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Changes to the park should be coming sometime this week before this coming weekend. There is talk of putting a left curving C rail on the hip right after the battleship rail, another step down style jump after the wallride, and a few other things. A few new rails are also in the future.

"anybody is allowed to ski the park like a regular trail along the side of the trail. As long as they stay away from the take-offs and landings." Doug, the main point of the park pass would be to educate. People simply don't know these rules, and I'd rather not have guys and girls I know yelling at people who are just trying to have a nice run. Yes here are warnings at the entrance to the park, however, if you ask 100 riders at the bottom of the park what the sign says at the top, I would bet that you would be hard pressed to find more than 5 who even glanced at it. That is not a good ratio, and due to the hazards that I mentioned in my last post, and Papasteeze mentioned in his, it really seems like a good idea to make sure that everyone who is in that type of area is well informed. One of the ideas we have this year is to stand at the top of Sidewinder, and politely request that people read the sign, and read the "Easy Style It" rules. If it were up to me, Sidewinder would be wider, and a quarter of it would be roped off for general skiing. This would allow people who want to spectate to do so in a manner that is neither distracting nor dangerous to riders trying to use the features, and would still keep the trail available to all ticket holders. "If someone pays 40 dollars for a day of skiing which is alot for most people they shouldn't have to pay more for a park pass or waste their valable time filling out forms." When you tell most of the people who belong in the park that the extra 5 bux or whatever it is will be used to maintain and improve the park, most think that it is a good idea. And since when has time been valuable to alot of people in this country. With tv, the internet, and other means of wasting time in the most efficient manner possible, people usually won't mind to much doing one more thing if they want to use the park. A few initials and a sig? Thats less than five minutes (I dont think riders should have to watch a movie, who wants to cue it up every time, let alone wait for it to start). With Blues stellar new park crue, the park wont be destroyed in the five minutes it takes you to sign that and read a form.

This year the park crue is really trying to make a big distinction between the lower park and Sidewinder. I know they don't have total say in what is where and how the features are built, but management is listening more than ever to them this year, because they are the guys and girls who ride the stuff on a daily basis. I've seen more people working together (groomers, park crue, management, etc...) up there this year to make the mountain a better place than I've seen before, and I've been there for 5 years, a quarter of my life. I know alot of guys on this board have been there much longer, but it feels like a long time to me. I am also one for park passes. Every mountain that I have visited that has implemented these has had a good deal of success with them, and I think it would be great for Blue to have them, but only if they are going to make a park that is all advanced and expert. For anyone thinking that you have to pay for the pass ach time you come up to the mountain, thats not how it works at most places. Usually you sign a waiver, sometimes watch a movie, and pay a 5-10 dollar fee that is good all year and often that money helps maintain the park. The fee is low enough so that it is affordable to freeriders visiting from other places, and so that its not restrictive. Most of the people that use the park in its intended manner will agree that park passes are the way to go. The majority of arguments I've heard against them have come from those who are better off not being in the park environment in the first place, because their presence is a distraction to athletes who require concentration and focus. The argument that you should pay for a pass to use Paradise in a tuck, or to even be on Switchback, is not well thought out in my opinion. What is the distinguishing factor of these runs? They are both groomed daily, users of these trails are confident that people won't be leaving the trail and then falling back onto it, and giant pieces of steel sticking out of the snow will lurk around corners. Sidewinder Park is a unique trail, with unique rules that few of Blue's customers take the care to learn. Doesn't it piss you off when someone doesn't know the rules of the roads that you drive everyday? Now put yourself in a parkrats shoes. Sidewinder is our highway. Roadrage ensues on an all too common basis. However, park passes at Blue are at best a distant possibility right now. Ray Tuthill's (part owner of Blue) opinion is that if someone pays good money for a ticket then they should have unrestricted access to whatever they want to ride. This is a good argument, but I feel that in a cost vs. benefit analysis of what the trail is intended for and who uses it, park passes would really help more people enjoy their time at the mountain.

Dynastar Big Troubles and I got a smokin' deal. Should be fun in Sidewinder, but better out west.

Who said its better than Bear's? I don't know about that yet, but we are definitely trying. Unfortunately I couldn't ski today because I have two appointments down in Philly, but on the bright side I picked up my new skis at Nestors.

Thats a good enough apology for me! Any other stories of sexual escapades on chairlifts or gondolas? They're the best.

Hahahahahahaha hilarious! So much for a family website ehh?

Hopefully this new battle for the best terrain park between the mountains doesn't kick itself in its own ass and as soon as someone gets hurt and sues we have to take everything down a notch. I'm still pushin for a lot of beginner features on mountains.

Justin tries to take credit for everything cool... When in fact his mom is 10 times cooler than he will ever be.

There are little ones scattered around up in that area. Elk might be closer. But where else can you "touch the sky?"

Skied at Camelback once two years ago. That was more than enough.

haha OOOOOOOOOOhhhhhhhhhh. burned. Nah he caught some air in the park, I saw it.

Haha yeah I said the wrong thing. I meant I took a file, held it at a 45 degree angle, and just ground away at my underfoot edge until I deemed it dull enough. As for twins not gripping as hard as race skis.... When mine where brand new I was scrapping hip when I was at Okemo. This is without any riser plates etc... A good percentage of people with racing bred skis can't even ski the boards in the way they were designed to be. Tonight I kinda wished I woulda had my edges back when I was on lazy, straightlining is lame. Haha in ten years I wanna be on skis no less than 100mm wide and skiing 20+ inches of pow as much as possible.

Haha there ya go. I'll be workin' park crue 4-8pm so roll through and say hey. I should be wearin the same thing as tonight.

"This was just slippery, non grippy stuff. I try to lay down an arc, a hard/low one EVERY time, and when I can't do that, it's a crappy day for me." Considering I took a file to my edges the other night on my brand new skis and put a 45 degree bevel on them, I wouldn't know anything about sharper edges. But it sounds like you could use some. Maybe you need some Dynastars? haha

Atomic the fact that your legs are dying is a good thing, that only means you should ski more. They're getting stronger! Don't quit man. Im an hour and a half away and I have 11 days. Keep going man.

Yeah SW, you called it right on. We at Blue had a park crue meeting tonight, and it finally became apparent that management is really serious about the park scene at Blue this year. The things they heard from riders about Bear Creek gave them an oh so necessary slap in the face, and the competition for the best park seems to be on for this season. Blue's park crue this year is going to be much more organized, they are going to have alot more say about what goes in the park, and they are going to take an active part in making all users of the park (ie those on rentals) more informed about what they should ride and what they shouldn't. This year it should be really fun to go back and forth between Blue and Bear, and see what we are doing to one up each other, while Camelback just kinda sits up there and lures in those beginner New Yorkers (thanks CB!) I love Blue and Bear and it finally seems like a decent year to be a parkrat around here.

Yeah I met and chatted with atomic for all of 20 seconds, nice kid. I thought you would like that ice on Lazy atomic? Like John (Toast), I thought conditions were great. There were some spots the groomers could've taken a bit more time on, but what else is new. The park is set up great, the mountain was empty, and I would argue that the freezing rain didn't start until around 6. Awesome night at blue.

are you kidding me man?!?! Roccos are awesome. A rocco and and corrado done right are some of my dream cars without a doubt. I don't know if I could choose. I'd go for an AWD rocco. check out www.durocco.com for one of the sweetest ones I've even seen.

One need only look at the new JibLab video from Mountain Creek and see the stuff coming from Bear Creek to realize that they are both extremely similar in terms of the product being produced for their terrain parks. That kid is such a dumbass.

I'll probably be workin park crue, if you see a guy in ski boots its most likely me. Roll up and chat for a few.

Haha Dub C. I love it. Nah don't go anywhere near the rental shop.

Yeah I enjoy this site so much more than sites like newschoolers.com, which is more like hatefest.com. Its all about the constructive criticism on this site when members disagree. Any bets on what PASUCKS next member name will be when he signs up for a new account?

Kmar, on Blues site over the summer under the improvements headline they had: 1) installed magic carpet in valley west 2)widened sidewinder 3)widened the pipe 4)other things that I don't remember after we saw what they had written we drove up there and saw the changes to sidewinder and then drove down to the pipe and saw the whole right wall torn up and re-seeded. I don't have any before and after pics, but it was pretty obvious that something had been done. superpipe is probably rumors at this stage but thats how everything starts. the staircase was just a rumor less than a month ago and today they are workin' on it in the garage. I was told its a 12 set with a handrail in the middle and a ledge or box on either side.

Drumroll please............ A surf shop.