RidgeRacer

The article is titled "Resort Awards 2010"

So with stratton and snowshoe in the top 10 and killington at #2 your gripe is with whiteface being in it? Sorry but whiteface easily belongs in that list and higher than 10.

I know. It's the same story every year. The magazines never seem to agree with us but regardless the resort rankings are here (skiing magazine's anyway) which normally means that ski season is right around the corner. Anyway agree or disagree it's a pretty good read... http://www.skinet.com/skiing/resorts/2009/09/resort-awards-2010 Best Overall: Whistler Blackcomb, British Columbia Best Backcountry Access: Jackson Hole, Wyoming Best in the East: Stowe, Vermont Best Steeps: Jackson Hole, Wyoming Best Snow: Alta/Snowbird, Utah Best Trees: Steamboat, Colorado Best Park: Breckenridge, Colorado Best NIghtlife: Whistler Blackcomb, British Columbia East... 1. Stowe, VT 2. Killington, VT 3. Jay Peak, VT 4. Sugarloaf, ME 5. Mont Tremblant, QC 6. Mad River Glen, VT 7. Sunday River, ME 8. Snowshoe, WV 9. Stratton, VT 10. Whiteface Mountain, NY

Adult: $715 ($695 last year) $760 $825 19 and older Junior: $635 $690 $750 13-18 Child: $560 $620 $675 6-12 That's a lot of dough

Ha! C1er is the skiarazzi.

Getting ready for chair lift reports in August? I like it.

That's being kind of generous actually. All the best in CO. You're kids are lucky. They'll realize it as soon as ski season starts, which for CO should be soon. Isn't the Loveland / A-Basin snowmaking war set to being in a week or two?

I'm not a fan of the orange lights. The white lights are more natural looking and much nicer to ski in IMO.

Found this article on onthesnow.com that mentions the NJ mandate (as well as one in CA). http://www.onthesnow.com/news/a/12659/smuggs-doc-says-set-goals-not-mandates-on-helmets Smuggs Doc Says Set Goals, Not Mandates, On Helmets 4 hours, 15 mins ago Roger Leo, Executive Editor Comments (0) "Helmets are a good thing," said Robert Williams, M.D., doctor to the Smugglers' Notch Ski Patrol and associate professor at the University of Vermont College of Medicine. "Dr. Rob's" assessment is based on studies of thousands of accidents and the effect of helmets on the outcome, and on years of hauling people off mountains and out of woods, and working on them in emergency rooms. "There's no instance I can think of when you fall and you wish you didn't have a helmet on. There's no reason not to do it, and no reason for the whole Industry not to get out and promote it," Williams said. Skiers and riders should want to wear helmets, he says, and ski resorts should get behind the idea with enthusiasm. He's not as enthusiastic about mandates proposed in various states, including California and New Jersey, and would prefer voluntary goals for ski resorts to work toward before mandates kick in. Williams works with PHAT - Protect Your Head At All Times/On All Terrain - to educate skiers and riders about the benefits of wearing helmets. He says the efforts pay off incrementally over the years, to the point where about 75 percent of skiers and riders at Smuggs in Northern Vermont habitually wear helmets. Helmet use across the country also has been going up, to the point where 48 percent of skiers and riders wear helmets, according to figures compiled by the National Ski Areas Association. Some question whether those figures capture all helmet use. "Instead of legislation that requires people to be in helmets, give ski areas a goal, say 90 percent of skiers in helmets in three years. Easily reached. It's not rocket science, get out and make sure there are posters all through the place, that helmets are easily available, and that people get information about why they should wear them," he said. Williams said, "Vail Resorts jumped on the helmet bandwagon a year and a half ago. I was impressed, they went out in a proactive way in getting all their employees in helmets. I'm very curious about whether they're getting any blowback, perhaps from older-line employees, who might say, ‘I've been skiing 30 years without a helmet, so why do I need that?'" Vail began requiring on-duty staff to wear helmets for the 2009-2010 season. Aspen Skiing Co. this spring mandated its salaried employees must wear helmets while on duty starting with the 2010-2011 season. Intrawest ULC toughened its helmet requirements last season for young people, and for all students in terrain parks. This season Intrawest is requiring employees at all its North American resorts to wear helmets while skiing or snowboarding on-duty in any terrain park. Ski and Snowboard School staff will be required to wear a helmet while working with resort guests in any program that requires the guests to wear a helmet. Williams said, "If you're an employee, and have a uniform on, it's OK to have to wear a helmet. It's like working at a construction site, where you have to wear a hard hat. What you do on own time is a different thing." By contrast, Williams is leery of the mandates proposed in California, and percolating in New Jersey and elsewhere, which focus on young people. "If helmets are good for kids, they're good for everybody. It's hard to escape the logic of that," he said. "The age group I'm particularly worried about is 15 to 30, composed of very, very aggressive skiers, male and female. Those are the ones that it's important to get in helmets. It's much better to promote helmets for everybody," Williams said. "The time has come when we shouldn't be fooling around with this issue any more," he said.

I think it's VT who has the law requiring that the bar be down on the lift.

Johnny Law FTW. That's the first thing I thought, but in the Northeast its all relative for the most part.

Then the "like skiing in Vermont" slogan would somewhat apply.

?

Elk is like a mini version of Stratton without the tree skiing.

I thought about getting a pass to Elk about 3 seasons ago and I'm about 65 miles away. I just couldn't justify driving a little over an hour (any paying $100 plus more) on a consistent basis to ski with Frost so close by. Plus any after work night sessions would be completely out of the equation since the last thing I want to do is drive 65 miles after work. But your scenario is a little different so it may work out for you. You'll be driving up every weekend anyway and only adding about 40 minutes. Just pop in another CD and your there. If your used to weekends at CB, Elk on a Saturday is going to feel like you have the place to yourself. Plus, in my humble opinion, CB doesn't compare to Elk. I say go for it. You can host a PASR day up there. And if you decide against it, the JF crew are a welcoming bunch

Nice..good for him. He was stuck in the wrong state.

I really need to get back up there this season. The East side at Elk alone is worth it. Trails like Slalom, Tuscarora, Mohawk and Iroquois are great runs. Tunk is the best bump run probably south of the Catskills (maybe even south of Vermont). The only thing missing is dedicated tree skiing. Then it would really feel like skiing in VT. But that's for another thread I guess.

Elk Mountain itself actually has 2 peaks (north knob and south knob). Right now the ski area is on the North knob. I'm not sure who owns the land on the south knob but if that was ever developed (not that it'll ever happen) it could be pretty huge by PA standards. Blue obviously could expand since the ridge goes on for miles. And I read (I think it was here) that there were actual plans at one point to expand Jackson Frost past East Mt...not sure if those plans are still on the table or not though.

That looks amazing. Pocono hills....take note.

Fixed it.

Whiteface is cool. Look left and you can see Lake Champlain and Mt. Mansfield. Look straight and you can see Camel's Hump. To the right you see Mt Marcy and the rest of the high peaks directly in front of you.

I'm looking to keep my days around 40 again. The more the better. Since my man Phillycore so generously gave me his 3 free nights at the Resort at Squaw Creek (thanks again buddy), my only goal is really to use that and ski at Squaw Valley a couple of days. Other than that it'll be lots if days at JFBB - not sure where else in the east I'll be. Lake Placid has become my favorite place to hit but I'm not sure if I'll get back up there or not this season. It's way too early to tell. I would eventually like to make it up to Stowe which is really the only Vermont area that I haven't been that really interests me.

Not to threadjack, but I think the quality of music in general has deteriorated since the 90's. The 90's saw some of the greatest music / albums ever made. Those days are long gone. Do people even buy albums anymore?

Yes...They are the Catskills. They can only be seen on very clear days. If you go to Big Pocono State Park (drive to the very top of Camelback Mt.) There is one of those view finder things (those binocular things you neet to throw a quarter in order to get it to work). On the viewfinder it tells you exactly where to look (to the northeast) to see the Catskills. The view from the top of Camelback isn't the best IMO but that's definitely one of the highlights