pcklein31

Likely heading to Blue Saturday/Sunday and then heading to Elk on Monday

Funny, I grew up 40 minutes from Tussey, but we always went to Ski Sawmill! To me, Tussey would not operate if not for PSU.

Thanks... The end of last season and this season are the first time in a few years I've been able to get out much... ..Darn new job and then a few shoulder dislocations/surgery. Feels good! Today was decent, thought Main St was the best

I also saw two different people go head over heels due to 'sticky' snow, both on Nightmare.

The new passes have a RFID chip and a barcode. When I picked up my pass last weekend they told me that only JFBB had the RFID technology and the pass would need to be visible at the other locations so they can scan the barcode.

Yes it does

I normally would agree with you on all accounts. I don't normally buy this early, but it made sense since I never got a pass this year at all. The payment plan also worked out because I wanted to get out this weekend, so the the money spent is going towards next year's pass. Plus, I did not really want to spend the whole amount, since I'm heading to DC next week for the ACC basketball Tournament..... win...win...win

Pass Purchased; I guess I will be at JFBB on Saturday and Sunday this weekend. I even decided to try out their payment plan. Pay 99 dollars down and then four automated payment dates during the summer. Why drop 600 all at once? .. Especially when there are zero differences in the benefits(namely I can still use the pass the rest of this year).

I was leaning toward getting JFBB(after frustrations with Montage and the price of ElK), but after spending a few days at Elk and Blue this year I was talking myself out of the JFBB pass due to realizing my legs do not get much of a work out on 500+ ft vert hill... But supplementing JFBB with a few day trips to Hunter for 'free' definitely piques my interest. Hunter is a very doable day trip from Scranton. If I get ambitious I could make a jaunt to NH/VT too.

Three remaining; Just bought one. Looking forward to getting back to Blue. I've only gone twice and both times were Spring Mashed Potatoes kind of days.

I can't imagine they ran the Long Haul with Upper and Lower Fast Track still not opened. The fact that Montage is so slow to open and so early to close is the main reason I did not buy a season pass this year(first time in three years). I was very disappointed last year with their grooming and their short season. If you are going to groom don't leave weird ruts everywhere.... or just not groom at all. I just find Montage an oddly laid out hill; they have some great terrain and potential. They've tried to put in some cut-throughs to make traversing the mountain easier, but they failed to open some of them last year. It is tough living only 5 minutes away but preferring to drive 40mins+ to Jack Frost. If Elk was not so darn expensive I'd have my pass there this year. I am actually pass-less this year. I may hit up JFBB for their March End of Season special.

As a snowboarder, Long Haul being down does make it rather difficult to run Upper /Lower Fast Track. I do really enjoy riding lower Fast Track, something about the speed long sweeping turn at the bottom of the run. It is strange, even though the terrain is much better at Montage, without easy access to Upper/Lower Fast Track I get bored faster at Montage than I do at Jack Frost. I like variety, I don't like running the same trail much more than 2-3 times a day. At Montage, I don't touch the upper mountain(besides F.T.) or even lower Runaway. You can only run Boomer, Smoke, Rattler(i wish there were more trails like it), Cannonball so much. Now, saying that you can get rather creative in using the Phoebe lift for some longer combo cruiser runs(not much vertical, but good distance covered). (Ex: Exit the Phoebe --> Lower Runaway --> cut over to Lower Fast Track--> back to Phoebe).

Very Nice, Thanks. Looks like on 1/28 I will be heading up to Plattekill or Belleayre or Windham. I guess I will wait and see how conditions and trail openings progress before buying one or the other. I've never been to Windham, but if Plattekill gets snow in the the next couple weeks, it is tough to beat.

I agree with the statement on the roads. Half of the thrill is just making it to the top(4x4 a must). There are at least three different road going to the top. The most challenging is the one that comes up past the tubing park. Someday I need to get there mid to late season. I am always there around New Years due to visiting family; terrain is usually limited. I still always have fun even if I just only cruise their long intermediate trail; good early season conditioning.

I picked up a new board, purchased a Niche Story 156. I installed Flux SF bindings on the board. After day one, this seems like the perfect all mountain board. Perfect medium flex that allows you to ride aggressive and yet leaves the board really maneuverable. My Lib Tech T.Rice at times left me want a little more flex.

FYI for all the non-Montage season pass holders. According to their website/facebook::: ""Show your season pass from any other PA mountain* at the Montage Mountain ticket window, and get a 1/2 price lift ticket!*Excludes holidays. PA mountain must be a member of the PSAA. A full list of PA ski resorts can be found at www.skipa.com.""

I was not up on Sunday, I don't know if they groomed things out or not. From past history i would expect that at least half of Boomer is still bumped up and they usually always groom out Cannonball.

You have to hand it to them, it appears that they've had guns running non-stop since Friday. It did not seem like a high quality "snow" on Saturday, but hey it is a base which they sorely need. Just need to make it though this week's temps. Cannonball was opened yesterday, grooming was a little suspect(hard to blame) with a lot of whoop-di-doos, which were a lot of "fun" in the poor visibility. Looks like WL is close, and they've been hitting Smoke, Switch and Highball hard.

I was up around 1pm to get my picture for my pass, they were still blowing on a couple trails. Their facebook page said Cannonball was close to opening, I am hopeful for tomorrow. As a boarder I avoided today because I would need to hike/skate everywhere.

I know there are not many 'regulars' for Montage on this site, but they are running a special on season passes. Until Monday passes are 449. I picked mine up today because i somehow missed the special over the summer.

I saw that the forecast is calling for an inch of rain on Monday. Hopefully BB will turn the guns on after the rain stops and the temps drop.

Bought a new board yesterday's. I wanted a short playful board to go with my T.Rice. I ended up with a 155 Never Summer Evo 4.0.. Not bad for 250 end of season sale.

t beat me to it on the reporter, i almost turned it off, hard to watch. she should be fired.

Yeah, about 7-8 inches on the ground in the valley. Darn work and responsibilities. I wish I was up at Montage today, hopefully they got the Phoebe lift running. It was still down when I left at 5pm last night. You would have a lot of unhappy people if Boomer and White Lightning were not lift accessible.

Phoebe lift has been down all morning, they do have the Long Haul open, but the north face including Cannonball are closed so far today