Johnny Law

Safety shack stoke is high !!! Psa I was starving Monday night and got the blue cafeteria burger and with a drink it was $23 so the bison burger is a steal. Little snow and lots of rocks is how every great ski story starts

Can I bother you for deets ? Revel has been on my list since covid started

Mentally I'm at the point in the year where any skiing is great skiing, as I'm not yet at the acceptance stage that eventually the season must end.... so grain of salt. Definitely firmer than I hoped but timing that shit is mad dick tricky but it was mostly good firm. Razors was solid 90% and switch requires little turning so smooth enough to power down. Rotd was Skytop shit was perfect soft serve, wrotd was coming soon. The ditch is melted out and the cord rattled my bones. Tons of snow around and they are building a pile near coming soon, hopefully they go all of March.

Do you have one of the Jskis ? I think that guy is too old to be you......I have a purple or pink helmet and am generally dressed very bright.

Work shit meant I was on a lunch session. Mad warm but grey and breezy. Crowds and vibe were full spring and the quad was ride on. Everything other than coming soon was soft serve ice cream, full hammer down jump off everything kinda snow. Coming soon had boiler plate ice somehow in the left side bumps. Smelled like spring out there where you gotta get every day in.

I should be there around the same time I'll keep an eye out for sure.

Too much work this morning, going to shoot for a night session so good to hear it's holding up nice. How were the crowds ? Still full on or more spring like?

In the first run I knew I had to turn off my usual wtf meter. I was a guest in a foreign land, they were kind and although their customs seemed strange to me they couldn't be less threatening, the delta was so high at half speed it was nothing but orange cones everywhere. Most are well aware of my love of weird old equipment and it's like no place I've seen. The individual foot snowboards, lots of blades, 220 straight skis but the kicker was this dude. I spotted the zero tail fast, assumed logically he had broken them somehow. Yet his suit was HH and was skiing on a icon pass with his dad who had one of the big super soft soli pow skis for gapers. This was no accident, for some reason this was done on purpose. Was he a raxer from the Alps who got lost ? I maneuvered my way to be the single next to them so I would have time to conduct a thorough investigation. I buttered him up with bs about the day and then went for the kill. This madman bought the skis, picked out bindings and had them mounted then promptly took them home and cut as much tail as humanly possible off with a band saw. He was of the opinion that the tail of the ski was a detriment to skiing and had been doing so since learning as a child. He had been all over with his family, somehow taming big sky/ut/VT on 90cm length skis all up front. I only saw him ski 300ft at like negative pitch but he left a ww1 style trench giving a new definition to tail gunning. It was one of the most and least impressive thing I've seen in snowsports. It's like someone cutting both their legs off to become a better marathon runner.

Interesting, the basin side is like 800/900 vert but only one or two moderately steep spots of like 300ft. It's filled to the gills with noobs, like salty would be a golden God. The village is impressive considering its location, driving here is classic WV, nothing but trees and rocks. It looks more like great wolf lodge than a ski lodge but the restaurants are good and everyone is like in the south nice. There is an expert pod that is actually across the street from basin called western territory that is like skiing another mountain. You start at the top, there is a road across the entire Ridge with basin on one side and this 3 trail expert pod is on the other. You ride a lift up ski 50ft across the top take you skis off cross the street and then put them back on and ski down the hill. Two trails there have some nice steep maybe like 200ft more vert than blue but not as sustained pitch. It's kind of a weird place and at first the noob thing is annoying they stop the lifts alot and some of the cross overs are absolutely littered with people down. The upside is they are super friendly and all super stoked about everything. If I was in the area for something I would come back it's a slightly bigger blue but it has some charm in its weirdness. Lots of custom stuff on the hill like these pro models.

Super Vibes ++++++++ Barb !!! Heal up fast !!!!

Depends, there exists a level of baller local so core that they can put their skis in place and nobody even dreams of moving them. One I know of lives 300ft from the lift and everyone knows who they are and who's skis they are. In the morning he skis down at 720 drops the skis and goes for breakfast, if I had not seen it I wouldn't have believed it. Otherwise no you have to be there.

You made it out that's always better than more time in front of a screen working. Was it a solid re freeze ? It got to 33 here so I was hoping it wasn't full brick.

It definitely has an allure, personally I say it's the pine trees. I forgot about stal, its probably actually the most visited in the area though Snoqualmie is probably close.

Shit was good bad or bad good I'm not certain on the lingo but paradise and particularly main where good to very good. Both Steeze and I were very surprised at how soft main was but it was super nice to be able to put the hammer down. Challenge and Razors are probably good now that it's 65 degrees but first thing they were a hard no. The fog was actually kinda dope as it was mostly down low so it didn't interfere with skiing but everything still looks cool. I love when's it's gorillas in the mist and peeps just disappear into nothing.

Yes and yes, i can recall discussing bakers record year and weirdos in Portland. I will say I have a huge soft spot for Bach so it's a little like asking me about boobs or switchback, I probably can't be objective. First and foremost it's skiing on a volcano and not part of it but the whole thing, including the summit. You can literally go around the mtn which is cool and pretty unique. Essentially it's a giant cone with lifts and runs that cut the pie and very loosely meet at the top They at least claim better drier snow than the rest of Oregon but I can't independently verify. Great terrain, tons of little pockets and hidey holes, very playful similar to the mili area at Brighton. Lots of family's and local family's so sort of like Snowmass in that they are trying to have lots of terrain for everyone. Vibe was super chill, like Tahoe but without the CA or Aspen without some of the $$$. Lots of rippers, lots of family's lots of travelers destination type mtn crowd. Summit chair is dope with a big bowl cirque thing and I recall the blues and greens near skyliner are prime family groomers. The views are spectacular in a heavenly way not like telluride mini alps. Lots of parking areas so alot more of plan your day around a lift or area than one main parking lot. I remember the map was not great and it was harder to get from x to y then it looks but not like pow mow throw that shit in the trash bad. I would say it's the best of Oregon though it has been along time and I have heard it's busier but nothing crazy. It's definitely one of the more cool setups for a mtn and with Bend nearby I would skip Baker before Bachelor on a PNW trip.

One isn't better than the other they are different tools. It's like knives you can peel an apple with a butchers knife but it's dumb and stupid. Your just making certain things easier or harder. Skis up and across a mtn are easier as is pow or spins on a board. Shitty skiers will still be slower on traverses than a good boarder and the reverse. The key factor is the craftsman not the tool

The absolute last thing blue needs is more people. Anyone who is there gets this and most importantly the people that run blue know this too. Value at level 1 is numbers, how many resorts, how many high speed lifts, how many runs, etc etc etc Value level 2 is experience management, and adding blue to ikon or epiq is all the lower category. Where blue is at now is trying to extract more money out of each customer not getting more people in the door. The infrastructure cannot support more people at peak times, from the roads to blue to the soda machines to the lifts, at peak they are max capacity. To make a significant change in when people skied required a global pandemic so good luck with that. Epiq resorts this year are all category one thinking, by the numbers having an epiq pass should be the best but it's actually probably the worst of the big three because that isn't actual value. So why does all my horseshit I just wrote matter ? Because pass and lift ticket pricing is a primary factor in business model. When we all went the mega pass route we signed up for snowsports being run like a business and the two current models of our Corp overlords only one does the value of the pass hit that second category or more simply rewards investment in actual good skiing. Ikon is not ideal nor KSL but at least they have to keep value in skiing and snowboarding at the actual hill even if its only to sell real estate and weddings. Again it's not ideal but right now VR has zero reason to put real money into JFBB or Steven's Pass or wherever because it doesn't really effect them as directly. There was a new lambo SUV in the lot last weekend from NY, there is money around and it's not driving past all those other places because the pass gets them time at Jimminy Peak. Look at Bears lodge for God sakes, at least 8 years ago the hotel and lodge pays for everything but the only reason you can get them to bum fuck Macungie is because of the hill. Blue needs to focus on that end, keep the skiing quality high and always improving as they have done of late, build out the shit where you make real actual serious money and build their brand as being different from Camelback not aligned with it.

More value just keeps getting added to the pass every minute. Shit I'll buy two every year if it would keep your negative ass away.

That makes the pass a steal and I may be in the minority but just do the math on desired profits and divide. I don't want complicated or 9382929 things to think about when I'm going skiing. It's the escape from all that shit. If I owned blue I would make Camelback pass holders pay more

Any word on parking ? I don't care about Camelback, honestly it makes the pass less attractive 🤣🤣🤣

Fly into Seattle and you can do Baker/Bachelor in the same trip. PNW is all weather dependent, baker is like the Jay of the pnw. Middle of nowhere on a road that only goes there so some of that total is rain at say mission or hoodoo. They kinda get that Tahoe schedule of huge dumps with shit weather in-between. Snoqualmie is generally the biggest and most crowded resort in the area. Bend is a super awesome skiing town and has mad cheap hotels. A good place to make a base from and explore. Generally both are cheap to fly to direct from the EC. If you don't have alot of people you can rent a taco in lots of places and SeaTac must have a ton as its generally lower than a compact. Don't sleep on Alpental, it's sort of the Alta of the PNW. The main thing is to think about the PNW like Tahoe of VT, its all about timing. It can be the best and the worst all in the same day. It can snow 100" or rain for a week. Utah you can book 4 months in advance and you'll be fine if not good odds for the goods. PNW you'd be taking alot more risk. All of those areas have exploded in population so the hills were busy pre covid but post alot are having problems. Snoqualmie in particular I have been told was crazy busy so far. Lastly most don't think of it but the monashees and coast mtns are only hours away. Bring your passport and if its raining you bug out to the pow zones of interior BC. Red is like 6hrs from Seattle and generally they are some of the snowiest places on earth.

Damn that's better than I thought and Dan was almost right on. 400 or 500 is too cheap from their point of view, too much value left on the table. Right now I'm at $14 a day on a full price pass. By the end of the year that's close to ten which is hyper low.

Blister is doing there gear testing at CB this week for next year's guide. Keep your eyes peeled I bet there will be some super cool shit floating aground. PHL I feel like is always slow first thing in the morning and it's worse on holidays and weekends....peeps want to sleep in

Today was the best morning so far short of the snow days. Everything was super nice, upper main was ski mag cover kind of carving snow. Throw them up at any angle and it will hold but the rotd was the Atomic widow-midway-main line. Good air into midway and then it's on, super fast more scraped with perfect grip, the acceleration from before where the chair crosses, over the inside hump and on to main was absurd. My brain loves acceleration, the kind where your monkey brain reaction is slow the fuck down and it was pumping every happy chemical known to man. Short of the pow float or airs a good early set of the edge where you just hold the line as the terrain disappears under your feet while the speed just keeps ramping up is maximum fun. Perfect weather, perfect crew, perfect snow, old school weekday crowds maybe the creme fraiche day to a very very good season.

Maine is always tough, cool place and some great terrain but far particularly when you have to drive past other good skiing so it never gets the tr's or action of the rest of the ne...super cool report !