C1erArt

Nice conditions after the snow, got about 8" where I live near Blue Mountain, but only 2-3 at Frost. Was on my Elan Apex 88s. Around 30, no wind and sunny. Lapped the usual suspects (tbolt, Challenge, Floyds and River Shot). Elevator and Elevator glade looked in good shape. Challenge glade had big fluffy bumps, and still some shallow spots, and not enough fresh snow to totally cover the rocks when you got too far in. Used the Navonics ski tracker - seemed pretty accurate with the others, and had the trails listed (unlike Ski Tracks). Did a couple runs on Exhibition bumps - a little easier for me with the snow on top.

Snuck out for a couple of hours in the morning. Radio station day 9$ tickets(not WMMR though, so it wasn't too bad). Got there half hour before opening and the top lot was already half full. Slopes didn't get too bad until around 10:30 or so. A lot of families out. Warmer today (in the high 20s) but still frozen cord with good coverage, light pretty flat but no wind. Should be a nice weekend. Had a retro day - started on my 160 Atomic 916s slaloms (last time on them was 6 or 7 years ago). Quick turning on the groomers, nearly broke my ankles on the bumps. Switched to my 186 Atomic 1022 GS skis. Really nice, they just float down the hill, no need to skid or make wide turns - they were so stable going down Floyds and Rivershot even catching a little air at top. Called it a day when the pizza kids started making it over to e mtn. Ticket line almost to the road on the way out.

Pretty quiet on the board, so here is an update from yesterday. Got there at 7:45 and hit the slopes right at opening. Around 12 degrees, light snow, and a fairly strong wind blowing down the hill (whoo hoo). Thought there would be frozen cord like Friday, so I dug out my Atomic GS 1022s the night before and gave them a cold temp wax. Did a few runs and they were a lot easier to get on edge than my Elan Apexes, but the extra length was pretty much wasted on the short runs here. Snow was piling up, so I switched back to the Elans. Not a lot of accumulation, only a couple of inches - didn't make much of a difference in the glades. Spent the 'golden hour' from 8-9 on Challenge and Tbolt, while they were setting up the race team's gates on the left side of Challenge, then when it got crowded went over to East Mountain. Conditions very nice, and with the tail wind was consistently hitting 50 down Floyds on SkiTracker, avoiding the red coats sled practice. green coats speed demons, and the blue coats training. Only saw one boarder go over the edge down Elevator. When the rentals hit east mountain, headed back to ski Challenge glade (pretty sketchy with ice on the top of the headwalls, although nice in the trees), and the newly made bumps on Exhibition (full lenght now). Headed out around 11:30, lodge pretty crowded and more people lined up at the ticket booth. Without the sun it seemed a lot colder than Friday, even though it was 5 or 10 degrees warmer. A pic of people having fun at the top of Exhibition:

5 degrees and sunny at 9 AM, and not much warmer when I left. They didn't get as much snow as Philadelphia, just a couple of inches, but have been blowing snow. Still blowing in DeMattes, and it along with Exhibition were closed for grooming down the piles of snow. Everything else flat frozen cord, a little slow with the wax I had on (Dominator Zoom Graphite). Base repair from last weekend glades run held up. Didn't have to scrub off any speed when hitting the top of Floyds or the last drop of Rivershot, which was nice. Otherwise big carved turns on Challenge and T-Bolt, trying to edge the skis and not rattle my teeth on the cords. No pictures today, but should be in great shape for tomorrow.

Boys and their toys, as my wife says. I have a set of Elan Apexs, 88mm 176 length. Got them used on eBay, so a little damage doesn't matter too much. Although the ptexing turned out real well. I have a tool that is a cross between a hot melt glue gun and a soldering iron. They hold a carve on the groomers a lot better than the PEs, but aren't real pretty in the baby bumps at Jack Frost, but that is probably me and not the skis. Family has about 9 sets of skis I maintain so as well as skiing during the day I get to putz around the workshop at night. Have a TV on the set of shelves, but (unlike some people) don't have a beer refrigerator down in the basement.

Got a little too enthusiastic in Challenge glade today. Time for some ptexing.

Nice snowfall overnight. First few freshy runs were great. Got cut up pretty fast, but still nice. Challenge glade hid some rocks so some work on my bases and edges tonight. Great day overall. SkiDan in the house. Bottom of Challenge on the first run.

Went down Exhibition on the way back to the lodge - surprise -bumps!

A couple of pics of e mtn. Time to fall into the zone with Blackmores Night.

West mountain great, east mountain just as good. Floyd's is like butter the whole length and width for the first time this year. Fresh snow in elevator so much a little slab broke off (avalanches in the Poconos?). A lot of snow blown last night and a lot of hard great work by the groomers. Back to carving tracks. Top GPS speed says 68, going fast but not that fast. Must have missed some data points. Close to 50 though.

30 degrees just a little wind and bluebird sky. Conditions smooth and carveable. Big improvement from yesterday. Blew snow on Challenge and left it fluffy. Glade is in great shape if you don't go too far in. First tracks, fan gun snow on the trees.

Blew snow the whole length of the glade. First tracks this morning. Great! Will have to touch up my edges tonight but it is worth it Blew snow the whole length of the glade. First tracks this morning. Great! Will have to touch up my edges tonight but it is worth it

Hit the slopes about 1 PM and skied for a couple of hours. 32 degrees and very cloudy to start, but the sun came out for the last couple of hours. The slopes got an inch of snow from flurries, but underneath was northeastern hardpack. Fortunately I touched up my edges before leaving home. Slopes were in good condition, but just the trailside edge of challenge glade was skiable. Floyds and River Shot were in good shape too, but a little bouncy on the knees if I got going too fast. Elevator glade looked skiable, but the fresh snow on top might have been deceiving. Exhibition was probably in the best shape of the trails. Even got over to Lehigh for a quick run. A quick shot of Lightning on east mountain just as the sun was starting to show through the clouds.

Wasn't horrible. A little icy and crunchy. Worst thing was the heavy overcast and flat light. Floyd's was ok, but right side still a little rough. Nothing slushy. Elevator looks rough and the far right of Challenge glade pretty bare. Top speed a little slow at 43 using Skitracks. Race on Challenge, and a lot of race program kids around on the other slopes, but otherwise pretty quiet. Lodge pretty quiet too. Some divots cut in the slopes by the groomers, but overall they did a great job. Tons of blue coats around. Shot of the top of Rivershot.

While we are sitting out the rain, thought I would weigh in on how great it was yesterday. Got there at opening with a light snow, a couple of inches of powder on the trails. They freshly groomed half of T-bolt and Challenge and left the rest puffy. Lapped those two pretty much all day - went over to e-mtn for a run down Rivershot, and did Exhibition a couple of times. Pretty quiet, although there was a line at the ticket booth when I left at noon. E-glade looked pretty nice from the chair lift, and Challenge glade was in very good shape. Firm 'blown' snow made carving between the trees a joy, and the bumps were just starting to develop. Still a couple inches of fresh snow on top, and the granite crocuses were few and avoidable. Hope the rain and warm temps don't mess up Floyds, but don't have much hope for the glades. A shot of lower Challenge glade - the far side beyond the tracks was great:

Nice day at JF - weird temperatures. About 8 degrees at home (near that other ski mountain I won't name), half hour north at JF it was 15 in the parking lot at top. It warmed up to 35 when I left at 10:30, but was a lot colder at the bottom of the slope near the creek. Skied Challenge while the race team was setting up the practice course, then over to east mountain for a run down Rivershot and Floyds, nothing too exciting. Trails are still pretty narrow with snow missing on Rivershot left and Floyds right. Would also be nice to fill out the right side of T-Bolt a little. A photo of the sun coming thru the trees on east mountain (some nice ice rime on the trees, but the photo didn't pick it up): Then over to T-Bolt and Exhibition for a bunch of fast runs. Glades too scratchy to try. Some bumps on upper Rivershot right and Challenge right, otherwise everything groomed with cord in the early morning. Bluebird sunny on the mountain, but clouded up on the ride home. Looks like the ice storm in Philadelphia kept a lot of people home - the lodge was very quiet just before lunch - most people were out on the slopes.

Moved picture of Tbolt from above.

Great day, each slope was more fun than the last: fast and well groomed Exhibition, Tbolt and Floyds, softer Challenge and fluffy Rivershot. A rare moment of sunshine at the top of Challenge before the snow closed in: Middle headwall of Rivershot: Hope they get the right side of Floyds in shape soon, and widen the lower part of T-Bolt.

Floyd's pretty nice. Below is Tbolt

Very quiet. Hard base with a couple inches untracked powder on top. Heading over to Floyds in a few minutes. Snowing and 22.

I email the photos on my iPhone to my Photobucket account. That way I can select a smaller picture size. I go to my Photobucket account, open the picture. click the info icon and copy the IMG tag into the buffer. I then paste that right into the text of the message. All done from the iPhone on the chairlift.

Great conditions. Sunny and about 40. Slopes are firm and very fast. Glades are pretty well filled in, even the lower section of t-bolt glade. A few rocks to avoid. A shot of the top of elevator glade with Floyd's in the distance. Plenty of snow in ungroomed whales up top but a little sparse lower down. Might be enough to open this weekend.

Out for a couple of hours this afternoon. In the mid 20s and mostly sunny. Blowing snow on Thunderbolt (had a groomer on it - looks almost ready to go) and on Exhibition (half the slope is pretty well covered). and blowing snow on Exhibition (half the slope is pretty well covered). Challenge was in great shape - nice and fast and smoother than Saturday. Happyland is almost top to bottom (at least on the side closest to the slope). Should be in great shape this weekend.

Nice early start to the season. Around 30 and cloudy, a few snow flakes around. Some ice in the trees, but the roads were OK. Challenge, Demattes and One Park open on the eastern half. Snow is packed powder in good shape. Pretty quiet on the slopes and the lodge, mostly red coats and blue coats. Race kids haven't started up yet. Some action on Challenge:

Going to give it a shot Saturday morning.