Ski2Live Live2Ski

So in a nutshell Whitetail - fun place to ski but a bit far and weekend crowd is a bit much. Only prob is it's further than Hunter and doesn't compare - except in a situation like this weekend when it had a much more bearable tempersture and more fresh snow. May ski it again under such circumstances while I have Epic. Roundtop - has character and 2 nice steep trails off Ramrod triple. While I have Epic it is a good alternative to Frost when I want something closer than Hunter - it is only 10 min further than Frost.. But only go if Ramrod triple.is open, and especially if Upper.Gun Barrel.run is open. Liberty - can't see returning.

Glad I got to check out Liberty on an occasion when it added only 30 min to a drive I had to do anyway, and I had a pass that covered skiing. I was not impressed. Got there for their leisurely 10am opening bell - hoping to lay some fresh tracks in the 5" that had fallen the night before, but they were only to be had at the trail edges as they had groomed everything. And 2 trails were still not open even with the cold and snow we have had. The three double blacks were nothing special though decently steep at top - basically imagine they divided falls into three parallel trails and placed a blue runout after that drop. Surprised to see they banned rental skis on these 3 runs. The black that was open on the main face was no harder than a blue at Blue. The most fun trail was the aptly named "dips doodle" green which had 1-2 ski track wide ungroomed side runs (sometimes called "dipsy doodles") cutting in and out along its whole length. No express lifts and the quad on the main face is painfully slow - tale big boulder's slowest lift and add 100' vertical. I think they made it even slower to allow for a midstation terrain park dismount. The quad on the "double black" - while still not detachable - was a rocket by comparison. As it was frozen granularing on me, which was not real pleasant, and I had a long bad conditions drive home I wanted to complete before dark, when 5 min lines started forming for lifts at 1130 I decoded to head back, having skied everything other than the bunny hills. So a decent way to break up the ride home but can't sit going there again. As a ski area it is not a bad hotel amenity (they have on-site lodging / conference center / event space ala Bear Creek).

They had about 5" at start of day and it was snowing hard til I left. Writing eport in other thread.

Wouldn't have known that about Liberty today. Only surface I saw on the lot was snow.

Excellent observation. Snowboarding having more of a hip factor - shared with skate and surf boards) lends itself a bit more to passing as a fad. I would also guess that park activity (whether on skis or boards, but boards more prevalent in parks) becomes less popular as folks get older, feel their bodies are more fragile, and become more risk averse.

I'd say Upper Gun Barrel (which never opened last year) is tougher than anything at Whitetail. Whitetail has longer runs though, and it's nice that they leave Exhibition ungroomed to add some challenge. Not this trip. Don't want to add that extra drive in these road conditions. Would like to check it out one day for sure.

Pretty sure I am doing Liberty tomorrow. No better chance to sample the place than tomorrow, skied everything interesting at Whitetail a good amount today, and as hairy as driving back to NJ will be, may as well do all my driving in that direction.

4-5" of fresh snow overnight last night at Whitetail and region as a whole - all after grooming was finished so a beautiful layer of powdery goodness atop the packed powder - and one diamond trail left totally ungroomed. Kept snowing all day adding another 4-5" with more to come. Driving was hairy- especially on the way to Mt with roads still unplowed. Main lift got pretty crazy line wise from 10-12 but the expert area lift never got worse than 10 min. No pix today as it was snowing too much to want to take out phone and take off gloves. Imagine a white square and you get the idea of the pic. Staying over to ski tomorrow too. Gotta decide whether to try Liberty or return to Whitetail. I have never been to Liberty and it is closer to being on the way home, but it's smaller and I don't know what the roads will be like around it in snow.

Given the weather forecast I will likely stay out here and ski Monday too, maybe even Tuesday. Really doesn't make sense to drive home through a snow storm tomorrow night to not ski in deep fresh snow Monday.

All snow on the boulders I believe but did not see anyone go off them. The slope was really as much steepness and excitement as anyone there was wanting. I did 4 runs down it while snow was fresh (guns roaring for first couple keeping it fresh). Returned to it after lunch and it was scraped slick to the point I felt out of control and did not hit it again after that.

Yeah I was there about 4-5 years ago when they had gotten 2 feet of fresh snow. Was pretty awesome that day with lots of trees in play.

Beautiful day - moderate lines on the Expedition and Ramrod lifts allowed for 25 runs. Gun Barrel boosted the adrenaline, Ram Rod is a nice run too. Barrett's trail a winding change of pace. Nice soft surface from snowmaking at start of day. Got scraped a little by 2 pm. Everyone seemed to be regulars greeting one another in line. Fun place. Took 2 hrs to get here.

Upper Gun Barrel 50° Headwall today

You could get a day pass for more than one Epic Mt on same day. I believe day passes for JF and BB are still good at the other - continuing a policy that has been in place since at least the early 80s (first time I skied them).

Can't hit more than one Epic Mt a day this year due to reservations policy (except JF and BB considered one). Liberty still doesn't have much of its best terrain open so glad I am hitting these two - though I still have never made it to Liberty.

I do have some Whitetail pix from my trip there on 3-17-19. These are mostly from the "Exhibition" bump run on the rear face. They were nice and soft that balmy day. Closing day of their season and we skied them to the last chair.

Got reservations for Roundtop Sat (my third trip there) and Whitetail Sun (my second trip there). Pretty perfect timing as both announced today that for the first time this Skison they are 100% open. Particularly psyched that they have Upper Gunbarrel open at Roundtop. I have never skied that before and the top of it has a 50° pitch - which is I believe the steepest on map headwall in PA (White Lightning headwall at Montage was regraded from 54° to 46° a while back). Had been planning to do Hunter this weekend, but with Temps as of a few days ago being forecast to go down as low as 10 below with high winds there this weekend (forecast has moderated with lows around 0 and highs in the teens now expected), I switched my reservations to these balmier south central PA resorts where it is expected to get into the 30s both days.

Still the steepest on map terrain in NEPA. You've just tried real skiing since then.

For me it is a toss up between CB and Blue. I'd take Blue weekdays (longer runs) and CB weekends/ holidays (easier to avoid lines). But I mostly ski weekends/holidays. I'd place Montage #3 (Northface is best terrain in NEPA and never a line - but a lot further for me, slow lifts and shorter runs - Long Haul gets you a longer run but lift ride is so long and you can't hit the best terrain) I'd place JF and Roundtop about tied for #4 Elk is the best in NEPA in terms of terrain and snow - but isn't even a factor as it is as far as Hunter and Belleayre for me.

I'd take the extra day at WF while driving that far and save Gore for a trip where I don't want to drive that far.

Planning to hit what I am this season calling "Hunter North" on Presidents Day - wahoo

New York Ski Blog

IMO it is the only NY ski mountain worth considering if you are coming from E.PA/NJ/NYC other than the ones you list, as any of the others are considerably further from us than considerably larger mountains. Also one of the best in MA - part of it is in New England

Never heard of Catamount?

No restrix on NY - but restrix on coming back to PA from NY No enforcement really