elkskibum

Considering I started this little war going on between sno and elk, I thought I would add my opinion on the whole thing. I have been skiing at Elk for nearly my entire life (although that is not very long), but have been to almost every mountain in eastern pa at least once, including sno a couple times and blue probably a couple dozen. I mingled in junior racing for a little and now teach there on my winter break, so needless to say im very attached to the place. However, they could be in a little trouble if they do not get their act together and recognize sno as being a huge player in the pa ski industry and their main competitor. I always get pissed at the 'locals' that always cry that there are actually other people on the mountain other than them, and then bit#h about them not blowing any snow or opening any trails. I agree that a huge portion of the mountains business is their die-hard skiers and people going there for the charm, but a huge money maker is ski lessons, and if you dont have any new blood and new skiers, you wont have any lessons, and will lose a ton of money. I think their management is torn themselves; they try to maintain their 'skiing in vermont' attitude yet want to make money. The snowmaking has greatly improved the last couple of years, they now will actually blow on more than one trail at a time and have opened a lot of terrain quickly the last few seasons, which is a far cry from even a few years ago when they would be happy with 2/3 of the mountain open in mid February. I know they have a lot of plans for improvements; a whole new snowmaking pond is actually on the agenda, if and when it gets done is anyones guess. There have been rumors of a high speed lift for a year now, and they have a huge amount of land to expand onto (on the east side/ south mountain) if they ever buy the land, which could have happened a while ago if the mountain's owner wasnt an a##hole to the people a generation ago. All in all, elk is getting more modern, but they seem to still be stuck in the middle: appease to their very loyal but sometimes delusional season pass holders, or try and get more day-trippers and beginners to come and bring with them much needed money to improve and stay competitive. The next few years will be very interesting in what happens to elk, whether sno is a success or not, elk has some decisions it needs to make. -(End of rant)

Wow, it seems like you guys really are doing everything possible to make Sno pa's best place to ski, which is amazing considering that Montage in its last few years did everything wrong it possible could. I really hope you do well, as it will bring more skiers to the nepa area instead of the poconos, which can only be good for local business and can hopefully be an incentive for Elk to do some of the same things (better snowmaking, terrain parks). I hope in the near future both can really compete with each other for more skier visits and better experience. And hey, as kind of said before, maybe the new owners can buy Elk and turn them into a combined 1 2 punch in pa...

On the topic of snowmaking, Elk does in fact have a fairly state of the art powerful snowmaking system, the only problem is their practice of not really using it. The main reason is the money, the owner has a very 'nice' reputation as being a cheap a**hole, but they really do have the capability to make a lot of snow fast if they use it. The good new is the old "blow on one trail at a time" mentality is starting to change, either because of the new guns the past couple years or the realization that the other mountains are going all out and they need to as well to step up, they can no longer wait for the big snowstorms to help them out (sadly). As far as blue having better snow than elk, I would strongly disagree; Elk has less skier traffic, less of a freeze/thaw cycle (although they do have one all the time) and thus the snow is not usually nearly as good. I have not skied at blue nearly as much as elk, but the 10-12 times I have been there it hasn

hey, it makes the skiing experience more fun Really alot of the results are retarded, but lets be honest, eastern hard pack is eastern hard pack, so unless there's a blizzard snow is hard to judge, and elk usuall y has the 'best' icy conditions in pa

Hey thought I would start up a conversation, seems like a lot less people look at elk's board then the others. SKI MAGAZINE TOP 10 SURVEY EAST SNOW 8. Elk Mountain Grooming 7. Elk Mountain Value 10. Elk Mountain Weather 7. Elk Mountain I know that the surveys can be very strange and seem uninformed to the hard core skier, but that is impressive in the fact that people still have to vote and thus give elk a reputation that people hear about. The only one that is somewhat a stretch is value, they are one of the most expensive mountains in PA (although on par with blue/camelback/sno), and that is coming from a loyal season pass holder. Is is in respect to some of the larger mountains up north, that elk is cheaper than hunter, windham, etc? I know the NY city market plays a huge role in th rankings, so that could be it. Anyway, just wanted to put out a discussion on the board. MOUNTAIN IMPROVEMENTS: In the season pass letter Elk said that they had bought 50 new snow guns and a new piston bully. I hope that this means they relize that they need to blow alot of snow early and often, and on more than one trail, to stay competative with the other big boys in the state.

Ill add lower Tuscarora at Elk, although they seem to never want to blow snow on it anymore. Its skinny and the pitch is constant, a great PA/ classic New England trail. I also always seem to like to ski Lazy Mile when ever Im at Blue, its just a good relaxing trail, and with all the madness on the east side, it feels like a different mountain.