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Eat there too. Cozzzyyyy. Btw, they've finished remodeling upper CB lodge... I haven't been there since then yet, but have always been fond of grabbing my backpack, riding the lift up and eating on top of the mountain.

Why?

Yeah, saw it on the ground floor near ski check in the hotel building. First I'm thinking: OK, everybody has to be first in something in PA, and then WOW, it's not even in PA, it's in the USA!

Hate the idea of rock salt bombarding and corroding the undercarriage plus just the fact of passing those trucks blasting it to my side.

It was a hard choice between BM and CB today, given the expectations of a high crowd at BM, yet reportedly decent snow there yesterday, more open terrain at CB, and yet shut down Sullivan express yesterday afternoon. In the end I figured that I'm getting sick of skiing the same trails over and over again, took the gamble and went to CB... The commute was dreadful. There was more salt on the road than snow on the shoulders. We passed at least 5 trucks on I-78 that were dumping even more salt, all despite pretty optimistic forecast for north NJ and morning in general. In contrast, no such madness was observed on the other side of Delaware river. Our favorite CBK Lodge was closed today, so we had to drive and park near the main one. That took some time, but we still got to the lifts right when they opened them to the mere mortals. The first impression of the mountain was that there had been a lot more trails open than on BM. Two blacks top-to-bottom, King Tut on the right, Nile Mile on the left, Cleopatra, Honeymoon, all the major arteries had snow on it. Moreover, if they wanted, they could open even more because it looked like there was enough ungroomed snow on Bactrian, Pharaon and Raceway, but they chose to use the daytime to make more snow instead. Folks must've got scared by the chance of snowfall or perhaps the mountain not being 100% open yet. It wasn't crowded, no usual crazy wait at Stevenson express due to hotel guests, no snake line at Sullivan, in fact, in 75% of runs we didn't even bother using single lanes. The first two hours were spent on the big top-to-bottom trails like Rocket, Cleopatra, Honeymoon, Nile Mile. With not too many people initially and fresh snow on top of a hardpack, going fast was easy and we've had a blast. After a small break crowds picked up, and the main trail conditions deteriorated, some scraped ice in some sports, some medium deep piles on others, so we retreated to the shorter trails in middle of the mountain, i.e. Rhododendron Glen, Moore's Ramble, Turkey Trot. Snow there was still great, and we just alternated between them and the Stevenson and Glen lifts until we got tired and left at about 2pm. Around noon lines at Stevenson got almost non-existent, but not too many trails were available from it, and Nile Mile already deteriorated enough so we still used the express only to get to the center of the mountain. I'd say that perhaps for a few trails like Cliffhanger where they didn't even start blowing, they have nice chances of being mostly open next weekend. The weather is gonna be funny then though.

Judging by the black friday and triple ticket prices, the passes are going up this year. So don't hold your breath. Your comment kinda makes me reconsider my tomorrow plans. If 8 to 11 was indeed "very good", perhaps I should reroute to Blue?

Btw, again from various lift talks, that 17yo who fell off the lift a week ago, he allegedly had a seizure on the lift, hence the fall.

IDK what part of PA those ski club kids came from, but it was apparently their first trip to Blue this year... All I could here between 4 and 4:30 was "oh, shoot, Sidewinder isn't open yet", "maaaan, that one is closed too", "I paid gazzilion dollars for THIS?"

Sure. Just crank up that snowmaking already and I'll feel right at home

Oh yeah, and no new trails. They're in fact miles away from opening anything new.

It's freaking cold and windy, but it's worth it. Lazy is the best - white, smooth and fast, like a race course. Hard base with a little bit of fine sugar on top. Not quite icy yet, but makes you start worrying about sharpening those edges. BMR is using it to get down to the Falls that they've taken all to themselves. Paradise is in worse shape with several dirt spots and even rocks showing. Worst part is that it's all visible in daylight only, so my poor skis... Bunch of ski clubs showed up, sometimes it gets crowded and you have to wait to get on the lift. Some snowmaking, but nothing in your face yet. The wind is really the worst part of the night. Once you get to the lower Lazy it hits you in the face and you feel like a parachute opens out of the blue.

I'm just hoping that with all the below freezing temperatures this week Blue will have as much snow by Sunday morning.

Ain't today, ain't a picture either.

Because they told me so. Kinda weird. Next time they'll have a surcharge for slow season.

I was at Blue last Wednesday. Will most likely be on coming Wednesday as well.

Another beautiful day at JF today. The morning has greeted me with lead skies and soft, groomed snow. Racing activity was above usual, and as I've learnt, it was because another team from a sister mountain Liberty has come to practice, so they were looping both Challenge and Dematte's. Rumor is there is no snow at Liberty. Surface quality was as good as last week, but snow is getting real thin in a few places: just a couple of inches on top of Thunderbolt, thankfully still 2-3 feet on Challenge. Hopefully tonight they'll blast the slopes with new snow. Crowds were below what I saw last week, and that's surprising given than today is youth day at JFBB - everybody who's younger than 17yo is paying only $17. Me being no youth got hit with a $3 surcharge instead - something about electrical company giving them hard time. Still sucks having to pay extra on already prepaid tickets. Around 10am lead turned blue, wind subsided, and it became quite magical. With not too many people around the snow is holding quite well. I was gonna leave at noon but I think will stick around for another couple of hours.

1/15/18. But someone has recharged the flux capacitor, so welcome back.

I'm sorry to make you feel even worse, but it seems like you're almost a year late for that sausage...

Just around. My trip is not until early Feb. Until then I ski maybe twice a week, once on a weekend and once at night like tonight.

It actually IS getting better fast. Spreading from top to bottom.

"they" is weather.com with a promise of colder than average couple of months.

Weird. The snow feels like spring (rough, wet, heavy), but the air doesn't smell like it at all. Hardly pleasant, I only hope that while the night is progressing, the snow will set. Lazy is the best so far, even though it's full of skidmarks. The weekend is not going to be worth a 2hr drive. They say that cold weather is coming, so perhaps not all us lost.