pcklein31

I was at Stratton on Easter Sunday and things were nice .. empty. With the snow they are getting tomorrow, should be great

II had an Ikon the last three years and loved it. However I decided to get an Epic pass this year as there are some trips I want this coming year based on a Epic Pass(namely Japan with Rusutsu and Hakuba Valley). But I'm really hoping I don't regret it... I'm not overly looking forward to JF/Hunter/Mt Snow as my local day trip mountains. I will plan to go back Ikon the following year, but I guess it will be nice to force myself to some different locations .

Yes, Deerfield.. kind of out of the way .. but so worth it... As always

I had looked earlier in the week and saw some snow, but it looked like it was mostly northern VT I was planning to just go to Blue on Sunday, but made a late switch Saturday night and never looked back at the weather.

I drove up this morning.. honestly had no idea they got as much snow as reported. MT is reporting 28".... Boy I wish is had a different board with me, my powder boards are at home. The first couple runs were a blast, but oohh soo much work!

Ha.. yeah.. i thought my WiFi on good old trusty United was failing me... but should never have doubted them!

If Blue will refund an unused season pass if you have an Ikon, I might just take them up on that offer. I typically only get 15-20 days at blue .. plus about 15-20 at Ikon mts. If I can get 14 days between Blue and Camelback, I'm pretty much covered. I can also easily add in a few days at other local. mountains

Thanks: Definitely making plans to get back and spend more time in NZ. I was only there for 4 nights, so I was maximizing my time and my Ikon pass. But would be great to explore more.

Currently on my flight from Sydney to San Fran... Found this picture which shows the uniqueness of the NZ ski fields. They say they get very little snow in the valley and the snow level is typically quite high in the mountains. In this picture of you zoom into the bottom of the V of the snow line ... That is the base of the Remarkables resort. Quite the drive to get up there ..

.. and well .. I had not ventured up the final lift until today as it is an old fixed grip lift. I guess that should have told me it was the fun part of the mountain. You are dropped off inside an upper mountain bowl with options everywhere (albeit a lot with thin cover). The slopes were a lot more fun and much less crowded.

I am spending a few days in Queenstown, NZ. First of all, this place is just stunning... Spent the last two days at The Remarkables which is a fun 'little/big' mountain. It is weird as the vertical is similar to Blue but skis much bigger, but all does not have a lot accessible steep terrain. All of the steeper terrain is off piste. Due to light coverage I stayed away except the heavier travels area. Overall a fun place to spend a day, but could see during a good winter this place would be really fun. Lastly, the drive up may have been more exciting than the mountain itself... Crazy windy 13 km road with the last 3km gravel. A few pics below..at add some others later

I have not seen it run since the first 6 months or so of their original opening. Even then, it only ran when the chair line got backed up.

Pretty cool that Alyeska was added to Ilon... Hmm?, will strongly consider a trip to Alaska next season..

I enjoy Level Crossing Brewing for good beer and pizza near SLC... and always make a trip to Bohemian Brewing in Midvale(solid lagers and good German/Czech food). Also 2 Row has some solid beer for takeout.

.. Also, try to get to Powder .. just a fun low key mountain like Brighton.

Nice! .. enjoy; I'm heading out mid April(11-19).

Day 1 at Crystal Mountain,. Arrived at Crystal Mountain around 10:00am after a 2.5 hour drive from my friend's house near Olympia. Not terribly crowded on the slopes but park lots were full and it was a pretty good hike to the lodge from the main lot. Kept pretty low-key and stuck mostly to groomers. Visibility was not great and was pretty non-existent at the summit. The gondola was shut down around 1130 due to winds. Overall, the snow was decent, only found a few slick spots later in the day, but nothing terrible I did not feel their groomed terrain was that steep compared to Utah. The abundance of evergreen trees reminded me of Elk( HAHA).. Road mostly off the Ranier Express and the Forrest Queen Express.. A few pictures.. hard to take much at higher elevation due to fog. You should be able to see Mt Ranier, but no luck today

Thanks .. and .. I may have lived in NJ for the last 6 years, but Sheetz will always reign supreme!

While I'm not big on writing long trip reports..I am almost ready to land in Seattle for a quick 3 day trip to visit a friend and hopefully get two days on my snowboard before catching a red-eye back to EWR Friday night. I plan to hit up Crystal Mountain and Snoqualmie (Apental). At minimum some pictures to follow.

My most recent email now states 3/19 as the end date for getting the $50.

Love the pic of the Bighorn Sheep!

Unless I'm wrong, this is unusual to have the new season pass available in Feb, correct? Maybe my memory is bad, but seems like we don't get the option until March. I could just be projecting my faltering memory based around an expectation of Blue not lasting after mid-March.... Unless we get some better weather soon

Thanks, good know,, there goes an easy way to reach 54 PQF! I've been at 54 and 56 the last two years, so hopefully I maintain. It is nice that using miles for flights now earn PQP and PQFs.

After yesterday's conditions and these reports, glad I decided to drive up to Windham today instead. Things were ok, but not great up there ... There was not much sugar l, but did have to watch out for some of ice on the 'steeps'. Overall, nice to at least get a change of scenery with the crappy conditions around. Hoping for a return of better conditions in February for Blue!

I was there for opening bell today. First run was down CS(FF) and it was was good until you reached Paradise and things were surgary right off the bat. I then did two runs down Razors and they were fantastic with smooth nice snow everywhere. The rest of the mountain, including Main St, Lazy, WM were less good with sugar on tht bottom half everywhere and cover getting thin on Main through the stained area. I kept coming back to CS and Razors as they continued to be better than the rest of the mountain even though they did deteriorate throughout the morning. I left shortly after the snow started to fall. All in all a very nice morning even though the snow started later than initially stated