Johnny Style

So far so good with the weather but it is only Monday. I'm watching it closely, but otherwise I should be there.

I guess you didn't stay and watch the bands then? It looks like they have pretty good coverage still. I was up for the comp two years ago and they had much less snow. Root, I spent the entire weekend moping around the house thinking I had made the wrong decision on whether to go or not, now I feel better. Of course I'm watching the weather right now to see if Stowe is still in the cards this weekend.

Awesome. And even more of a reason not to head up there this weekend. Heck, there was a lightning strike here in center city a few minutes ago. Have fun at the mogul competition. I went two years ago and the place gets crazy. If you are going to park at the base of Bear mountain get there early because we had to park and walk up from the access road it was so crowded.

Highlands is such a bad ass mountain. They just conducted a "Battle in the Bowls" contest over the weekend. The footage gives you a good idea of what it is like. http://www.superhumanmag.com/content/view/1270/92/

Accuweather is calling for 40s and rain and your site is calling for almost an inch of snow. Decisions, decisions...

Have you checked the weather report? Yesterday it looked like the weekend would be fine but now they are calling for the storm to continue into Saturday. I know you are core Root but I don't know if I can drive for six hours and purchase a hotel room given the report. But please...talk me out of it.

It looks like the Rain will keep me from going to Killington this weekend. You might as well count me in for Stowe.

Perhaps they will change their tune if the rain forces them to stay closed on Saturday?

I am about to put a fork in my trip to VT this weekend due to the rain. It looks like Saturday will suck too here in PA. They need to make the 5th the last day, then I will be there.

I left SE PA in a steady rain and thought to myself, "what am I getting myself into?" It was raining all the way to the LV exit on the turnpike, but by the time I pulled into the Camelback lot at 8 a.m. the Sun was starting to come out. I was the second person to sign up for the voucher that day and warned the ladies working at the counter to expect a pretty good contingent from Blue. Nobody was really checking the tickets before 8:30 so I slipped in with the season pass holders and skied a few runs down Asp and the Hump to check out the snow conditions and choose the proper ski before meeting up with others. There was no reason to be on my GS skis so I ditched them after a few runs. I pulled out the Dynastar Legend Pros and saw GSS and J-Jeff on the way back up to the hill. This is probably a good time to stop and reflect upon Camelback. What a nice alternative to the Blue experience. Besides getting lost twice on the way up because there are "too many" signs distracting me once I got off at Tannersville, I was thoroughly impressed. It actually felt like a destination resort. There are ski shops and bars/restaurants on the way up. There was a nice paved parking lot, facilities, staff, etc. It just felt like a "real" mountain. Blue feels so minor-league in comparison. In fact the more I think about it, why the heck are the weekends so crowded at Blue, shouldn't these people be at Camelback instead? While the terrain at Camelback is nice it still cannot compare to Blue. Anyway, it was nice meeting a few new people today. I had a blast skiing in awesome spring conditions. I'm the guy who is looking at the ground in the picture posted. If Saturday has to be my last day of the season, it would be OK because it was totally legit. Thanks folks, see you next season!

+1

Hail in SE PA too.

I don't have to dress up in my Gaper outfit from last Saturday again, do I?

I will be there.

Buck up there little camper. The sight of my outfit alone should make you feel better.

I see that I'll be parking next to you on Saturday.

Ok, I'm in, it's just a question of how "in" I get. To me Gaper Day isn't so much about dressing up in your best camouflage pants and Flyers jacket and imitating the local Blue Mt. loser. I prefer to think of it more as Retro Day. As such, I need to think about how retro I really want to get. The outfit I have picked out isn't something I won on ebay. It's what I wore in high school... in the eighties... when everybody wore racing pants. Oh Lord I must be crazy for trying to wedge back into those things. They were too tight for me when I was a Senior let alone what I am now. It may be perceived as public indecency nowadays. But if I rock the outfit, what about the gear? Check out those bases baby. Pure eighties. From left to right: K2 Extremes, K2 KVCs, Atomic ARC SL racing skis. Of course I would have to don the Dachstein V4 boots as well. Johnny Style...coming at you live! If you see me on Saturday be careful, because one cannot be of sound/sober mind and be sporting this outfit in public.

Just trying to pick up some ideas for my outfit on Saturday. If I can fit into it, it will be a winner.

I just took the online survey from the front page of Blue's website. One of the questions (and I scanned them quickly) mentioned a new trail called "Nightmare" opening. Is this just the upper section of "Dreamweaver?" Kind of makes sense with the dreaming theme. It would be nice if it were something new. It kills me to ride up the lifts at Blue and see all the little runs they could cut on that mountain that would open up much more difficult terrain. Oh yeah, on another note, I paid for my early bird season pass last year by the June deadline. Now they want my money by April 1st!

Nice shots. Did you hike the Highlands bowl?

I can understand why he would want to sit out the remainder of the season. However once August rolls around and the buzz of the media dies down he will be so itching to race again it won't be funny. More so now with the Olympics coming up in 2010. I know Bode says the Olympics mean nothing to him but he is so competitive you know he wants the world to eat a big shit sandwich when he wins the gold.

Ha ha, that is pretty good. You guys are having fun with the Patrol now. I keep imagining the scene from Aspen Extreme where T.J. Burke is skiing away from the Patrol out of bounds. You guys need some reversible jackets to switch up your identities on the lift. I was real worried about what today would bring. After reading your posts from yesterday I had no hopes that it would be any good at all. I tried scoping the site this morning at dawn to see if there were any condition updates but alas there were none. I left some gear at home which required a restart of the trip and a half hour delay. I finally hit the slopes at 8:30 and the place was pretty empty. It stayed that way until 11:00. Well, if you don't have tuned skis, today was not the day for you. It was pretty icy but it was fast and fun in my opinion. My GS skis were holding well today. I tried to follow the Sun this morning so I stayed to Main Street and Chute early and worked my way over as the Sun got higher. Nobody was on Challenge today, well, because you could see your reflection on it. I tried it twice. There was a secret cord stash below the Challenge headwall. It was still there after 10:00 because nobody was braving the top part. I saw some guys taking the Razor's headwall and then jumping into Challenge to get to the chord. Best run of the day was Main Street. My skis took a beating today and need a tune up. The snow sucked, besides the ice there was debris and spots everywhere. The Sun was shining all morning. Cool, not cold. Today was actually awesome in my book. Only hunger and the crowds kept me from staying longer. The Sun of this morning is already gone and the clouds are moving in. Tomorrow's storm could prove dawn patrol challenging.

It was raining and about ten degrees above freezing when I pulled out of the garage in the dark this morning. By the time I pulled into the lower lot it was snowing pretty hard. I never skied Blue in such a snow storm before. It was kind of bizarre. It was like Whistler weather; very wet. You needed a squeegee for your goggles. Poor visibility plus surprising crowds meant I was gone by 10:45.

It definitely felt colder than the low 20s my thermometer was reporting. Dawn patrol was quick this morning, I was gone by 10:45.

Aspen is magical, it will change your life. In fact, you may never come back.