Ski2Live Live2Ski

Atomic & JFSDan in da house

A bit slow with some slush at merge with RiverShot at bottom

No lines, groomed spring snow at JF today. All main trails still open but thin and narrow enough cover that the rain coming tonight will likely change that.

I am not planning to renew Epic next year - I am just explaining why it is worthwhile. I have used my IndyPass more than my Epic this year (largely due to starting to have girls with me full time and only got Indy for them) and am planning on renewing Indy and augmenting it with some kind of triple ticket or frequent skier card or some other deal as well as maybe an Indy Spring card. The only places I ever ski that I can get to in under 2 hrs are Shawnee (90 min) Blue (100 min) Camelback (100 min) JF (110 min). Further places I have day tripped to this year: Roundtop (120) Montage (130); Hunter (160)

I like that Whitetail is separated into 3 pods green / blue / black + double black with their own lifts. The expert pod rarely gets real crowded and they leave one expert trail to bump up, though the HSQ is on the Blue pod. The facilities are newer and nicer than any other PA Mt. I like it as an occasional alternative. I have only gone there when the weather suits it - a dump of fresh snow hitting only that region, warm conditions when further north is sub zero, or soft Spring bumps.

No question Blue is the closest mountain to Philly with high speed lifts and over 600' of vertical. That's why they can charge as much as Epic Local. It's a trade off to ski less good and/or less close places locally for access to other Epic destinations. I have found Roundtop.the most appealing PA option on Epic, as there are rarely bug weekend crowds at the Ramrod triple which accesses 600' vert including a couple headwalls (Upper Ramrod and Upper Gunbarrel) as steep or steeper than anything at Blue.

Google Maps says 2:45 from Court at King of Prussia to Whitetail

Definitely too far for me to go often, as I am closer to Hunter. But the discussion re what pass to get was related to someone based in "PhillyByrbs". Depending on which PhillyBurbs area it could be a viable alternative to Blue.

Point is the difference between Blue and Vail or even Stowe (and really even Hunter) - and about 25 North American Epic Mts in all - is so huge it makes the difference between Blue and Whitetail (with 90% of Blue's vertical and 1 high speed lift instead of 2) a rounding error

Are you really comparing a pass to Blue to a pass to over 40 mountains? Yes some are worse than Blue (on non crowded days). Others are so far superior to Blue it is barely the same sport.

Epic well worth considering from Philly as Roundtop, Whitetail, Frost and Hunter all decently accessible. Roundtop tends to not be too crowded

Not great conditions at Montage today. Most of yesterday's snow either blew or scraped off or froze up. Some ski instructors who had just come down WL told me that conditions on it were hazardous enough with frozen ice and scraped off ruts between them that they felt the trail should be closed, so we are gonna leave that one be today.

That's spraying money on the table

Glad I am waiting til tomorrow to get out with all that wind. Blowing like crazy in NJ too.

A mountain with all the stuff I want to ski fully open without ice or bare spots and with a nice carveable surface, with hopefully parts of it left ungroomed. Which is a hell of a lot better than I skied the last two weekends or was counting on skiing again this year. Hopefully not much lines either, certainly at Montage.

If that map proves accurate I could consider hitting Elk either in addition to or instead of Montage this weekend.

Yeah SnowForecast.com is saying 9-13" Sat and 5-9" Sunday. Not sure I buy they will get all that, but will be there Sunday, roads permitting. Maybe drive up Sat eve - have refundable room booked. Fortunately Montage is pretty close to an Interstate. Only Camelback and Frost have as easy highway access in PA.

I've been pretty lame getting only 10 days on my Epic Pass. Made up for it with 13 so far on Indy, which is why that is the one I am renewing. Wound up having more time with kids (with me all the time now) and they got the IndyPass - one reason I am using that more. Also those places less crowded. Pretty weak year in terms of amount of skiing done so far though. 18 days shy of my personal beat last year and no way I am getting in close to 18 days. Weather not really cooperating, and the full time parenting thing too. Wouldn't trade it for more skiing though.

Looks like they got a the whole north face open again with the fresh snow. May be back for more Sat or Sun if the weekend storm looks likely to produce for them.

Just made a Sat Nt refundable (til 4pm Friday) hotel reservation near Catamount in case the snow Saturday warrants driving up Sat AM to ski Sat PM and Sunday on my IndyPass.

Appears from today's conditions report that the lower mountain is now limited to only Cannonball and Boomer

Yeah that is great - only weakness for my purposes is they only list adult prices

Little Miss Can't Get Down

Definitely getting worried about how much skison we have left at our day trip areas. Glad I got out yesterday. Time to take the snows off the SUV and check the tire pressure on the bike.

Mac and Cheese, Chili, Chicken & Waffles. 1st two were above average ski slope quality.