Ski2Live Live2Ski

Too late. On snow at 10. With friend who is not a morning person and in his car. Out earlier tomorrow.

Lift line was worst for the Gondola but only 5 min if you go as a a single. No line on Skye. Have a BOGO at K that makes it only 37. Probably going back to K tomorrow but getting out earlier to get it when good.

Skylark very bumped on last run of the day. Frosting is holding. Not sure if I will repeat tomorrow or try Okemo. But well worth the trip and a great start to the skison. 12 runs 14k vert.

No good at posting pix. The inch from Thursday left a nice bit of white on everything this am making it more scenic. Now melting off. Skylark was somewhat bumped up and no crowd there.

Great conditions in the morning off the Gondola and North Ridge with a good layer of snow to dig into and soft scattered bumps. Getting a little worn in the afternoon at high traffic spots. Just had a break, going out to try Skylark now. Bluebird day.

Sipping wine at Inn at Long Trail

Princeton Ski Club is one of my that offers it. I believe membership is 30 and you can buy these cards for 57 each. I am getting 2 of them. I will net 8 days of PA skiing for 144. 2 days each at blue, jf, CB and Shawnee

What are the relative merits of Blue Knob, Seven Springs, any other contenders? Never been out there myself, might have occasion to go that way around New Years.

Newark - taking PATH to meet there

Not at present but it would make sense if expanding resort was likely to bring in a lot more traffic. No doubt lots of environmental impact studies woukd be required as it is mostly along a stream

Normally leave at 5 and get home at 630. Today I left my car at home and got a lift to the train. A friend is driving up from Yardley PA and picking me up in North Jersey at 6.

5.5 hours until I get in the car headed to the big K :-)

That is my personal experience having driven to both places from NYC area dozens of times from 92 to 2010. In good weather 87 is a lot faster than Google figures it to be as they calculate based on the speed limit (actually 5 mph below I believe, so they generally overstate highway driving times). And the Hunter road is only windy for a couple miles and is much shorter than the road to Belleayre, which can be quite slow. If they widen the road from 87 to Belleayre, and improve their snow removal efforts there, they could make the travel time the same as Hunter.

15 min if no traffic but often 30 on weekends. And it is not great for intermediates unless they ride slow lifts and get off halfway. It is like half a parabola, steep up top then flattening out. Windham is the best place for intermediates in the Catskills. Same driving time as Belleayre without traffic but better road that is less likely to get mired in traffic.

Even with the full planned expansion which will mean you can take 1400' runs off of one lift instead of maxing out at 1100', the bottom part of it is so flat that nobody able to do the runs off the top would find that part remotely interesting. I love it as a way to get away from the crowds and as an area that leaves more of their terrain ungroomed. But those are not things that are going to draw big crowds. It is also a longer drive from NYC than Hunter.

As a skier I approve of taxpayer funded ski area expansion. But I really can't imagine Hunter has anything to fear from Belleayre.

They closed one of the learning slopes at the base. They are making snow on 3 new trails (upper chute, upper superstar and superstar headwall). Should be nice this weekend with each night cold enough for them to make snow and each day warm enough that they have to turn off the guns while we ski. Psyched to have picked up my new prescription sunglasses today as it will not be goggles weather.

Did I mention the PASR card? Full price is for suckers.

Tix $38 online

Belleayre opening tomorrow F Freedom

Checking Blues site a 6 hour ticket reload (that is plenty of time for me) is 30 to 40 nights, 50 weekdays, 65 weekends. Sunday night remains the best deal at 30

Puts Hunter and Peak to shame for all their claims of snowmaking prowess and the desire you would think Peak would have to show what they can do with their latest acquisition.

800 feet of vertical on upper and lower Onteora. Now folks in PA can start singing Wham! Tunes like "I don't want your Freedom." Personally I will pass on Belleayre tomorrow as I am heading to K for Sat and Sun turns.

Join a ski club and get a PASR card for $57 good for a day at each of 6 mountains including Blue (and so JFBB CB Shawnee and 2 lesser places). Use any day after Jan 3. Even if you only ski three of them it brings your price down to 19 per day. Best deal in PA skiing if you don't ski enough for a pass to pay.

Could snow tomorrow and make it look less WRODlike