EdBacon

They said on insta im coming or whatever is pow only. They opened it as a natural trail with like 10 inches of snow?

Was there like a week after they'd gotten two feet of snow and the woods were untouched around most of the place.

Feels like I'm at the grocery store or something.

I feel like it hits snowboarders worse than skiers. I see a lot of skiers got started at a young age by their parents, and they stick with it as it becomes a kind of family tradition. Most snowboarders got into it because it was the cool thing to do when we were younger, not because our parents took us with on trips. Some might have skier parents who decided to snowboard instead, but for a lot of kids once they grew up a little and got into other things, or moved or had kids or whatever it just dropped by like other things do. There's not the same "its a family thing" keeping it going.

Well check it out soon because the knob is one of those places that may not be with us for too much longer.

Go to the Knob.

Almost everyone I remember snowboarding with at BC back in the 2000s has since quit.

Bear Creek has been posting more park content than I've seen in at least ten years. New Parks at BC Insta handle and I've noticed a bunch of BB regulars have moved other there.

Does anyone send it off those boulders or is it all ice?

I ran into a French guy at Camelback and broke my finger one time.

Its a bit like JF. Upside down. Lodge on the top. Similar amount of vert on the river bluff. Same kind of short stepped headwalls where it did get steep. Nothing sustained or difficult and there's only like three or four ways down from the top, and too many merges/crossovers but I guess they do that to boost trail count. Could still be a cool spot if they put the money and care into it.

9AM I got up late.

Looking at the closed trail. Not poaching just looking.

Left my bank cards at home. Had to find a bank for emergency cash to get gas. Lucky I didn't start looking around the middle of nowhere that this place is in. Big Bear still had tickets available going into the weekend and since I'm checking out Shawnee tomorrow I figured I'd get another day in somewhere. It was the only place with space available. Parking lot is paved, so I wouldn't go back anyway. Place feels more like a country club than a ski area. It used to be private, I believe. It was designed by the same guy who built Shawnee and also private vacation community ski areas like Pocono Ranchlands and Winona Lakes. Anyway, advertises 650 vert. Can't be more than 500. Snow was scratchy but not too bad. Not good though. Doesn't feel like they're aggressive with snowmaking. Not all their trails were open, including their two steepest. Terrain park was very sad. Honestly just felt like things aren't kept up so well. But then they have RFID. So the basics are not great but then they spend money on things like that. Lifts are old but so what. They have a couple cool vintage 70s Borvig doubles, one with the original towers if you're into that. The one looks like it never runs anymore. Got yelled at twice by a 16 year old ski patroller. Started singing on the lift ride for entertainment. Feels like their business is mostly people who still own in the community, and they're content with that. There just doesn't seem to be a ton of effort compared to other hills in the area. The lodge is very nice though, and looks like they dropped a bunch of money on it. Wouldn't recommend even if you wanted a mountain to learn at as there's just nothing else going on, and the snow quality is inferior to other Poconos hills which have the added benefit of more terrain variety. And look, size isn't everything but what you do with it. They just don't do anything with what they do have. Also paved parking lot which sucked. That 16 year old would probably yell at you for tailgating too.

Don't get me wrong, I have enjoyed CBK for years. When I started snowboarding again after college CBK was my home mountain for three seasons while I was living in north Jersey. It has a good lift and trail layout. I was never that bothered by shorter steep pitch because you can lap the trails easy enough, and its really degrees of hair splitting given the competition in the area in my mind. The snow is a little more consistent than Blue imo. The old terrain park setup was creative, sort of self contained with its own lift and they had that street art program for the park features which made it feel unique. But after the hotel opened and I was dodging parents in sneakers with three year olds in tow walking to the mountain coaster, the crowds, the over zealous patrol and parking lot crackdowns I just had enough. To me, at least before Vail took over JF was so much better. Slower pace, no circus and less distractions. The slow lifts never bothered me. My favorite mountains like Platty and Magic are all old slow lifts. They're also laid back quiet places where you just go to ski and maybe tailgate after. That's just my speed and JF was closer to that than CBK.

Only the old heads will remember Sharp Mountain. This is the area from above, right on the west side of Pottsville. The ski area has been greatly altered by coal mining since closing in 1973.

CB is more amusement park than ski area now.

I won't ride a mountain with a paved lot as a rule.

No.

Gonna ice up.

Wait until they have a solid base of natural snow. When Platty is on it is really on.

Give it a freeze/thaw cycle or two. It turns bulletproof and given the pitch anything fresh ends up sliding off.

Don't drop in off the snowmaking mound on Rivershot. If you're "looking over the edge" you shouldn't drop in. You want to start skiers right in the flatter area above the headwall on Rivershot. You ski with the ice cliff on your left. The pitch is still fairly steep and there's a small ledge to drop over the steepest bit, but it holds snow much better. People do occasionally send it off of RIvershot but they either just got done making a ton of snow that has bound well and not slid off, a massive dump of fresh snow, or they're just insane. I have witnessed all three.

Right geographic area, but this place was closed just a couple years after Ski Cove opened.

Only the old heads will know this place. I wonder if anyone here has actually skied it when it was open. Clue: the lodge is still open.