Ski

Chippy, I was doing laps on WL and Boomer all afternoon looking for you Crowds? Yeah, it was insanely crowded for Sno...it was a Tuesday afternoon for BC or Blue. Ty and I pulled into the lot at 7:50am. Mostly employees and a couple of other people with out of state plates were scattered around. It was cool to see just about every gun on the mountain firing. After booting up in the lodge, I turned TY over to her coaches and started out on Cannonball. There was one or two guns on a bad setting and it had a wet mix. Cannonball wasn't so great, with some crusty spots. I met up with some other race parents at the Phoebe and we did our next run on Boomer. Holy crap! The guns were tilted, so you could see, and the snow was soft and fluffy and there was a ton of it. By far the best slope on the mountain. WL was good, too, but the moguls never formed with rhythm. Mike P and I think Keith (sorry, I always forget names) had made their way out of the park for Boomer's snow. A word to Mike P.: sell those twin tips, dude, you should be racing. Some time after 9am, I ran into Chippy and his cool dad and we lapped Boomer for a few runs, then headed to the upper mountain for a look around and for me to meet up with Ty for her 11am lunch break. A word to Jeff: you better watch out, Chippy's starting to ski more and more like you The lodge was busy, but we had plenty of room for our brown bag food. Since I keep getting in trouble for my posts by management, I've decided not to buy the $6 chicken tenders. They're good, but they need to be nicer to their loyal customers. After lunch, I turned Ty back over to her coaches and went to look for Chippy. I ran into Nick at the top of the Iron Horse. It would be really cool if his boss lets him enter the comp. Nick said he'd rather support the mountain and work the event, but Sno should have it's best skiing the event. There were 11 tour buses in the house and a couple of the bus companies from Maryland had purchased a hundred sets of the crapiest old rentals ever. Some of the Hagan skis (anyone ever heard of Hagan?) didn't have brakes or leashes. Their edges were worn away by 1988, or so. I heard some instructors saying how bad they felt for people trying to learn on them. I saw Melissa and her best friend forever, but didn't say hi because she's on thin ice with me. So it was back to the NF and 10 runs down Boomer's amazing moguls. They were building up each run and just kept getting better. I finished the day on WL, but didn't see the lone bunny skier over the headwall coming down the best line, which was a drag. Sorry, lady, I didn't mean to scare you. BTW, Smoke was closed most of the day for training. Tomorrow, the J3's will be ripping it up in a USSA race. Awesome day and def a decent day for ticket sales. The longest line at the Phoebe was three or four minutes. I guess we can tolerate that for the greater good Here's the Devo Team early in the day on Boomer, with two of the best coaches on the planet:

March 1 / 2 - ASRA PA State Championships Elk Mtn, PA © Event type TBD

And midgets.

Hahahaha...I got it anyway....

Will their be midget bowling? This will def help MC's cred:

Yeah, I'd agree with Windham. And tons of inexpensive places to stay...Greek Peak is another good option and less crowded.

Good question. Maybe something on Sidewinder that cuts across Fast Track and Runaway to bring skiers to the Iron Horse? It wouldn't make sense to blow on something you can get to and from...

Not really PC, but I like it. They are the one's that ski down the bricks to return their gear.

As of last night: The NASTAR trail needs more snow. Snowmakers blew, then groomers leveled the piles, but there's not enough base for gates right now. The forecast lows for tonight are high teens/20, which is good, but a lot depends on just how many hours of cold Sno gets. Also, due to the USSA race Sunday on Smoke, there def won't be NASTAR that day. Just guessing, but Highball could probably be reopened for the weekend with just a few solid hours of snowmaking, which will spread the MLK crowd out. And maybe the new trail, Snake, on skier's far right?

MLK weekend is one of the busiest of the year. It's been my experience that if you ask for a particular instructor---or request a Level II certified instructor---you'll get them if they are available. Sure, their first reaction might be to 'yes' you and then tell you how they are all very good instructors. Personally, I'd take a newbie to Sno on a busy weekend like this...not trying to drum up business, but CB might be miserable.

I heard it mentioned that they may extend it one week...oh, and I just answered my own question---gates will be set on Whistler. I suppose I'll head over for that. IDK...it's a bummer. Bob, do they know you surf PASR from work?

I'll be the first to ask: If there's a lane to train, why isn't there a lane to time it?

And the unexpected bad news: Hello League racers! Good news and bad news from Race Start today! The good news is that we will be starting up the league tonight at ski school. Registration at the same times as last year, 5:00 thru when ever you get out of work time. The bad news is the race course on Switch trail. There is still quite a bit of grass showing at the top of the race trail and Snowmaking wants to concentrate their efforts on it while it is cold. Good, we will get lots of snow for the rest of the season. Bad, we cannot have a timed race tonight. We will however, be able to run a non-timed course on Whistler trail, Good. We will call it a gate training night. Good, we will have Yuengling specials in the bar! Here

In all seriousness, POC, you just have to drop me a PM if you want a tour of our gated community. There's also Wallenpaupack Lake Estates and a couple of others in the area. One of my soccer player's dads is a realtor and could give you a better idea of what's available in the area. We looked pretty extensively at farmhouses and other properties before deciding on a community, mostly because of the heated pools, sand beaches on the lakes, and having a safe place for kids. Just FYI, 3 bdr/2 bath chalet style homes are back down under $140k... Anyway, Dave is a no bullshit, very friendly guy who'd be happy to get you started with some info without any pressure. Here's his contact info: Dave Kovaleski

Go to the ski school desk and ask for an experienced instructor. If one if free, they'll assign her to him/her. It's a busy weekend, so it's not an ideal time, but you do what you can. A lot of times, private lessons are held by Level II instructors since it's a better gig for them. I'd rather teach a private lesson any day. Funny how the newbie instructors are usually thrown in with big newbie skier groups, when those new skiers would really benefit from experienced instructors. But that's how it's done. Bring her up to Sno some time. She'll probably feel a lot more comfortable with 1/100th the crowd and they have several Level II and Level III instructors that give awesome private lessons. If you do, ask for Art M. He's far and away the best ski instructor I know.

Good to hear...it'll be interesting to see if it gets especially busy this weekend. There's a J3 USSA race on Sunday, which is a pretty good thing to try and avoid, since there are over 100 racers that age and they are maniacs (eh, in a good way). Saturday should be the best and least cold.

Mmmmmm....urinal cake taste tester?

That's about what we got, but the second snow was beaten down by heavy flakes at our house. I worked in North Joisey yesterday, so it was pretty interesting to see the varying amounts. Tobbyhanna had a lot of snow, then it was just a dusting by the time I got down to CB. East Stroudsburg is brown, as is the Water Gap, except for high up on the rocky peaks. Then as you travel on Rt. 80, it's snowy on the hill tops and brown in the valleys. But it was snowing steadily in Morristown and Parsippany.

You can change that yourself, but we'll let you figure it out

Hmmmmmm. But it's none of my business.

Hey, thanks, Poc. I'm just really fortunate that Ty got my wife's brains. BTW, have I mentioned it's a buyer's market up here?

You're on thin ice, but nice TR, Blondie

I was just teasing Rob because I don't like him. He feels the same way. It may be a little disconcerting to innocent bystanders, but it's just the way things have to be. BTW, you got a great life lesson from your folks. But I think you have to be really careful in balancing how much you require your kids to work for some things. For example, I'll always equip Ty with the best skis, but I'll expect her to show up for every practice. IDK, I'm much easier on my kids than I let on. Just ask Sib...her daughter was brought up with amazing life lessons, while I spoiled my oldest. But she was also the product of a tough divorce. She's kicking ass at the 13th oldest college in America, though, so all's well that ends well... BTW, I was in Parsippany this afternoon.

It's supposed to come with instructions...like a giant bicycle. I'm only half kidding, Toast. We bought land off Fish Creek Rd. over a year ago and my wife wants a yurt, but after building our hot tub room here, I'm done building sh*t forever. So I'm going to employ Daryl, Daryl, and their other brother Daryl...

Ha, if you built my yurt, you can stay in Wilson, WY, for a few seasons.