Ski

Ha, we live a few miles from one of the Pocono honeymoon resorts where you can take a bath in a giant champagne glass and groove to Perry Como and one of ther original Ink Spots in the lounge. I guess we have the best of both worlds.

Welcome to PASR!

Pins and needles, 1st Grade? First off, there are no quotes from Bode and so this story is just made up, as far as I'm concerned. I mean, what the hell, is this the Boston Herald, or TMZ? Uggghh, rumor journalism. But assuming it's founded in truth, does it surprise anyone that Bode acknowledges a drinking problem and wants to fix it? I recall they surveyed Summer Olympic athletes who said they'd give years off their lives for a gold medal, while Bode made a repeated decision to abuse alcohol on the eve of Olympic races. Are there any jibbers or boarders out there who would rather get drunk in a bar if it meant crashing in the X Games the next morning? Are accomplishment and glory that uncool? I hope the story's true. I don't know much about the Twelve Steps, but I assume this is one of them.

Winter weather is better in Allentown than at Okemo? That's like saying the waves at Sandy Hook are better than the North Shore of Hawaii because because it rains a few days. I'd sure rather be anywhere in New England from November through May than in the Poconos. This is my home and all but you're a little crazy, bro...

Didn't you hear? New for the 2007-'08 season!!!

IDK, TP4, I like to ski there for the weather. They have clouds shaped like boobies.

Guilty. I'm still Sno's biggest believer/supporter, but that just didn't fly with me. We have come to expect the absolute highest standards from the best ski area in the Poconos

(Barb: please keep in mind that I'm not bashing this program for the sake of bashing the program. I want Sno to succeed in every way and I happily plunk down gobs of money to support them. In fact, there's a pretty fair chance that a friend of mine created this 'discount' program. But I also think it's crucial they get stuff like this right. My wife spoke with a half-dozen fellow library directors who were all in agreement that the plan wasn't something they cared to pursue. Done a little differently, all would have been happy to develop the program.)

Why not just tell your kid they can ski if they read five books? Why not remove the lousy insentive of earning a free ticket for someone else and leave out having to feed your child some bullshit line? I'm just disappointed that Sno didn't make this a real discount for a kid. It was a good idea that they didn't pull off. A mountain that offers a buy one/get one free on a full priced retail lift/rental/lesson package is in a total win/win position and is giving away nothing. Add two $10 tips for the instructors and its $80 for a couple of beginning skiers/boarders and that's without lunch.

First: many libraries, including my wife's, run summer reading programs in which kids get tokens for each book read. At the end of the summer, they trade the tokens in for things like books and calculators, and stuff like that. So, unless children check out a bunch of books and lie to everyone, then I guess there is no proof. Or, maybe those corrupt library directors in charge of creating the programs will cheat. Second: would you be proud to 'sponsor' a program that had kids read for, say, thirty hours and be rewarded with nothing but a coupon for a free game for his/her friend if he/she pays full price? And it's not even a game he/she has to buy, but a full lesson package at retail price. Yes, Sno is a business, which is why I had to pay $1200 for a family lift ticket. And, yes, getting kids away from their Gameboy is a good thing. Was that in dispute? What I'm questioning is whether this program is anything more than an attempt to get some free advertising out of public libraries. The kid doing all the work is rewarded with nothing, while Sno gets to send out buy one-get one free full price coupons using an 'educational' gimmick.

Wow, that's a real deal. Not ragging on Sno, but all the library directors my wife spoke to (she's one of them) had the same reaction, beginning with "Cool" when they first glanced at the offer, then "Bummer" when they read the details.

Ha, I'm sure the people at Sno find the idea as rediculous and offensive to passholders as we do. No ski area could be that stupid, could they?

I don't have the paperwork in front of me, but all the libraries in the region recently received a letter from Sno Mountain with a 'deal' for young skiers and riders who also do some reading. Librarians are supposed to set up an incentive program in which kids read a certain amount of books and receive a coupon for a free lesson/ticket/rental package valued, I believe, at $60. That's great, right? The problem is that to "earn" the "free" package, parents must also buy a comparable package. So, it's basically a buy one get one free deal after a kid reads a bunch of books. It just seems like someone came up with a good idea---combining literacy and a sport---but then the money guys decided not to give anything away. Heck, why wouldn't they just offer a few weekends where any juniors could bring a friend skiing/riding and get a free ticket with a full price purchase? They do that at a lot of ski areas, right? But a campaign to induce kids to read, but their only reward is if they also get a friend to spend $60?

Nick, Sean and others have a better idea than me, but I don't think Sno really has a particular atmosphere right now. It's just been sitting here mostly empty with the same small group of regulars that are friendly to friendly people and quick to diss the jerkwads. Not sure the kids really thought about it, but we were just glad each December that they didn't shut down. As long as Sno doesn't try to make season passholders verify their passes each day, or other ignorant stuff like that, only good things are ahead for the mountain.

So much for nice little secret Belleayre...a $40mil project would be huge for that area, let alone 10x that...I wonder if they plan on reopening the slopes of the defunct ski area next to it? One of the ASRA guys I've known for a long time (he's 60 something) used to tell me the story about how his dad helped cut the original trails. Belleayre has long been one of those weird places for an overnight trip, where you stay at a seedy place like the Delaware Court Motel or take your chances with a B&B, where you have to be nice to some old lady with too many cats. I think Doug and Jeffy spent a night spooning in one of those places

Thanks for the news. Skiers/boarders must be the most politically incorrect people in how we get so psyched about the idea of cutting down trees. Good thing puppies don't make a good carving surface...or do they?

Other than Switzerland, of course.

I'm sure you already know the early discount ends Sunday. Welcome aboard if you decide to do it...

It's eventually being moved to the other side of the lot, to the left of the NF slopes. That's a lot of work if they wanna get it done for this season.

Ha, 650 vert becomes 500, and now 400. Are you sure the Sno NF isn't 200? But it's cool that you don't mind hiding from the crowds and get a chance to sneak in early morning runs. Maybe your right that a great day of skiing is something to be hurried through so you can squeeze in lots of runs before that nasty warm sunshine hits the snow. My grampy used to get up at 5am and get in a full day by 10am, too. You and my grampy have some things in common. And January? Oh, they didn't get open because of a lawsuit last year. Do you think Washo will be suing them again? Wow, I thought that was all in the past. On the bright side, Doug, if you ever take a trip to ski in South Korea, it won't seem all that crowded to you.

I just got back from paying for our season passes. I didn't have time to wander around so the only change I could see was that they tore out the stairs and seemed to have opened a parking lot for front-end loaders and backhoes. BTW, the photo machine isn't running yet and they haven't decided whether to use file photos. Doug: how many years to get Blue's one slope cut and open? Talk about slow, how about trying to find a clear line down one of Blue's diamonds on a sunny weekend afternoon . Pfffft...Sno has more acreage than Blue and 1/50th the crowd. You can keep your city-life skiing and we'll just plod along at our our backwoods, hillbilly pace. Mmmmm, do I hear a female goat?

Hey, Nick, it sounds like they might be doing a little back peddaling on the new trails: "New Trails - Sn

Nick....seven new trails is a beautiful thing. Embrace the seven new trails. They will happen.Seven wonderful new trails. Seven. I have three chainsaws. I'm more than happy to help cut these seven new trails with my three chainsaws. It should be two top to bottom trails that will account for four on the map. The other three are probably bunnies and/or connectors. They're just following through on their plans.

Bummer, Barb, but I wouldn't give up too soon. We were always inundated with proofs following camp at MHSSC, as well as video offers. Were the kids taped every day for analysis at night? At race camps, anyway, they often sell those back to the kids. We have hours of footage of my kid as well as all of her friends running gates, not to mention dozens of pics that I had to Photoshop the word "SAMPLE" off of I'd begin my email query with, "I'm a very wealthy mother who wants to spend lots of money on my kid's pics, can you help?"

Congrats!