Ride Delaware ?

Well, the amount of Mountains in the Adirondacks is limited. You best choices are the obvious 2, Gore and Whiteface. I haven't been to Whiteface, but Gore is about as legit as it gets, and I went before they added Burnt Ridge. If you luck out and hit it on a powder day, there are tons of trees. Plus, they really don't mind you going off piste. When I was there 3 years ago there were signs off the side of random trails that said "Caution, Ski Patrol Boundary, Ski at your Own Risk" So, from that standpoint, the mountain had good lift service and great cruisers. Twister is still my favorite trail in the Northeast.

I ended up getting an 08 custom 158 and 09 custom bindings for $300. I had 06 bindings, but the baseplate broke and they were covered by the lifetime warranty. Pretty sweet deal, and now I have a legit rock board. I'm ready for the season baby!!!

While I was at Elk Mountain in late Feb/Early March exploring some off piste powder, I had my edge of the base pushed in, the metal edge split, and the bottom pushed out . The elk repair guy said he could replace the edge and fix the base in a day for $28. I went to Happy Tunes in Sugarloaf, ME and they only repair and tune, and he said the same fix would take him a week and $150. I got the base beat down, sidewall epoxied, and the entire base resurfaced and flattened for $55. It was as good as new except for the crack in the metal edge which I just need to keep an eye on in case it pulls out. Is there any shop that specifically tunes and is excellent at it? I mean, I loved the job so much in Maine that I want to go there every other year to get my boards fully tuned. Any ideas?

Anybody have any updates on how the second half of the summer is going at the Cove?

New board Hopefully adding ski racks Elk mountain powder day Late season belleayre and cb Saddleback Attitash Jay peak Colorado 3 day trip Possible second trip to whistler Longer season (nov 24 to April 26 this year)

I remember a couple years ago that they offered a late season pass from March 1 to the end of the season for like $100. Did they have one this past year that I cant find?

I was a season pass holder at Camelback for 3 years and a season pass holder at Blue for 1. I enjoyed both of them, and the year I had my pass at Blue, I took advantage of the late season for free at Camelback. While you can argue all you want, the climate is different at Camelback (from my experience about 3 degrees), they stay open late, and are changing their snowmaking ideology slowly to make more snow later in the season. If you want the longer season, go to CB. I also agree that I like having more options of getting down the mountain. On the flip side, it is tough to deny that the cruisers at Blue are legit and are longer. Blues managements has also started some CB like policies (shutting some stuff down in the rain), and it seems to be headed more in that direction. I will also say however, that if you go during the week, I would keep in mind that during ALL 3 of the years I was at CB, they shut down the Stevenson lift midweek to cut costs. It might not be open. All in all, if it were my choice, I would go CB. If they offer a cheap end of the season pass again (less than $150) then I would be hard pressed not to get it. This will be my first year in 5 seasons without a season pass.

I know this is a little ahead of the curve, but if temperatures cooperate like they did last year, do you think CB would take a slight risk and open some lift served for Thanksgiving? Last year they opened for Thanksgiving, but it was only a hike park... Everybody that followed CB knows they had enough snow to open at least 8 trails off the Sullivan if not more... The weekend after thanksgiving is usually a zoo up north, and I have no doubt it would have been here too... Plus, temperatures in the long range confirmed their snowmaking window, and there was no reasonable expectation of all their snow being skied off... I'm just kinda bummed out because I would have loved to have ridden some decent terrain, and they were more than able to provide it...

Honestly, I believe that companies should stick to their core business before expanding into others. It has proven successful for many fortune 500 companies if not all of them. I understand the desire for things to look good on paper, but all this money could have been spent improving the ski area, which is what we all really want to see...

It's not even half ass... What I see here is a lack of planning and a lack of implementation on their business plan... We are in the process of construction at my company, and we added several months to our construction times in order to accommodate any unforeseen problems (ie the lazy river collapsing) due to weather or logistics... There is a huge difference between promising a delivery date to your clients, and an opening date for your customers... Sno Cove should have outlined a plan, added a contingency period, and advertised... I have also not seen any advertisements as far North as Bethlehem, and there are plenty of bulletins boards on the major highways down there... Advertisement should have been a large line item in their business plan... They may have used some of these funds to pay for their bills, but they should have factored in a percentage above and beyond what they though they would pay since we all know construction never comes in at the cost estimate... Its an unfortunate circumstance, and I hope they can get it turned around, but they are facing an uphill battle trying to renovate and grow two different businesses basically from the ground up...

I bet Sno Cove wishes they had that many patrons at their waterpark... Other than that, I DONT BELIEVE IT!!!

Stick a fork in em... They're done... 2 summer seasons with copious capital expenditure, 2 winters with capital expenditures, and no reasonable revenue stream in those 2 summers... I just don't see how they can pull this one off...

Honestly, as much as I like ski areas, and understand that waterparks allow more year round opportunities, thus allowing for more expansion (summer or winter), it will be tough to supplant and/or steal patrons from Camelbeach... I just don't see an expanding market for that, but I could be wrong... While this does give the company increased revenue, we will most likely see money being poured into the waterpark in the near future (ie camelback) instead of expanding or modernizing the ski area other than improvements to snowmaking... I could be wrong, and they could have enough money to simultaneously expand both aspects, but I doubt it... I wish them luck because I hate to lose ski areas, but I am tired of the money money money mindset... Oh well, I guess we just have to live with it...

Last year my first trip was Mon-Wed before Thanksgiving... Im hoping to get out a day the week after the resorts open, unless they shut down because of a warm spell...

Just checked their website, and they have some of their improvements, and they aren't revolutionary... Looks like Susquehana, which was already wide, has been widened another 10 feet, more snowmaking added, and 1300 trees planted... While there aren't any huge capital improvements that we all hope for every year, I can say that the trees actually are a huge improvement... For the first time in the 8 years I have been going there, I went on a very windy day, and I could barely feel the wind... It really is a great windbreak...

Aren't most of their dry attractions already open? They need to get the waterpark open for July 4th... Thats a huge weekend... It could be different up there, but down here in OC MD its the biggest of the year...

Yeah, because their website has always been really accurate...

How much funding do they have? Looking at the website, the waterpark still isnt open, and I dont want their disastrous attempt to date on the waterpark to destroy the efforts they are making at the ski area... Can they really continue spend on capital expenditures in the summer without any return on those expenditures?

Can I get an update, or do we not do those for failure?

But that last lift was built in the early 90s lol

I picked some of those because I like the laid back old school mountain feel... I'm kinda looking for that diamond in the rough kind of mountain... 2010-2011 will likely be my big mountain season... I want to hit some more vt mountains...

This is just my rough list for next year. I'm going to try going powder hunting if my schedule and the weather cooperate. I am also going to try hitting the mountains on this list with the Ride and Ski New England Pass if it is offered again. Maine Saddleback Vermont Jay Ascutney Burke Magic New Hampshire Wildcat New York Gore Belleayre Windham Pennsylvania Elk Blue Knob Obviously, I will probably not attain all of these, but I hope to link some of them such as Jay and Saddleback, Ascutney, Burke, and Magic, and Gore Belleayre, and Windham into week long trips. The others I will fill in on a bonus trip or day trip... I also have Whistler planned again for the last week in January/first week in February...

Remember 07-08 when they opened Nov. 9 and stayed open, adding a second trail right before thanksgiving? Anyone think that will ever happen again, or was that the perfect combination of weather, economics (before the recession), and a company's need for marketing at a new mountain? I'll root for it every year. I'll also root for Camelback not to be retarded and not open that weekend after thanksgiving if they have the chance. They missed out on alot of revenue there...

Since Elk is notorious for having horrible PR, if someone who purchases a season pass could let us know when they send out their brochure with improvements, I would greatly appreciate it. They say there are some "big" improvements, but who knows what "big" actually means. Sure, I only get up there one day a year, but I consider it one of my favorite local hills, and I would spend more time there if there were improvements. Furthermore, I wish someone would join me in emailing them to continue asking for a more advanced website.

I was just thinking about mountain improvements and expansion, and this suddenly popped into my head. I know we have all grilled them about how ridiculous of an idea this hotel is, but I was wondering what the status of it was? Have they broken ground? Are they still aiming for next summer? Although I think it will be a trainwreck, since nobody should want to travel to the poconos to ski and stay with Windham and Hunter about the same distance from the NYC Metro Area, the creation of this hotel most likely means expansion to the east which I am kinda excited about. Who knows when or if, but it sets up the best possible scenario for a little money finally being spent on the ski area and not the waterpark...