mgguy

Guns are cranking full out! At least 6 of the new guns are on upper Kodiak below B chair, addresses the one area that always gets thin late season. Also, a new winch groomer for this year! New LED lighting for all trails too this year! Get stoked!

We hit the Buckman sale for the grandkids, got 2 pairs of skis and 2 pairs of boots. Skis were really rough looking but an hour on my workbench and the edges and bases look like new. I think the total cost on the skis was like $15 so a great purchase! The Buckman tune up costs look high to me, just saying. Hitting bases with a grind and edges with grinds does a great job shortening the life of the ski IMHO. I prefer light file and diamond hone to keep edges versus grinds and heavy filing.

Lots of new things going on this summer- repaving parking lot, multiple new HVAC rooftop units, new maintenance building for maintaining groomers etc, new water making piping for main face, new electric for lighting on some trails, and best of all, at least one trailer full of new snow making machines! Think snow!

Skied 4 of 5 days this week; snow is still holding up remarkably well. This morning had like no crowd and the snow was nice and soft but firm, like cream cheese? It held up really well and after 2 hours you could still pick out your tracks from earlier runs. At 11 the snow was still pretty fast and holding up real well. Some brown here and there but nothing of any consequence. They will definately blow if the opportunity presents itself. Still looking at pond skimming on the 19th.

No bumps on Grizzly, still bumps on Sasquatch

Almost forgot, coverage was surprisingly good. Some stains showing through but Bear's groomers continue to impress with how they can keep coverage! Was much better today than yesterday!

Rolled in at 8:40 and hit almost first chair. Really flat light. Rode B up and went right over to backside. Snow was surprisingly nice! Fairly firm and carveable. First run down Broadway was really nice. Rinse and repeat. Grizzly was exceptionally nice. Timberline was very firm and nice. Did the HoChiMinh and it was pretty nice too! All in all the F chair side was a great morning with an absolutely minimum crowd. Finished with some Kodiak runs. ROTD Grizzly, turn right and Coaster to chair. Off before the sleet hit. JADIP

You would recognize my boards, on skiboards, not really skis. Told the wife that we did "like driving to Vermont without the drive" but it was with the drive and Vermont. First time at Okemo in like 25 years, what a change! By the way, the new Carinthia Lodge at Mt Snow blows big time. Designed by someone that never skied before. Used to be a nice quaint out to the way spot, now a huge overbuilt and difficult to get around in!

HaHa this string is great! I literally just got back from Okemo and Mt. Snow. Skied Okemo Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Mt Snow on way home today. Monday Okemo was ok, basically hard pack/frozen. Skied primarily on main face and some runs on Jackson Gore. Tuesday was incredible, we were staying slopeside and had a dusting of snow. Went to top right away and 3 to 4" of perder and it was sweetness on the half shell. Hit from top down Sweet Solitude, Colemans and then Exhibition, we had maybe 2nd tracks on the run. Banged it 3 more times and then it was all cut up. Wednesday we went right up and it Jackson Gore, hit every trail and it was incredibly good! Hit South face two days and just ok, lots of much. Ate at condo with friends most of the time, hit Mr. Darcy's for some great burgers and local ales. Mt. Snow was not so good, thin cover, mushy, windy. NP as it was on way home.

Skied Eagle a few times, remember it as really flat top section, big drop, really flat bottom section. Like 3 real trails. Yep, old and slow lifts. I think they have a lodge at both top and bottom?

F is the top of the one side, you can get off and turn immediately right and be at top of Grizzley, turn immediately left and be at top of Extreme, turn left and very short distance to top of Sasquatch. Straight off lift and turn right and you are on Broadway. Elevation at top of F is just slightly lower than going up A or B. Yep, going down Sasquatch entails a ride on A or B to get back up. You can do Bear Pass and head by family park and then uphill poling to get to Sasquatch (only on really nice Sasquatch days!!) or do the Broadway to F and back up loop. Actually helps keep traffic down on Sasquatch as you have to loop to run it multiple times.

Was up this morning for opening; chains dropped 10 minutes early! Snow was by far the best of the season! Skiers right on Broadway was ROTD, was fast, smooth and great until around 11:30. Wife lapped Extreme and Sasquatch and had great reports. Yes, she did that without me! I caught an edge right under F chair and provided entertainment for a number of people; after that my sciatica was hurting and took it easy for a bit. Real shame the weather forecast for next week sucks!

Been blowing straight thru and will blow until temps stop it. Looks like at least a foot has been blown with big whales everywhere. Creek can put down a foot of snow over whole mountain with 72 hours of blowing. I didn't ski today due to having to work but wife reported good snow everywhere. Yesterday was apparently better snow (and smaller crowd) with Sasquatch the ROTD both days. Setting mountain up for the upcoming, need we say it, warmer weather. I plan to ski Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday mornings and should be prime conditions.

The Mountain Eatery (in the lodge) is the cafeteria. You can buy beer/alcohol outside of if it at Bear Bites when it is open. The Grill is just off of the lodge and the main entrance to it is the in the lodge. Trails End is up through the hotel at the far end of the resort. Nice big deck off of the lodge to sit on when the weather is nice. Also a food trailer selling alcohol outside by the deck.

Night and day difference from Doe. If you want to hang out with some friends Trails End is not as fancy and more comfortable to me; bigger bar at Grill though.

Should be blowing a lot this week! Just looked at cams and it is only showing Black Bear blowing at the moment, should be going across the mountain anytime.

Drove up yesterday for the discounted skiing. Last 45 minutes up turnpike and 81 in light snow. Parking was in the upper lot. Cleared and got blue sky by around 9:30, temp around 24 degrees. Not completely open yet, had guns going all day on Iroquois, Tuscorora, and Kickapoo (trails closed). Snow was very firm and fast, could carve easily. Some small marbles developed here and there as day went on, nothing serious or troublesome. Upper Tunkhannock was usual bump field. Lower Tunkhannock was some of best snow on the mountain. Got 18 runs in. Only lousy snow was the icy boiler plate mess at lower Seneca in the run off to the double chair. Wife made the comment that you see a different caliber of skier at Elk. Blue sky, no kids, no lift lines, no crowd. JADIP.

Was up on Tuesday to use the Epic pass. Had been a few years since I was at Jack. Lodge hasn't changed at all. Not a whole lot was open, basically 7 trails. All were very firm and fast. Surprised that they skied off by noon with the light crowd. Best snow of the day was on Lehigh. Skied everything that was open except the Park. The 2 blacks were pretty good. My only complaint about Jack is that without the East side the trails are about the same, straight down, same head wall locations on all of them. Staff was all friendly, all in Vail coats. Was turning 10 minute laps (only 3 minutes longer than at BC). Worth the trip for weekday runs.

TRAIL REPORT 1-27- Rolled in at 8:30 to a fairly mild morning, nice blue sky. Extremely surprised by conditions! Somehow they keep finding snow. No bare spots anywhere. Snow to start was pretty firm and fast. After a couple of runs on Kodiak went over to F chair side. Polar Bear was sweet, Timberline fast, Broadway also fast. Snow started to soften but remained fast and easy to set edges. Sasquatch was nice and firm and the wife decided to lap it a few times. No real ROTD as all of the trails were pretty much the same. Last run was Black Bear Park and it did not disappoint. Was surprised at the crowd today, was more like a Saturday than a Friday. Called it a day right before 11. Looking forward to tomorrow early!

An update on my helmet purchase- I had bought the Atomic Savor HD helmet and now have 8 days with it, mix of sun, flat light and days with both conditions. Highly recommend it! If you wear glasses it eliminates the whole foggy glasses issue, eliminates foggy goggle issue too. Wife has the photochromatic lenses and loves them. May be slightly more versatile. My lenses are the HD lens and seems to be sufficient. A bit pricy, but if you need both a new helmet and good goggles it is worth it.

TRAIL REPORT 1-18; rolled in at 8:30, temp already too high at 37. Cloudy cover. Only a few of us "boomers" in lodge. First 2 runs down Kodiak, fast and firm. Intersection of Kodiak and entrance to Broadway already showing streaks. Then went over to F chair side, Broadway traverse getting narrow. Broadway was nice and firm and fast. Did Timberline and was ok. Polar Bear was sweet. Grizzly was pretty nice, some streaks showing. Lapped Broadway, Timberline. Polar Bear, Grizzly for a while and then went back and did Cascade Park (slow at 11), a couple of Black Bear Park runs (pretty nice) and finished with Bear Trap/Kodiak run. Things getting soft at 11:30 but all in all JADIP

TRAIL REPORT 1-17. Got to lot at 8:35 and parked in second row. Overcast flat light day, temp at 33 degrees to start. Did 3 runs on Kodiak with nice firm snow. Moved over to F chair side and Broadway was very nice snow, fast and smooth. Timberline was fast, firm snow also. Polar Bear was nice and soft. Grizzly was nice, fast and soft enough that no problem setting edges. Extreme closed. One run on Sasquatch, the top 1/2 was nice soft snow, but the bottom half was icy and hard. No lift lines at all. Started to spritz a little bit around 11 but nothing to worry about. No cookies or frozen parts to be found anywhere- groomers had mountain in nice overall shape. Rolled out around noon. JADIP

All lifts open, almost all trails open today. 12 to 25 base. Base was around 6 to 10 with lots of mud on Thursday/Friday. Guns still cranking! Snowmaking is really doing the job!

Over 31 hours of blowing, over 6.5 million gallons of water, the Creek is back.

Yeah, it was pretty crowded today; like all of last week. Got there before 9, snow was surprisingly quick and firm until just before 10 then got real soft. Still quick though, never got sticky. With the exception of Saturday the Creek was very busy and full for the Holiday week. The upper lot got filled pretty much all the way every day. Lift lines moved along pretty nicely though. "A" chair was open every day too.