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I’d hate to be the passenger who gets this sent into their face at 170mph by the airbag

Hey All, I’m back from a fun session at Mont Bleu. I arrived at the lower lot at 720am and it was 90 degrees colder than my fourth favorite boy band. In the house were Johnny Law, JFDan, Matt Edge, Dirtwolf, Ryan, Mixilplix, Mute, Nastar Glenn, BenM, MBike mike, Pops, Indiggio, Tarponhead, Bethlehem Ford Guy, Enjorales, Pops, Enjorales cousin, Falco and many more. First civilian six pack and razors was already closed for race training. Had a really sweet Main Street to begin and Main Street had the nicest conditions. Nightmare to Dream Weaver was OK and had a couple of Root rollers. Switchback was super good for the second day it was open and Coming soon had nice chalky fresh manmade Poe. Yeah it was cold and windy but we’re skiers so no big deal. Fun parking lot today..the highlight besides Matt Edge cool stories was seeing the inside of the hippie mobile..it was a mini version of roadside America...totally radical. Ski everybody tomorrow AM

Good time riding today...As others have said CS was ROTD...First time down snow had a ever so slight wind blown feel..Nice to ride NMDW without features..Been a bit since I rode in single digit temps...

Today was good. Wicked cold, but with battery powered heat on everything, it wasnt quite as bad as i thought it would be. Doug is spot on, main good, switch good, NMDW ok, and Zinc or Swim was a special treat. Its been said before, but what ever guns they use, filtered water with no zinc, or big mac secret sauce injected into the mix, the snow is great on that trail.

Fastest skier on the mountain! 🤣

Today was so good, really really good snow, excellent lot shenanigans and major bonus points for a roadside America reference. Excellent vibe all day and I was super impressed with the chalky blown over the bumps on coming soon. The trench skiers left is getting deep but maybe a shame the best guns on the hill are being used to make bumps. Tits Mcgee seeing everyone, a Glenn and edge day was unexpected on the coldest day of the year so far.

Really glad Salty had a good time.

Using jersey’s finest exported produce no less! Blueberries and… coconuts? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This is going to be a boring summary post. I was in Switzerland once in summer, and it's as beautiful in winter as I remember seeing it in July. Well, the lakes are perhaps less blue, there are no flowers, sheep or cows on the slopes, but the mountain scenery around Grindelwald is hard to beat. I'll definitely want to come back there again some time. Travel-wise, I loved the train access. For the three of us it ended up cheaper to go by train than to rent a car, and the convenience is hard to beat. On the night of departure it snowed hard, but all we had to worry about was how to drag our stuff over fresh snow 100m down to the train station. After that it's a comfy ride down to Interlaken where, chances are, there will be just rain. There are way too many ways to buy train tickets for my liking. Putting all discount cards aside (which I think are not worth getting for a single trip), one is still left with the choice of buying a Point to Point ticket, a Saver Day Pass or a Supersaver Ticket. The first one works on any train on a given day between the two destination, the Saver Day Pass works on a given day on just about any train except for some mountain trains, and Supersaver Ticket is a time- and route-specific discounted fare that works only on the trains departing at the specified time. The relative price of all tickets varies all the time, I didn't quite grasp the logic except that Saver Day Passes become gradually more expensive the closer you get to your travel dates. We ended up buying Saver Day Pass, to have the freedom of taking any route when we arrive and leave. sbb.ch (Web site and an App) is where we bought tickets, planned routes or checked live updates due to service disruptions or just because we ended up in the wrong place and now needed to take a different train. sbb.ch covers both trains and buses, lists departure time, platforms for trains, stops for buses, and bugs you on your way if there is a change coming soon. Between ZRH and Grindelwald there are at least two changes (one in Bern, one in Interlaken), but sometimes the app suggests jumping a train in Zurich or Spietz, saving a few minutes. We preferred a more relaxed, slower ride to hauling skis and bags one/two extra times. Typical connection time is 7-10 mins and for us it always involved going from platform to platform through a tunnel or via an overpass. Still, even overloaded with skis and luggage, this was manageable. Tickets were always checked in the trains between Zurich, Bern and Interlaken and were never checked between Interlaken and Grindelwald. The way how they do it is by scanning QR code in sbb.ch app, print-at-home paper ticket and then matching it you our ID, a US DL works just fine. As far as lodging is concerned, we were picking between a whole house near train station in Wilderswil (second station from Interlaken toward Grindelwald, about 20 mins by train to the nearest lift) and a spacious studio on the main street in Grindelwald, both costing about the same. Both options would actually provide reasonably convenient access, and trains in Jungrfau regions are free with a valid skipass, but Grindelwald is of course a nicer place to stay at, it has the atmosphere of a ski town, whereas Wilderswil is just a quiet residential area with a train station on the way up the mountains. Two thumbs up for staying in Grindelwald, one thumb up for Wilderswil. There are three access points for the slopes in Grindelwald: First - a separate ski area accessible by a gondola lift from the main street. You get there by walking or taking one of 4 buses (free, thanks to hotels and airbnb charging you 4.70 CHF tourist tax pp, pd). Terminal - a modern hub with 15-min lifts reaching Kleine Scheidegg and Mahnlichen. It's accessible by two buses and is a one train station, 3 min away from Grindelwald on the way down toward Interlaken. Kleine Scheidegg - half way between Grindelwald and Wengen, accessible by a separate train departing from Grindelwald station via Grund and going further up the mountain. Travel time 30mins, leaving every 30 mins. It's a nice trip, especially in summer. And we were the only passengers in our car when we took it to Kleine in early morning. Unfortunately we never got to the farthest Schilthorn/Murren area accessible from Lauterbrunnen, so I can't say much about it. Of those three that I've seen, I liked First the most. It's disconnected, requires an additional bus travel if you don't stay in Grindelwald and are arriving by train, hence less people, but enough trails of all kinds, and they were in far better condition than those at Kleine or Mahnlichen. Trails around Kleine are too narrow, crowded and scraped, especially in the afternoon. Same is true for the loooong trail that goes back along the train tracks to Grindelwald. Interestingly, the trail following the tracks in the opposite direction, i.e. from Kleine to Wengen is much quieter and hence pleasant. It actually makes a great loop, taking train/gondola from Grindelwald to Kleine, then taking long trail to Wengen (nice car-free town!), then lift up to Mahnlichen and skiing down to Grindelwald. Mahnlichen can be busy too, but it has more trails, they're wider, and people disperse nicely across the slopes. What works against Mahnlichen is that this the main place that Wengen people go to, and it's just a single gondola ride away. Snow was great there. Around our visit snow was in the forecast every day, but in reality it snowed about half the time. Up the mountain the coverage was 100%, and since most of the snow was fresh, it was easy to try going off-piste. IDK if it's a norm or we just got lucky, but I do know that e.g. in Dolomites, which are touted for having the most number of sunny days, and hence are a more reliable destination for a quick skiing trip, we once arrived to brown slopes with only man-made trails. As far as COVID is concerned, unless you have a EU vaccination certificate, Switzerland requires visitors to purchase a Swiss cert. It can be done by scanning US CDC card, uploading image to some ch website and paying 30 CHF. Once you do, it gets loaded in a Swiss Covid Cert App or can be downloaded/printed as a PDF. This certificate was scanned diligently in every restaurant on the slopes before allowing us in. Besides certificates one must also have a 24-hour antigen test or 72-hour PCR. It was an absolute nightmare getting tested around holidays in NJ, but on the way back the antigen test was done in the Terminal for 40 CHF pp, took about an hour to wait in line and get the results. Airlines in JFK asked for both test and vaccination, passport control in ZRH checked vaccination as well.

Jack Frost was pretty grate today. Met up with a snowboarder who is joining me on my Breckenridge trip, and his friend. JF now has at least two black diamonds open - Challenge and River Shot. Last time I skied River Shot, I didn't realize it's named that way because you can see the river. Very cool! It's nice they got a few extra trails open since I was getting bored doing the same old trails all the time. JADIP Then I came home to no heat after paying the HVAC company $897.60 and I blew an absolute gasket, on par with when I got stuck in Dallas on my way to Yellowstone. Fortunately the plumber talked me through getting it to work (for now) without charging me so I'm in a better mood now.

Grate conditions all over the mountain, save the mirror ice between bumps on Barneys'. They were downright dangerous!f Coming Soon had glorious chalky goodness no matter where you skied. Loving the bump field to keep everyone from balling into Paradise at mach silly. It was hard to stop lapping it until the quad came to a screeching halt around 2pm, so we bailed to the lot. Looked like they eventually got it back running some 20 or so minutes later.

I dont think Vail has any interest in Tubing, this is the first issue. Doesn’t Vail realize what a money maker tubing is on the east coast? They are leaving money on the table!!

Gotta draw the line somewhere 🤷🏻‍♀️

I always thought that Blue should invest in snow fences. Stowe has them along their ridgeline. It’s a good way to catch blown away natural and manmade snow. It’s a form of snow farming.

Valid. And the call out was done out of love ❤️❤️

Bold call-out for someone who has only been out twice this year. Joey B's in Palmerton would be the spot. Fantastic food (pizza and soup, particularly) and great beer selection. Their website is trash.... usually a sign of a good place.

It started out “the new management company didn’t have interest” then quickly turned to “maybe they don’t have the staff”. You could tell they were annoyed with the situation which leads me to believe they were trying to get the ball rolling and Vail was just being Vail. anyway, they mentioned montage as a possible new spot for it next year. I’m not too familiar with montage but seems like it may be a better option than JFBB as far as entertainment purposes go.

He’s just pumping the back side of every mogul to gain speed Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Might be up tomorrow. My legs are turnt. We’ll see.

Maybe I'll come to Blue tomorrow for 11 am after my flight lesson. @GrilledSteezeSandwich can you make sure no one parks in my spot tomorrow??? @AtomicSkier can you take up like 3 parking spots just until around 11:30 for your bro?

Nice report...I even knew why Rivershot is called what it is.

How was Lloyd’s?

Short session today 4-5 spent on Coming soon bumps. Still nice shape best bumps for me this year. Barneys was glacial last night too .

Blows my mind. It’s plastered all over their social media and website that tickets are limited…..

JF is fun but the runs are over in like 30 seconds. I'm missing Challenge this weekend 😥

And it's 3 runs at JF, no hate but that's 3 trips down the learning trail at blue

Three different cars wanted Nastar Glenn’s spot maybe around 1130 and a lovely family from New York got it. Ten minutes later they were back...tickets sold out...sucks to suck.

i am sure they have seen what kind of sales numbers Peak did with tubing, so, yeah, why they wouldnt keep printing money in the Poconos is beyond me. Also trying to pry every last cent out of spectators pockets with cocoa and fruit roll ups adds up to big dollars. Kinda shows that Vail is really just focused on getting people on the pass.

They haven’t done their market research..bunch of assholes

5 degrees at opening tomorrow, then rain at night. Gotta find my ski masks

my only guess is that the ingredients are the colors of NY (original and new) and NJ tags

Yes, been somewhat following the issue they are having with ski patrol at PC. Ski patrol out west deserve big bucks.

Winter Storm Watch from MON 1:00 AM EST until TUE 1:00 AM EST 1 of 2 Action Recommended Make preparations per the instructions Issued By Burlington - VT, US, National Weather Service Affected Area All of northern New York and Vermont Description ...WIND CHILL WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 7 PM THIS EVENING TO 4 PM EST SATURDAY... ...WINTER STORM WATCH IN EFFECT FROM LATE SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH LATE MONDAY NIGHT... WHAT...For the Wind Chill Warning, dangerously cold wind chills expected. Wind chills as low as 30 to 45 below zero. For the Winter Storm Watch, heavy snow possible. Total snow accumulations of 8 to 12 inches possible across northern New York and portions of south-central Vermont, while 5 to 8 inches across the Champlain Valley and northern Vermont. Winds could gust as high as 35 mph. WHERE...All of northern New York and Vermont.

with a drink menu like this, i might have found my new favorite place --

Any time, especially for someone who specially baked me a 170 cake.

So if one wanted to ski Sunday morning still watch the Eagles at 1 and not pull a Toast and leave by 8:43am, what's a good sports bar in the Lehigh valley/Palmerton area to hang at?

I'll give you partial props. Benm and a few others provided good suggestions as well...although I did need to channel my inner Salty when I wrote it up. I'll give you that so thank you.

looks like sidewinder is getting some treatment? if so, i wonder how much of the snow isn't being blown into the woods and boy is it busy

Props to American Airlines...sent a complaint through regarding my experience and they credited me 12,500 miles which is enough for a one way easily...I think maybe a round trip. Pretty pleased with that.

Vuck Fail

Yeah, right? I mean, a friend of mine is a die hard Cardboard Classic guy.....i told him in November there was no way, and WMMR should start looking somewhere else to have it. A common friend of ours who works at JF, (and drinks the Vail kool-aid everyday) said WMMR might have a contract for the event and Vail may have to honor it. To which i said I dont think Vail has any interest in Tubing, this is the first issue.

shocker

Sorry, we forgot you were here.

@saltyant titties talk. I trust you'll be wearing flip-flops.

Important life skills. Without that I couldn't survive the Blue mountain parking lot

Just popped on Camelback's website for the first time in a while. I guess they have just given up at this point and realized they peaked in the early 2000s.

Was planning to cook tomorrow but with the temps, the Eagles playing at 1 and the lack of prep that I’ve done, probably nix it.

Challenge hasn’t opened yet. I wouldn’t ski Jack Frost if you paid me.

Preston and Steve on Wmmr just announced no cardboard classic this year, apparently Vail resorts “had no interest in having the event”