snorovr

Really......

They close Razors!?!?!!! What is so important that they can close such a popular trail?!???

No one around here has the kind of lighting that would be primo for night comps. I actually think its alot easier to keep up a park during the evening hours than during the night. I worked mostly nights last season on park crue and it kinda sucked because by then all the people who could really appreciate your work had gone home. Hopefully I'll be able to work during the mornings more this year. Last year I know it was a little tough because the snowboard school (where park crew is run out of) had alot of lessons and those take priority. Blue's park crew should be kickin it hard this year! Another note for the comps: Tuesday nights are kind of deadtime aside from school groups. If you close the park on a Saturday or Sunday morning for four weeks in a row, you're gonna have a ton of people bitching.

I heard from one of the Bear Creek crew that they made way more money with summer things than with skiing/boarding. I still would like to get up there to bike at some point. Bear serves beer in a pint glass, that is actually made of glass. Blue serves theirs in flimsy plastic cups that definitely aren't a pint. They cost about the same. C'mon Blue!

Sounds like Doug might have had a "ski-by" or two...

Don't really think Papa was referring to moutains like Montage... Over at the Olympics I got to see first hand how they make competition bump courses. They have a bump machine that looks just like a normal groomer, except its got acuators underneath that form rough bumps. After they form them by machine, they then shape them by hand. After the detail type work, they just start sending good skiers down to form the lines, and then work them a bit more by hand. You end up with a pretty good final product.

I was gonna say I don't agree at all, but you're right maybe it would. They would NEVER do Main Street. There is a greater chance they would do Paradise over Main Street. For anyone who has been to Okemo, Main Street is alot like the Northeastern run they have their big park on. At Blue it would just never work to put a park on a run like that. A ton of different runs drop out onto Main Street. Basically nothing drops into Sidewinder and you cant get there unless you know you are going to Sidewinder.

I work at one of the only Freeride/DH shops in Philly. The scene around here has collapsed as far as I know. I drive up to Mountain Creek for my kicks everyonce in a while.

I saw people ride it but it always looked like death in the making...

Yeah from what it sounds like we are getting some fun new stuff next season. I'm a bigger fan of stuff you can style it out on more, and is a little less tech.

So anyway... I'm glad to hear that Blue is putting some work into Sidewinder. Of course a few of us wish that we had a trail that was a bit easier to work with, but we might as well play with what we got. I really liked the placement of the up flat rail last season on the first turn. Any other features people like or would like to see again in an improved fashion?

Search it and you'll find everything you need to know about it and just about everyones opinion on here. If you wanna bring it back then find an old thread and start up the debate, but let's not do it on the "Good News," Blue Mountain park update thread. I'd be much obliged.

Ya that isn't a true winch cat. Its more like a tow truck cat. Good for picking things up and that kind of thing. In a true winch cat the winch is connected to the drivetrain of the cat. The winch boom sits on the bed of the cat, and is able to rotate 360 degrees so that the cat can groom both ascending and descending, and groom from different angles. Usually there is only one anchor point at the top of the trail, so the boom needs to be able to articulate so that it can cover a larger area. The cat the Blue has with the boom on it is like the ghetto cat. If I'm not mistaken the winch on it is hand operated, like something you would see on a boat trailer. Try using that as a winch cat... Haha. Address to pic of winch cat... http://www.juneau.org/ecrestftp/images/winchcat40.jpg edit: Found a pic that shows the possibilities that a winch cat opens up... http://www.home.eznet.net/~vraguso/Book_2/...enbully300w.gif

When it was cut this year at Blue it was awesome. Problem was I think it was cut like three times at the most. Its been beat to death, but to build a decent pipe you either need a TON of snow, or an extremely large manmade earthen structure in cases where lack of snow is an issue (read Mt. Creek, Bear Creek, Blue Mountain, Camelback, etc...). The new pipe cutter broke last year on one of its first runs, then there were problems with groomers breaking down which cut into park maintenance, and the warm spell made features like the bigger jumps and the pipe untouchable because you don't want to be moving all that snow around when its warm like that or it melts alot quicker. With all of those problems I thought it was surprising how well the park did shape up. Hopefully there isn't an unlucky streak (broken quad being a good example) like that next season. It will get better with good maintenance and good riders.

That wasn't really a legit feature, it just kind of popped up from people hitting it. I know I did. Hopefully this year we'll be able to use some of the natural type features to help the park flow a little better. Last year there were some fun lines to take, in terms or rail or jump lines, but this year hopefully there will be a few lines with good visibility so you can do runs all the way through the park. Concerning Camelback's winch cat, I think they mainly use that to maintain the bumps. Correct? I was there early season like three years ago and wasn't impressed with the park but my main complaint was the yellow coats. It was only like three weeks into the season so I wasn't really expecting much from the park, but its one of those things where my opinion is that Blue's terrain is better and closer for me so why go to Camelback. If I remember correctly their park/halfpipe really isn't built on a trail that has any decent grade, so its very tough to get enough snow to build decent hits. Have they moved it since? I think it was right by a double/slower chairlift...

No winch cat at Blue unless they bought one this summer. The newer Park Bullys are a bit better but the winch cat would be huge.

Yeah I definitely am if something crazy doesn't happen. There are threads on here like once a month of "What are your ideas for the park at Blue/Bear." There are some good things brought up in those threads every once in a while. The overwhelming majority just seem to want jumps that are big but do-able. Instead of the super cheese wedges that are like 10 feet tall with super hard transitions, something with a little bit flatter take-off so that its easier to cork off the lip. Bears jump line in the tube park could have been sweet. The conditions weren't great when I was there so my review of them is biased in that way, but the jumps were also not set-up very progressively. I like your idea for the jump line where they are clearing out more on Sidewinder, it just gets really windy up there which is my one concern. We talked about a few other things at the end of last season that I thought were really cool ideas, and I'd like to see some of those things happen. Whistler in May gave me some nice ideas. If anyone from park crue is gettin together I'd love to roll up.

Werd. All the snow they get helps sooo much. Its the same idea as a half pipe. Natural snow = easier to get it right. I don't know if anyone has been to Mountain Creek in the summer to see what their halfpipe looks like, but it is amazing. The money and work that went into that thing so that they could have a comp. halfpipe in Jersey must have been insane. I'll try to snap some pics next time I'm up there riding on a weekend. The dirt/stone structure alone makes Blue and Bear look like kiddie pools. Hopefully this winter is decently cold so both mountains can really make some decent snow and use snow to shape the features properly. Dan, Blues groomer, is an awesome guy and hes definitely stoked to get Blues park better and better.

I've seen nothing at Bear that I haven't seen in a video or at another mountain. The 48 foot U-rail or whatever it was callled was amazing, but not a new concept by any means. Lets keep the competition friendly here Dorsey... Thanks for the update Keith. Amped for next season!

So far we've had good luck using Formica in Skier150's park from both durability and slidability standpoints. During a Jam that thing probably sees well over 100 slides, and it seems to be holding up fine. The one problem I noted the other day was that the material seems to be coming unglued a little bit from the box, but Skier150 said that when they glued it down, the air temperature wasn't really anywhere near where the directions called for, so that may have had something to do with it.

I rocked my Trouble Makers 4cm back from center this year, and it was a pretty good setup. I mounted my Big Troubles right on the line and they were great there. I'm probably gonna get some bigger trouble makers next year, and only go 1cm to 2cm back from center because I had the Big Trouble as my all around/big mountain/ripping ski. Since it sounds like you're only buying one pair, I'd go a little back from center. Just find out with the mounting line is and where the center line is and pretty much half it. The trouble maker was around 7cm back from center, which is why I went for 4cm. Good luck.

Also very much depends on the ski in question. Give a little more info and what type of riding you like to do.

This is the first time an invite has gone out to the PASR community to my knowledge. I don't want to say too much because this is Skier150's deal and don't want to speak for him or say the wrong thing. He's definitely hookin' it up and we've had a ton of fun with his setup so far. There is still much work to be done, especially under the skiing surface itself, as there is a lack of woodchips right now. Much like on a playground, the chips are good for padding and make it easier to grade the surface. I drive the hour and fifteen minutes for these jams on a regular basis.

New people come all the time. As long as you sign a waiver I believe you're golden. Always cool to meet new heads. Pm skier150 if you wanna know details.