Phil

Glad you had a good time. It is a blast, and it does not have to be that hard. That female snowboard instructor could have given you a lot more help in the LTR program. I don't know how much you paid for your day at BC, but you can do the LTR program for $50 on a Saturday. That includes a lift ticket, rentals, and the Learn to Ride lesson which lasts as long as you need it (you could technically be in the program all day if you were not picking it up). You may want to consider this option next time up.

+1 I love riding the pipe. It has been a tough couple of years, but I have hopes that things will turn around sometime. What is the drawback of having it there? With some creativity, there could be some great features in there until the resources are available to build the pipe. Contrary to popular belief, there were at least a couple of days last year when the BC pipe was nice. Mark - does BC own their pipe cutter? If so, is it a problem to keep it around? If you are not losing anything by having the cutter, and the terrain can be used for something else until the weather comes to fill it up with enough snow to make a pipe, why not just keep it the way it is? At that point, we can change the poll to read: Who wants to see BC-Mark ride the Pipe?

Today they were sweet. The guns are going everywhere and the snow is great. They plan to keep blowing as long as possible which means that it will only get better until the warm weather hits. Even then we should have plenty of great snow left.

You might want to try Google Earth. You can find the vertical for any trail you want.

I'll be wearing something silky, but you won't be able to see it under my jacket and pants. Enjoy opening day!

I thought that I would cross post this in the racing forum since it is more of a race inspired event. The "Mid Atlantic Carvers" are a group of alpine/race snowboarders who keep in touch throughout the year and hold an annual event called MAC Tracks. MAC Tracks 08 info can be found here. You do not have to be an alpine/race snowboarder to attend. Soft boot snowboarders and skiers are welcome as well. I would bet that some of you racers could do well in the circle carve contest. I doubt that a skier could compete well in the limbo, though. Skiers may also enjoy the race course - but it will be a snowboard course.

NO!

If anyone is interested in further reading, check this out: http://www.snocountry.com/staticpages/inde...ing-Weather-pre

The limbo starts at about 2.5 feet high. The last two years people have gotten under 14 inches. Last year we went down to 12 inches but nobody made it. It is pretty hard because you HAVE to carve under it. There has to be a carved line in the snow and you have to end up upright on the board. It is a blast to try. I personally like the circle carve comp better - Beginners try to carve a circle while experts try to carve more. In the past, there have been double circles, figure 8's, switch circles, etc. All of this can be done on any equipment - doesn't have to be hardboots. We have had softbooters and skiers as well. In fact, two years ago, the expert circle carve was won by a guy in softies on a Custom X.

Works when I try it.

Yes, it has traditionally been at Roundtop. We are going to TRY it at Bear Creek this year. Whether we will stay there for 09 really depends on how it goes this year.

I know that there is mostly a freestyle community here, but here is a link to info on MAC Tracks 08 if anyone is interested.

It's on the calendar.

I predict - not soon enough for me. I've really got the fever - two new boards and a new pair of skis just staring at me waiting to be ridden. BTW, Sunday River was open on Wednesday just as a Halloween special.

Here is a review of the NOAA record with respect to recent winter predictions in the northeastern us: 2000-2001: "Normal" temperatures forecasted, actual temperature 1.1 below normal. 2001-2002: "Colder" temperatures forecasted, actual temperature 6.5 above normal. 2002-2003: "Warmer" temperatures forecasted, actual temperatures 3.5 below normal. 2003-2004: "Normal" temperatures forecasted, actual temperatures 2.0 below normal. 2004-2005: "Colder" temperatures forecasted, actual temperatures 0.4 above normal. 2005-2006: "Equal chances" of above and below normal, actual temperatures 2.1 above. 2006-2007: "Warmer" temperatures forecasted, actual temperature 1.5 above normal All of this doesn't mean much if there are huge temperature swings. Think about last year - it only ended up being 1.5 degrees above normal, but we did not have snow conditions until mid Jan. It was really warm and then got REALLY cold for one of the longest and coldest cold snaps in recent memory. Temperature relative to normal really does not affect us that much. What affects us is whether we have consistant temperatures. It would be better to have every day between freezing and forty with cold nights to make snow than to have two weeks of warm days AND nights and then two weeks of cold days and nights. The forecast for warm or cold winters really means nothing for skiers and snowboarders - even if they are correct when they forecast the average. My $0.02

I don't think I could work on a mountain if I had to be on ski patrol or park crew.... (no offense to either group)

My thoughts on having a team: I just thought that I would recap my views in this thread. Most likely, team training would be all over the mountain, just like any other discipline of skiing or snowboarding that is organized into teams. There is a lot to be learned outside of the park that will help riders in the park. When a team would practice in the park, it would be beneficial to section off a little bit of the park (maybe a few features) to session and hike to work on specific skills. The particulars of what is sectioned off would be at the discretion of the coach, who, we would hope would make wise decisions about what and when to section off. It would be helpful to have a good pipe all of the time, but not essential to the development of the riders. A lot can be learned in a pipe on a bad pipe day. That being said, I believe that Andy knows what he is doing with the pipe. There were a couple days when it was good last year. That does not happen by accident. There is a lot of pressure to get a pipe open early (everyone here would bitch if it wasn

Here is a thread about it from last year.

Andy - thanks for making new ways for old guys like me to get hurt. The stuff looks great - I can't wait - and FedEx just brought my new FS ride today.

15-20 years ago we would have to go out to parks and other places to build jumps and ride rails on our snowboards. Back then they did not have any rails at ski areas. At that time, we said the same things about skis. We never even thought to invite skiers to go with us looking for rails. Now look where skis are. Maybe it is time for people to step up on water skis. The way I see it, it would be great to have water skis in the park if people could do it. Sorry for the thread jack. Anyway, I think that the park is a great idea. I would definitely be there.

I ammended my profile after I answered (or dodged) the question. What are you trying to say anyway??

Bob, I PM'ed you about the FS coaching. Oakley21, I'd tell you how old I am, but then I would have to kill you. . I am almost twice your age, if that helps. I have been riding since well before you were born and I still am not nearly as good as I would like to be.

This is my update to the: Moving your way thread. As it turned out, we did not sell our house, so I never got to move until a little over a month ago. I now live in Pottstown. Nevertheless, I did manage to average 1 day a week at Bear Creek this year. It was said that Roundtop (my old home area) skis/boards bigger than BC. I found that to be true, but the meandering trails at BC made it feel a little bigger than it really is. Of course, those same meandering trails can be tough in slow conditions. I enjoyed Sasquatch a lot. Even though it is short, it is a blast to ride. It is pretty wild that you have to take two lifts to get to it every time. I expect that at a big resort, but that is new to me for a small resort. A lot of people complained about the pipe, but one week when I was there it was pretty sweet. At least two other weeks that I was there, it was good enough to be ridden. I think that it was better than Roundtop's - they really seemed to struggle with theirs this year. I don't even feel like I need to comment on the parks. Overall, they were so much better than I could have expected! That was another thing that Roundtop struggled with this year, so it was a breath of fresh air to come to BC once a week and get some quality park action. Lastly the people were pretty cool. There did not seem to be a bad vibe or anything. After my "moving your way" post got shut down, I thought that BC might have a bad vibe or something. I was pleasantly surprised. So now I am here. I am currently looking for places to do urban/freeride/DJ around Pottstown, but it seems that I may have to drive a little bit to find that. I heard that they were getting a skate park? Anyone know anything about that? I am already itching to get back out on snow. I will most likely be at BC 6 days a week this year, so if anyone wants someone to ride with, let me know. -Phil-

You guys were all told wrong. Roundtop didn't close until This past Sunday, March 25.