Winter

Sorry brotha, but these can you can tumble in. Not every mine is a horizontal shaft, the ones at Bear are closer to what's called 'slope mine shafts' meaning they cut into the mountain at 45 degrees (or anything between 0 and 90. So yes, you can tumble in. It wasn't coal that was mined but likely Iron. Here's the article. and yeah, didn't appear to be boy scouts... http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=267840

That might have been another one, but it was also that year i read in the paper it was boy scouts who were having a convention at the place and a few of 'em snuck out (bypassing the bar i'm pretty sure ;-) and tumbled down in.

I dont work there, so I'll let ya know allthe 'interesting' things i know ;-) But yeah, it's a real issue with them. Doe had a chance back in the 70's to fill them in, dirt over and cut some more slopes but couldnt afford the 10's of thousands of $$$ it would have taken to make it right. Bear looked into it as well, when they first moved in and the priced moved into the 7 figure range most notably because our wonderful EPA and DEP had thoughts about how it should get done and of course that isn't as simple as filling it with dirt and capping with concrete. It's a bummer because they could really open up some good terrain (for the area anyway). In the meantime, i'm sure their insurance carrier isn't too happy about kids falling down those mine shafts every now and again. Thankfully no one has been killed, at least not that I recall.

Oh indeed they are. They are apparently pretty tweaked over my other thread in the Bear forums, lol That's the other thing, didn't some boy scouts venture out on the 'east face' and fall down into a mine pit and have to get rescued? Two summers ago i think. People have been trying to poach freshie tree runs since i can recal back to the 70's and every now and again, someone takes quite a plunge!

The only good tree skiing at Bear creek is on cross country skis and even then, you'd probably get a ticket pulled for that, lol

I'd bet my last dollar they won't ever put a lift in. They'll allow tree skiing before they put a high speed in.

Heeelll no, we're shooting for a dome over the whole place!

The ride is maybe 45 seconds, maybe 2 minutes sitting in the rails waiting for the thing to load. You dohave to think as an average skier/rider though. Not everyone wants to tolerate the weather on that ride, at least not before they are fully booted up and ready to ski. Anyway, yeah, Bear is a good example of a decent shuttle ride, like i said, it costs very little to ensure your customers are comfortable.

Really? Have either of you ever used the cattle cars on a really cold or wet day? Nothing worse than heading back down the hill after a good day skiing (or having dried off in the lodge only to get soaked again on the way back to the car. No, not at all a big deal, but for the overall layout of $900 to equip the three shuttles, c'mon. I've never been on a cattle car anywhere else in this great country that wasn't at least partially covered. It prompted me to rent a house at the base of the mountain, as opposed to outside of the ski area. That and my beer fridge is accessable while i'm still in ski boots ;-)

Elk is wierd in its own right, as they too seem to be all about the money , or at least not spending it. They proudly boast a great income to expense ratio not enjoyed by most mountains in the East. And i think they try to keep the crowds down a bit my not making some needed improvements, like putting a simple canvas top on those cattle cars!

LOL, no big axe to grind, i still ski there on occasion. The axe i had is the Elk racer kids from Philly area had a great arrangement with the mountain to train with the bear creek team on Thursday nights, because they can't make it all the way up to Elk on a school night obviously. The head coach treated them as well as his own racers and the mountain gave them a pretty good deal on tickets and training fees. We parents enjoyed a hell of a dinner and a beer or two... three maybe, in the grill while the kids were getting as good of a training session as can be expected from the terrain and coaching. But yeah, fairly reliable sources tell me that in a given year, the overall mountain profits from just snow-related activities is less than 25%, so stands to reason they don't go overboard with any expensive improvements. FWIW, there is no reason NOT to have fencing on that trail. It's a huge hazzard that is avoidable by putting a-netting up, much like blue does here and there. Either they do that or move some dirt over top of those river rocks. Every year, a dozen or more people are pulled off of the rocks with pretty bad injuries. I'm against clogging up trails with fencing and other safety things, but it's a simple fix imho. And sorry, but when boarders (or skiers alike) use the start gate with grab handles to barrel 4-wide down that slope, someone may easily be forced into the crud and not be able to turn out of it before dropping into the rocks. And that's exactly what happened.

I never made it to Blue last year, or most other Pa mountains for that matter. It was one of those years I spent some quality time up North for a change. But year, a season long X course would be sweet. If not for the sheer fun, it really is a good teaching tool for anyone who runs it.

They still changing their mind at the last minute? Seems to be another trend with that place. Last year they were going to put in a permanent top to bottom skier cross course on the trail furthest to skiers left but axed that days before opening. Year before that, something about re-doing that old snack shack up top and building a new start building for the Nastar crew, axing both of those just before the season ends. I think they like to get people excited then drop em. That or someone in the offices hasn't a clue about the logistics of their pipe dreams. Oh, and then there is the A-netting that was supposed to be installed on skiers right of that same far left trail. A good friend of mine was forced off the slope by some some wingnut on a snowboard and skipped on the rocks a few times before coming to an abrupt halt via her knee cap. No need to elaborate!!

I never skied at Bellayre, but yeah, the snow making back then was terrible. That was in large part to patched together fan guns of early 90's vintage and the use of water sticks which didn't work very well due to lack of really cold weather in which they excell. When the new folks came in and bought it, they spent $1.1mil or so to buy all new guns and fix up a few of the better old ones. From that point, the snow was worlds better.

You mean when the county owned it? No thanks. They hardly put a dime into that place, snow making was terrible, lighting even worse... Sno has it's issues no doubt, but it's a far cry from when it was goverment owned!

Bethany Beach? Sweet! brings back warm memories this year of dogfish head, muscle car cruising and fast boating!

Hoping for a good year at Sno, you guys are worthy of some good PR for a change!

Funny you ask, I have a few friends on the blue team and in talking to Matte DePaulo (race director) last year, since Bear Creeks team exploded in popularity and pretty darned good results, Blue's overall roster fell 40%. Matte offered up some free dryland training and i think a weekend of free training to BC families and i hear at least 10 families already joined up. Beyond that, i don't know too much more but a handful ended up on Frost's team. The head coach and a few other families are supposedly making their way up here to Elk. In reading bear creeks info on the new program, they are claiming to be hosting in-house race events as opposed to supporting a team for USSA racing. Not sure what level the coaching will be, i'm pretty sure most of the good ones took off for other programs. Good luck too 'em, the old team set the bar pretty high last year.

Blue def. has a strong team,and a lot of great racers came out of that place. You'd be interested to know that Blue's team started at Doe Mt. (now bear creek) back in the early 80's when the doe mt. ski team got kicked out and left to start up a team at Blue. The next team at Doe, 7th Wave, got kicked out in the mid 90's or somewhere around there. Seems to be a trend there!

That was the one thing he didn't sell off, or if he did, he's still sitting on a good few Hedco fan guns from another ski area he bought out. Not sure on the pumps, lines or resevoir. GSS, he's on the northern most end of Blue Marsh Lake, just south of Bernville. Kinda up Cabellas way, but not quite.

The lifts were sold off, but they said they plan on initially using a rope tow with paddles on them. clearly they are looking to keep in low cost and easy to maintain. And that in turn will hopefully keep prices way down.

Nothing official, nothing set in stone, but i have it on good authority that the ole Heidelberg/Blue Marsh ski area (10 miles N of Reading is considering re-opening this this year. The focus is supposedly strictly tubing and terrain parks, no trails or general skiing or boarding. The fact that the extra time and $$$ needed to keep trails groomed isn't in the picture means more resources placed on a good park. Apparently the old owner squirreled away a good bit of the snow making equipment and other bits and pieces of the old ski area and opening up won't take a huge amount of cash. The better part is they hopefully will give Bear Creek a bit of competition in the coming years and give riders and rats a much cheaper alternative than the expensive resort to their East. Anyone have any other info?

Prices for season passes and even daily tix are up, and if not for the proximity for weeknight skiing, I wouldn't be able to stomach the value. I prefer to sit in the lounge and drink a craft beer by the fire and watch the skiing/boarding, it's money better spent ;-)

I met the guy once, got a funny feeling about him that didn't sit well. A good bit younger than me, in charge of quite an operation, yet i felt he wasn't even up to the task of running my company which might pull 1/10th of what they do at BC. Besides, I ski Elk mostly now, and the owner and manager there, while they have their quirks, clearly show a much better business sense about them. So no, I have no reason to talk to Mark, wouldn't any good.

Chump change actually. It's the word of mouth from all the pissed off people that will hurt them a bit more. Besides, any one notice how fewer riders/skiers there were this year? Highest lift ticket prices have anything to do with that? Not sure, but they mentioned their decision was final. Guessing no one wants anything to do with a manager and director who broke the trust of their loyal customers anyway. Yup, signs do no good. Neither does the small print on the back of lift tickets and or the skiers code which used to be boldly displayed before snowboarding existed.IMHO, everyone, including you has broken some rule or another. I'm done arguing about racers vs park-types. It wasn't the point of the post in the first place. Continue on that subject if you like, i'll be happy to forward any more info i receive on what happened.