Ski2Live Live2Ski

Per FB - JF opening Friday with 4 beginner and intermediate trails BB shooting for 12/18 When is the last time JF opened pre BB?

On a more fun note

Scary thing is next season pass prices may be calculated based on multiples of this year's day passes. Long term if 4 hr night tix remain ~$80 they will not be selling $400 unlimited passes. For example Epic's reimbursement scheme if season is shortened is based on a pass being worth 7 day tix. So if you skied 5 days before getting Covid you get 2/7 of your price refunded. By that logic if day tix are worth $120 then a pass is worth $840.

I won't be there

JFBB are taking reservations for a Friday opening

If you ski enough for sure. But it looks like at Blue this year the break even point is ~4 weekend days (3 if you count the VIP line benefit and buddy pass).

Though I suspect prices may fall if demand not there at those rates. Doubt they will be at capacity midweek nights and better to sell 2 $50 tix than 1 $80 ticket.

Def the year to have a season pass. Everyone has pushed day ticket prices up through the roof - likely due to Covid uncertainty and capacity limits. At those rates I will stick to Epic resorts unless someone is offering up a buddy pass.

To avoid undue lines they will need to cut ticket sales by at least as much as lift capacity goes down. Also they are trying to get more people to ski AM and fewer PM by making the prices for AM 4 hr tix lower than for PM ones.

Blue's main draw seems to me to be from Philly. They do draw some from NJ - but NJ quarantine rules don't apply to neighboring states, all reports are that PA is not enforcing theirs, and lodging not an issue for NJ to PA skiing. Camelback being right off 80 draws much more of the NYC crowd- who now may more likely go to Mountain Creek or Skills due to restrictions

Don't know for sure what Blue's policy on lifts will be. The approach the Epic resorts are taking is they don't allow parties to share lifts except on 6 person lifts they will put a single and a double on opposite ends - but will allow even a single party to have their own chair if they prefer. By my estimate that approach will cut lift capacity by at least 50%. Had Blue said what they will do about parties sharing lifts?

Brattleboro is also a steal for lodging in VT - if you are willing to drive 60 min to Snow or 90 min to Okemo. Crappiest hotel in Ludlow costs twice what a reasonably nice one in Brattleboro does. $80/nt with 2 queen beds Xmas week at a motel I stayed in and was happy with last year. I value personal positive experience somewhere over *s or reviews. The 2x more expensive one in Ludlow we stayed at last year was bad enough I will not go back. Also named Colonial. Dirty room that smelled like smoke and mildew and rude staff. Those cleanliness standards won't cut it in Covid era.

2nd trip at Sun & Ski Inn at Stowe and then skiing Snow and Okemo out of Colonial Motel in Brattleboro. I prioritized finding places that allow free cancellation as late as possible given uncertainty this year. And some hotels are requiring proof of negative test even though law does not - cancelled one of those after being notified of that. Haven't booked for 1st trip yet as I think lodging will be easy to find midweek next week - and just made those reservations on Epic last night. Other than the priority reservation days (we could book 7 in Nov - which I used for Holiday periods) reservations can only be made a week in advance. And I wanted to make sure they were likely to have enough open to warrant the trip.

This is definitely a year I will be wishing success in drawing crowds to the competitors of my preferred mountains. PA ski area lift lines could get real ugly Xmas week with the combination of - Fewer people flying anywhere over break - Fewer driving to VT to ski - Vail properties requiring reservations - Lift capacity cut in half - Very few indoor recreation options Biggest thing limiting PA crowds is fewer New Yorkers will be coming to PA to ski - but that will impact Camelback more than Blue

My Ski plan for next 4 weeks Quarantine 13th drive to Stowe 14th Stowe 15th Okemo 16th Snow and drive home Quarantine 23rd drive to Stowe 24th Stowe 25th Stowe 26th Snow 27th Okemo 28th Snow and drive home 1st Hunter 2nd Hunter For 11 days of VT / NY skiing by end of winter holidays.

Yeah none of the Peak resorts got fully integrated last year. Lots of changes at all of them this year.

Could mean just Freedom for all I know - that is how BB often open. Certainly 6 days is ample time to get something open if theybhace the weather- and they typically have colder weather there than Blue (who are making snow for a tentative Friday opening) as they are at higher altitude.

Reservations required and being accepted now. While generally you can only reserve at one Epic Mt per day - a single reservation will be good to ski both JF and BB (as with their interchangable lift tix in past seasons). A positive development as I had read earlier reports that you would have to reserve for one or the other - so this is nice for those who want the better day time skiing at JF and somewhere to continue skiing after 4. I have seen rumors that BB is not going to have as much of a park focus as before. We shall see.

I think it makes good sense. My girls decided they would rather take the safe course and continue schooling from home for now even once hybrid becomes an option. Hard to argue with how well they are doing this way. Between the two of them in Q1 the only mon A grade was one of them got a B in Accelerated Math (Algebra). And of course it makes itbeasier to quarantinenat home between our VT ski trips.

Of course. I considered switching to ORDA pass based on that. But decided to stick with Epic and do VT instead.

And yeah herd immunity via vaccination programs - likely requiring mandates to work - may well not happen. In which case we will need to limit ourselves to outdoor masked distanced activities til we either die or decide we are willing to commit genocide.

Virtually. No 8th graders have had any in person schooling in our district yet. They are currently calling for a Hybrid option (4 hrs a week in person) to start Jan 25. But I don't believe it. It was supposed to be Nov 30 til a week ago they moved it back 8 weeks.

Thing is exploding exponentially again. When hospitals are completely overwhelmed the "no lock down" tunes will likely be changed. I suggest skiing every day you can til then.

Yes you can get it if vaccinated. Just a smaller % chance. The only real protection is if enough of society gets it to leverage that % into herd immunity. That is when virus stops spreading as it can't find enough welcoming new hosts. Most likely we only get there if schools, work places, transit, restaurants etc are forced to require proof of vax to enter.