Ride Delaware ?

The lodging in the skillz sucks. If you can't score a cheap place at Hunter, your best bet is at Saugerties...

Definitely bummed I missed you guys. I took yesterday off, but I would have come out if I knew where to meet you. Glad you got after it. It's a little thin up here, but most of it is avoidable if you've got your head on a swivel.

Did they open the day after T-Day this year as well?

Whiteface gets what, 200" a year while Gore gets 180"? Gore is one of my favorite places in the East and has some of the best cut glades anywhere, they just don't get the snow to consistently open them. That puts them on par to Okemo and Stratton with snow. However, Gore easily has less crowds. I've never been to Whiteface, but I've heard mixed reviews.

No blackouts in the parking lot?

OutCold decided that he wanted to try out something different today, so we decided to head down to Pico for a change of pace. We fell in love with the mountain when we visited 7 years ago, but it had been so long, that it was basically like visiting a new mountain. We got a late jump today and didn't get on the slopes until 11. Conditions were a mix of machine groomed packed powder and ungroomed skier packed bumps with a dusting of fresh. It was a bluebird day with temps hovering in the upper teens. There were no crowds to speak of, and maybe a total of 100 people on the mountain. We warmed up on the lower mountain quad and then headed to the top. We stuck to groomers early, but after a lunch break we started heading into the woods. All the actual glades had been cleared this summer and had excellent coverage. There were very few obstacles and you could really rip them. Towards the end of the day we were at the summit, saw some tracks into the woods, and decided to summon our inner J Law and follow them. The upper section was tight but fun. We quickly noticed that the lower section turned into a snowshoe trail, but the pitch was still downhill and we continued to follow it farther away from the ski area. Finally we noticed that it was part of the Appalachian/Long Trail, and it started to turn back toward Pico. When it started going away from Pico again, we decided to boot pack through thigh deep pow with a crust to get back to the trails. There was a slight ridge about 100 feet from the snowshoe tracks, and once we got above it, we were able to see the ski area. Worst case scenario we would have ended up on Rt. 4 at the trail head, but we were relieved to say the least. We still had fun doing it even if we had no idea where the fuck we were headed. I know it was bad planning, but luckily it ended for the best. Overall it was nice to get back to Pico and have a fun day. The snow was excellent and they have a bunch of nice glades. I definitely will make sure I get back there before 7 more years passes.

Day 2 was gorgeous. Thanks for taking the time to take and post those.

Steeze gave you a shortened Steeze like answer. Here's a little better: Catskills has Hunter, Windham, Belleayre, and Plattekill. Hunter-on site lodging, baller snowmaking, 2 high speed lifts, steep terrain, and most crowds in the skillz Windham-on site lodging, lots of families=MILFs, good snowmaking, high speed lifts, but boring terrain that leaves you begging for more after 3 hours Belleayre-no decent lodging nearby, limited snowmaking, one high speed lift, nice upper mountain has fun but short runs, and lower mountain has a long flat runout Plattekill-gem of the Catskills, no lodging nearby, no frills, no lift lines, no high speed lifts, good snow, limited snowmaking, no runout, and good people Overall, there's some good skiing to be had in the Skillz. Annual snowfall is around 160"-180" a year which is comparable to SoVT. I am assuming that's what your looking at if you want to stay closer to home. Crowds can easily be avoided at Plattekill, but all the other mountains will be pretty busy due to the proximity to NYC. Southern Vermont averages about the same amount of snow, but the mountains are larger and more spread out which helps them disperse crowds. Lift lines will still be unavoidable at the mega resorts like Stratton, Okemo, and Mount Snow. Bromley will also be busy, while your best bet to avoid crowds is Magic. Almost all of them except Magic have excellent snowmaking, but Magic has some of the best terrain around when the snow is falling. Almost all those resorts have on site lodging except for Magic. If your talking all of Vermont, then there is no doubt that Vermont will be your destination. Starting with K-Mart north, your options are bountiful with good lodging, dining, and skiing options. Be prepared to shell out more coin for VT than the Skillz.

I highly doubt that it will be the 15th. That's incredibly early, even for them. I would bet a 6 pack that it's at least the 22nd if not the 29th. They haven't hit April with good conditions in 5 years, so with a weekend being that late, I don't think they will this year either.

I didn't say it has been. I think the last time it was free was in 09'. It started in 08', so you it wasn't like it was a long lasting thing.

When you skied free every day in the spring, you could count on PASRs for several trips. I'd rather ski at CB than not at all. Now you see them for the one free ticket and then out.

OutCold and his wife came up for a ski trip, and after spending yesterday at Mount Ellen (Sugarbush North/Glen Ellen), they decided that we should hit up LP today. We took our time getting to the mountain since we wanted to start on some mellow terrain and Gate House doesn't open until 9. I took my sweet ass time and we didn't get on the lift until 10. Heaven's Gate and Valley House were on mechanical hold (slew of mechanical failures and lift closures all over this year), so there was extra stress on the base area lifts. Since there hasn't been much snow lately, it wasn't as packed as it has been in the past several weekends. The lift line for Gate House was 3-5 minutes while Bravo was closer to 10. The temps hovered around 20 at the base with snow falling on and off thought the day, but not amounting to much. 3" of pixie dust fell overnight adding a nice coating. We lapped Gate House for 7-8 runs then headed over to Bravo for a run. Groomed packed powder was in abundance. Went back to Gate House to go to the Village Run trail to return to the condo for lunch. They had groomed Village Run, but since it is mostly uphill, it didn't help much. I won't be taking that trail again unless it's an absolute necessity. It was a workout. OutCold's wife decided to call it quits at lunch and we decided to head out and hit some trees off the Bravo lift. We hit a tree shot off of Twist that exits onto the mall, then decided to hit Eden between Spring Fling and Snowball. We followed that by going into Egan's that is farther skiers left than the Twist tree shot. All of them had excellent coverage with only a few small rocks and trees sticking up. Those were easily avoidable. Then we went back to Gate House to try Sleeper woods, and they were pretty thin. Lots of rocks and trees and thin spots. It looked nothing like it did two weeks ago. It needs a solid foot before it is really good again. We decided to call it quits afterward. I'm usually patrolling on weekends to circumvent the crowds, but today was pretty fun and not too crowded. Definitely glad I went. Pics below:

Glad to hear you enjoyed Mount Snow. I was driving up to Sugarbush Thursday and the roads were wild. 100 north of Killington was completely snow covered. Mount Snow and Okemo have similar pitch. Okemo can be just as crowded, but they have more terrain to spread people out. If the season has been good for snow, Magic is an excellent place to avoid the crowds. There aren't too many VT areas that disappoint.

It was way better when you could ski free as many times as you wanted on a pass from a different mountain. I guess they can't give away passes all the time, but it kept the mountain stocked with peeps.

Take a day off if this storm materializes next week.

Elk is so in between markets geographically that I don't know If they even know where their clientele comes from. They do ask for your zip code upon getting a ticket though, so perhaps they do? But I don't think you can zero in on one city.

Such a shame there isn't enough business to last longer. Most of the time they could easily make the middle of April. Once that 100 day guarantee is up, there's no point for them.

I saw that. Are the models still agreeing on this one thus far? It's still a ways out, but...

I think I'm ok with being a fan, but I don't want to take the next step towards groupie...

I don't think anyone wants that. I'll put on my creativity cap.

Feeling Farty...

There's a couple of chances for snow this week that look promising, so from that standpoint, it could be better next weekend. Elk is known for having excellent grooming and grooms almost everything but Tunks, so I would imagine conditions would be pretty good regardless. I've been there days after a freeze thaw event and it was plenty enjoyable. As for snowmaking? The best option there is to just call them and ask. Their website won't tell you anything, but the phone operators are usually quite helpful. Have fun out there!

It was good, but unfortunately, I just saw it on your face space, and it isn't as entertaining the 2nd time around.

Anybody heard anything good on this one? J-Law? Looks like the models aren't definitive yet, but if it lines up right, most of the corridor west of 95 could get some good snow totals. I'm heading back up to VT soon, and since Sugarbush is done snowmaking for the season, I know they need more natural to make anything ungroomed skiable again. Holding out hope...