indiggio

Yes indeed! Agree 100%. Used to be a great time going up after work, it was almost like first-run, morning conditions in the afternoon. Days gone by... Agree! Opening run down Main Street found fresh blown and only half the slope groomed! Came onto the ungroomed WTF is that? Unfortunately after a few hours the boilerplate started showing from the previous week's warmth/rain. Jump landings were unbearably hard.

Interesting blog post on how Okemo does their grooming.

So what do you think? http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2011/jan/17/skiing-snowboarding-study-deaths-injuries?CMP=twt_fd

MLK day saw the lift lines pretty long with tons of school kids off for the day. However, VIP lines where negligible 1-2 people deep and they were checking everyone. VIP lines are THE perk for season pass holders! Agree 100%, Go Blue!

Indeed! Good Luck!

Hopefully they'll keep putting the $$ back into the mountain to make it better. Another few expert trails would be awesome! Should replace the double-double with a detachable quad. They're far easier for beginners to load.

Have to also say that I have tried boarding too. Can't knock something unless you tried it. Did it out in Winter Park where runs are nice and wide and even took a lesson. Have to say it was fun, once I got the hang of it. However, I spent more time on my butt than actually boarding. My shoulders, wrists, elbows, butt all hurt bad the next day. I think it's far better suited for Western areas. Out here in the East, we ski/board mostly hard-pack. Watch most boarders going down Chute or upper Challenge, they're not boarding, they're just sideways pushing the snow. True good boarders surf the snow, IMHO.

No hate here either, just observations. However, there are bad/good in both boarders and skiers. Those who have no consideration for beginners on beginner slopes. Hate is reserved for those that "think" they're good enough and barrel down Burma, Paradise or Lazy (Crazy) to show off. If they ARE that good, they should head to the runs where they won't hurt any beginners who are just trying to develop a love for the sport.

It's always a pain skiing with boarders. You always have to stop and wait for them to sit down and buckle up or one-foot traverse a flat. Or have to ski through a ton of them sitting right off the lift, clogging up the slope. How many times do you see a line of boarders sitting across Tut's, right at the top of the 6-pack? Give me two skis and poles any day... Kudos to the boarders than can ride off the lift, click in and go!

Yeah, what ever happened to the afternoon grooming? That used to be the prime reason to go up after work, fresh cord! I realize it's the cost of diesel to run the groomers, but they needn't do all the slopes, just the heavily traversed ones to mow down the push piles and cover up the hardpack/boilerplate. Guess management has no love for their clientele. Ah, love my Lines!

How true...

Ugh, gonna break the $500 mark this year, I bet... Still got 3 more sessions to go before breaking even on this year's pass.

What? The trash on the lift lines, the Bra Tree? Low Class? Come on! All that and death cookies is what give Blue its class!

Would be cool, unfortunately it would be difficult to keep backside trails covered in snow with the sun beating down on them all the time. Natural lighting gets better towards spring as the sun gets higher in the sky. Night skiing also provides some pretty good lighting too, since the lights provide more coverage than sun.

WOW! Major sugar piles on Main Street last night!! Lots of high school buses = lots of kids biting it cuz they don't know how to ski the sugar... Welcome to Blue!

I get one out of two on both Firefox and Exploder. Just not going to deal with it...Lame pointing of cams anyway. Should have one pointing up Sidewinder showing big jumps!

Yeah, got probably 2/3 of it groomed, jumps built and some rails in. Probably want to make some more snow on the bottom 1/3, looked a little thin near the merge. OK, so they were monitoring the VIP line today. Seems a bit hokey with the new RFID tags. They had a worker stationed at the end of the line asking to see passes, so now you gotta whip out your pass and show them to get into the VIP line. Before you could have it dangling off the retractor and they could just see it. Wondering if I saved my old armbands of days gone by to hold my new pass.

Isn't that the truth! Far better to just be cold enough for them to blow snow, than to get natural. Natural brings everyone out of the woodwork (South Jersey, Philly, Delaware, Maryland, etc.) To them, no snow on the ground = no snow on the mountain, but we all know better... It was way-crowded today. Get their early to get your runs in by 11, then beat-feet! Lift ticket lines at the top shack were out the door, past the ski check and almost to the snow...unbelievable!

If it had a hole in it, I would have put the hanger thingy through the hole in the pass, not the stupid cover. Heck, I probably wouldn't have even used the cover as the passes are plastic and it's the chip that's important. Ugh! With all the break-ins at Blue, I don't leave anything to chance in the car. Always have the wallet with me. I just found it a PITA to have to pull it out to get my discount for the food!

Yeah, I started with it in a pocket first couple times up. Then I went to get food and they need to scan it. I had to go fishing to get it out. All the years before I had it hanging outside, never had a problem. I too don't know why they can't have pre-punched cards, would make it so much easier. I find it hard to believe that a small hole in the card would affect the antenna for the chip. They didn't give me a hastle getting on the lift. I showed them the crappy shattered cover and they let me on. I went right into guest services and the lady told me to wait until next trip up and check with Lost & Found before getting a replacement. I'll give them grief about their cover if they try to charge me because the lady said it was all right for me to wear it outside when I got it.

Even last night the wind was out of control. Trying to get from the lift to Challenge/Razors was a pike. Top half of slopes were all windblow crud. However, once you got about halfway down, it wasn't bad, nice stashes of powder here and there and along the sides.

Learn a lesson from my misfortune. We were up skiing in the bitter cold and wind last night. I get down to the lifts (luckily it was the doubles) and proceed to go through the scanners there and NOTHING. I look down at my pass and it's gone. I had it in the Blue Mountain provided tag older (the clear plastic thingy) on one of the old retractable cord extensions. They told me when I got the pass that it would be OK to do that and it's convenient when you go to the food cashier for them to scan it. Well, looks like the clear plastic covers aren't capable of handling the bitter cold and the damn thing cracked and lost my pass. Word to the wise: Don't use the provided clear plastic cover and keep your pass inside your jacket or somewhere!

I just tried and it's a no-show for me as well.

Blue needs someone like Shawnee has to keep people informed. 'Like' Shawnee on Facebook and you get a constant stream of status updates from them. Blue, uh, not so much... Oh and at least one of their webcams work!

Looks good for upcoming week....