Freeski919

In PA there's no point to cutting glades, there's never enough snow to ski them. If you're talking about in VT, there's no point because there are already plenty cut. And if you get too froggy with it you can end up in a mess of trouble like those dudes up at Jay a couple years ago.

Blue's status tonight: Warning: Lights across the mountain will be shut - off at midnight tonight! Snowmakers & Groomers will work by the light of the moon (and headlamps / headlights) in an effort to conserve energy.. and be more awesome!

feel free to answer.

Cute. But doesn't answer the question? Have you learned to ski in the last 4 years? Because when I saw you last, you were a hot mess of awful skiing that thought he was good because he went fast.

GSS, I see you're still a bitch. Have you learned to ski since I left PA? And what I think you meant to say is "I don't care, but I have a compulsion to comment on every single thing that comes across this board." Its a discussion board about Blue. This is a discussion about Blue. If you don't care, don't read and don't comment.

I'm not an environmentalist, but I'm environmentally conscious, and I don't like waste in any form. Wasted money, wasted electricity, waste isn't good. Useless waste, easily avoidable waste is mind boggling. So I did ask Blue about it on FB, and here is their response: that's a great question! some of these pre-season nights there are snowmakers out on the trails during the wee hours fixing leaks, running hoses and the like. Last year during the season Blue did turn the lights off a bunch of times and the groomers worked with just the lights of the cats. I believe that right now this is a hot topic and it is in a transitional phase.. soon the lights will be off more often than not. So it sounds like somebody at Blue has realized this is a dumb idea, and is trying to change things. They're probably getting resistance from groomers and snow makers who say 'this is what we've always done'. It also sounds like they've been catching flak about it from more people than just me.

I live in Vermont now. It isn't really going to affect me one way or the other in the end. Just a bug in my rug, so to speak. A liability issue? I'm sorry, no lawsuit would go anywhere on those merits. In fact, leaving the lights on leaves the mountain more open to liability of a lawsuit. If all the lights are on, the skier has a better case to say he thought the mountain was open. The bank doesn't leave its lights on all night so the late night bank robbers don't get hurt. And no, when you are making snow you absolutely do NOT need the lights on. It would appear your knowledge of skiing and how ski areas work is extremely limited. If you travel anywhere North or West of Pennsylvania to ski, what you will quickly realize is that night skiing is not a universal phenomenon. Here in Vermont, there are thousands of miles of ski trails.Only a tiny fraction of those ski trails have lights strung. Maybe 1%, definitely no more than 3%. And yet, most Vermont ski areas average above 85% snowmaking coverage. Right this very second, I am absolutely certain that Stowe, Killington, Jay, Okemo, Stratton, and others are all blowing snow. It's after 10PM on a late November night, absolutely pitch black outside my window in northern VT. And I absolutely guarantee you that at not one of those resorts is a single trail light lit.

yup. because there is a clear reason why they are taking water and making it into snow. On the other hand, the lights have no reason to be on. What if you said you'd help out with your brother's electric bill, and you went by his house one day and realized he leaves every single light and electrical appliance on while he and his entire family are at work. wouldn't that annoy you? I think part of my annoyance comes from living in Vermont, where we're a wee bit more conscious about things like this. If Bolton Valley left their lights on all night, in full view of Burlington and the rest of the Champlain Valley, they'd get ripped apart for being such d-bags.

Actually, its your money that you're giving them to waste. I'd be annoyed if I paid for a pass and realized a chunk of it was paying for keeping lights on when there's no good reason to have them on. I never paid for a pass at Blue, and didn't pay full price for anything and it still bothered me. Besides the monetary issue, is it really okay for a company to be grossly wasteful for no particular reason?

Alright, this is something that has bothered me for a long time now, and it was just brought back to mind because my wife is down in PA right now, and she told me she saw the lights on at Blue. My question is... why? Why the fuck are the lights on now? Why are they on at 2 AM during the season?? What a massive waste of money. Some might say 'oh, its for the snowmakers and the groomers'. Bullshit. The snowmakers and groomers at most mountains work just fine in the dark. Hell, the groomers are made for it, and have massive banks of lights all over them. It just annoys me because that's a shit ton of money that the mountain turns around and has to extract from their customers in the form of lift ticket prices, food, etc. Anybody have any clue how Blue justifies this massive waste of its customers' money?

Snowboarding is, in fact, in decline. Does that mean it's going anywhere? No. That's not just based on snowboard sales, either. It does make sense that the proportion of ski sales would go up compared to snowboard sales. An avid skier these days has at least 4 or 5 pairs of skis in their quiver. Skis are so specialized, it makes sense. Most riders only have one or two boards. As a skier/rider, I have 5 pairs of skis, 1 board. However, if you really want to look at the popularity of snowboarding, and figure out if its growing or shrinking, look at lessons. PSIA/AASI collects some stats from its member schools, which consist of pretty much every ski/ride school in the US. At its peak, snowboard lessons were a touch over 40% of the total lessons taught. I believe that in the early 2000's. Since then, the percentage of snowboard lessons has decreased to somewhere in the ball park of 33%. If you have fewer lessons being taught, you have fewer people learning to do it. That means fewer snowboarders. Maybe not right now, but in 10 years it'll be very noticeable. That being said, snowboarding isn't going anywhere. It's established itself as a legitimate staple on the mountain, and won't be going the way of snowblades any time soon.

Stowe reported 36" in 36 hours from this past storm. I will tell you from first hand witness, the reports were wrong. I was routinely blowing through 40+inches of fresh yesterday. Face shots on every turn, and absolute necessity to stay on steeps, because chest deep pow just stopped me on flats. I was pushing my 48" ski pole into drifts, and having it disappear up to my elbow. It was seriously the most epic pow day I've ever had east of the Mississippi.

The first rule of the woods is you don't talk about the woods. The second rule of the woods is you don't talk about the woods.

Quiet, you.

After a painfully cold weekend of working at the mountain, I showed up to work on MLK day. Not enough students meant that I got to get out on the mountain to free ski. Cold at the start, but ended up being fairly nice. Wicked bluebird skies, tons of sun, and no wind. Oh, and the time has arrived to do some real skiing. Snow was really nice, not much ice, the natural hit we got last week is helping a lot. And since we got about a foot and a half of fresh snow, it meant it was time to get off the trails and into the woods. Not many fresh tracks to be found, but it's good to be in the woods again. My trusty ski pole depth gauge in the woods. Ideal is between the Leki logos, but I'll take it. Despite appearances, this isn't a trail. This is a streambed in an undisclosed location on Mount Mansfield. Looking down a sweet little stretch with two drops. Looking back up the same piece of hill after shredding that gnar.