EdBacon

Crashing at somebody's lakehouse I found on Airbnb. $40/night and I get my own bathroom. If I knew anyone in the area I'd be on their couch. Actually my aunt lived down the road but then she moved to Mexico. No nightlife. I'm getting up around 5:30 to drive up to Platty tomorrow morning. It's not far as the crow flies but its all local roads and it'll take at least 2 hours driving.

This was around noon.

No footy. Last time I was at Elk I was 14, and the place was only half open at the time (it was December), so I spent the time finding my way around a bit and looking where the fun stuff was. A bunch of places nearby have open mountain policies. Off the top of my head Jack Frost and Plattekill which are both fairly close by. Frost get significantly less snowfall too. I know Platty and Magic Mtn in VT organize volunteer glade clearing crews every off season. It's worth it, in my opinion. It would make the mountain stand out a lot more. To me it feels like a mellower version of Blue, with better snow. But if you could rock it off piste it'd be the nastiest place in PA. For sure its got the best snow in the Poconos. Not that its saying much but I'd make the drive when the conditions came together if they did. Otherwise I have to drive to the Catskills. I can do Elk in a day. Oh, run of the day was Lehigh. That green cruiser way off on the east side of the mountain. Only natural snow, narrow little trail through the woods. It's like meditation down there, man. Good stuff. I recommend it.

Just got in from riding Elk Mountain, PA all day. They must have received some more snowfall overnight. Looked to be 4-6 inches around the mountain when I pulled up this morning. Probably 6 or more up top. This is on top of what has been accumulating over the last 10 days. Unfortunately all but the two bump runs were groomed out. Conditions were still excellent: real packed powder and cord all day. There was hardly anyone there. Never had to wait for a chair. Bummed on Elk's no open mountain policy. There are some fun possibilities up there to bag turns through the trees. They certainly have the snow for it. Also love those rocks off the runout to Mohawk. Lots of fun just wish the landing wasn't so flat. Staying over locally and then driving up to Plattekill tomorrow morning.

They groomed everything out last night. It was still great. No crowds, fresh cord, but they have signs up everywhere telling you not to go into the woods or you'll get your pass pulled. I did find some little stashes though. Between Kickapoo and Wissahickon and off Mohawk. Actually there's a gnarly set of rock drops there between the runout of Mohawk and whatever the intermediate trail is next to it. The snow in there was great, light and fluffy. The landing was a little flat so I had to angle myself off the second time. I feel like if Elk adopted an open mountain policy like Plattekill I'd be there a lot more often. Also I love that beginner cruiser that is natural snow only that winds way out the east side of the mountain. Put some relaxing music on and just get into a kind of zen state out there. Fun day.

Or... maybe snowboarding just isn't cool anymore? Things do go through phases after all. And to be fair, the X-Games circus that surrounded everything does burn itself out after a while. Anyway, I had a great day at Frost yesterday. No park laps, no problem. It's gonna be great there all week its looking like. Get it before it Mother Nature changes her mind.

I'm going up there tomorrow. I can ask for you.

I teach biology so its mainly pre-med and pre-pharm students. Hyper career oriented in a lot of cases. These kids are under a lot of pressure to perform. I feel bad for them. Life has a way of working itself out and a lot of what you stress over in college you realize didn't matter in the long run.

I dunno. For one thing I grew up in a rural area, so playing outside was basically the only thing to do. I teach college kids. I would say priorities are different now. People feel they have to be more career oriented earlier on in life. There's a sense that if you don't have things planned out going into college, then you're something of a loser. I think younger kids now have less time to devote towards hobbies if they're told those hobbies won't help them towards a career.

I think this hits it perfectly. It was thing to do after school with your friends, but a handful of us really caught the bug and kept going.

Seconded. Magic is where you want to be with all this snow.

The main thing for me is that its just what I grew up with. I'm in my 20s now and don't want to relearn. I'll switch to skiing when I find lines that I can't ride on a board. Until then, I want to get at it and this is what I know how to do. Plus you get that surfy feeling which is super fun in powder.

Same here. I have one buddy that still rides that I keep in touch with. Everyone else either quit or I don't know what happened to them.

Yep. I grew up riding Bear Creek. Weeknights would be packed with kids out of school. You'd wait in a long line for the lift on a Wednesday night with absolute trash conditions because all anyone wanted to do was snowboard and lap the park. That whole generation either quit or mellowed out.

That's fine. I can't do anything in the park anyway.

Did snowboarding become uncool again? I noticed Blue got rid of their parks yesterday.

You meet interesting people. Introduce me sometime.

It was a coincidence, I swear.

Jack Frost was good today. Almost everything in the woods on the East Mountain is filled in. We had it all today: glades, cliffs, packed pow on the trails and stashes that lasted all day. You could drop into glades which had maybe one or two tracks in them until lunchtime. The base set up from the last two storms has held together well and the 4 inches or so they received last night rode soft and buttery today. I had no problems with rocks or debris except on the lower portion of T-bolt glade. The trails were riding great too: packed pow and ample pow along the sides of most trails. The place was practically empty. I shared the east mountain with maybe ten people all morning. Didn't get to Mad Tree or the glade skiers right of Telstar though. Maybe next year if the conditions line up again. Video evidence:

Doesn't Camelback groom everything out though?

Platty party tomorrow. Blue jacket, blue helmet, black pants and K2 Raygun with a white topsheet. Don't be a stranger in the singles line.

Staying in Woodstock tonight. 35 and raining in town, no snow on the ground. Drive a half hour west to Belleayre and there's 2-3 feet and its still coming down.

Magic Mtn is similar too. Place is a blast if they have enough snow.

Its where I'm gonna be regardless tomorrow morning.

Belleayre and Windham are out now too apparently.