snoskier

I'm heading out to Utah and wanted to get some opinions on powder skis. I've never skied a fat ski and was wondering if there are any strong opinions on regular vs fat skis. I ski on a 118-76-104 right now and will bring them with me. I've never done anything above the knees, but it looks like I might have the opportunity as it is supposed to dump all next week. Thoughts??? Snoskier

Went up last night. When I left Hazleton I was a little worried b/c the snow was pretty heavy, but I was suprised to find the snow up north was really light and fluffy. You could scoop it up in your hand and just blow it away like dust. There were about 2-3 inches total - higher amounts on the upper mountain. I ducked into the glades and poached a few turns. The new snow made it quiet and just right. Runway and whistler were great I was able to link a bunch of nice turns. It wasn't like powder skiing out west - but not bad for PA. The most interesting thing was that rattler was open for night skiing. I think they need one more light at the bottom, but it was fun. All in all great night - no one there and just enough fresh snow to make it fun.

Interesting day up at Sno. It was a typical Sunday - wasn't crowded at all. Had a near death experience on White. It was really bumped up and I mean really bumped up. On top of the bumps was 2-4 inches of new snow blown over night. I was skiing along the guns on the left side and about three guns from the bottom when I fell. I was headed head first into the last gun, but was able to kick my skis around and get just enough edge that only my tails hit the gun. Very scary, but thankfully ok. Ski patrol was running toboggans through gates on white so at least I wouldn't have had to wait long.... Word on the street is that white will get groomed tonight. We'll see tomorrow. The snow was good for the most part Boomer was icy on the top 1/4 but then changed to powder. Seemed like one of the guns was blowing ice not snow last night. Rattler was skiied off, but everything else was great. They have a the half pipe almost built, i'd imagine they will start cutting it next week. About noon it warmed up and I was able to take some sunny laps on long haul. Skiied through the glades and just generally messed around off LH. Saw ski (although I haven't seen him post) on my last run. Didn't see Melissa, but I'm sure the faceplant was entertaining. all in all good day!

I'm out the 14th till the 21st of Feb. I'll be in Utah. Snoskier

Pick a day - I'm up there all the time. Snoskier

Sorry to hear about your shoulder. I did the same thing last year at Sno. I'm back to about 99% of pre-injury so the future is bright. PM if you have any questions. Snoskier

I'm up at sno right now. Snow is great. Very nice packed powder. Place is not very crowded As for glades there is not enough snow to ski them. At the ppoint you see sticks there are issues. Snoskier uote name='rastasquid' date='Jan 19 2009, 10:18 AM' post='222554'] haha, is it really? The funny thing is the second time, I immediately ducked back in, and after about 50ft, I clipped a tree with my tail and chipped my topsheet. oh well.

They were probably just concerned about your ability level... it is a black diamond trail.... Snoskier

Long haul will probably be open over the weekend. If there is a line at iron horse - ski down to the long haul lift (if its open) - it will be much quicker. You can get from Phoebe to Iron Horse no problem- it is all down hill maybe 100+ vertical. You can't get to Phobe unless you ski down to it (cannonball or l. runway). From top to bottom take Whistler to lower runwary - that is one of my favorite runs. The only trails I would caution on are White Lightning and Rattler. White is very steep (probably compareable in pitch to lower superstar at killington) and can be tricky at times. Rattler is very narrow, has a 90 degree turn and can get a little icy. Other than that they shouldn't have a problem. Boomer, Smoke, Cannonball & L. Fastrack are all great trails. Snoskier

The "glades" trail off fast track is pretty flat and unless there is another foot of good snow shouldn't be skied. (it just won't be fun and will be hard and rocky). The woods off lightning are no place for a kid. They are very tight and the snow tends to be pretty hard. As for crowds I think MLK day last year was one or the more crowded days I remember last year. E.g. that meant the iron horse lift had a 5-7 min wait during the busiest period, less than 5 min. at northface and it was still ski on on the long haul lift. On a side not a couple friends were at elk this weekend and said the snow up there didn't compare to Sno. Take that for what its worth. Snoskier

The quad has already opened back up. I think it was down for about an hour before they got everyone off. They didn't evac people but the lift was restarted and everyone was off loaded normally. I heard there were some cold people but I don't think anyone needed first aid let alone to go to hospital. When I left everyone was skiing the northface so I don't think there is any more issues going forward. As for the trails everything was open except for lower fast track. Upper runway needed to be regroomed as it was a little chunky underneath. Everything was awsome it was very powdery and very very nice. White - bumped in the middle very powdery on the sides. I am eyeing the woods to the L and R... I'm very tempted if there is enough snow. Boomer - bumps on skiers right - nice carving powder / little bumps (i'm sure it will be groomed tom on skiers left - it always is...) Smoke - cut up powder little bumps at the bottom was like skiing crud at times. C-Ball - carveable powder Rattler - very icy and got skied off fast. U-Runway - very chunky underneath 2-4 new snow but when you carve you hit the chunks underneath. L - Runway - very nice - Whistler to LRunway was my favorite run all day. -Did it about four and there was snow everywhere my legs were burning by the time i got to the bottom. U-Fasttrack - another great trail today - blowing a ton of snow + no one skis it. I don't do park stuff but looks like some jumps on spike They didn't as much snow as I expected . It was only a couple inches maybe three... I can't imagine they will pick up more than a couple more by the a.m. But they had the guns blowing all day and they were blowing when I left. Tomorrow will be an epic NEPA day. snoskier

http://web1.thesmokinggun.com/archive/year...06091vail1.html Words fail me....

sorry about your shoulder --- but you missed a great day today. The conditions were perfect. But that said it was freezing cold ~ 8-15 degrees with wind (until noon) + snow guns... But ... it might be case of a the blind squirrel finding a nut today... there have been days when it is "packed powder" in the sense that the powder has been "packed" into a sheet of ice.... They could do a lot better on keep things up todate and a little narrative woudl be good too... e.g. this weeks plan is blow on the race course and then u/l fastrack by 1/15.... ect... it would be nice. snoskier

snow conditions today (1/1/09) were 100% accurate. It was awsome packed powder / powder conditions. I was skeptical before going up - but holy st .. .best conditions of the year!! snoskier

Wow - totally great day at the mountain. I just got back from 4 days at killington filled with nothing but rain and bullet proof slopes. I wasn't expecting much at sno today. I rolled in about 9:45 and saw maybe 30 cars total in the lot. The guns were blazing on the lower half of the mountain and hitting the race course up top. I was expecting more, but it was deserted for the next 2 hours! My buddy was in from NYC so we started C-ball and the snow was really nice and silky. On the lift up saw a total of two tracks down smoke so headed there... guns were running and when I hit the first head wall it was into very nice powder. The fan guns put out high quality snow. Skied Boomer and White next and it was more of the same. Perfect snow on every trail and guns covering your tracks every run. Maybe 6-10 people tops. We lapped the NF for a while then took a run up top. They were blowing on the race course and had about 7-8 huge piles of snow. Did Whistler to L Runway. guns weren't running so it was just cord.... but fresh cord at 11:30 is nuts. About noon people started arriving and there was a decent crowd in the lodge when we broke for lunch. Came back latter solo for a night session and the guns were still blazing on the NF and race trail. Boomer and White were like skiing in fresh powder ... my skis were sinking a little in some spots. I have some pics - might post later. Conditions were powder / packed powder all day and night... and the snow was 10x better than VT (plus about 1000x less crowded). Great day --- great way to start the new year!!!! when i left it looked like everything was getting new snow... NF and upper mountain.... If i could make it up tomorrow am I totally would be there.... someone is going to get some great runs in on the NF. snoskier

How much snow has scranton recieved? I'm about 40 min south and we have about 4-5 inches, but it has been toying with a sleety mix for the last couple hours. I'm hoping it stayed all snow in scranton. Heading up tomorrow am for some hopefully good skiing---- but i do have my skis in my car and there is a hill in back of my office...... Snoskier

I went up yesterday at about 6 at it was a little icy on Cball & Boomer. I was suprised by the number of people in the rail park. I hope they start blowing over the rest of the mountain soon.

I've heard that white is still skiable.... Supposedly there is still a couple feet of base. You can barely see it from the road, but you can still plainly see the 1/2 pipe. I've got my fingers crossed that they get the park open this summer. I drove up a few days ago and I hadn't seen much progress... Snoskier

1. Lower Runway 2. The 22' Pipe 3. An awsome snowmaking system

nice report.

Well I suppose driving a snowcat into a crowded nightclub would get the mountain some publicity... I agree w/ your post 100%. They need to do more in the local area. Get people in the door and they will stay for good snow / grooming / a fun mountain. Start with the website and work up from there.

avatar = A dolly of boring documents I had to go through a couple months ago... kinda sums up my job at times... I think marketing needs to be substantially improved for next year. I can't recall seeing one radio/t.v. ad for sno this year. Hopefully next year they do a little better in the local wb/scranton market. Maybe they only do ads in philly, but I doubt it b/c if they did I would expect more people.

I couldn't believe how empty it was yesterday. I mean ok, some people might have issues with the mountain, but come on 40 people??? Hopefully there will be more this coming weekend... we shall see.

Looks like new hours for this week. AFAIK They will be open tomorrow (Monday), closed Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, then open Friday through Tuesday. If anyone is going up I would suggest calling ahead just b/c it seems hours have been in flux. Ok so the little report. Snow conditions --- wow wow wow wow wow wow. I love spring skiing and it was great spring skiing today. The sun was out, the sky was blue and the people were ... missing??? It was eriee skiing today b/c no one was there..... it was like I had my own mountain today. Having not lived around here long I guess people do not spring ski here. I understand it was a holiday and a sunday, but the conditions were the fantastic. Everything was groomed out perfectly and the weather was great. I would estimate that the most people on the slopes at once was no more than 40 people. Maybe 5-10 of those people were on NF. I would say the average was about 20 people. By around 3 pm the place just emptied.... At 3 there were maybe 10 people on the mountain and that is a big maybe. Here are some crowd shots. These were taken around noon or 1 ish. The shot of the iron horse lift line was the most people I had seen (or went on to see all day)... I didn't start skiing till about 11 today. I decided to tele so I wanted to let the snow soften a little bit. I wasn't disappointed. I had nice warm cord to ski all day. Fastrack and runaway were pretty much untouched today - the little hike was worth it. Conditions were great with a couple exceptions. Lower runway from ratter to the start of the top head wall was starting to get a little rocky, but once you it the head wall it was awsome. The connection between the top of phobe down to cannonball was slush. Hey, I'd rather have those two be bad than the trails. The park was nice. They are finishing strong. They put in a new 100+ rail next to the 1/2 pipe see - below... Everything was in great condition. 22', couple big booters, a bunch of rails and boxes, butter box, all were nice. I wouldn't suggest getting out of 13' given its condition, but it was probably good to just play in. As this is my first season up in the Poconos i am AMAZED how after St. Pat's everyone shuts down. I don't know why people don't spring ski here... It's a shame the mountains aren't packed. Hopefully we will get a bunch of people up next weekend for the winter carnival. Conditions should be very nice!!!

Nice report. Glad to hear the mountain was good shape. I'm impressed your going back tonight for another session!