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The only piece of advice you should listen to is TEST DRIVE THE SKI BEFORE YOU BUY IT. Pay $60 at BM on a weekday like today and drive them all into the ground. I'll give you an example of why... I ski Atomic Redster SL skis. They hold the edge amazingly well, I haven't seen yet anything better than that. And my friend has recently bought Fischer RC4 SL. Those are also slalom skis, same length as mine (won't tell you the exact number, or many here will have a heart attack), and those are very highly rated. And today they just didn't perform. At all. We both swapped a few times, I sharpened them before the trip, then we gave them a tune again at the store, and nothing, really nothing helped. They're just much more difficult to drive in hard and icy conditions like today, they tend to go sideways all the time, and as a result you can't trust them. So here, two very respectable skis in the same SL category, same length, same TR, same waist, and one is amazing, and the other one underperforms.

Right, and I heard there is a band member here as well, so it's all covered. Can't wait till tomorrow night.

Don't fret, we'll carry you down like a fallen soldier. Hell, I may come again just to salute the effort. One more time before the rain and crowds settle in.

Alright, that's it. It's so hard now that I have to make most of turns on one ski, pushing it in as hard as I can. So I caught a red chair on Main Street lift and am going home.

And it's 5, and it's hard again. Saltyant, you'll be able to break you speed record tomorrow hands down.

Say whaaat? Since when picking up a $20 a crime??

Last year I found someone else's PA Ski Card under the lift on Shawnee. Was all soggy, but still had a few rides left. Perhaps I'll find your GC on CB

Alright! It's almost 3, and it's way, WAY better. Actually, love it. Too bad there is no way to convince my party to stay past sunset. Damn.

The more people off the slopes partying, the better, esp on a busy weekend.

The more people off the slopes partying, the better, esp on a busy weekend.

You think I can bring it up and get a gift card?

Alright, alright, some exaggeration. Just shitty snow.

Upper Lazy is good though. And, saltyant, the bare spots are not that bad, and they're all in more or less one area. Get ice skates for tomorrow night, it's gonna be awesome!

Yes, amazingly shitty today. Compared to last Sunday - night and day. Yeah, it's all groomed, but it's also all frozen. My friends are cursing nonstop, I survive, but it could've been more fun.

Come today or I'll use all the snow up If Lazy Mile already starts getting bare spots, I'll leave you with nothing.

Do I read this correctly? Mantras are fully rockered, aren't they?

Thanks for the invite. Maybe next year. I already had another trip scheduled for the end of Jan.

Indeed. Rain. Very Xmassy. I'll be taking Wed off then and using one of those CM weekday tickets up.

Exactly, that's how they've been initially introduced: to float better in powder. Nowadays with most skis having at least 15% of rocker people manage to find benefits of rocker even on hard snow. Usually they would list arguments like: "it shortens the effective edge thereby making the ski more playful and easier to turn". Even for carving on hard snow many discover pluses like: "the ski is already bent up, so all that's needed to make it carve is to angle the ankles a little bit, and it starts turning by itself". It's hard to separate marketing BS from the true benefits. Before reading some strong opinions here I wasn't even looking at fat and rockered skis. Now I'm anxious to hit big mountains in Jan and demo day in Feb to sort it out for myself in person.

Eastern side wasn't fully open this time. So Lightning and River Shot only. Interestingly, they managed to do the same thing that BM did on the opening day. The left lift on the eastern side decided to die all of a sudden. After about 15-20 mins of trying to restart it (and luckily eventually restarting), they've unloaded everybody and switched to the right one.

I don't know for sure whether Blue mountain is a true mountain, and have doubts that Camelback really ran out water so soon in the season, but I'm convinced that JF is a happy mountain, for where else can you find Happyland? On the serious note, what does a skier need to be happy? Decent snow, empty slopes, comfy lodge, lack of lines, maybe some atmosphere for the right mood... And JF delivers on all fronts! Their snow is always groomed the best, you hardly ever find ice (except perhaps on the eastern part), their crowds are the thinnest even on the peak days, and atmosphere is invariably relaxed, cozy, even on the lifts, which *are* slow. It's just so xmassy to flow among the snow-covered tree-tops, observing a windy river far at the bottom. To me JF is a unique mountain, almost a boutique. That's partly why I can never settle on a single SP from CB or BM - it will just kill the joy of visiting other places that may be as good as this one. So while some take endless pride in conquering challenges of true terrain and celebrating another mile of verticals with IPA, some die of boredom chained to a hump by a SP, less ambitious and more liberal ones just take it all. Winter, slopes, ambience. Today was perfect. Lodge 70% empty. Ideal snow. Reasonable temperatures. Lots of trails. Lots of glades. Tons of funs. Even JF racing team was an inspiration to look at while they zigzagged down the Challenge, compared to some other ones, begging for torches as they were cutting lines on the busiest day of the season. I still have so many JF tickets left from CM, yay!

Camel mountain, the thirsty mountain... Is the water situation really that bad, or are you exaggerating as usual?

OK, a constructive advice: https://www.coloradodiscountskis.com/store/product4871.html I haven't skied this specific model, but I did try the women's one that I bought for my daughter, based on the same technology. Those held the edge nicely, were easy to initiate the turn and smooooth. Also had a smaller TR, but most people here appear to be subject to a certain degree of gigantomania, so this may actually be better. If you're cautious of rocker and don't want to test drive, this is the deal. Only camber on the outside ski, and some rocker on the inside.

Oh, I wasn't talking about skills at all. I haven't seen you and have no idea how you ski (however some stories about poles and exhausting yourself on Upper Marc Anthony do come to mind). I was talking about time you were doing this.