johnnypowder

Don't know if you heard or not but Pete and Karen are retiring. Their location will become the 6th store for Buckman's in time for the coming winter. Morning Call article

Heading to Bolton Valley tonight thru Sat and then over to Stowe for Sunday. Bolton says 7"-14" is coming their way Friday.

Snow now courtesy of Mother Nature! Rails still by BC Ironworks. THIS IS NOT A COMPETITION!!! It's open riding 12p-5p for $5 per person. Come show off! There's sure to be TV coverage of this event. -John

If anyone is in Philly during the day on Saturday 1/29 stop by the Piazza at Schmidt's for the 104.5FM Winter Jam. We will have a terrain park set up (13' scaffolding tower with 3 features) open 12pm - 5pm. Just $5 to ride as much as you want. There will be 3 bands, the X-Games will be on the huge outdoor TV, and you can ride the rails! Visit radio1045.com for details! -John

Hey, check out the CBS PHilly deal of the day! http://offers.cbslocal.com/coupon/2005 Get a $50 Sno Mtn ticket for only $25. Only 10hrs left until the deal runs out. -John

Hey all - Snow guns have already been fired up at Snow Valley in California. The tropics are alive with Atlantic storms. Winter must be right around the corner! Those of you who have been to King of Prussia over the summer have no doubt seen that we have be doing a complete remodel of our shop. We added 4,500sq ft of retail space and as importantly additional parking spaces! Anyway, the store officially reopens on Oct 1st along with all of our other shops but on Friday, Oct 15th we are having a HUGE Grand Re-Opening Event. (note, Pre-Season sale is the entire week starting Monday, Oct 11th!) Confirmed appearances so far: Danny Kass, Bjorn Leines, Louie Vito, Gretchen Bleiler, Glen Plake, Seth Morrison, Mikey LeBlanc, Danny Davis, Daron Rahlves, Michelle Parker, Pep Fujas and Cody Townsend! The day will kick off live on WMMR's Preston & Steve Show with interviews and give-a-ways. Later in the day at our KOP store there will be signings and product give-a-ways. That night starting around 9pm there will be an after party at Fox and Hound in KOP. The details including additional appearances will be updated on buckmans.com! Think Snow and hope to see you in KOP! -John

Sounds like Windham got some snow out of this storm. An e-mail I got said 8" or so fell over the weekend. Assume Hunter did as well then.

Really, what don't we have that they did? We carry more brands, and better brands, have better selection throughout each brand, and have about twice the staff they did and we kept many of their employees. We didn't "eat up" Pinnacle. They came to us wanting to get out of the business in that location so it was a win/win for everyone involved. We have never actively pursued another ski shop to take them over. All of our expansion has been through existing ski shops wanting to get out of the business coming to us asking if we want to buy them out. Just about every Spring/Summer we receive calls from one or two shops looking to get out of the business. Anyway, back to getting the board set up. With the season winding down now is a great time to stop in a shop. Especially Buckman's. It's clearance time so everything is marked down. Our stores close up March 31st so don't wait. -John

The store was supposed to honor the free rentals if anyone came in asking for them this week. Saurus' incident was a screw up by our employee. We had just backed off the advertising and slid the promotion one week to ensure we could take care of all the customers better. I have IM'd Saurus to fix the situation. -John

sorry, they should have honored it for you. Owner changed his mind last minute since many of our rentals were still out last weekend and we wanted to make sure we had good selection for customers. Free Rentals is now March 15th-18th and 22nd - 25th. On a bright note, it is also Clearance Sale time! Skiwear and Boardwear is Buy 1, get 2nd of equal or lessor value for $1 (one dollar). See the stores for details. -John

At Buckman's our rental fleet starts at 70cm. Kids boots go down to a 14.0 which generally is small enough to get a 2-3yr old started. Both my boys started at 2 1/2+/- using our rentals. My rule was that as long as they were having fun we kept going. As soon as they showed signs of getting cranky I scooped them up and got them off the hill. I always wanted skiing to be a positive experience so they would continue to want to do it. Seems to have worked so far. The boys are 13 and 9 and both love it. Both actually snowboard now, although the oldest does both. But the only time they jump out of bed early is when we are going skiing. Make it fun and it will last a lifetime! -John

Hey all - For the 2nd year in a row Buckman's is offering FREE Rentals! The weeks of March 8th - 11th and March 15th - 18th. Starting 10am on Monday of each of those weeks you can pick up FREE rentals at any Buckman's location. Skis, Snowboards, X-C, Snowblades, or Snowshoes! As long as you return the Rentals by the close of business on Thursday (9pm) they are FREE! This is a great way to get someone on the slopes who hasn't ever tried a winter sport or maybe hasn't been out in a while. -John

I love skiing at Elk too but as with most PA areas, you are pretty much skiing one fall line off of one peak. At Greek Peak there are 3 different peaks with distinct fall lines. Definitely adds to the variety and changes up the terrain.

Ok, so if you are a park rat you probably can skip Greek Peak but for the rest of you, you have to get here sometime! Obviously conditions just about everywhere are great with all this fresh snow and Greek Peak is no exception. The got 18"+ Friday and it snowed just about all day Saturday for an additional couple inches. Woke up today and it was snowing again. A few more inches on the ground overnight! Greek peak has a little of everything for everyone. Some nice cruisers that will make you think you are in VT. Some great bump runs and my favorite - some great tree skiing. Full blown sanctioned tree skiing! And not just one place on the Mountain. There's at least 3 different areas where you can drop in and enjoy the trees. I spent the weekend with my 13yr old, my 9yr old, and my wife and we all had terrain that kept us happy. My oldest and I did the trees while the youngest and wife skied some blues that paralleled the trees. We all met up on the way down. Every lift services at least one green, one blue, and one black so everyone can pick their own way down. It allows Dad to jump into the bumps for a run or two while the family chooses another way down. It is really difficult to find areas that allow all parts of the family to ride the same lift but ski their own ability level trails. Oh, and don't get me started on the Hope Lake Lodge & Waterpark! The hotel is wonderful. The staff was friendly and eager to help. The rooms are more than comfortable and who doesn't like the Adirondak rustic style? Especially at a ski resort! The waterpark is not just for the kids. 4 water slides, a wave pool, and kiddie area but the best part is the indoor/outdoor heated pool and adjoining hot tub! Love being in a heated pool when it's snowing! Oh, and they sell beer and wine at the waterpark along with food! Anyway, getting ready to get in the car and drive home but definitely plan on coming back! -John

The bailey was fine first thing before it got at crowded and then they got the quad open. Never more than a couple minute wait to get on the lift and conditions were outstanding! A lot of "Whooo Hoooing" from everybody on the slopes!

Hey all - For this Saturday's Buckman's Boulder Bash Slopestyle we will offer On-site Registrations for all Divisions. The Registration desk will open at 8am! Come early to ensure a spot! To speed On-site Registration please print, fill out and bring a copy of the Registration Form for each competitor. Don't forget the Open Divisions pay CASH (ok it's really a check) $1000 for 1st $750 for 2nd $500 for 3rd Some important information for Saturday 2/20:

One last reminder - Online registration scheduled to close this Sunday night. It's shaping up to be another great Buckman's event! -John

Just a reminder, registration oficially closes on the 14th! We will probably fill prior that so don't wait until last minute!

Sorry, it's supposed to ask you to put the competitors info in the ship to or the notes section of the order. I will e-mail everyone in a week or so to verify competitors name, age, etc... so no worries. As long as the e-mail you entered is vaild all will be good. See ya on Feb 20th! -John

Always how we do it. Same with the Grommets. Don't get enough of each (women's skiers vs women's boarders, grommet skiers vs grommet boarders) to warrant separate divisions and prizes. It would mean 2 more divisions and 6 more winners which would take prizes and cash out of the hands of the other divisions. If the women's division or the grommet division grows then we will consider it in coming years. Reminder, registration is open and going briskly. don't miss out register now! On-site registration most likely will not be available. -John

Online Registration is officially open! 2 options - One is just registration The other is registration plus a lift ticket You decide! Regardless, you must have a valid lift ticket for 2/20 to compete. Also everyone needs to bring a completed liability release to check-in. Questions? E-mail me.

That would be a nice goal to achieve! See you there.

Buckman's Boulder Bash '10 - A slopestyle! Put it on your schedule now! Saturday, February 20th at Big Boulder. Online registration will be available in the next day or two. Visit buckmans.com and click on retail stores. There will be a link on the retail page for registration. Same format as last year. A slopestyle event. 2 judged runs per contestant with scores averaged. Top 10 in each division advance to finals. Helmets mandatory! Divisions: Open Skier Open Snowboarder Women's combined (ski and snowboard) Grommet combined (12 and under - ski and snowboard) Open Classes are for cash. $5,000 total cash purse to be paid out! Combined classes for product. $10,000 total in product and give-a-ways throughout the day! Registration is $20 online up to 2/14. If space available it's $25 on-site day of. You will need a lift ticket! It is up to you to provide one. We sell discount tickets if you need. We will limit this event to 100 competitors! Sign up early! Info for day of: Event Check in is 8am - 9:30am Practice is 9:30am - 11:00am Event begins at 11:30am questions? Email me

The Buckman's Boulder Bash is Saturday, February 20th. Online registration and full event details will be available later this week. -John

Like others I suggest this weekend. The MMR crowd will be the worst mid morning until the bar opens. Once the bar opens (by 11am at the latest) the slopes clear out. Afternoon skiing is actually very good. Getting into the bar in the afternoon is more difficult than skiing. Jack Frost takes great care of the slopes. With the new snow expected and the cold temps of the week conditions should be excellent. They also generally lay down a new layer of snow Friday night after the MMR day and do their grooming magic as well. MLK weekend is simply crazy! Now if you can take the day off Friday 1/15 we have a demo day at Jack Frost (tickets are $24.95 in advance) and it won't be too bad. But starting Saturday through Monday (Monday is horrible!) crowds at all area ski resorts are unbearable. -John