Ski

Exactly what we're hoping.

Not as of Sunday's Post-Gazzette: Hidden Valley Want to buy a ski resort? As the snowsports season approaches, Hidden Valley is still looking for a new owner. The financially troubled resort, which has been advertised for sale in USA Today and the Wall Street Journal, was to be sold at a sheriff's sale in September for $704,570 in delinquent property taxes. But it got a reprieve when the owners, the Kettler family of Washington, D.C., paid $500,000 an hour before the Sept. 19 sale. The family agreed to pay the $204,570 balance by Dec. 31 or when the property is sold. The taxes are owed for 2002 and 2003. The Kettlers are willing to sell the entire resort or split it into separate portions that include the ski area, golf course, the residential site, the conference center and the water and sewage area. Meanwhile, the resort is getting ready for the season with a variety of attractive offers. It will again have "Super Value Tuesdays," when lift tickets for adults and children are only $15. Its Beginner Bonus Book, which includes two ski school lessons, two rental packages and two lift tickets, costs $79 and is good any day of the week. Its $69 per person Midweek Madness package includes lodging, lift ticket, continental breakfast, $5 in Outback Park dining dollars and use of the fitness center and indoor pool. The price drops to $62 per person for two or more nights.

We'll be able to talk to a human on the phone Saturday.

Human terminal velocity changes with area of resistance. So, yes, it's all about body position.

If it's from the top, 'Mom. Or Jeff and I are joining the masses at Hunta. 195's Doug?

Hellgate will start bumping up right away, especially if it warms up. There's usually a good window for decent size bumps and a break in the crowds at lunch time.

Eh, why not just test them on Boomer for the next 36 hrs?

Theoretically, a freefall in tuck position is faster than having your skis on snow. The top speed skiers are faster (150mph+) than someone jumping out of an airplane who is in the 'belly' position (110mph). But when trying to go fast, the top speed skier can hit a little over 150mph, while the record speed for freefalling from a plane is 321mph. It's all about the tuck position and riding a flat ski (edging slows you down). Catching air is slow because the skier 'opens up' and creates resistance. There's even been some change lately, with downhillers now throwing their hands behind their bodies during big air. Have you seen that? Instead of forcing their hands to their boots. It looks dangerous at 80mph, but it's been catching on. So a skier going off a cliff in a good tuck position will be faster than a skier in an identical position on snow. But it's almost impossible to hold the necessary tuck.

Belleayre will have 1/3 the crowd of Hunter, but the key is still whether they go to the top. Crowds weren't an issue until at least after 11:30am the last couple of years for Belleayre's opening. There are also MUCH FEWER Starter Jacket kamikazes at Belleayre.

Hunter this am: Belleayre's website: "IT'S LOOKING ALOT LIKE WINTER! Yes we should be open 11/19/2005!"

BTW, Thursday night will be 18 degrees at the base and Friday night's forecast is: "Patchy clouds and very cold. Winds from the W at 2 mph. Low: 16

'Dude, Sunday, when you turn around and ask "Who just smacked the back of my head with a ski pole?" Take a moment and reflect on that post and your question will have been answered.

Good for Blue. "Closed due to snow" just always seemed like a bad reputation for a ski area to have. But, uh, POC, have you just given yourself a new nickname?

Outer Limits is unrelenting. It just seems to go on forever. When it's knocked down and freshly groomed, it's just a fairly steep VT black diamond. But they pile snow from guns down skiers left and when the moguls really build up, it's a beast. I haven't been their since they started changing around Bear Mnt. to add terrain parks, so I don't know how the "outs" are. OL can be one of the toughest trails in New England and you have the lift right next to you and the deck watchers down below. Edit: When WL is at it's 'biggest', it's pretty similar to the bottom half of OL...much, much shorter, though.

Have they lit Olympian? It seemed like their steepest trail, but we'd be kicked off at dusk: 'Dude what are you telling me to put peanut butter on?

Good luck, Freak! I'm interested to see how the resort testing goes.

No thanks...been there a few times. I'll only go back with Zonked as my tour guide.

She must be bored to death at Greek Peak if she was bumping her way down WL as a newbie. EDIT: wait are you just a troll? No offense and I hope I'm not jumping to conclusions, but there's no way a newbie skis WL in it's bumped-up state and "doesn't find it challenging". That's just some troll thing to say.

Yeah, I can't speak for Blue's snow closing policy...but CB, Alpine, Shawnee, and others...it's just wrong.

Hmmmm...side slipping WL? If conditions are perfect, I guess. But they usually are lazy about grooming it and a lot of the time it gets Volkswagon-size bumps. Picture Outer Limits at KMart, but with icy troughs and no rhythm to the bumps. You see a lot of crying teenage girls on Wednesday nights, skis clutched to their chests, slidding on their butts trying to dig their heels in...

Your GF made it down WL as a beginner? That's amazing. I don't think I've ever seen a new skier survive the headwall; we sometimes stop at the bottom and watch school groups that we pass at the top. Usually pretty funny stuff.

Yep, the ONLY reason Montage has turned profitable is because of the snowtubing. The water park didn't work and was shut down. Without tubing, Montage would probably be a used car lot by now.

Ha, yeah, it's all about the timing. And you also have to hope they don't close the lifts.

I'm trying to figure that one out. In Macungie it snows more in the valley than at the 1100 ft. summit?

Snow in the Poconos (or the 110" @ Greek Peak, for that matter, which is compacted to account for 11" of base) isn't used for powder days. It's meant to groom right into the base. If a big snowfall happens, most PA ski areas close...and by big, I don't mean several feet 12" of snow CLOSES Camelback, more often than not, especially when the front or back-end of the storm has a mix in it. Good or bad, snowfall in the Poconos is pretty irrelevant, except to create a stir in the cities and bring out the masses. Narrow waist, razor edges, and boilerplate rules.