Freeski919

Not a fan of losing the pipe. I just think they didn't put anything into the pipe, which is why it was never utilized. Now they take out the pipe for a rail park, and 5 years from now they'll find a demand for a pipe, and end up rebuilding what they just leveled.

And you've been told by multiple people who work in the industry that there are no viable options as far as straight trails are concerned at Blue. Therefore your solution is just as I said, a pie in the sky fantasy. And you're not holding out hope that Blue will improve. You're incessantly insisting that Blue tailor itself to precisely your desires. You don't like Blue, you don't ski Blue... and yet you are constantly here complaining about Blue. We get it, you don't ski there because you don't like the park. Good for you. That's why you have options. Why don't you exercise your options and stop complaining about something that doesn't effect you in any case. I'm not digging you personally. I'm putting out what seem to be your motives, because I don't think you're aware of why you do what you do. Self awareness is the first step to self improvement. By the way, you keep complaining that people keep going off topic. When in fact the topic was about the improvements that Blue has made this summer, not about where the Blue park will be located. Seems the off topic one is you.

I'm hardly biased towards racers. I've never been a racer, never will be. I do, however, have a realistic picture of managing a mountain as a whole. I'm not leg-humping Blue either. Blue is far from perfect, and has plenty of defects. But realistic ideas to fix the problems would be appreciated. Pie in the sky fantasies are useless. You're trying to displace your personal issues w/ Blue onto everybody else. You don't have a problem, everybody else is wrong. You're not an instigator and an internet tough guy, everybody else is. On and on....

Correction. Having a 'great' park is as important to YOU as the other uses. Racing is an important element to the mountain. The Race Dept, NASTAR and PARA bring in a decent chunk of the mountain's revenue. Especially since in order to use the racing features, you have to pay money above and beyond your lift ticket (unlike the park). Having the the steep headwall of challenge markets the mountain to a much larger portion of the population than a marginal improvement in the quality of the park. And as far as your constant complaints about the current quality of the park, I really don't see the grounds for your complaint. I'm from New England, and worked full time at Okemo for a few years. I ski park, and Noreaster at Okemo is exactly the kind of park you want to have at Blue. It's meticulously groomed (Okemo is legendary for its grooming), and it's on a dead-straight, fall line trail. I will admit that Noreaster is a great park. However, having spent a lot of time there, and then coming to Blue and Sidewinder, I don't see such a massive difference. Okemo is better, but it's a major Vermont resort, it should be. But I have just as much fun on Sidewinder as I did on Noreaster. Blue doesn't have a great park, but they don't have a bad park either. Their park is good. There's no reason to alienate the majority of the skiing population for a possibly slight improvement in one segment of the terrain. Really, I think you harp on this issue just so you can complain. In my profession, that's what we call 'attention seeking behavior'. Oh, and having a marginally better park is more important than allowing access to the entire mountain (if you put the park on Main Street)? Seriously? That really makes you look clueless.

I've asked you before, and I'll ask you again. What trail? You never answered the first time I asked. There are three straight trails on Blue, and a third which is relatively straight. Main Street is just that, the main street of the mountain. You can't cut that trail off as just a park, no way to get traffic around the mountain otherwise. Challenge is the another straight trail, and it's just what it says, too. It's the trail everybody uses to challenge themselves. So you can't put it there. The third straight trail is Raceway. Again, aptly named, because it's used heavily for racing. Raceway is too short to be used as a legit park in any case. The last trail is Razor's. Razors isn't straight, but doesn't have any major twists, either. But Razor's is another one of the headline trails at Blue, and is also used fairly regularly for PARA races. So without those four trails as viable options, where do you put it?

I always ski in a helmet too... but you need something to wear in the lodge and on the way to and from the hill.

I'd say $18, but I'll give a dollar discount for the sick MSPaint pic. $17.

I can make them longer, yeah.

Hey everybody, I wanted to get the word out about my little side industry. Few years back, I picked up hat-making skills from some crazy Aussies in Vermont. Since then, I make hats for friends and family, and sell some as well. If anybody is interested in getting a custom made hat, shoot me a message. I usually sell them for $15-20. Here are some examples:

Yes, the patrols at most of the major mountains up north are full time, paid professionals. Frequently, there will be a corps of full-timers that is bolstered by volunteers on the weekends. At Okemo, they are called 'Safety Ambassadors', and they wear a blue cross on the back of their uniforms, as opposed to the professional patrollers, who wear a white cross. Joining patrol is a great idea if you're going north, but if you want to be paid to patrol up there, you can't show up in October. At most mountains, patrol training starts in spring, and goes through the summer until ski season opens. If you're going up for 10-11 and want to patrol, you need to start applying during the middle of this season, and be prepared to move up there this May, and have a job lined up for the summer up there. If you're not able to commit off-season time to the patrol gig, you can look for a job instructing. They typically start taking applications in August, and start interviewing in October. The down side to instructing is that you only get paid when you teach. And you don't get paid all that much, either. But either with patrol or instructing, you can't beat the lifestyle.

That's the lot, yeah. I do think your biggest issue is going to be with the individual members of security. The guy I know is pretty laid back, he just does security to get a pass for himself and his kids. However, some of the security guys are on a serious power trip, and would like nothing more than to give somebody a hard time just for the sake of making you respect their authoritah.

here's the answer i got from my security connection: Not sure, but I assume as you the answer is no - but honestly they would likely not know the difference because there are 3rd shift staff working as well and if they parked at the upper lot where staff parking is I'm thinking nobody would likely bother them at all. Have them call Blue Mtn directly or just roll the dice..... cars are left there overnight at times due to lost keys, dead battery, etc. -

Yeah. I've spent too long getting paid to ski to start paying for a pass.

Ahh, a sure sign that the season is on it's way. I just went to my mailbox, and I found my annual "are you coming back to work at Blue?" letter. It's a little thing, but just adds to my stoke!

I just posed a 'hypothetical' question to somebody I know who works for security. We'll see what we get for an answer.

that's the other thing. They don't even have to buy a new paddle tow. They've got one sitting over on lower paradise, that they used to use for the snowboard school. They're not even using it, they would just have to move it.

it's not about how many skiers or riders ride pipe. It's about how many *think* they ride pipe. Lol. Anyways, it's a chicken or egg type of argument.

Honestly, the pipe at okemo is pretty good, and it's not because they cut it all the time. When I was there, they would only cut it once every couple weeks. It was just that the pipe would get tons of use. So a lot of the shaping of the pipe would happen from the use of it, rather than just the random thaw/freeze cycles. A bump on the wall can't form if its getting skied over dozens of times. And if there's a bunch of people actually using the pipe, it'll cut down on the gapers skiing straight through it. And yeah, you can access the pipe from lower sidewinder. But then you have to take the six pack and go all the way back to the top to do it again. If you have a tow lift, you can just session the pipe.

True, the pipe does suck. However, its a self feeding cycle. One of the reasons it sucks is because it never gets used. When a pipe gets used, it needs to be cut more often, and using it creates a more even surface than an unused pipe. If it gets cut more often, the guys who cut it might actually learn what they're doing, and get better at it. In any case, they're not going to get rid of the pipe. Its a marketing tool. They can say they have a 400 foot pipe, even if it sucks and doesn't get used. So rather than have it suck and have it in a spot where it doesn't get used, at least set it up so it can get some use. As far as that traffic issue, the easy solution is to move the jib park over to the old snowboard school slope (lower paradise now), and open up terrain run as a regular trail.

So I'd like to see Blue put in a tow lift that will service the halfpipe. I've been at mountains that do that, and its so sweet. You can just session the pipe for hours, and get in dozens of runs on it. As it is, you have the halfpipe just sit there empty 99% of the time because its such a pain to hit it without hiking. If they want to get better use out of that prime piece of real estate, they need a lift there. It'll take 30-50 people out of sidewinder at any given time, too. Honestly, all they have to do is move the old snowboard school tow rope over to the halfpipe. It would be too simple, and it would make such a huge difference.

Thanks for the welcome. And I've noticed the epic gaperness of PA skiing. I came here from New England, and we used to play a game up there where we would spot gapers, and whoever spotted the most at the end of the day won. I brought the game down here, and it's honestly too easy some days.

I watched that crap happen. Dumbest way to get hurt, man. Trev, you back at 100% for this season?

I'm a big fan of the fact that the guy who said "welcome to PA" was all gaper'ed out.

The black stuff that builds up on your bases is dirt, tree sap, and all that other gunk that gets mixed in with snow as a season goes on. The reason it gets worse in the spring is because the snowpack is melting, so the top layer of the snow not only has the gunk that got mixed in with it, it has all the gunk that was mixed in with the layers of snow that used to be on top of it, but melted. It's like when that snow pile in the parking lot is completely black with sand on the outside. While it does effect how your ski slides, it slows you down overall, not jerking around. Like was said, that has to do with different densities/moisture level of the snow.