abe

They were making snow on high hopes and Stembogan earlier this week but the weather Thursday was pretty brutal 1 inch of snow and howling still lifts closed

50mph snow squall

Blue knob live update

Lancaster County Park yesterday morning. A bit sticky buy doable once I rubbed on some fresh wax. Was better later that night. Somehow I missed the memo I was planning on driving up to Crystal Lake but no reason to do that with 4" of snow here when I woke up

All beginner and intermediate terrain open including Deer Run, Jack Rabbit; most glades open, Extrovert, Route 66, High Hope's currently open on natural; nordic trails open & groomed. Stembogan has got to be coming next... this weekend? If the rain/snow event does not close the currently open advanced terrain maybe I'll pay them a visit Saturday

Quick jaunt by the state game lands off 322 between Brickerville (501) and Cornwall (72) on this sunny afternoon. I drove through here numerous times the past few weeks and noticed how much snow was still there as of yesterday on this north side of the ridge. Lebanon valley got a lot more snow than us here on the other side in Lancaster county and it seems to have not melted as much especially on this ridge in the valley 322 goes through. Driving from home there is basically no snow except from piles or drifts and I was beginning to think I'd be hiking but sure enough as soon as you roll through to the other side of this ridge holy smokes it's winter again. More snow here than in Stroudsburg. I made my way up the hill following some footsteps and deer paths to the Horshoe Trail but the trail itself running along the top was melted out in the middle from exposure and foot traffic. Snow disappeared as soon as you get tocoming over to the South side, really night and day demonstration of the north face effect. Brush was pretty heavy in spots it was a good thing I was wearing work pants and gaiters, had to sit on me bum a few times to check my speed with not enough room to maneuver. Trees had been thinned out towards the bottom and I found some remnants of logging roads then which were quite a bit better.

Super cool my mom and her brothers and sisters learned how to ski there

Didn't the Army Corps of engineers plan to flood the water gap way back when and that's why it's now federal land

Looks like pretty good snow coverage

Yeah I... slid a bit getting on 222 early this morning from the ramp. Not the 1st time I've done that in this spot it's banked weird on a curve. I need new tires for next winter. Roads are pretty ok now most spots

There is a parking lot at the bottom off 611 I tried to go on the AT on the lower third or so but it wasn't fun had to keep taking the skis off wayyy to rocky. The other trails from that same parking lot further back from the river/cliff were actually pretty good though . High speed lift pictured above ^ it's like 10 years old maybe? Really well maintained and super fast. The rest of the lifts are Partek (also in great shape) which they run fairly sslow due to typical Shawnee clientele. Fun fact 55% of Shawnee skiers rent, and they have 4,000 sets of rental equipment https://www.stormskiing.com/p/podcast-61-shawnee-mountain-pennsylvania Yah pretty cool I havent actually gotten a good look at the water gap before

before anyone gets all defensive about the lift comment lol, I will point out that Bleu has 2 detaches that go higher and steeper, one is a sixer, and doubles operate faster, so they have shawnee beat. Nevertheless the Jawnee jaunteroo has got to be quite a bit quicker and it looks cooler so fight me

It took me a bit over 2.5 hours for about 2 miles each way obviously most of that time going up! A bit more snow would have been nice but cant complain when its skiable. Those xc skis can really take a beating, with all the rocks I went over I was sure I'd have the bottoms all gouged up but the look pretty much they same as before, happy about that!

Seems like the Tomahawk must be the fastest lift in the state, I guess it is a bit younger than some. Looks cool too especially lit up. Also hard to get it properly on camera but I really like that "Blue Hour" when the sky gets so cool of an intense blue color right before dark

I think not quite 3 hours I left a bit after 6:30 stopped at Sheetz. Stopped to check tire pressures twice because the light came on but they were fine. Normally takes 2. Skied around this pond and up Mt. Minisi, the AT was too rocky but there is a logging road or something going up next to it that worked pretty well. Passed a big group of people they were like wtf you doing. I had to take off the skis a couple spots on the way down that were too steep and too rocky to snowplow. I'm not sure if it was better or worse that the group packed all the snow down, at least I could see where the rocks were better. Did like 6 laps at Shawnee or so, I got my alpine skis tuned up properly at the shop a few weeks ago and wanted to check them out. Yuge improvement cutting into the hardpack I definitely should avoid cheaping out and get them professional tuned more often.

Side quest complete. Gonna jawn back over for some fast laps

Getting a little icy on the blacks and thighs getting a bit tired. Gonna try to find somewhere to xc and then I'll come back here later and Alpine. They have some surprisingly large terrain features on Delaware. Woods are skiable but there is a lot of logs and low branches except off Delaware which is pretty good actually. Zero lines since they opened the 2nd quad including the Tomahawk express, they are doing a good job pairing up groups on there. Most people I have talked too are here from NJ or Long Island where they claim 2 ft of snow.

Nicely groomed with some fresh on top, still coming down, Shawnee is blowing too despite wind at top. Not crowded. Both quads and one of the double doubles running, 100% trails open. Successfully used Indy pass for the 1st time (lol). Renegade courderoy was untouched but a little slippery.

En route to Stroudsburg. Sadly will not be in time for 1st chair due to slick roads. Shawnee says 100% open 2-4"

Looking at the map - ever go up Mt. Minsi? I guess you definitely would not want to go too far south and fall off the cliff on the back side

Between going to Shawnee or Montage sometime this weekend, may as well go to Jawnee tomorrow morning to try and get some fresh snow. I'll probably bring my xc skis and see if anything around Stroudsburg is skiiable. Should've been in Delaware for this one. We barely had snow cover in Lancaster in the morning and the fog ate it by the afternoon despite it continuing to snow, not enough to ski. Hoping tomorrow we get a bit of coverage. I'm guessing it might be too crowded on a weekend to try out my tele skins on Shawnee Website says too crowded for uphill on weekends

Well Blue Knob is open full vert to the bottom, they have glades open now, and are blowing Deer Run which based on last year's pattern would seem to be about the last intermediate they might blow before starting Stembogan. Then maybe Jack Rabbit, then fill in the bowl, then with any luck they can help out Extrovert a bit before the spring meltdown... maybe this weekend's snow will help them out a bit. They are so gosh dang slow I want to go spend my $$$ there on food, cross country, merch, the works but can't justify the drive until they get a black or two open. Well at least I should be able to get there President's weekend when everything else is blacked out and packed crowded.

Shawnee's lifts are for the most part low-angle and sheltered well below the tree line, and the whole mountain is situated in a hollow with a northwest aspect out of which it doesn't really rise much higher than the previous ridge to the west. Thanks for the heads up, I may have to pull and audible and hit Montage too if the detach isn't running. I think they have the capacity to handle any crowds that may show up even without the Tomahawk but their other lifts the run SLOW to suit their clientele.

Shawnee is now 100% open. They actually have decent woods maybe I will hit this weekend with the fresh snow

I am not sure I will be able to make it all the way up there during a weekday but keep me updated, it would be cool to meet up sometime