EdBacon

Power just went out at Hunter.

Temps are falling way faster than originally forecast. A lot of the Catty's are already reporting 12+ inches and we got another 24 hours of heavy snowfall to go. Somebody over on AZ said the snow quality wasn't that bad, as temps were around 29 degrees.

Booked for the weekend. Looks like im driving up tomorrow. Roads should be fine, the Hudson Valley will be mostly rain. This storm is gonna be super elevation dependent. We're staying in Woodstock, so we probably won't even hit snow in town. Gonna be a choice between Hunter, Belleayre and Platty on Saturday to see who got the goods. Hopefully the rain changes over quick.

There's a good chance you'll be dealing with wind holds tomorrow. Hopefully Tomahawk stays open.

Belleayre and Plattekill this weekend. Anyone else gonna make the trip?

That's a shame. The other option is Plattekill but thats a hike.

Think I'll head up over Jack Frost. I need a little diversity anyway. Are there tree runs at Elk?

Freezing rain that far north? Damn. And it even mixed in the Catskills. Magic might be good but I'm not driving that far.

How are they making out today? Did Frost beat the rain? Otherwise I may try Elk.

I hiked and rode down last winter after one of the storms we got. It was actually pretty fun. Met a guy there who was skinning up to get some turns.

I don't think anything ever happens to Happyland. They seem pretty committed to keeping the glades they have now open. They've since put signage up and made it pretty semi-official. The only thing that didn't get signage was Elevator, incidentally.

Yeah... it doesn't look like that anymore.

My guess is you might be able to pick a path down after they've blown a lot of snow. Unfortunately with the rain they got there isn't a ton of blow over. They only started remaking snow over the weekend and I'm not sure how much attention they gave to River Shot. If they had a week where they just solidly blasted River Shot then I'd give it a go. It sucks because you can't see down the damn thing from the top to figure out what its gonna be like.

Hey I just realized I have a Camelback 50th Anniversary sticker in my desk drawer. Anyone want to buy it off me? It's in mint condition, never been used.

Were you able to ski it without natural? From what I understand it was too difficult for them to clear brush on such a steep pitch for a trail that doesn't have snowmaking. It's a shame. It was a unique trail. Probably the most difficult thing in the Poconos. I honestly wouldn't mind if they let some of the trees grow in to make it into a kind of gladed run, and just keep the briers clear. They still do a great job on the other glades though. Even Risk It, which is probably stupider than Elevator.

Elevator doesn't look doable, at least looking over the edge of River Shot. Lots of brush in there. A couple tracks went down but I don't think anyone did the whole thing today. It's just really choked up and 8 inches is not enough on top of nothing. It might be more open skiers right after you come out of Elevator Glade, but again, 8 inches on top of nothing isn't enough for me to attempt it. Happyland is always the most consistent, for whatever reason. I think the big fan guns they use on Challenge just make less dense "snow" so it doesn't ice up in there as much from the blow over.

Best day of the year so far. Get at it.

Just got back from a great day at Jack Frost. Best conditions so far this year. Had a blast. Left a little late but the roads were fine (only about an inch of snow fell in Bucks Co.) and got into the parking lot around 9:30. Booted up and went right for the east side, didn't hit any of the blues or terrain park today. Mountain was practically empty. I was able to ride on to most lifts, but that's not unusual at Frost on a weekday. First run of the day was poaching T-bolt. It was closed for snowmaking which meant I got a run down an almost untouched 8 inches of pow over snowmaking whales. Maybe half a dozen tracks on the trail total. Next up was Happyland which rode good throughout the day but got bumped up later. Moved over to River Shot and Floyds which rode great: pow which started to get tracked out but just turned into nice soft bumps. I love nice soft bumps. Tried Elevator glade which was icy underneath, couldn't hold an edge and slipped it, rather than ripped it. Run of the day was Floyds. Not for the trail but because somebody attempted to drop Risk It. Basically, Elevator Glade and Risk It are ice close to the open trail where the snowmaking blow over has set up into cement, peppered with ice chunks from when they groom out the adjacent trails. The further side towards the woods only got the 8 inches of cover from last night. Not enough to start hucking cliffs. Anyway, this guy didn't give a fuck and decided to send it over Risk It into some ice chunks. Slid his way down and lost his ski. I was kinda jealous. I wish I was that gnarly. Everything was tracked out, but still riding well by noon. Packed up around 1:30. All in all a great day.

Platty is the best thing south of VT when there's a decent snowfall. Heck, I'd even take Platty on a pow day over a lot of VT mountains like KMart or Mt Snow. Love that place, great atmosphere and a lot of fun lines in the trees if you know where to find them.

Yeah its basically like the Blair Witch Project out there. Many people have gone missing. Always make sure you practice appropriate backcountry safety procedure when you're in the Bear Creek sidecountry: go with a local who knows the terrain, carry a shovel/beacon/probe and make sure you've got food and water.

Man you should go. Ask a local about the back bowls for a good time.

Now it looks like all snow for the Pokes so next week should be good. Comfy temps too: highs in the upper 20s to low 30s. Sunday-Wednesday looks best provided any precip stays all snow.

You gotta whack your pole hard before you drop into The Squatch. If you wanna get really gnarly yell "Watch me rip this line!" so everyone knows you're about to get rad.

4ish inches in lower Bucks Co but hard to tell with how the wind blew it around. Gonna stay in tomorrow then make the trip to JF Saturday, probably. Maybe take a sick day monday because this next system looks like it could rain.

Wow be careful man Sasquatch is a really hard trail. Ask ski patrol about conditions next time before you "drop in" as the pros say it.