Ski

Ha, I didn't mean to say you said Sno didn't train lifties. Most of Sno's lift attendants are great...especially the one's that seem to work the bunny hill the most. I've taught a lot of Ty's friends to ski and have spent way too much time on what's now Baby Moose (AKA Calf). Being a liftie can be a chill job, but it can also be a mofo job when it's really cold, raining, or there's 400 people from New York City in line. Hell, there's a tip jar at Dunkin' Donuts, but not one at the lift? That seems wrong to me. But one liftie just standing there watching the chairs bash people is a huge deal. It also makes all the other lifties look bad, which sucks. I think it's important enough to be made an official rule, especially when little kid riders/skiers are in line...

It's like most things, though, Justin...you can buy the absolute basic item like a Huffy bike, or you can go right on up the price list. Not saying people don't have fun on a Huffy, but...if you add a diamond stone and just polished your edges and get rid of burrs, your edges would last longer than always using a file. And how sharp is your scraper after five years? Mine need a scraper sharpening every two weeks. And some skis can't be edge filed without a sidewall planer being used first. I'm all for keeping things on the cheap, but not at the expense of performance. As to a vice, you definitely need something to hold your ski/board steady while you run a file. You can wax with it on two chairs, but to do a good tune, you need a solid vice. If you make one, wrap the metal that holds the ski in duct tape to cushion it from damaging the base surface. And even though I currently have an iron specifically for waxing, I've used a half dozen cheap irons over the years. In fact, the cheaper the better, since those generally don't have the misting hole features which can be a pain for waxing.

I don't disagree with either of you. But we do train our lift ops to catch EVERY chair at our ski hill. Probably 90% of the skiers/boarders at our ski hill are beginner/barely intermediate. The Iron Horse lift serves greens and blues, so there's an assumption of a lack of ability. The dad himself was a little sketchy getting up to the red stop bar, which is what caught my attention in the first place. They were simply barely intermediate skiers wanting to ride the lift to ski the only green circle open from the top. But if you have someone there to catch chairs in the first place, then guests should feel confident that the chairs will be caught for them.

They are also hiring a former World Cup racer to help with the race program. You do understand the benefits of of bringing in marquee names even if it's just for the hype, right? Sno currently has some of the best USSA race coaches in the state. Not so sure it's all that ridiculous.

BTW, Marc, I received the second order today. I'll be sure Mike gets the brush and I'm psyched to try the X5. Thanks!!!

Who is going to reset Boulder's park, Rob? Isn't that what you should be worried about as opposed to flaming a Sno thread?

What's the training policy for working non-detachable chairs? If you recall, I had an issue with one of the lifties not catching the chairs on Iron Horse when I was with my little girl last year. No problems for us this season, but we were behind a guy and his son (maybe 8 yrs. old) on Sunday and the THREE people working the chair let one go by untouched and it wacked the hell out of the little kid. The dad was comforting the crying kid all the way up the lift. I think that is really fucked up. Don't you?

Most of us on here are, Chippy...we just assumed you were one of us. The snow cover in the northern Poconos is melting away today. Pretty cool that our schools have already had three 2 hr. delays and one full snow day. Hopefully, tomorrow's storm sets in. The local guys are saying 2-4" and 3-6", but it's like they're paranoid of getting Sat/Sun wrong, so they just keep saying "possibility of a classic nor'easter".

Hey, that's like in the Blue lodge...but it's just Doug passed out next to a puddle of...ah, nevermind.

Doug, Ty thinks Jen Harman rules, if that gives you an idea of her newest favorite 'game'. Amy's not all that amused.

Interesting... Pure fluoro powders/overlays are in the Teflon family, which is what makes them fast...but I'm really suspicious when someone is selling something as an alternative. How much is bullshit and how much is real? All the racers in my league combine to leave about 30 grams of Teflon on Sno's 209 acres. How does that compare to what pollutants are left by a groomer in one pass? I don't know...but it's interesting.

I thought at first that you said you were sucking on old ladies until they signed a check:confused

Dr. D's wax blows away Toko and Swix and is much cheaper. I wouldn't use it if it wasn't the best. Just grab a brick of his hydrocarbon and cork it in.

Whistler relies on the running lights of airplanes coming in and out of Avoca. The upper slopes are just okay...Switch is a little tight, as opposed to edge to edge, and Mainline and Whistler are fine. But I don't know why people are bitching about the NF conditions. Cannonball was great tonight, although the lack of base depth makes it bumpy and the second headwall compression takes you by surprise. I just lapped CBall and didn't hit Smoke, but it looked decent as well.

Oh, and I grabbed a sample for you, too, Sean, if you're interested.

Supposed to be clearing out and chilly tonight, Nick. Good carving weather. BTW, Nick, have you ever corked on wax? I have a free sample of some special wax and a jibber's feedback would be cool to get. But this is a wax that you don't iron on---you rub it on like it's a crayon, then use a cork to heat it up and rub it into the structure. It's a wax that will make you fly really f*cking high. You can use a tuning kit cork or even just a cork from a wine bottle...

Yeah, Melissa, I thought it was a given that you weren't included since you hadn't been dealing with how it was under county ownership. Are you heading up tonight?

Well, thank you for worrying about us. It's cool to know that Sno is the only ski area to over hype. Hey, just as a side bar, we get a free magazine in the mail called Connections and this was in the Out & About section... "Camelback--Voted the "Best Ski Resort in the Poconos" 2002-3. Well-maintained. Friendly staff. The most lifts and usually short lift lines. Last year they closed ticket sales when the lines got longer than about 20 minutes. A bold move." A bold move indeed! CB sounds fucking awesome, I might go there.

Take a lesson and don't forget to tip your instructor.

It's hard to know whether you're genuinely interested in our welfare, or just trying to make a point about Blue vs. Sno. Firstly, most Sno passholders dread the thought of Sno ever being like Blue. We are not envious of long lift lines in which they have to install 6-packs to put the hordes of people on the slopes instead of standing on each other's skis and boards in lines. Most of the passholders I know would would rather ski and board when they want, rather than having to sneak a bunch of runs in before sunrise. Yes, tourists bitch and moan about their Hellish time dealing with the mud in Mad River's parking lot and never any place to sit at Sugarbush's lodges, but there's a core of people who would have it no other way. Two or three years ago, we'd still be skiing Mainline only for another week. Does everyone forget that? So, Doug, don't feel sorry for us. I sure don't blame Sean and Nick for being pissed about what could be right now; if I was 17, I'd look at the silent guns and be saying what the fuck, too. But I'm not heading off to college next year and can look at the bigger picture. Am I making excuses? No, not really. I think the quirkiness of Montage was one of the biggest draws for us. I compared having to hike up and around a dead lift and then skiing down weirdly designed empty slopes versus another day on Honeymoon Lane. What an easy decision that was. Actually, we feel sorry for you and Jeffy and the rest of Booter's faithful. But we'll refrain from being condescending. You at least get to take runs with Larry! Just show us love, Doug, and we'll love you back. And, just FYI, remember that I voted YES for you on staff. Show the love, Doug....show the love.

We just got back from skiing 1 to 4pm and they did open Switch today, so it's now nine trails (5 really). Because I'm with Ty, I still haven't been down on the NF, but they sure haven't hit the guns hard up top, yet. They couldn't blow today with 99% humidity and 30 degrees, but it's a long way from how hard they blew in January. We were skiing in a constant man made blizzard.

Just remember that it's perfectly natural, Chippy, and you won't go to Hell for "practicing".

I just watched the first run of today's men's WC slalom...Bode finished the first run, but how 'bout we wager on whether he takes a second run today? Who knows, maybe being 12 seconds behind isn't so bad...

And still surfing PASR while writing.