Ski2Live Live2Ski

Admittedly it might be a smarter decision to use my pass and ski JF tomorrow if both are shut til 9. Back in the day Blue used to keep earlier hours, no?

When does Blue open tomorrow

Jamming with a friend today, going to see my girls sing in a gospel choir this eve, rehearsing as guitarist for Grease musical tomorrow.

No skiing for me this weekend. Next chance will be 3/5. See what options remain then.

Yep, miss skiing the place but nice that it is now dedicated to teaching urban youth to ski

$290 pass for Mountain Creek not even remotely tempting even with 1000 vertical feet 105 minutes from my home. Have never had a great ski experience there though I gave it half a dozen shots when it was 45 minutes from my home. Eventually figured out the (no longer open to the public) place less than half the size and half the price a mile away was way more fun.

I'd be down for a peace treaty if offered. Buddy pass in return for pledge to stay on topic and upbeat in Blue discussions. Would plan to use Buddy pass 3/5, assuming weather is conducive, and make lower lot tailgate appearance if desired (or stay away from tailgate if preferred - at discretion of person offering pass).

Multi mountain pass evaluation is of course my specialty on PSAR

Just counted this weekend 118 days for each on skis with me, which means about 126 days for me skiing with 1 or both.

And I am not trying to talk any of you out of being Blue regulars. To me personally I look for the best combination of ski experience, variety, travel time and price. I agree being part of a community is priceless, but I find that closer to my home as I do not have a residence so close to one ski area that desire to find community there outweighs my love of skiing a variety of places.

Yeah if Blue were to again offer me a $399 pass and my girls $99 passes I would buy them again. And I'd likely also get Indy Passes so we could get some variety and ski bigger and further places too. It still wouldn't make me think Blue was any better than Camelback, Montage or Elk. It wouldn't make me think PA skiing was as great as Catskills, New England or Rockies skiing. It would make it a good value for one of the closer mountains to my home.

I was not even aware it existed at Blue until I started participating in this forum 10 years ago, and I had already skied at Blue/Little Gap for 30 years before that. I am aware of very tight apres ski communities at Loon and Sunday River as I have a friend who is part of them. I get a very strong feeling at Roundtop - more than anywhere else I ski including Blue - that a large % of skiers there (especially ones who use the Ramrod triple that serves their double blacks) are locals who know each other well and are participating in a social scene that has endured for decades. It is evident in the way they greet each other in the lift line as old friends and decide to ride up together. And Plattekill and Magic has very strong communities of regulars. There are also strong local community hang feels at Spring Mountain (all either beginners from philly area or folks who live very close and have passes as it is their local hill) and at Bear Creek (which is owned by a housing declvelopment). And a couple other mountains I have been to have very strong race family communities: West and Berkshire East.

Yeah I post a bunch, mostly about skiing and weather, not always agreeing with everyone else and not making it all about Blue. I tryntonadd some value and levity. I do enjoy the ski and weather talk here, but also wish there was a PA ski forum that did not have a Blue loyalty litmus test, but there is not and - yeah - I poke some fun at that. Guess I should not have eaten some food the ~3 times I accepted the invite to drop by your tailgate the one season I was a Blue pass holder, but the point of dropping by was to say hi to you guys. Never had a mission to not be anybody's friend, but nor did I want to spend hours hanging in the lot most times I came to Blue. I generally arrived later than you guys, skied a few hours, then went home to the other stuff in my life.

Thanks, but I'd like to continue participating in a PA Skiing forum, even if I skied Shawnee, Montage and Roundtop this month rather than Blue. If someone wants to pass me a buddy pass I'll be glad to hit Blue again, otherwise I'll ski the places I get good deals and enjoy skiing.

I'll take "Caring about hanging with a group of friends in the lot after skiing more than any of the above?" for $675 Johnny Don't know what gives you the impression I am miserable or lack community. I mostly ski with my kids which is very rewarding for me and my main community activities revolve around making music and supporting my friends making music, not hanging around in a parking lot eating, drinking and smoking after skiing. I finish skiing and go spend time doing that. I get you guys enjoy your community and that is why I put it as an option. But the idea that you have a better community than anyone else or that Blue is the one true mountain because that is where your community hangs out is what I see as out of whack. And my choice to spend more on Epic and Indy passes than I would spend on a Blue pass is not to save $. It is because I and my kids value diverse high-quality ski experiences more than being part of Blue's apres ski community, which is not all that kid friendly a scene truth be told. If you all were bringing kids there too it might be different, but I have never seen anyone else with kids the times we have dropped by so mine are basically "how long do we have to stay and hang in the lot Dad?"

I like more variety of trails rather than hitting same runs over and over. I find Cliffhanger as challenging as anything at Blue and usually less skied off and without the runout that is the last bit of any Blue run. Bactrian is real cool too. But not saying Camelback is better, just that it is a toss up. And mostly I like the variety of not skiing the same Mtn every time so if I was gonna ski 2 days in PA on a weekend I would much rather hit a different one each day, or if only 1 day then alternate.between weekends. And as mentioned it is easier to avoid lift lines there with the extra slower lifts.

Yep Whitetail has been hurting this year. Their low latitude and facing South/Southeast are a real tough combo in a year like this. Roundtop does a lot better facing North. Whitetail closed midweek saying they will reopen Sat but my $ says their season is done.

If I had to pick one place to day trip to ski all winter, with drive time being a factor, it would be a toss up between Blue & Camelback. They are equal distance from me and better than any others that are closer or no more than 20 minutes further (Shawnee, Bear Creek, JFBB, Roundtop Mountain Creek, Spring, Big Snow, Campgaw). Hunter, Elk, Whitetail and (to a lesser extent) Montage are all pushing it as far as drive time for regular day trips. I think Blue/Cbk offering a combined pass is a great development for the region. But competitively priced passes that include PA, Catskills, VT and CO are too attractive for me to pass up.

Ok - why is that? Quality of snow? Variety and challenge of terrain? Speed / reliability / comfort of lifts? Lack of crowds? Typical weather? Caring about hanging with a group of friends in the lot after skiing more than any of the above?

Good point. If I preferred skiing at Blue and Camelback to skiing at Hunter, Snow, Okemo, Stowe, Wildcat, Sunapee, Jack Frost, Whitetail, Roundtop, Keystone, Vail, Breckenridge and Beaver Creek, I would consider paying a bit extra for that privilige. Do you prefer skiing at Blue to skiing at that combo of areas or are you prioritizing a shorter drive/flight over what mountains you would prefer to ski at?

I'm gonna guess their early bird price for an all ages all access pass with Blue add on is roughly $938. Or maybe less if they don't include Snowtubing with theirs.

Maybe we should rename this thread the "NE Ski Multipass" thread so we don't have to tax the servers with a redundant new one. We can compare all the deals right here.

Stay tuned for the ever exciting annual evaluation of relative ski pass options for next Skison now that Blue/Cbk have entered the first bid among the multipasses offering skiing within 3 hr drive of 08648

It depends on the relative pricing of megapasses. If Ikon, Epic, ORDA and Indy increased by enough then Blue/Cbk could be attractive. I've always found Cbk to have manageable lines at their slower lifts compared to Blue. Why I would opt for them on Sat.

It looks like the add on is actually $263. Either way that is a nice option. To me a Blue/Cbk pass for $938 is a more attractive option thN Blue only for $675. I could enjoy spending Sat at Cbk and Sun at Blue far more often than I would ski either 2 days in a row.