Old Geezer

Not me.

5 ins. of new snow reported at the top of Mt. Mansfield yesterday. www.stowe.com

This man speaks the truth. It's closer to Burli than Mad, 'Bush or Stowe

Interesting, where I picked up tickets no mention of NO demos. Plus, it's still listed on Elk's website as 'On-Hill Demos' for Feb 1 and Feb 29. So if Elk knew going in they misrepresented it on their website. Memo to Elk mgmt, I had a higher opinion of you before seeing this happen. One more minor point. Saying all the reps are tied up at a show is glossing over the details of how it really works. I had a close friend who used to to be a part time rep for 12 years here in the Mid Atlantic. Never once did he attend every event nor did the entire team of reps all at once attend an event. I don't buy that explanation, I think something else happened here.

Ok, we'll play. Here's a question for locals and regulars there. From going there off and over the years I know more than a few of the local watering holes and places to eat, but not this one. What's the story with the dive looking bar on Rt 374, about 1/2 mile of when you get off I81? It's on the south side of the highway, it has lettering 'Tavern' on one side and 'Lift Inn' on the other side, and the building is painted off-white with green trim. I know it's open, never see many cars there, and it looks somewhat run down. They don't seem to bother with many signs to draw people in, with one beat up yellow sign out front that looks like it's hasn't been updated in a while. But with a name like 'Lift Inn' it seems they want to have some connection to the ski crowd that comes off the Interstate highway (which is almost everyone going to the mountain). And, it looks like there is some development occurring right off that highway interchange with a new convenience store being built. One of older my ski buddies says that would be a good spot to fix up and attract the ski crowd.

I know there are some Elk regulars on here. What happened to the on hill demos on Friday, 2/29? There were no reps anywhere on the mountain, and so no demos to be found. When I picked up some tickets at a local ski shop they said two of their reps were going to be there. Over the years Elk has had good demo days (for PA and the Mid Atlantic), four a season starting in Early Jan and ending in late Feb/early March, and many different reps present, and usually a good variety of skis to choose from, too. And if you waited for the demos later in the season, you could sometimes try a few of the 'next year's' skis. But they dropped the ball on this one, two thumbs down to Elk!

Elk has had plans to replace the two double chairs, or alternatively extend them a bit further up into the area of the radio towers at the true summit, for about 8 or 10 years now. And I believe this plan also included cutting one or more new, short trails off the summit, and connecting around to the old front summit somehow. The last I heard, these plans were on hold. They have been wanting to expand a water holding pond for several years now, and recently got clearance to do that, forget if it was a permitting/regulatory or property ownership roadblock. But due to limited funds to invest in expansion like this, they chose to put the money into the pond expansion. So I heard.

That stmt go me curious, this appears to be what is being referred to: Present your Season Pass from ANY Ski Area at Sn

This gentleman wishes to lodge a complaint about the hamburgers served there: http://www.paskiandride.com/forums/index.p...63&start=63 Personally, I think it's a nice touch in keeping with the old-time traditions of the place in that the pizza served there hasn't changed at all in 20 years.

If there's a car in the disabled parking spot, it will be me any my geriatric friends out for a day on the snow.

They should also be getting 4 or more inches of the real stuff with this Alberta Clipper system. In Clarks Summit right after dusk today there was 3" on the ground.

I've never ever been to BB, but where is Ski Patrol when all this is going on? Sounds like they had all of one trial to cover.

Tonight on Weather World, on the PCNTV cable channel, they predicted a 'measurable snowfall' in the northwest part of the state Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday of next week. They went on record for this in the portion of the program where they claim 90% accuracy on the forecasts.

Elk, Slalom Trail - very, very nice consistent pitch and fall line, wide and tree lined on both sides. Where races are held. Strong sunlight doesn't seem to affect the snow on here much as other trails. Denton Hill, Avalanche - marketed at steepest in the east. Not so sure about that, but it's up there on the list. Blue Knob: Extrovert Trail, and a set of gladed trails that are more or less the same but with different names, Bone Yard and Mine Shaft and 3 more names which I forget, (because they are closed more than they are open).

Ski, I'm sorry, I misunderstood. Anyone who doesn't hold the same opinion as you, especially on something that's a matter of public politics and public record, shouldn't be a part of this website. And you should feel free to jump into any message thread they start, and change it's direction with rants and raves. (Mr. Administrator, whoever you are, can you give us a ruling, is this how it is supposed to work here?) P.S: If your friends are in the business of pay to play politics in this state, I don't like them. Too bad. No doubt the new owners make better snow, will stay open longer, and improved the place. Great, I never said I was against that. But the ends don't justify the means. You seem to think otherwise. If you want to start a thread to debate this civilly, (that would be shocking), then do it, I'll jump in. Back to the subject of durable wax. Thanks Atomic Skier for the useful info. Those guys are on the drive to northern VT, maybe I'll stop in sometime.

Atomic Skier, where do you get 900g of universal wax for $35? That sounds like a good deal. I've never seen any waxes in the shops go on end of the season markdown sales.

Yea, I don't like the deal they did on Sno Mt. Get over it.

One time there last week. That was only time this season, rarely get to ski a weekday with the grandkids. Current boots yellowish green, not red.

That's a joke, right?

This is a question for all the regulars I read about who ski Blue Mt everyday, grilled cheese and atomic whatever. At my advanced age, I can barely remember what nursing home to go to, to visit to all my friends, and I surely can't keep your nicknames straight at all. What wax do you use on those rough boilerplate conditions Blue has? I was up there the other day for a few hours with one of the grandkids and it was a strange surface. And that's being kind. It was corn snow that subsequently froze, and it looked like they tried to groom it. The other noteworthy feature was the large sheets of ice on the headwalls of the two steeper runs that start off together on the RH side of the mountain. I only get there every few years, but skiing friends have told me what we skied on is common. Exactly what wax do you use. I'm guessing it has to be a very durable, hard wax for use there . I'm not interested in any fancy racing wax, something universal or maybe a temp specific hydrocarbon based wax. I'd like to know out how long a wax lasts on those surfaces, and if any wax both lasts long and skis well there. I'm also guessing you have to keep your edges very sharpened to get any edge anywhere on that entire hill.

Evidently not the same bubble as you. That area's hydrologic records show a snow cover somewhere near 75% of the time in the winters. Ok, Ok. I'm not up to date on all the so called improvements Blue has evidently been making. The maps of the southern NY ski areas are from the summer, green vegetation, and no snow on the slopes. Plattekill: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&...mp;t=h&om=1 Hunter: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&...&iwloc=addr Belleayre: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&...mp;t=h&om=1 Not as dramatic at the image of Blue.

I'll possibly buy into that explanation, but it would have had to be the very end of 04/05 season, maybe even after they officially closed, for the surrounding area to have had zero natural snowcover. I didn't check any official records, did it from memory, but the combo of no natural snow at all and all trails with full snow coverage limits the time frame it to a very window.

Google Maps/Google Earth has a very dramatic view of Blue's trails from above. It's dramatic because all the surrounding area is brown and lacking any snow coverage whatsoever, and all of Blue's trails are bright white in contrast. You can even make out the offtrail spray pattern of some of the snow guns at the top of Challenge. This has to be taken this year, very recently, since all the trails have opened. There were no years in the recent past where there was zero snow cover like this. Link: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&...&iwloc=addr You can zoom in quite a lot on this one, the parking lots are almost empty. Google changes their staelite images with the seasons, so this one will not be available forever.

Not the case Sat and Sun. Ice in a few spots, mostly from the headwalls being scraped off, but not enough to make me worry. Tunk was getting nice and hard in the troughs.

Agreed, very low class. Could at least explain why the trails are not longer listed. JF Management I expected better from you. Especially when you took the lead this season and proclaimed (rightly so) you had the best snow and grooming during the warm weather spell when everyone was struggling. If you want to be the leader, then act the part.