JollyJake99

I don't see how they can get rid of the hairpin turn without building a new road thru somebody's best house. But I'd bet that the one way traffic that looks like will the weekend situation will keep those leaving C'back from having to drive out by going down the hairpin! They'll have to go out the back way instead. Of course, that will make those going to the tubing park who don't use the tunnel fair game.

They've Paved the "Rear" Access Road. Went to pick up season's passes this week and much to my surprise - C'back has paved the "back way" in and the Sun Bowl parking lot, too. Also, looking at some other signage, it looks like traffic will be flowing thru C'back from west to east, only. Paving the back way is going to be a lot easier on the car's suspension, but I bet it's going to make for a real racetrack! Also, there is no sign of any groud breaking for the palnned hotel.

The title says it all. Seriously, has anybody ever used one? Did it improve your skiing? Was it worth the money?

Several weeks ago I read a newpaper piece stating that there would soon be FIVE indoor water parks in the Poconos!! Split Rock, Great Wolf, Camelback (still in need of final permit according to article), one proposed at the former Summit resort (Tannersville exit) and one proposed for Birchwood resort (north of 611?). In addition to how crowded this is going to make things, I wonder about the availability of water. Yes, I know these parks are supposed to be "closed systems", but they can't be 100% closed and the total activities of each park will increase water usage. This seems destined to create quite an impact, especially in light of the fact that in several drought years, the ski resorts were restricted by the state in their ability to make snow, even though this water would be "returned" when it melted in the spring.

Several times this past season, while standing at the entrance to Cliffy, looking NE, kinda in the direction of Great Wolf, I saw what looked like barely visable "mountains" on the horizon. These were only visable on VERY clear days. Could these be the Catskills?

It just felt like there were more people on Fridays than in previous years & that there were also more people on Mondays than in previous years. Perhaps it is because I'm used to not having to ride more than two on the quad lifts (usually) on weekdays and this year it felf like there was more times of having to "share". So much so that on one Friday AM I got "bumped" off of the Sullivan lift by a guy who was so focused on taking his "never-ever" girl friend to the top of the mountain for her first ski experience that he wasn't watching what he was doing and sat down so far to the left of center that I was left with nowhere to sit! This was a first for me! How do the people at Blue do it six across?

This season it felt like Friday was the new Saturday & Monday was the new Friday! Anyone think was just due to the massive snow storms that the "city" got, or is there a real shift in visitations?

In the years before the parks were moved to the "East Side", the runs that are now parks made very convenient routes from the main mountian back to the Stevenson Lift! It appears that there is plenty of room on either side of the various features to easily ski thru the parks and if I read the details of the 2010-11 season passes, parks passes are automatically part of the season pass, so I plan to do that very thing next season!

I did find some relief on 3/25! The night before I used a steel "refreshing" brush to increase the base structure & used Swix LF10 2:1 with F4 over Dr. D's warm florormax graphite. There was no solidily frozen stuff to scrape the wax off first thing & when the surface got melty, it was only the obviously dirty (brown) snow that there were any grabbies.

From the trail map of C'back, it appears that 1/6 to 1/5 of the terrain is devoted to various parks, etc. with limited access. Although we did only ski weekday (except for the very last weekend) mornings(occaisionally as late as 1 pm),and skied the Stevenson lift almost exclusively. For the entire season, I can count on one hand the number of boarders (& skiiers) that I observed using these parks, whereas on the trails I was skiing, there were numerous boarders. It feels like there is a lot of under-used terrain, or did I just miss the "crowds" in the park 'cause I wasn't there weekends & pm & night?

Thanks for all of the advice! I think sib's right; on the steeps & early in the morning there was no trouble at all, but it was around 11 am when things got grabby. My typical wax-of-the-day is F4 mixed 50/50 with the swix lo flouro of the predicted overnight temperature range. This is over Dr. D's flouro graphite of the proper temp range. I was increasing the temp level of the LF as the week wore on. I've got some other ideas that I'll try this week & I will let you know how it works out.

This past week at C'back brought out the dreaded springtime "Grabbies" where, when I was just skiing along in the flats, all of a sudden, it feels like the skiis just want to stop & you are thrown forward. This became most pronounced when skiing out of the shade and into snow that was in the sun. Does anyone else experience this? Do you have a solution? Do I need to wax with warmer wax? Do I need a more open base structure?

Once again, I've been wondering where & how some individuals have learned, or not learned, the propper manners for skiing, particularly in the lift lines & riding the lift. As for ski poles, is it not correct to remove both straps from the wrists at or just before the loading spot; then transfer both poles to one hand for the ride to the top (other variations seem O.K. here); and last, ski away from the lift at the top still holding both poles in one hand? Where did the Generation Whine cohort get the idea the one skis away from the chair at the top by using the poles in the manner you would if you were busting out of the starting gate? Or is this just one more aspect of the personality we need to expect from Gen. Whine? I'd guess it's the latter since the local community college is now offering a course for businesses on how to manage this age group because of their delicate little egos. Further, what's the thinking behind standing perpendicular to the lift line therby preventing those who really want to get on the lift from doing so? Sib, if you read this, I'd appreciate your comments as your experience spans both the eastern & western areas.

Thanx for all of the reponses re: Fiberlene & waxing. (Sorry, I'd forgotten what Swix had named the stuff!) I've used it several times now and tho' I haven't used any real cold wax yet, it does make the scaping go easier & there are A Lot Less wax scrapings to clean up afterwards !!

Swix is selling a "lint-free paper towel" that they want you to put between the wax iron & the ski base on the last pass that you make when you are hot waxing. They claim that it makes hot waxing easier. Is there anyone out there that is doing this? If so, what's your opinion re: the claimed ease & the performance of the wax job? Thanks!

This year (again?) C'back is only offering "Open-to-Close" tickets during the daylight hours. Did it get too complicated for the computers to sell "Morning", "Afternoon" or "Day" tickets, or does the modern class of snow sport consumers have trouble understanding the subtle differences between various portions of the day? Is there some marketing concept that I'm missing here? I'd also like to hear from some patrollers/rangers their thoughts on if the "Open-to-Close" tickets increase accidents: "Damn, I paid for 18 hours of skiing & I'm staying out no matter how exhausted & dangerous I am!".

Shawnee ALWAYS has to say this because they've sold all of those time shares that are going to be full on Thanksgiving!!

The phone message says C'back is opening December 4th. What's it gonna be: 2 beginners' slopes & a walk-to half-pipe?

(Sorry if this thread was discussed earlier, but currently I've got very limited access to this site & no time to look for it.) Over the years I've heard French, Russian & what I believe to be Korean being spoken on the lift chairs next to me & also in the lift lines. I was wondering if any of the Patrollers, Rangers, or for that matter any of the other staff, winter or summer, speak any language other than English fluently and therefore might be able to communicate with non-English speakers who are participating as consumers of the various activities offered by C'back. Would multi-lingual staff get a bump in pay?

I suspect that with the credit market being what it is, C'back can't get a loan to finance the hotel, although there seemed to be some earht moving going on to the northeast of the Stevenson lift in the last weeks of the season. I, for one, don't see the hotel being an improvement for those of us who use the mountian on a daily basis.

Has anyone found a wax that prevents or reduces the build-up of the black soot-like gunk that accumulates on the ski bases as the weather warms up? Am I wrong to blame this stuff for the ski-stopping jerking that seems to accompany the warming weather at the end of the season? And sibhusky, not that you've left the east coast, do you encounter thisstuff in the Rockies?

sib - Try using the Swix Low-fluor version of CH4 or at least mixing some of that with your hydrocarbon stuff. I typically use the Swix hot wax (solid) F4 mixed with the low-fluor temp specific on top of a graphite-hydrocarbon base (NOT base-prep) layer. I've also started experimenting with Dr. D's fluoro-graphite warm/cold waxes.

A stereotype's not a stereotype if it's true.

Followed a Jeep Wrangler-type into C-back last week. "He" had two pairs of skiis carried vertically on a rack mounted on the spare tire or rear bumper. The one pair was bagged in a nylon ski bag(!); the other pair was in the open. What really attracted my attention was the violent oscillation(sp?) that was being set up in the forebody of the bagged skiis at anything more than 10 mph. I'm fairly sure that it was not just the flapping of the ski bag as a similar but smaller oscillation was seen the forebody of the unbagged skiis. Perhaps the flapping of the bag was what was propagating the oscillation. Anyway, it seems to me the such violent flexing the the bagged skiis was shortening their useful life.

Any & all money spent on boot fitting, from custom insoles (highly recommended) to tweaking the fit so that there is no pain is money that's been well-spent. I've used Nestor's in Whitehall for years, but I'm sure there are other good shops & fitters in the region.