saltyant

The lights are on at Camelback. They might start blowing a couple snowflakes. Looks promising!!

Hopefully, I'd like to get out again next weekend. I don't see Camelback opening for at least 2 weeks, maybe longer.

Any predictions for next weekend? Doesnt look like there will be many opportunities for snowmaking this week. Hope I'm wrong.

Yeah, I'm not paying $55 to ski one green, and Liftopia is a hassle. I have to sign in, put in my credit card number, go all the way to the printer, turn it on, plug in the USB, bring up the PDF, find a sheet of printer paper, hit print, watch it be stuck in the print queue for 5 minutes, delete job, repeat at least 10x, curse, restart printer, smash printer, finally get printout, and then forget printout at home. I had a good time at Blue, but I thought Midway was too icy. It became a little dicey especially with all the people. Almost had a mid-air collision with a gaper who should have stuck to Vista. Think I'll just bike tomorrow and see what's going on next weekend. In the meantime, I'll pick up a $29 midweek ticket.

How much were lift tickets @ Shawnee? The website says $65 which is abhorrent for one actual trail being open. The non-refundable rate is $31, but I only have 4 more hours to decide and I'm not sure I want to commit yet...

Thanks, I didn't realize these were on sale. I only saw the triple ticket deal. I'll pick up a midweek and take a day off of work later this season to see how I like this place. Got a good impression yesterday, but need to test the whole place out to see how it compares to CB.

Thanks. Considering going tomorrow for a few runs. Its supposed to be colder with a high of only 39.

Let us know how Shawnee is today. I always have a great time there and like the trail layout. Plus, the high speed lift is a fantastic bonus. I'll wait for at least a blue or black trail to open, since I think only greens are open.

Thanks guys. Shawnee is opening tomorrow, and Camelback is not. SHAWNEE!!! This is 100% legit, check their website: Shawnee-on-Delaware, PA – Thanks to some aggressive snowmaking, Shawnee Mountain will open for early season skiing, snowboarding and snow tubing this weekend, November 25 & 26, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Five trails will be open, including: Hiawatha, Blue Mountain, Greenhouse Slope, Little Chief and top to bottom on the 5,000’ Pennsylvania Trail. Two to three lifts will operate, including the beginner-friendly Little Chief Double Chairlift and the Tomahawk Express Quad Lift. Ski and snowboard rentals, group/private lessons and beginner’s packages will all be available.

Camelback Snowtubing Report - 11/24/2017 Still high from the adrenaline rush of skiing 800 feet at Blue on Black Friday, I decided to head north to Camelback to check out galactic snowtubing, and maybe at last get some use out of my Hero level Season Pass, which is losing its functionality due to lack of use. I've always wanted to experience galactic snowtubing at the largest snowtubing park in the USA, so my dream was finally going to be realized. I left Blue around 2 pm and headed up the Little Gap Road, eventually coming to Bartonsville, where I ate lunch and dinner at the same time at East Gourmet Buffet. On a pow day, it's crucial to time this meal right in order to minimize expenses and avoid the dreaded lunch leftovers. Always arrive at East Gourmet Buffet before 3:30 pm and you'll save $4.60 while still getting a decent buffet. Make sure you fill up like a boa constrictor on oysters and white rice, and eat as much as your stomach can hold, or else you'll be forced to pay $5.99 for one hot dog at The Thirsty Camel. After eating, I pulled off the Tannersville exit and could finally see the eastern side of the mountain come into view. The ski trails were pitifully bare with nary a snowflake to be seen on Cliffhanger or Nile Mile. But the snowtubing area was stockpiled with piles and piles of fresh snow that will last until April or maybe even May. I eagerly dressed into my snowtubing attire, complete with wireless bluetooth speaker to annoy all galactic tubers, and GoPro Hero+ (with retention strap) to record every precious moment, and hit the mountain. The magic carpet ride was exhilarating and much better than sitting on a dumb old ski lift. The snowtubing lanes were groomed to perfection with fresh corduroy. I got to experience decent First Trax, but the crowds ruined all the fresh powder by the third run. The line moved pretty quickly at first, but from the lofty height of the snowtubing hill, I could see the Jersey plated vehicles pouring into the parking lot. Many guidos were weary from early morning Black Friday shopping at the Outlets, but their kids were still full of energy and thoroughly excited for the galactic tubing adventures to come. By run 4, the mind numbing boredom was quickly setting in. My max speed had decreased from 15.7 mph to a paltry 15.6 mph. These speeds were downright pitiful after hitting an exhilarating 44.0 mph on Lower Main Street earlier. With each tubing run, however, the lanes became slower, and the Jersey accents were giving me a migraine. After one final, long, excruciatingly boring wait in line, I hit run 5 at 15.5 mph and decided to call it a day. Overall, galactic snowtubing was a let down after a great day of skiing at Blue Mountain. Even more disappointment set in as I realized that I'll have to wait until next Friday to try galactic snowtubing again, since season passholders are prohibited from galactic snowtubing on Saturdays or Sundays. Having spent my entire allowance on the Camelback Season Pass, and my remaining $29 on Blue, I am now out of money and will be stuck at home all weekend long while all other PASRs are enjoying skiing a genuine black diamond at Blue. While these great folks offered me their buddy passes, I will wait until more trails are open at Blue so I can experience the whole mountain in its entirety and make the tough decision in February of whether I want to finally ditch Camelback (the answer is yes).

When did this outage occur? Started around 10:45 ish. Then the lift moved at the torturous pace of 0.5 mph for the remainder of the ride, and I was only about halfway up.

That was ridiculous. SkiTrack says that outage took 26 minutes and 35 seconds. Other than that, great day overall.

Barely. WTF.

SOS. Trapped on the left lift for 15 minutes. Havent moved an inch. Looks like its done running for the season.

Haha, you beat me to it. This was going to be my post: *** BREAKING NEWS ALERT FROM TANNERSVILLE *** Snowtubing Season Begins Friday Associated Press, Tannersville. Camelback is excited to launch another Out-Of-This-World Snowtubing Season with Galactic Tubing, Friday November 24th 4:00PM-10:00PM. Mountain operations has concentrated all of the snow gun fleet capacity on the snowtubing hill throughout the past several cold nights, so all 42 lightning fast snowtubing lanes will be open. Season pass holders are welcome to head over after a fun filled day of skiing at Blue Mountain, Palmerton, on Black Friday, but not Saturday or Sunday. Come and enjoy the feeling of being a sitting duck in an uncontrolled and unstoppable rubber tube after standing in line for at least 30 minutes per run.

Thanks for the info. Last year, I went to Elk on the Friday after the March superblizzard. The crowds weren't bad at all until around 11-12 pm. Then a line formed at the main lift near the lodge, so I moved over to the other lift and it was pretty empty most of the afternoon. The lines were never terribly long, and they moved pretty fast. It seemed that most people knew how to get on and off the lift, so stops were very minimal - compared to Camelback, where you'll average 3 stops per ride. I may try going to Elk on a Sunday, since I'm stingy about using vacation time. Camelback turns into an absolute zoo on Saturdays and Sunday, and you'll easily have at least 100 people in both high-speed quad lines most of the day. I would never pay $67 for a weekend lift ticket to stand in that cluster, but I tolerate it since I have a season pass and a lot of time to kill.

I love how this thread's initial topic was BC, but instead every other mountain is discussed.

How bad are the crowds at Elk on weekends? Is it worth going? I went on a Friday last year and it was amazing, truly like skiing in Vermont. Considering a weekend or two this year, but not if I have to stand in line all day long.

Hope I didn't forget how to ski. Will the chair lift for n00bs be open so I can warm up?

168's. Entry level, but good enough for a few more seasons. I'll eventually upgrade to Volkl RTMs.

I'll have the same attire as below, except for the wireless bluetooth speaker, and the blue GoPro retention strap on my helmet.

Mostly both high speed lifts, but I think I used some of the slower lifts, like Old Bailey, once the New Jersey gapers flooded the lines on Sullivan & Stevenson.

Found my personal best at Camelback: https://gpx.io/a/jx5x 3/4/2017 Start time: 9:05 am End time: 9:41 pm Total decent: 40,304 ft Total runs: 62 or 63 Fun level: Insanely Fun Camelback level achieved: Wild Bactrian Camel

I'll probably hit up Blue for 8:30. Look for a skiier with a helmet, jacket, snowpants, gloves, and goggles.

Geeze Steeze, for $50 more I could be skiing on my pass already.