enjoralas

Really had planned on getting up the mountain in the morning, was aiming for 9ish, but, you know, life and all that. By the time i got up and cleared the driveway and sidewalks of the snow that had accumulated so far, it was after noon. Got hold of Pops to see if he was up for going, and he was still taking care of snow removal at his place. Long story short, we suck at Powder Day rules and ended up not getting to Blue until almost 3 pm. Booted up and hit the six pack and headed over to Lazy Mile. The wind drifts on Tuts were nuts! It was like the Roller Groomer had a triple sized Red Bull while grooming. Dropped in to Lazy and got quick confirmation of what I was expecting, with so much fresh on the trails it was pushed all around in bumps and piles -- and it was fricken' awesome! Far from the frozen ruts that get dug out with traffic after a freeze/thaw, or the giant sugar/slush piles that come during the springlike days, these bumps and piles were like giant soft pillowy milk-filled titties of goodness. We may have missed the untracked snow, but hell, at least I don't know what I was missing. The snow was very forgiving to less than perfect form and skill level. Line mistakes that on another day (and on other skis) would have thrown me out of rhythm or grabbed a ski and thrown me were just absorbed into the soft bumps and I continued on my way. The E88s couldn't have performed better, I couldn't be happier with the way they skied. Went down Lazy doing a lot more work that usual and made the hairpin down to the Main Street Lift. Took that up and thought about a run down Switchback but Dad vetoed it, thought it looked too tore up so we headed over to check out the woods in the Sleepy Hollow glade. Thought the cover looked a tad thin so we didn't get in there, instead cruised down Come Around to Burma and took a nice run down that all the way to the valley. On the way I cruised through the Yeti cutoff on Burma and there was actually a bunch of untracked in there! I saw why as the lack of pitch on the trail made it some hard damn work getting through there! We took the six pack back up to the summit and the wind was something special. Watched some little shaver going in reverse as the wind blew him backwards. Fought our way to the top of Paradise and swapped skis out with my dad to let him take a run on the Rossi's. That was enough to convince him that it's time to upgrade. It was a lot spicier getting down on his sticks than mine, but I still enjoyed the heck out of the run. I did have to fight to hold on a couple of times, but completed the run without wiping out. We jumped back on the lift and went back up into the wind to run ParaWeaver, after swapping skis back. Just more of the same -- fun, soft bumps as far as the eye could see, no wrong line down the trail. Pops had said that was going to be his last run, but enjoyed the Para part of the run so much that we decided to head back up for another Paradise run. I focused on trying to run the edges, and slightly off the edges, during that last run. While not untracked pow, it was certainly less tracked and bumped out and had a nice layer of loose on them. I would have liked to get off the trails and into some of the more creative stuff, but just didn't trust most of it and didn't want to mess up new skis. I did take one detour through the trees on the right on this last run, leading to a quick little switchback on what I guess will be part of Trail Coming Soon before it rejoined Paradise around the corner. So that was fun. We only took the 5 runs and didn't stretch ourselves with any blacks (almost ran back up for a solo Main Street run) but damn, just a fun hour and half or so on the slopes. Definitely sorry I didn't get out earlier, but also definitely glad we came out. Don't think I'll be back on the snow until Friday when we are playing hooky to head to Camelback. Tomorrow after work I own my 3 year old some time playing in the snow.

So, Pops is ready to upgrade and asked me to post up to see if someone had something in the closet that might be compatible with what he's looking for. He's at that stage where he's improving but not ready to drop a grand on new skis yet. He demo'd the Rossi 84 and 88 Experience HDs, as well as the Volkl RTM 84 and liked them all. He's on some 168cm Solomons that are 75 underfoot right now, so there's not much that isn't an upgrade. If anyone has anything they've moved on from that might fit the bill, please let me know.

Grabbed a pair of Rossignol Experience 88HDs, 172, on Saturday at the Camelback Demo sale. Demo'd them and several other skis at Buckman's demo day at Blue. Was hoping to get a chance to get either those or Volkl RTM 86 in 170 at a decent price. Put a few runs on them on Saturday and Sunday, couldn't be happier with them at this point. Hoping to get to try them tomorrow as well.

If I make it, the grill is still in the car, so . . .

From the base I thought the dude who likes rollers must have groomed it sideways

What was up with the grooming on Challenge Doug mentioned earlier? I didn't ski it, but from the base it looked like snowtubing lanes or some shit

Assuming we get enough snow that I'm not working, I'll get up there come hell or high (frozen) water. If I have to use the Bronco I will. It has expired MD tags on it, but whatevs.

Guns coming on all over the mountain. All in baby!

It was quite nice. They set a really high bar last year with the giveaways, only reason I said not as good as last year. Was hoping for another freebie for the Beer fest or laser tag, and the chance to win a prize, lol.

It was okay. Not as good as last year. Meal wise they had a nice salad (spring mix, cucumbers, tomatoes), rigatoni pasta with sausage and meatballs, chicken parm, pork loin stuffed with spinach, green beans, mac and cheese, breaded fish fillets, strange potato "skins", some sort of smoked sausage. Bottled water to drink. Various cakes and pies by the slice for dessert, ran out about halfway through. They didn't give the voucher for wine or beer festival this year, and didn't draw for door prizes during lunch, said they were going to do it right after and notify winners by phone. Suspect they have only a few prizes this year and were worried about a revolt, lol. It was still a good lunch and it was very nice of them to have it, they certainly don't have to.

Yep, grill will be in the house on Sunday. I think I will be bringing some chicken breast with some sort of BBQ on it. Pound it out thin (THAT'SWHATSHESAID) before marinating. And of course, sausage.

As long as his friends don't find out . . .

Was plenty cold sitting in the outdoor hot tub up here at Kalahari!

Headed to Camelback for 830 on Saturday to see if there is anything worth buyin at their demo sale, then headed to Blue to ski. Probably arrive around 10. Passholder lunch. Be there Sunday first-ish thing. Grill in effect. Gotta figure out what to make this week. Maybe chicken. Of course sauseege

That's a strong move. The Pixar Place expansion should be done by then too. We're missing Avatar Land by less than two weeks. I'm hopeful for a bit of a soft opening, but not it's not likely. We wouldn't go nearly as often if I hadn't bought into the Disney Vacation Club. We need to slow down a bit here anyway, I would like to rent out my points a few times to try to recoup some of the capital I laid out to buy in. Next trip I'll be stuck for airfare and admission for both kids, so that will slow me down for sure! We keep alternating annual passes for my wife and I, which of course makes us take a trip about every 11.5 months Batman yes, Scream Machine no. The stand-up coaster Green Lantern is pretty much roughly where it sat, they moved it from Kentucky Kingdom after Six Flags folded up shop down there.

I know when Six Flags is open, and I know how much it costs. I already have passes for next year with the season meal plan. My point is, it ain't open in March. If you want to go to a waterpark in March, you pay a premium. Either by paying for the limited indoor supply, or by travelling to somewhere warm. Also, I've never been to Kalahari, but I already like it better than Six Flags Great Adventure.

Yeah, we're gonna hit the water park both days, me, wife, 3 year old and wife's dad are the official "occupants," one year old doesn't count so five of us. Yeah, Six Flags is cheap. But none of those 3 1/2 months were March, were they? Supply and demand. And with what I spend on my skiing hobby through the winter, I'm gonna balk at a few hundred to give my wife and kids a nice time? I get people all the time telling me I'm crazy for taking my kids to Disney when they're "too young to remember it or get anything out of it." But I get moments like this, so I'm good with it: Should have. Was all set to go and couldn't motivate. Be there Saturday probably around 10

$329 plus taxes and fees tomorrow night

Nice. They charge like $50-80 per person just for a water park day pass

They just opened a water park expansion literally today. Doubled the size of the water park. That's what got them the nod over Camelback's hotel/water park. Added 3 new restaurants I think too. Never been, but it looks like a nice place. Expensive as all hell for this area, but with the water park it's not too bad

Hope the surface holds up. Hoping to get a couple hours in after work. Headed up to Kalahari with the wife and kids tomorrow into Friday, so no skiing for me after today until Saturday.

They pretty clearly have enough snow to make it to St Patty's weekend if they want to. The fact that they haven't already started hyping that weekend is strange. They usually do ticket specials, a "Shamrock Search" on the slopes, etc. But, crickets.

Never underestimate the pure power of the purple polo.

Season pass to Camelback doesn't make any sense for me. If I didn't have a pass for Blue, I wouldn't have one for any mountain. Early bird on the Camelback pass is $599. For that price I can join a ski club and buy like 10 of this pocono Mountain cards that would get me 10 visits each to Camel and Blue, as well as Frost and wherever else gets thrown in. (Assuming they all still participate.) The only reason I ever bought a Blue pass was the ability to run up after work. Camelback is just a bit to far to consider that regularly.

I have a better time skiing Camelback. I like the trail variety better and find the conditions and grooming consistently better. I like the atmosphere better at Blue, and it's obviously more convenient. Everyone can see I love to tailgate and that would be a huge loss. I enjoyed my days at Frost and Montage this year, but acknowledge they're not close to the same class. I know it's only a rumor, that's why I said *if* they close this Sunday. I wouldn't even have posted the opinion of it hadn't been declared such a strong rumor. I know closing on March 12 for non-operational reason sure as hell won't help them sell any condo timeshares.