the top of it has a 50° pitch - which is I believe the steepest on map headwall in PA (White Lightning headwall at Montage was regraded from 54° to 46° a while back). Had been planning to do Hunter this weekend, but with Temps as of a few days ago being forecast to go down as low as 10 below with high winds there this weekend (forecast has moderated with lows around 0 and highs in the teens now expected), I switched my reservations to these balmier south central PA resorts where it is expected to get into the 30s both days.

If they were smart they would advertise a “renewal-only” price of $449-499 for current pass holders now, as well as announce new passes on sale March 15ish for $549, which would also then become the renewal price. They would get a big cash grab right now without adding any more pass holders to the “ski whenever you like ranks” thus avoiding impacting their capacity calculations, and would be able to continue brisk day ticket sales. They may miss out on a few tickets by putting a date on it, but it’s a risk if people want to ski a couple days to put it off to mid-March.

Bundled up a little extra today, 14 degrees and the wind howling on top. Top of razors swept bare, but the wind wasn’t too bad once you got down in the trees. Fortunately I used the carbide cutters on the edges last night, so ice was nice. Snow was nice on NMDW, but it was a pain avoiding the features. Sidewinder and Lazy Mile had OK snow. Marbles on Challenge, but not as bad as last Friday. Razors was the run of the day. Called it a day at 10:15 when the lines started building up, and was sandblasted by snow chips coming up off the top of razors.

That one picture with the snowy trees could legitimately win a photography contest. Maybe send it Blue Mountain so they can use it for their website to promote night skiing.

This is my favorite trail there. It is basically a groomer track through the woods. It is not super long, but there is nothing like it that I've skied in PA.

One trail that I noticed you missed on the report is a sneaky and most times hidden one. A few years ago they cut a connector between Lower Runaway and Cannonball called Rattler. It's narrow, twisty and usually has some fun banks on the sides. Pretty easy to ski right past the entrance to it and not even know it's there but it is a fun little offshoot.

These pictures are worse than Doug’s grease pictures but nice report 👍

lo

I suck at them, but the more I practice, the more that will translate into backcountry skills.

The 3 south central PA mountains interest me as they are the same distance from where I grew up as the Pocono resorts are, yet I know little about them. If I had an epic pass, I’d ride all three in one day, then log them as separate days in the stat log, then wonder why PASRs are worried about my stats during powder days at jhole. Woo!

I do have some Whitetail pix from my trip there on 3-17-19. These are mostly from the "Exhibition" bump run on the rear face. They were nice and soft that balmy day. Closing day of their season and we skied them to the last chair.

Ok

Absolutely stellar evening out here

They got Vailed.

you have skis with touring bindings... get some skins! not exactly the same, but it's a thought. If the cuff has the "L.V." graphic on it, it's low 97mm. If it doesn't, it's 100mm.

For me it's simple. See perder, press purple zucchini button

looking like 100% chance of weather so far. Will keep you posted.

well only gapers like @theprogram4's dad go back to the gondola after the first run on a pow day. all about upper mountain lifts

AWD?! Hah, that would cost more than a Sonic!

New binders arrived today...Went with the XPS cause I don't think I'm cool enough for pivots yet....and they were on sale at EVO...

New worst reason for not skiing.

Bring the baby skiing! Dont they sell backpacks that you can put a baby in?

I don't think the last is typically stamped anywhere on boots. May just have to do a search for the specs of the model you have and hope it's out there.

The boot doctor in Telluride is really good. I got my boots there last year.

I’m currently closing out our best January ever so at least one industry is doing well during a pandemic.

Frank grimes: this place is a palace! How can you afford a place like this!? homer Simpson: idk, don’t ask me how the economy works

WL is a legit steep run. it takes some good ski skillz to make it down safely. thx steeze. it's going nicely, getting mad laps in at Montage. kinda bummed that Blue cancelled all their adult race clinic b/c of COVID-19. thinking of hitting up BC for wednesday nite nastar.

I think they’re making bank...everyday has been busy with people paying much higher than normal lift ticket prices. The weather has also been super cooperative.

Thanks trackbiker, low crowds. The only time I had to wait was when Phoebe lift shut down for a few minutes due to ski patrol transporting the toboggan or something. There were about 25-30 people stuck. Otherwise the wait was never more than a minute or so. Virtually no one on the Iron Horse Lift as it only goes to the Blue runs The $30 deal is for King's College alumni that I had no idea existed until my friend told me about it. If you know any alumni or current students I'll provide details

Have you ever considered getting something with AWD?

Bahahaha

You are probably right, the JF condo people don’t hit the slopes until 10. Since the don’t have to drive home, they will probably party hardy, and sleep in.

That looks so cool at night!

They also took a major hit w/out all the weddings, banquets, etc. over the Spring, Summer, Fall...

$499 early bird is my prediction.

Awesome - I always had a good time at Montage. Boomer and Smoke are usually pretty good. White Lightning can be great, but obviously sucks when it gets icy.

Great report. Night Skiing at Montage brings back some awesome memories.

Yeah I don't want to get too excited, but would be awesome to get another nice storm. I probably still wouldn't end up getting a powder day at Blue unless I take a day off, but at least I can take the kid sledding.

Pretty fun morning on the skis..Wind was a little tough at times but the snow was good...Cold and dry enough so the snow they were blowing wasn't sticky....Crowds were not bad either...Switch and Side were the ROTD for me...I saw TP4 pull in the lot but did not see him the whole time I was skiing... Boring Main St vid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8j3UwsCSUU

Snowshoed Washington Gulch, absolutely nobody there! Bluebird skies changed to all clouds by the time I was done.

-10 when I walked my dog this morning, -3 when I got to the base. Got in line at 8:57 and still got 3rd chair. Finally some visibility today, bluebird skies. First run down Paradise and first clear views since my arrival. Did a few there then headed down to East River. Stuck to groomers today as the legs were tired and figured the bumps would be bricks. Then went down to the slow ass Teo lift to play in the trees a bit. But damn it was just so cold I had to call it. Only lasted about an hour and 20 min. Once it gets above 15 or so I am going to head out to do a mellow snowshoe, need some cardio. Taking gloves off for pics was painful so only 2.