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Currently sitting at a wine bar in Chamonix after 19 hours of travel with no issues. Philly direct to Zurich, train to Geneva, bus to Chamonix, walk. Stopped in the Black Crows store and even though I didn’t buy anything, my new skis were on display in their window and I smiled. Caesar salad at Geneva airport waiting for the bus, charcuterie in chx. The plan is Les Grand Montets tomorrow and then Verbier for 3 days. Maybe Zermatt for the last day.

In addition to hitting up Schweitzer yesterday I wanted to check out another new place. I went to a cool brewery in Spokane when I landed on Sunday and the bartender told me to check out Lookout Pass if I wanted something off the beaten path and fun. I made an early morning hot tub decision to head there even though it wasn't on Indy or Ikon. I got there to find out that they give 1/2 off to season pass holders from other places so I got a ticket for $30 which is a freakin steal nowadays. Possibly another spot that hasn't been hit by PASR? This place is a gem. It is 90 years old and has old school Powder Mountain vibes. Nothing too technical but the groomers were incredibly fun and the trees had stashes in them from the storms over the last few days. Old slow fixed grip lifts kept trails and trees pretty empty. It was a beautiful little hill and I had an absolute blast there. It was hard not to smile ripping down some runs with titty sparkles in the sky. One of the unique features of the place is that it sits on the Idaho and Montana border so you get to ski in both states on the same run or lift ride. It was also super confusing because it is also the border of time zones, so my phone and watch kept shifting back and forth an hour depending on where I was. The snow was incredible and sun filled the sky. Would also highly recommend if you're in the area. That's all. Looking for a dinner spot in town now. Then back in the hot tub to consider a place to ski tomorrow.

Schweitzer is a pretty cool place. The windy road up there was a bit sketchy covered in snow. Anyway, some fun steeps and small cliffy areas to mess around in. The trees are top notch here and the groomers were great to rip with some fresh snow on them. I really enjoyed it and I had to add it to the stat manager so either it hasn't been skied much, if at all, from people here or I missed it on the list. First time in Idaho and it really seems like a cool place to live if you're into the outdoors. It's been snowing a lot here lately and maybe a bit more to refresh things over the next few days. My hip held up for about 3.5 hours and then I had to take it easy getting back down to the lot. Check it out if you're ever in northern Idaho. Here are some pictures of the place when I remembered to take out my phone, and a food picture on my drive back for Doug.

On the train to Martigny then 1 transfer to Verbier. I did a good job hydrating while traveling so I'd be ready to ski and threw it all away party rocking late night in Cham. YOLO We planned to let the snow soften up anyway so it worked out. Grabbed a full bus around 11 and was lucky to get a seat. For as warm as it is in town, the snow was nice fluffy chalk up high. Groomers had some skied off spots but we were off piste almost the whole time. Some north facing slops had better soft snow but only found a couple of those zones. Stopped at Plan Joran for bite and beer(have to get back on the horse sometime right?). We talked about doing a skin tour skiers right but we were pushing time to catch our train so we split to get some laps. Still took the rocky traverse across to check it out before they headed up. Did a top(ish) to bottom for the last lap and the legs were screaming. Watch said we finished with a little over 15k vert. Verb tomorrow and mad hungry as it's 8 pm and haven't had dinner yet.

Headed for home tomorrow. A fun week, beautiful country. Only had one day that visibility was so low, I couldn’t ski. Ended the trip with 18 inches fresh snow and a blue bird day. Taking the train every where is nice, too. Price included with your lift ticket IMG_1888.mov

Vt on presidents is like a UN meeting and as such I was looking for a place to beat the crowds. Trackbiker or someone had mentioned the Bowl last week and it clicked in my head that Saturday would be Winter Rodeo. Imagine a frat party at a ski mtn or Mt Rose's beer fest but with less drinking. The day starts with a big Gs race for all the local colleges and considering who they are that is some very good skiers. Then by about noon the dj comes out and everyone really gets going. I don't know what the ratio is at Middlebury but had I known about it in my teens I would have flunked out of there for sure. Partying aside the bowl delivered the goods, from bell to bell I never waited in line and the trails were mostly empty. The snow was a mix of super grip groomer and chundery off trail. The off trail was deepish but not easy to rotate in. The groomers at the bowl are generally good however their grooming is on par with a college hill and the real star is the tree zones. My favorite is big tree off 11 but all of it was good tail gunning super soft. Liftline was the classic VT mix of excellent and shit all at the same time and I lapped that until my back said no more. I cannot speak highly enough about the bowl. You want to get away from it all or experience what magic was like before it became magic I say give the bowl a long look. It's lifts are slow and the vert nothing to write home about but it's classic VT skiing which is sadly becoming a dying art.

2/22/25 Wow, that was one helluva night. All the times I’ve been to Colorado the altitude hadn’t really bothered me but this time was very different and unexpected. Tried going to bed but it felt like my heart was gonna beat outta my chest and was sucking wind just sitting doing nothing. How the Hell was I gonna ski tomorrow? God it sucks getting old! Didn’t sleep a wink and managed to cobble up an egg and cheese bagel and banana, all the while sucking down water and Gatorade Zero to ultra hydrate to help with the altitude. Went down the list of mountains to visit and having spoke with some others, the recommendation was to skip all the big resorts on a Saturday and hit Loveland because most skip it for the biggies, so that’s where we headed. All the times I’ve been out here, I’ve never got to ski Loveland, so it’s another notch on the belt and sticker on the helmet. Arrived in the lot about 7:30 with the sun lighting up the ridge. Kinda chilly but not too cold. The area got a bunch of snow last week, unfortunately none in the forecast for us this week. Maybe some flurries at best. The lot was filling up fast with a ton of racers. Headed up Chet’s and down a blue to the 2 lift. The groomed snow was superb for giant arcing turns and the edges were still soft. Up the Ptarmigan and down into the bowl there was soft, piles of chowder everywhere. Up the 9 and down, the snow wasn’t as good as elsewhere, so punted going back up there. Runs off the 4 were somewhat the same. Didn’t find much off the 8 either, so we made our way back to the other side. Spent the afternoon rummaging in Cat’s Nix trees. All in all a very good first day. Can’t believe it was such a good day after last night’s horrors. Dinner was Costco frozen lasagna and Caesar salad, not bad.

Great weekend at Snowmass. Had a friend come visit. Bluebird and warm both days. Light crowds surprisingly. New boots are $$. That bootfitter at Highlands knows his shit. Natalie in Powerline Glades skied Longshot for the first time. I think it just opened last weekend. It is indeed long. 3 miles and 3275’ of vert. The first 2 miles are bumps and trees then it’s just ungroomed crud. Our legs were pretty toasted by the end. hiking up views at the top signs tell you when you are 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 of the way down. definitely a run that’s more fun with a friend then solo.

Schweitzer Monday, Lookout Pass Tuesday, 49° North yesterday, Silver Mountain today. I only had about 2 hours before I had to catch my flight so I figured I'd squeeze in one last day somewhere new. I'm glad I did. In addition to the snow that they received over the last two days, the continued snow overnight into the morning, and the wind, the conditions were 9/10 fantastic. Definitely some of the best off-piste turns of this short trip. Silver Mountain is unique. You need to take a gondola from town to get to the actual resort which is a crazy 3.1 miles long and was once the world's longest gondola, but is now 5th longest. Originally named Jackass Ski Bowl, the first GM for the place was actually from Big Boulder. Today, the place still has a small mountain vibe when you get up there. The original double still stands and gets you access to some of the best terrain on the mountain, with the exception of the North Face glades which have some ass-puckering chutes and trees accessible through gates. The best stuff I've skied in a while. I wish I had more time to enjoy this place because the crowds were small and the lines to ski were pretty much endless because I only saw one other person while skiing anywhere off of Wardner Peak. Only a few pictures because it was snowing and I was short on time. Gotta say, Idaho was not high on my list of places to go but I would replicate this trip over a long weekend again anytime. The places were great, the people were friendly, the snow was good, and for a "holiday week" the places were empty. Thanks for reading my random reports.

2/25/25 Heading over to Copper today for another notch for all of us. Out the door at 7am, planned to meet up with Donny’s friend again later, as he knows the mountain pretty well. The sky is hazy overcast and they’re calling for 1-3” at the mountain today. As we head through the tunnel, light snow started to fall. After booting up, went out the door at the lodge and saw a guy in bump pants sitting at a table drinking a coffee. Turns out it was the bump instructor from Blue who relocated out here 11 years ago. He said they had the competition bump line over on Treble Cliff so we should check it out. He also said to stick to the groomers early bc of the warm weather. Up the Eagle and Excelerator and down Andy’s and Rosi’s. Stopped at Treble Cliff to check out the bump line but they hadn’t yet got to it. Up the Super Bee and met up with Donny’s friend. Made our way down to the Flyer to check out the other side. Down and up the Sierra, we sampled the snow on Revenge which was still pretty good, so we lapped that until lunch. After lunch we made our way into Copper bowl. First run down Matchless was frozen crud due to its aspect. Ran a few runs off Blackjack but the snow wasn’t too hot. Headed up the Three Bears and down Summit Stash that looked pretty good from below. The wind was hurricane force at the top, but the snow was good. Just as we pulled back into the lift, SP was closing off the area. Last run down Western Slope the wind was brutal, but the skiing was great. Other than the wind, we all had a great time at Copper. Dinner was chicken and veggie stir fry.

2/24/25 What would a bump trip be without hitting Winter Park? The other three on the trip have never been and I hadn’t been back since I was out with the wife in the 90’s. The place sure has changed a lot! On the road just after 7 to clear skies and warmish temps but still very windy here but they’re calling for overcast and 1-3” at WP. Up and over the pass, we’re immediately met with falling snow. Looks like a good day! We parked in the Mary Jane area lot as we figured we’d end up there at the end of the day. We planned to meet another Blue skier that the others know later in the day, so since the others have never been here, we’d tour WP side before meeting up. Up the Super Gauge and down groomers to the Olympia in falling snow, the snow and trails were excellent. Got the meetup call, so we didn’t get to spend any time on the WP side, so headed back to MJ. The Panorama was running so we headed up to the peak. We were going to take a lap bc of the line, but decided to wait. Good call bc they shut it down shortly after we got on. The wind was howling up top, but down below there was no wind at all. After lunch it was MJ time and he ugh ton queue the sun come out. I wanted to revisit Trestle in particular bc I accidentally drug the wife down it years ago due to a wrong turn. Never heard the end of that. Trestle was wall to wall, too top to bottom bumps. It’s tucked away so the snow was still very good. The rest of the afternoon was spent picking off runs off Derailer, all of which still had good snow, but temps were on the rise and we all had a helluva workout. Dinner was simply frozen pizza.

2/23/25 Well, going with Loveland yesterday and really avoiding the crowds, we couldn’t believe how empty it was for a Saturday morning, we decided to hit up Eldora which would be another new notch for all of us. Unfortunately the winds have picked up and are forecasted for the next 2 days, at least. I hate the wind! Up and over the pass and down into the town of Black Hawk. This place is a gambler’s dream! There are casinos on every block!! WTF?? Arrived in the lot about 7:30 and the winds was already howling, but it was a warm wind too. Hopefully it wouldn’t affect the snow too much. It was another big race day here too and they had a couple of runs set up with gates already. Chatting with a SP, he suggested staying out on the Corona lift to keep away from all the race activities. Up the Alpenglo and down Around The Horn to get out to Corona area, the snow was perfectly groomed packed powder: fast and edgeable. The plan today was to hit up some woods and from the Corona base the Salto glades and West Ridge looked interesting. Unfortunately when we got to the top they were closed. We dropped into Brian’s glades and they were so crazy tight you couldn’t get a rhythm going, punt! Up the Corona again we chatted up a mountain guide who suggested the Gully Glades. He said there were two entrances, both are good. Stopped at the first entrance and it looked tight as Brian’s, so opted for the second. Gully’s is far more fun. The trees are just a tad more apart and you could get a nice run going. There’s a steep section in the middle that you have to watch for, otherwise a ton of fun and we spend most of the day in there. We went back to the base area for lunch and then went back to Corona. Everyone must have been at lunch, as there was no line at all. Decided to hit the Indian Peak lift just because it was running. No line at all, but slow. Didn’t find anything there so went back to Corona. Up the Corona, we saw they opened up the Salto Glade area, so we headed in to check them out. Out to the West Ridge to the boundary and the wind was howling. The ridge is fucking steep with gigantic bumps. Looking over the edge puckered up the sphincter a bit. Dropped in and the snow was great and had a fun run down the bumps. Called it a day after that workout! Dinner was leftover chicken pot pie and lasagna.

Lovely morning

Day 2 had snow over night and pretty cloudy early. Headed to Bruson and first piste run was super pleasant with 4-5 inches of fresh snow. Turned sticky icky before the lift but first 3/4 were money. Went off the backside and did 2 laps next to the t bar. Decided to go for a tour and check out the trees. Easy skin to untouched trees. Awesome morning before heading across to Verbier. 4 gondolas later I had my skis back on. Did some laps off the super tram with great snow. Kept it easy while trying to save some legs for the guide tomorrow. Met him in town at 4 to go over the plan and now about to go ski it. Cheese Cave for dinner

Wasn’t really sure where to put this. Our rescue team was called out on this avalanche on Saturday. I was first on scene at the firehouse. Once one of my team members arrived we were trying to assess what was the best way to access the victims. We discussed skinning up to them but that would take time. The terrain was sketchy and they were not in a great place. Then it was decided careflight would be called in. They would shuttle us one at a time to a landing zone above where they were. I was pretty nervous, both about the helicopter ride and the terrain. I said I would snowshoe instead of ski (brought both) as I didn’t feel comfortable on a 40+ degree slope. At what felt like the last minute, two other strong team members arrived who were good skiers. I was off the hook. I was happy to just help from the command base. Communications are bad here, with cell and radio signals. I helped coordinate info from the county sheriff to our team members on site and on their way. Mountain Rescue Aspen also sent 3 of their guys to help if needed. 6 of us (West Elk Mountain Rescue), 3 Marble fire personnel, 3 MRA guys in all plus the careflight team. Once a paramedic and 2 team members were shuttled to the landing zone and worked their way down to the victim, it was apparent he was not doing well. Head injury, kept losing consciousness, badly broken arm (arm was wrapped backwards around a tree) and leg injury. Chopper was low on fuel so last minute desist on was made for pilot to land in a sketchy gully and take patient. His friend was uninjured and did a great job holding it together, digging him out and getting him out of the debris field to a safer location. By this time it was dark and friend and my 2 team members had to ski out. They said it was survival skiing, breakable crust through a thick aspen grove and shrubs. Glad I stayed on the ground. We got a debrief from the friend back at the firehouse. He was very emotional at first, understandably so. He gave us a detailed account of how it went down. Luckily the friend was only buried to his chest. He was able to dig him out and somehow guide him down without any of his gear. It was very intense and it reminds you how unforgiving the mountains can be. This volunteer gig so far is very satisfying and I am learning so much valuable outdoor info. https://avalanche.state.co.us/report/98249357-2906-4534-b287-61e125e28a58

Verbier Day 1 Massive doesn't do it justice. Did the gondola up to Attelas for two quick warm up laps and them up to Mount Gele and the 3100' down to Tortin. Stopped for a beer, espresso, and tart before continuing down to Siviez to make the run a total 4100' descent. Worked our way to La Dent and saw a north face with what looked like good snow so did a short tour up. Snow was good and was an empty party of the resort. Played around at Plan du Fou with some chutes and drops before working our way back. Last run took 2 hours and stopped at 2 mountain restaurants and finally a third one that was right across the street when we walked off the snow. Had hot wine, Blanche and beer tataki, and finally another Blanche. Made for a 10 hour day in ski boots. Went to the Shed for burgers and they had a banging old school American ski movie rap classics playlist going and ended up staying for an extra drink. Our server said laughed when he heard we went to Mt. Gele since he knew it was crusty. Snowing now but supposed to clear soon. Heading to Bruson for the trees.

Hey all. I'm back from from another fun day at Blue mountain the true mountain. Arrived around 7:20 to guns blasting on the lower mountain. I managed to get first civilian chair and skied challenge while most of the others skied p diz. Conditions overall were decent. Not great but definitely not terrible. A bit slow as lots of the mountain came with a skif of manmade on top. Cold but the sun felt nice today. The parking lot today featured not one but two bald eagles at one point flying next to each other. Nice blue bird morning.

Good seeing Mute and Boo Bear. Skied for maybe a half hour with them and now riding solo because I'm pulling late shift. Figured I'd just write a TR now because these lifts are freaking slow. That said and not to put a negative on skiing here today. The weather is excellent, conditions are excellent and the company was (before they left) most excellent! The north face always delivers and as always I find myself planted there. Made a few runs up top and one on the long haul (can't do that ride twice) but the action here is down below. Unfortunately that cuts the mountain on half so you definitely feel the short runs. White lightning has really big bumps in the middle and semi flat on the sides. Regardless you can't get to much speed or you'll get wrecked. Fun but I kinda prefer it when it's flat. It's actually somewhat crowded today as well but those folks primarily up top. Riding the iron horse lift now to get more t2b. That said montage is still a pod skiing mountain which isn't my favorite layout... In pa or anywhere for that matter but today is still a fantastic ski day and it's always nice to get someplace else. That said without company on the lift, the ride definitely gets boring. Hanging here for a few more then it's of to old forge for pizza

2/19 Dartmouth Skiway I have mad meetings this afternoon and could only swing a half day so I wanted to peep somewhere a bit more intimate. My first memory of Dartmouth is rich wanna be investment bankers booting and rallying but only a bit after that was I wanted to ski Dartmouth Skiway. The logical question is why ? It's like 900 vert and has two old mad slow lifts.....because it's literally ski history, short of getting a DeLorean and going back in time this is as close as you can get. The skiway is two pods across the street from eachother so I started on the Holt side as I wanted to ski their big race trail Don Warden Schuss. They only kinda groom and blow snow so I figured this would be by far the best and I was not wrong. A razors like wide strip of perfection, unlike Ragged it pours the steep on. When you get to the point were most trails ease off it goes even steeper. I ran this like 10 times it was sooo good and had that dramatic background that makes you feel like your movie skiing. On the natural snow only trails like lift line the snow was hyper hyper dry and slow which was good because there is a solid layer you can't get through so the surface is quite firm. After I skied all the Holt trails I went across the street to Winslow. This seems more like the noob area and the lift stopped about 5 times per ride. More rolling blues and greens this was set it and forget it territory where I wasn't even warming up down the hill. It honestly felt like a step back in time, super cool place to ski.

Great day at Blue. Snuck 2 laps on Razors. Look for Falco on @bluemountainparks Instagram spreading his eagle on 2nd booter. https://www.instagram.com/bluemountainparks?igsh=MTJjOTZsM2EzMDl2cw== Shredder working the grill all morning!

C1er was the only person I saw in the house. 7 busses from East Penn but they went tubing. Snow particularly on the main st side was perfect. Soft up top with hyper grip on a super fast hard layer underneath. Absolutely supersonic and the real treat was with good snow and nobody around you could send the airs to the moon. I did Raceway, mid, lower three times in a row to get floaty on the riser airs. Main was just as good and just as fast, switch a little firmer from the shade but you could send the risers to the ISS. The razors side was a bit harder snow and razors itself was a no go one as it was closed but mostly as it looked like the surface of the moon. Challenge and Coming Soon were more like the main st side and it is so nice to not have to put the brakes on. Shit was top notch and so was Tuesday with Atomic, if you can get out the last couple have been surprisingly dope. The bad news is the hill did take quite a hit, there are spots all over and the upper left side of sidewinder is gone though they could push the humps. With the weather coming up I think the clock is ticking.

Drove up late last night, stayed in Lake George and then to Bolton valley this morning. Rode there from 10 to 2...only hit Wilderness lift this time. Vista wasn't running and I mainly did Timberline side last time. A ton of snow in the trees and soft snow on the rest of the runs. Outlaw woods probably had the best snow of the day

Started on the quad. TCS, upper Main, and Switch were in good shape. Not sure what they did with lower Main. Ran a groomer without the back cord maker down? Left side wasn’t too bad. TCS was one of the best all year. Razors was spotty. Wonder if those puddles of ice on the bottom head wall was where the weekend gates were that they salted. Lazy was closed for some major blowing.

Arrived to row 3 at 840 to a minimal crowd. Only had 1 ticket window open and wouldn't have been a problem if one person didn't hold it up. Did notice every table inside was taken with boots on them so we expected a school group. On the snow just after 9 and up Iron Horse. First run was Snake to Fast Track. Super nice soft cord and able to slut it up as some would say. Without warning Lower Fast Track turned ungroomed. We stopped and skipped over on Pusher to Lower Runway with was also ungroomed. Besides White Lightning, I believe those were the only 3 ungroomed. The ungroomed was pretty smooth, just firm to start with exposed glacier sections. The buses showed up around 10 but pretty much stayed off Shuttle and Short Haul lifts. Lapped everything up top with Lower Runway-Rattler-Cannonball bottom finish our favorite. Snow was great, grooming could have been better. Not terrible but probably driving too fast with all the cat track marks. Caught @RidgeRacerwhen I was coming out of Rattler and took a couple laps with him after Boo went in. Long Haul was open so had to ride that and did a White Lightning to finish. One thing I wasn't ready for is after loading the Iron Horse chair, it get to 3 inches off the ground in about 15 feet . My knees did not like that and it was awkward to deal with. The other lifts were similar but not as bad as that lift. Soft snow and light crowds always make for a great day. I still don't care for the layout and taking two lifts to the top but it's good for once a season.

Got to Greek around 9 this morning. Did Olympian and another 2 runs off the quad while waiting for the other lifts to open...then hit Aesops Glade and another glade off of the oil rig lift a few times. Then over to lift 4 for a few runs. Coming out of Labyrinth glade, I decided to straight line back to the groomer towards the bottom. Good thing I had some speed, as I had to jump over a creek bed. Not a big gap but it was probably a 5 ft drop if I fell in. Hit Electra which had some good powder...unfortunately I kept following the trail and ended up below the lift at another creek bed. I had to hike back to the lift, which kinda sucked. Hit a few groomers after that and back to the car to switch boards...then most of the same trails on that board Pretty good day overall. Most of the glades and mountain bike trails were open. Rode until around 2 and hit Beer Tree Brewing on the way home

The first few runs were so money. Was thinking of course thinking it was only a matter of time before that disappeared. Surprisingly however conditions held up fairly well. Really fun day today.

Just got back not too long ago. Timing was great as crowds were minimal. The sunset views were also great. Winds dissipated as well. What wasn't great were the snow conditions. Sugar and hard pack with medium grip. Only the quad and the OG 6 were running. Which wasn't the worst thing in the world because that meant empty main Street and switchback runs. Speaking of switch it was easily the run of the day. Followed closely by coming soon. As bad as snow conditions were it was still a fun evening out due to lack of crowds and the world famous Blue mountain sunset. Decent night.

MrsSnoBunSki and I set sail for Jay in the cold, rain and snow early Thursday morning, becoming all snow right around Albany. Friday morning we woke up to howling winds and boot deep snow. The wind would keep all the upper mountain lifts closed, so we lapped the the fractional Moons and Bushwacker before taking an early lunch. It was a ton of fun and the low angle trees would provide a good warmup for Saturday. After lunch we had the great idea to make the drive to check out Bolton Valley only to find that Indy redemptions are limited to one a day. Implementing Plan C we slummed it with a few beers at the Alchemist. A few more inches overnight and diminished winds gave the green light for Saturday morning, finding everything from a few inches on corduroy to knee deep snow all over the mountain. Lines moved quickly except for the tram (which we skipped - again!) It was hard to contain my powder frenzy but I did so enough to get my fill of trees and get MrSnoBunSki in and out of her comfort zone. My best day at Jay with no wind (’cept on the Flyer lol), deep blower, sun and snow showers. Dumping again when we left for home Sunday morning, we made a stop at Berkshire East which had gotten around 6" or so. More great snow but the lines were a little long so we only got 6-7 runs in before heading south to watch the Birds annihilate the Chiefs -GO BIRDS!!!

JF Dan, Johnny Law, schif, Nancy, Mixilplix, BenM, DirtWolf, Toast, Bethlehem ford crew, and some others in the house. Conditions ranged from firm to sugar but low crowds made for a fun day.

Just got back. Beautiful weather and lots of sun. Snow conditions went from hero to zero really fast however. First run on razors was $$. The next run on side was silky smooth, maybe the best side run all season for me. Shortly after however the sugar harvest was in full effect. Thin spots starting to rear their ugly head too, one on side and another on switch. That said fun day

After the thaw and rain yesterday was expecting everything to be locked in, pleasantly surprised to find pixie dust on corduroy crust morning conditions and views exceeded expectations in a groomer zoomer sort of way Snow stayed grippy and edge able all day as winds and clouds increased enough to shut down the Mt. Ellen lifts and head to Lawsons

Hey All, I’m back from another fun morning at Blue mountain the true mountain. I arrived at the lower lot around 715am and it was in the mid 20s under mostly sunny sky’s with light winds. In the house was everybody except Root, Toast, AngryHugo, TP4, Salty and Matt Edge. Second civilian OG six pack to challenge which was real nice lipstick on a pig grooming..second run was still good, third run was pretty much destroyed cookieville. Lazy mile was good on the top 2/3 with a little new manmade. Coming soon they seeded some new bumps and it was pretty slick. Switchback was ok and I got an empty run on it. I also skied one run on nightmare to Dreamweaver and while it’s a diversion from the crowds, they really ruined that run with features. I ended the session on Burma and it was hilariously slick…fun parking lot, I had a few beers and some cheese doodles and now at work counting money, gonna grocery shop and do the wash. JADIP

Hey all, I’m back from another fun day at Blue mountain the true mountain. I arrived at the lower lot before 720am and it was 20 degrees under mostly sunny sky’s. In the house was everybody except Atomic Jeff, Johnny Law, TP4, Zonked, Toast, Root and Nancy. First run on Challenge was super nice almost western groomer, second run was similar..then Switchback was pretty nice although super dark. Lazy mile was alright and I enjoyed the left side of Nightmare to Dreamweaver park. A revisit to challenge and it got trashed in the first 45 minutes a pit of ice and cookies. They blew some snow on tuts lane, Widowmaker and I think chute and all those areas weren’t very good. Coming soon was decent and I did a full run on Burma which was good except one of the corners was porcelain boilerplate..I ended on lazy for ten runs by 945am. Fun parking lot and pleasent weather. All in all better than expected since they had all three high speeds going. It got super busy the last few runs and after I quit for the session. JADIP

Bought a tricycle

2/18 Ragged Mtn Indigio was here earlier this year and it sparked my interest to check it out. Super picturesque and rolly rather than steep, kinda like the Okemo of NH. From what I understand it doesn't get very busy and the leftover supersonic winds certainly helped that. You could get a seat for lunch no problem. Coverage in the woods was good with everything I found this sort of mid angle rolly. NH I think is almost always worse than VT as their resorts are lower and the tree snow had a solid three inch super hard layer that made rotating the ski particularly difficult....... though it mostly didn't matter as it had so much drag you couldn't go that fast. Groomers were mint and up could arc until your hearts content as they do alot of winding twisty type trails. Cool place, that I think is better than Sunapee which is nearby. Way more mid angle and even it's steeps go flat so I'm sure it's part of the reason the snow was so good.

I apologize for a word block but the weather sucked for pictures so I didn't take any. Killington 2/16 -------------------------------------------- The weather got gnarly Sunday so I went to Killy to ski good Devils Fiddle, which is a Centralia kinda trail. 4 or 5 inches on the hill and with two town busses crashed and shitty roads the lineup was thin. Growler, Devils Den, Nowhere all the pointy tree stuff are as deep as I ever seen and with a few inches where absolute bliss, I only hit two braches and a rock which for vt is all time. Pellets came in hard around 11 and while still very very good it sort of threw a spanner in the works. For large portions of the rest of the day it hurt my face to go downhill......it did however change over back to snow around 4. Killington 2/17 -------------------------------- Around 11pm while still snowing pretty hard the winds went absolutely super sonic so I went Killy again as there is just no way most of anywhere could run lifts and they were claiming skye 2 would run. I'd say about 3 to 6 inches fell but only Hurricane Swartz knows as it was blown all over the place in sometimes hilarious drifts. It was like biblically windy, if you have skied there the dumbest, stupidest chair that serves the dumbest terrain, Snowshed double, was shut down around 1 as it was blowing so hard they could no longer pulse it up the hill. Also me and everyone else in the line for the gondy fell over like dominoes on a hyper blast that had to be stupid funny from the lifty box. This was actually awesome as it marooned almost everyone at ramshead while I was at skye peak. While the terrain was super limited for Killy there was fluff all over late into the day. Outside of the trees or protected areas it was blown to mix of super firm and then almost a wave like wind lip of fluff that made for dope hopping. There's limited good trees over there put the pockets continued to be superb. I did almost eat it in a surprise knee high drift and I had to put my face mask under my helmet with two hoods kinda wind but it was tits Mcgee in a strange day kinda way.

Hey All, I’m back from a fun morning at Blue mountain the true mountain. I arrived at the lower lot at about 715 and it was in the mid 20s and cloudy with a chance of meatballs. Second civilian OG six pack to challenge which was nice lipstick on a pig…groomed sugar was pretty nice. Second run on challenge nice and by third run it was pretty trashed slick and cookied up so I’m glad that held up until 820. Main Street was ok initially as was lazy mile. Coming soon had a little fresh manmade on top of the boilerplate…crowds were moderate, it wasn’t the record crowds I expected but prob got alot worse later. Switchback had variable snow and the run I skied it was really busy. I found the best snow late in the session on the left side of nightmare dreamweaver and skied that Twice. Fun parking lot, there had to be about 15 PASRs in the house basically everybody except Zonked, Nancy, Toast and Root and JLaw. Now it’s snowing and on the drive home people were going 10’under the speed limit due to flurries. Now at work like a dork and then gonna get pizza and chillax until I go out in 9’hours. Everybody have fun tomorrow in the rain…

Conditions are great. Like 2-3 feet of snow on the ground here in southern VT. But where to go? All this snow but if I go to Mr Snow I can either rid icy moguls, fast groomer boomers, or go into the woods and try to make jump turns between down rutted out tree runs. You know. Where are the goods? Right? So forget Mr Snow and PBRomley (Magic don't open till tomorrow but it's gonna rain RIP). Gotta go find those fresh lines. Yesterday I checked out Prospect and was very happy. Today I headed further down VT Route 9 (that's the Molly Stark highway if you didn't know, see Jon Stark said he didn't mind getting shot by the British to get away from his wife so they named a highway after her in the 60s or something). Before you start winding down towards peanut Brittleboro you'll come around a wide bend in the road with a pullout and a scenic view towards New Hampshire and Grand Monadnock Mountain. This is Hogback Mountain. The actual mountain is called Olga. The ski area is Hogback. Closed in the 1980s. They had like seventeen different T-bars. No chairlifts. The lodge is now a distillery. There's a gift shop. And the trails are open to hiking and skiing. Boy what I day. Spent a solid couple hours on the skins looking at the old T-bars. They still maintain a little shelter hut thing at the top to smoke the Mary Janes in or whatever. Seems like a chill spot. Lots of skin tracks all over. And lots and lots of powder. Real powder. Sink down to your thigh powder. What a day. Wish this place was steeper though. Very easy, mellow mountain. About 500 vertical feet from top to bottom. Made some nice floaty turns. What a feeling. The bottom of the trails is below the highway and the parking lot, so you have to hike back out to get back to the car. Ate a turkey sandwich and headed out as the sun started to come down with storm clouds building behind. It's been a great few days. You can find some good stuff out there if you work at it.

Winter is back! Finally. Snowed about 6” overnight. By the time I left the house it was 8+. Roads were awful so I just went into town the XC ski the park with the local ladies. Took my fatter skis and broke trail, good workout. got my jeep stuck coming home. Our plow guy seems to do our road last. Took about an hour to get it unstuck. puking snow now. Supposed to get another 4-8 today

I live for nights like this. Blue mountain at its finest right now

The snow was a bit of every condition but redeemable in spots and low crowds is always dope. I do way more laughing at the very least then if I was home in bed. GSS, everyone and their brother had asked me where you are. If it makes you feel better and if you didn't already know your a bit of a celebrity.

Both days were way better then I would have thought. Good to make turns with everyone, vt had better snow but cheese peeps make for worse company.

Happy World Telemark Day from Greek! Looks like the band might get back together

After Bolton, I drove the 15 minutes to Cochrans ski area. Small place with like 350' of vertical but it's a cool non profit place and for 19 bucks, I wanted to check it out. They have a t bar and a rope tow. No lift tickets, just the honor system whether you pay or not. Underprivileged kids pay nothing or whatever they can afford, which is cool. Grooming was actually really good and I had fun. Only complaint was the t bar lifty playing Nickelback repeatedly. Did 6 runs and now at Zero Gravity Brewing in Burlington.

2/21/25 Slim, Rick, Donny and I boarded our United flight out of Philly on time, only to sit there at the gate for 1/2 hour due to snow in Denver and they were delaying out bounds to stagger arrivals, at least that was their story. We arrived only like 15 minutes after schedule anyway. Got a big Denali rental and headed for Costco to load up on supplies for the week and headed up into the mountains. Home base would be the lower level of a big house in Georgetown just off 70. Talking with a local, they said a judge built the house then got caught cheating on his wife so they had the sell it in divorce court. It’s a really nice 2 bed, 2 bath and lots of space with a gated driveway to boot. They say lots of people think the place is a hotel and pull in asking for rooms to rent. Dinner was Costco chicken pot pie and Tiramisu cheesecake for dessert.

I had it next on my list to keep the weirdo tour going but peeps showed up and I wanted to ski with them. -----‐--‐------------------------------------ 2/20 Killington Was dope, conditions were prime the sun was out and it was quiet but nothing worth reporting on. 2/21 Loon I will preface this by saying this is snow sports industry type stuff and may be interesting to no one so feel free to stop reading. If you are familiar with the snow sports industry you are familiar with the Vail vs Ikon/Ksl but there is a third player we often forget about that is blowing unprecedented amounts of money to try and eat both their lunches in the NE. Boyne at some point realized all of boston is driving by nh and loon to ski the River and the loaf and VT 2 hrs west has people hanging off the rafters. So in 2020 they went all in and announced Loon 2030, their plan to build the most advanced resort in the US. You can read it here if your interested - https://www.loonmtn.com/flight-path-2030 In 2020 they put in the most advanced lift in NA to go 900 vert and like 2/3 of the way up the hill. Every lift has loading conveyors and two have laser overlays for your loading position. If you know me I had to go check this out. What's the verdict ? The lifts are impressive and what they want to do would put an truly insane number of people on the hill. The 8 can do 3500/hr and there plan is to put in like 6 more. The terrain is good with alot of blue twisty crusier types and some reasonable steeps. The views are quite excellent with alot of peakyness around for the NE. That's the good but the reality is they don't currently have the lodge infrastructure to support 1/20th of the people they stuff in there and even more importantly the acreage. No where in NH is above 400 and that isn't nearly enough during the week let alone on a weekend. Cool place with a dope 4 person gondy and lots of narrow old school NE twisties and there plan is impressive but not nearly there yet. If they really want to play with the big boys they will have to add a sizeable amount of terrain and more expert type steeps. I would only go there Monday through Wednesday, no shit, though I did have a good day there. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I have more skiing to do but none of it is probably interesting in a report kinda way. It's been awhile since I spent this kind of time up here and I what I'll always come back for is the straight up uniqueness of it all. There is no state with anywhere near the number of super famous wooden bowl makers or artisinal llama cheese. The snow was most excellent, like February 2014 kinda depth and it was dope as fuck to ski it.

Hey All, I’m back from a fun morning at Blie mountain the true mountain. I arrived at the lower lot before 830 and it was 15 degrees under partly sunny sky’s with light winds. In the house were C1er, the Bethlehem ford crew, Oz, Rodney and a bunch of school buses from places like Scranton and Salisbury township. Blues free kids program is really attracting a lot of groups midweek days. The Super summit safari was not operating and I began on the OG six pack. First run on challenge was very nice cord, somewhere between western groomer and frozen cord. There was some bite and crispness but also some cushion for the pushing. I did challenge two more times as most of the Boomers and Jerry’s were on Paradise and Lazy then went to Switchback which was still wall to wall cord, I skied that again then Main Street which was pretty nice but a few crumbles lower down. I then did X-ing to Main Street and X-ing frozen cord. I took the quad only once and was gonna do coming soon but there was new blown on Paradise so skied that. The top half was silky and bottom half a little crumbly to slick. Final run was another X-int to Main Street. First few runs was a ghost town but by the time I left around 1020, there were minor lift lines. Was amazing to see glare ice on upper challenge an hour after it was so nice. All in all a fun session and my first solo session of the season. JADIP

I must have been out of it when I post this topic. I have no recollection of posting this.

First time poster long time reader here. Elks lifts are slow but their lines are typically way shorter and trails less crowded when compared to Blue. Guess I would prefer to be sitting on a slow chair than shuffling through a crowded line.

There are like 5 people here, untouched soft corduroy everywhere. Parked in the upper lot. Chill foggy rainy vibes on the tele skis. Kind of digging it though I was questioning my sanity the first ride up.