Jersey Tomato

Blue was my fave til the prices went up, & did Camelback sometimes til they started charging for parking now I'm doing the Indy pass for Montage & lil Shawnee - got 2 days each this season- mostly ski the Cats & Indy areas now

So I'm reading a Storm Skiing Journal & Podcast interview of Camelback's GM David Makarsky & it mentions nearby Pa. ski areas. "Closest neighboring ski areas: Shawnee Mountain (:24), Jack Frost (:26), Big Boulder (:27), Skytop Lodge (:29), Saw Creek (:37), Blue Mountain (:41), Pocono Ranchlands (:43), Montage (:44), Hideout (:51), Elk Mountain (1:05), Bear Creek (1:09), Ski Big Bear (1:16)" - - (check out link below) Now I started skiing a long time ago & thought I knew the inside baseball of skiing better than most- but I've never even heard of some of these places! How about you PaSki&Riders? Ever been to Pocono Ranchlands? or Hideout? What's the deal with these little hills? How can they survive if they don't tell the public they even exist? https://www.stormskiing.com/p/podcast-162-camelback-managing-director#media-53a2eade-7b13-4f44-acb8-ad5bb65eef50

Can you imagine how a HS lift would transform that place!

At Montage last week I got to talking with an older dude who was waiting for his grandkids to show up- says he knows Elk's owner personally, even did some contractor type work for him years ago- says he's such a cheapskate that when those lifts broke down last year he fixed them with used parts not new ones, to save a little money! so he won't ski there anymore- says owner's 91 y.o. & the guy's daughter is heavily involved & may take over some day- he's heard nothing about a sale & doesn't believe the old man would anyway. He also said that the owner was so pissed about a nearby condo development going up that he banned the condo owners from skiing at Elk- which was the reason most bought their condos to begin with- wtf!

I went again yesterday- this time I parked in the lot closest to the top of Phoebe Snow lift, booted up there, then skied down to the lodge to get my pass validated. Later got my lunch from my car & enjoyed it sitting at one of the picnic tables by the top of Phoebe Snow lift. When you know the layout it's pretty easy to get around.

The obligatory White Lightning pic

Fast hardpack under beautiful blue skies, temps in upper 30s. Bumps on Boomer & White Lightning. Used the Indy Pass. Cool antique toboggan. I liked everything but *The Big Stairs* you have to carry your equipment from the lot down to the lodge...& back up. And what's with all those tents?

Nice feature- https://snowbrains.com/montage-mountain-pa-report-skiing-the-2nd-steepest-slope-in-the-east/

Conditions were very good a couple of days ago

Platty also attracts free heelers in winter & MTB in summer. I'm glad they're doing better & love skiing there- I like all the ungroomed terrain cuz it means less crowds on those trails.

Then again, Belle was there first- before Platty, Huntah or Windy.

Then again, ORDA runs Whiteface/Gore/Belleayre just fine. True it's a govt agency not a private company but they're making it work.

Wanted to hit it today but a huge accident on 80 East cost me so much time I switched to Shawnee which is much closer (see my TR). Made lemonade from those lemons as everything turned out good. Will hit Montage with my Indy pass some other time. Really wish Blue was on it but they "went Epic"

Haven't been here since our kids were little so I figured I'd use my Indy Pass to get a day of carving under blue skies with not a cloud anywhere. Got a ton of runs in off the Tomahawk HSQ which also provided some nice convo with total strangers on the way to the top. As the sun warmed temps to the mid 40s the snow got softer & a little sticky here & there so I stuck to the shady side wherever possible. Base was impressively deep in many places. Machine groomed packed manmade that was groomed fine in most places but a little...weird...in a few others as you can see from the photos- choppy & "gouged" is the only word that comes to mind. ROTD was Delaware. All in all a very pleasant day.

Tried to find some on Blue's website but it's really no help so can anyone rec something decent within a 15-20 min drive? Don't need anything flashy but then again want to avoid bedbug type places. TIA