Winter

Yer welcome, i had noticed your post count was slacking here of late.

Slightly off subject, but how are those thursday evening music nights working out for BC? Was thinking i might make a trip out there for that.

From what i recall about the take over of Doe Mt. back in 1999, the township gave them some pretty sweet incentives to rebuild and expand and finally the township is asking for something in return. 10%, if thats not a misprint, is huge. If it's true however, then i actually side with Bear Creep on that one. Pa supposedly tried capping amusement taxes in the state at 4%. Dorney pays 5% btw. I'm no fan of big gov. and taxes, though while i pay them, i understand the beef if BC feels that a newly enacted tax is singling them out. Then again, knowing the management and owners as I do, they are always looking to shimmy a buck in their pockets even if it means spending big $$$ on a lawyer or two.

LOL, good one. Well, the proven profits the race team apparently made would have covered the back taxes they aren't paying. Then again, i guess its just as easy to raise the already highest lift ticket prices in the state even higher

Can't OR Won't pay their taxes?? http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=395723

I have a soft spot for Sno/Montage, i skied there on the very first day they were open in 1984. As i step back and take a look from an outsider point of view, I think you guys need to find a niche and use it to attract those skiers. For instance, Elk is old school, old lodge, old lifts, and just simply a skiers mountain. Super snow and grooming, that's their gig. But they refuse to open glades or put a high speed in. And I'm fine with all that. Blue's the opposite in most ways except its rare they ever have condtions anywhere close to decent. If I owned Sno, i'd start with the best glade runs short of VT, promote bumps on boomer and/or WL and speed up long haul. The first two wont cost much but the gamble is on the high speed lift. Otherwise your snow making and grooming are really good and needs to be kept that way. Good luck for next year!

Take pics of Tunk, they had good coverage on Sunday, would love to see how it looks now. Wont be making last day but will be up 3/31 to close up the house and find me a final party to go to.

I used to be in there a lot but only once this year. Spent most of my time at Elk and also using the warm weather to stay home and get crap done that wouldnt normally get finished before spring. I'm probably going to head over for dinner again in the next week or two, but after my last experience, i'm going for simple stuff like wings or burgers. Maybe i'll just head up to trails end instead. I did hear they boned the Flying Dutchmen ski club on prices and service lately, not sure they are all that happy with BC right now.

Elk was pretty pissy this weekend, borderline dangerous with all the cave-ins and disconnected areas over to skiers left of the resort. They must have groomed like hell to make it as nice as the pics show. But yeah, some slopes were kickin' especially Tunk. That slope alone is worth the price of a ticket. You are correct about thursday being 100 days. I wrapped up my season Sunday and was hoping for a little kick back. Oh well, there's always next year!

They had to try to get people to spend more money by giving specials out. There were no decent deals when i popped in for some food though the beer selection was pretty good. Looks like they just cancelled the snowmobile drags too, i was looking forward to that.

closing it down at Elk this weekend, just waaay too early for the big boys to go away. Still no word on if Elk is shooting for next weekend or not. LOL, good point. I have a good idea of what BC charges for a wedding (it's cheaper to book a 7 day luxury cruise and get married in the helm) but to think you had to say 'I DO' to the backround noise of a dozen two-strokes wailing away... priceless.

Wow, even the mighty Blue is hurting real bad. I was thinking that with that awful hard/icy snow they'd look a bit better. Well, ski season in the East is a wash everywhere, Keep good thoughts for a snowy 2012-13.

Well... that's not entirely true. According to the person i know in the offices, ski related activities (tubing, lessons, rentals, store, apres ski food/beverage etc) makes up a huge chunk of their annual bottom line. I heard over 60% but that may be a stretch. Also i noticed this year, since BC apparently took over all the food operations and kicked out their long-time food manager, prices have risen noticably. We ate there once (and only once) this winter, and although the food was pretty good as usual, $20 for a plate of skettis and over $30 for a downsized portion of crabcakes was laughable. However, the snowmaking and grooming crews really knocked it out of the park so to speak, given the rotten environment they had to contend with. Oh, and beleive me, all ski areas suffered money-wise. Elk had super conditions, even last weekend. But it's rare that i can usually get the exact same seat each and every weekend in the lodge...save for all the races they have. I think that's what helped there bottom line a little. I haven't been there in the last few weeks, but i'd be hard pressed to see them keep healthy an 1/8th mile run of wide enough snow for this too. Especially with all that exposure to direct sunlight. Best to change it up and make it quad and dirtbike drags!

I skied both sat. and sunday and they'll be fine through the weekend and i'll bet they could squeeze another one out after that. But yeah, it was pretty dead up there and as steeze said, at some point operating expenses eclipse giving $$$ back. I'd be fine with a weeks credit because i'm going to head north that weekend to try to find some snow for one last ski weekend.

http://www.wfmz.com/news/news-regional-berks/Mild-weather-forces-ski-resort-to-close-season-disastrous/-/121418/9282010/-/14t7o5l/-/index.html Ouch. Maybe he'll have to take a pay cut next year??

Well for once, i can actually say I'M sitting down enjoying this, eatin' popcorn.

I'm with ya, used to skate at Magics back in the day... with blades, boards and bikes, and you bet... I learned etiquette REAL quick. I was also surfing at the time and on one trip to Cali, what i thought was a myth was in fact real deal scary when I learned the words 'snaking a wave' lead to a knife to the throat. So yeah, it takes one frightening moment to learn fast, but certainly some firm words would have been preferred, lol.

New butt pads are def. sweet! But yeah, i havn't skied that good of snow conditions in years. Keep up the great work!

It's not just a BC thing, it's PA in general. Sure, some Pa places are better than others but it's the mentality. We frequently go North for races and up there, most times they dont close the race trails off for training. Pedestrians simply know their place. I suspect the park rules are much better followed up there as well. And it's not because of bigger signs in plain english. The whole northern skiing attitude is much different then down here.

Patrollers at BC would def. not be a good idea. They are probably the least active patrollers at any mountain i've been too, at least in the patrolling for safety sense. Just take note how long slow signs are left on the snow before they get picked up. Anyway, just like the park crew, maybe a similar deal can be made for a park patrol that would have the authority to mark tickets. Ski school instructors and race coaches used to be allowed to carry markers in which they drew an X on an offenders ticket (non-park) and if ski patrol caught them and saw the X, the ticket was pulled. Not sure how any of that would work in a park environment, but it's a thought. Also no need for a gate entrance to the park, just maybe a bright colored arm band to designate you watched a quick video on park manners.Then a park patrol could easily identify someone who should not be in the park.

Uh oh, sounds like a statement from one of those lazy bark humpin' smelly hippies from occupy wallstreet.

Then come up with a viable solution. I see so many instances of people complaining about ignorance of park rules but no one has a solution. Too many people to do anything about it? Really? then i guess y'all are doomed if that's your answer. Anyway, it's been raining pretty steady here the last hour, hopefully it quits soon, it's getting messy.

So it's safe to assume, based on your shallow argument, that no elementary kid should ever be caught running down the school halls because it's clearly written in the school handbook. And perhaps you didn't notice that a race course is a singular feature. In that, only one person is ever on a section of that course at a time. A park is wide with multiple features side by side. This assumes that it's possible for several people to be in the same area. Hey, good luck with educating the gapers, your biggest problems have been solved by management, the rest is up to you.

Same old argument. Assuming race kids should know all the rules is an ignorant statement. It's not the job of the coaches to physically teach them proper park manners. Parents don't know either. Let me ask you, how did you learn? How did most people learn? I'd guess through the education of others using the park. It may be a bitch, but if the mountain doesn't give a crap about teaching park rules, then unfortunately it's up to those who use the park. Would it be too hard to pull up alongside someone and kindly point out their infraction? Based on lift rides above 'situations', more often I hear expletives and gestures thrown to try to teach someone of their mis steps.

Hey Molly, I feel ya. Just good to know they weren't the only ones snaking. I've said this before, they should have been considered general public though, as when they were in the park, it was not during training times. I don't know what the answer to park education is, as i don't frequent them. I know a few places, such as Stratton, has a short clinic that you must attend in order to drop in the park system there. Should Bear do that? Thats wonderful to say about kids. Funny, that's likely what we said about the likes of you when they poached runs on the closed race course, so i guess they were no better.