snorovr

"keep the best boot/binding interface" I've worn my boots around dirt, parking lots, ice, and even snow for close to 3 60+ day seasons. The toe and heel are pretty well worn and have some pretty good angles goin on. However, the spots where your boot comes in contact with the binding, on most bindings, is totally unaffected by the wear that comes with walking in your boots. I still use the same boot and binding combination and have used them on a few different skis and there has been no loss of performance in relation to bindings pre-releasing, etc... As far as I can tell the only advantage to cat-trax is better grip on some surfaces.

Where you from man? I'm sure you could hitch a ride with someone...

"Are they charging full price?" Your best bet is to give the Blue Mt. ticket office a call sometime this week. They are usually there until around 4pm most days. Their number is (610) 826-7700. Forecast is looking really good from Thursday night on. Hopefully with the current base they have and the return of colder weather they will be able to open by Saturday...

Weather channel is forecasting snow for Friday the 2nd. Hopefully areas will be able to open with a bit of fresh. Call Blue and tell them to set up a mini-park for opening weekend. If they hear from enough people that they'll come up on account of them doing this then it could happen. That would be soooo sweeeeet.

Haha "high speed double..." Has anyone ever seen one of these??? I don't know if they exist, I would assume that if they went high speed they would just put in a quad. Anything could happen...

In regards to replacing the Challenge chair, I've always thought the best option would be a quad, so as to have two of them running out of the base. They would be able to move hundreds more skiers per hour with that setup than what they currently have allows them. A gondola setup like MC has I wouldn't really see working, because all of the beginners would be dropping their sh*t all over the place, my idea of a good time isn't having a ski or board dropped on me as I ski under the lift. Also, you would have all those knuckleheads trying to put all their stuff on at the top, and no one would move far enough away. Then at the bottom people would be falling over themselves because its their first time and now they have to walk onto a moving platform carrying 20 pounds of gear. So thats why I think the gondola or cabrio would be outa the question at Blue. Over on the main street/burma side of things, I think the best way to go there is to keep two seperate chairs, because on Burma you have mainly beginners, and Main street you have mainly Intermediates and above. who knows though. Blue could be bought out by next season and then stuff could really start happening. If you can't make it down challenge or razors in 2 minutes chances are you shouldn't be on it. Just playin, I know not everyone recognizes straightlining as a style of skiing or riding.

Ya some dude broke his back last year in the DH bike race. Pretty ugly stuff. There are gonna be a few PAskiandride guys doin all those comps. I'm sure results will be posted.

Haha, speaking of lift rides with people who have no idea what they are talking about; Justo8484 and I were on the gondola this weekend at Killington and this guy got on with a pair of like 190 straight skis that were straight outa the '80s. Normally you would just think that this is someone who just doesn't want to buy the new gear and learn how to use it, but the first thing the guy said was, "wow look at all that fancy gear out there" in reference to the skis hangin on the doors. He went on to say how he goes around to different garage sales and buys old skis for $5 a pair and has over 20 pairs of these fantastic skis. He told us how he put circuit boards and batteries on one pair so that he could tell little kids they they were computer skis and they did the skiing for him and how much the little kids loved it. It made me think he might want more attention from little kids than would be appropriate. He loves the way his straight skis ski, and even though he bought some of those crazy parabolic skis and still has a pair from the early 90's, he will never be a convert. Rock on straight ski diehard!

We've been working to get a more diverse park crue ever since it's inception. It has been pretty tough to do but it looks like this year there may be a park crue that will be able to work together to make Blue's park substantially better than it has been in years past. If the pictures that have been coming out of preseason visits to sidewinder are anything to go by, I think Blue is really trying make an effort to attract more park riders. Looks like we'll see sooner rather than later!

Mt. Snow had a pretty good setup last year. Skied Okemo and then Snow in late March and Snow definitely had the better setup.

Blue doesn't make ice...beginner snowboarders do! No hate, but if you can't ride both edges then stay off the steeper stuff. What are you gonna do, go out west and heelslide everything? See how that goes over with the locals after a dump...

Screw hiking and driving! Ride a llama! Haha that boarder/skier-cross on lower sidewinder is gonna be the scene of mass carnage this year. Last year they only had it setup for like the two weeks at the end of the season when alot of the school groups and people who don't usually ski had long since returned their rentals. I have an idea for the next boardercross in the X-Games, they should make it like Blue's and add people who are barely comfortable on a bunny slope all over the run cutting back and forth across it for the athletes to dodge. That would be hilarious. Can't wait to see how that wallride looks when its finished, I hope if goes above the support poles...

I remember during the SLC Olympics NBC put the highlights and most watched events(figure skating) on their primetime coverage, and then had much more extensive coverage on MSNBC. Wonder if they are doing that again...

Those pics are such a sight for sore eyes. Like Justin said, we just walked around the burn pile today, and didn't make the usual trip across the mountain. Wish we did now! Hopefully they will be investing in some new rails to go along with that wall because the majority of the rails are close to unrideable due to the care that Blue takes in their off-season storage of them. It looked like they built two new down-kink singles that look like they would go somewhere in the beginner park cuz they are fairly mellow. I always find it kinda funny that most of this stuff happens like 3 weeks before the start of the season, but this is definitely the best pre-season work I've seen at Blue since I started skiing there, especially for boarders and newschool skiers. "I really wish they would stay open a little longer in the spring for the loyal passholders and die hards. We wait all winter for good snow and everything open and then they close with all their trails open. Not just Blue mountain but I hate it." Doug, from what I've always been told, the reason Blue usually closes in late March even if they have trails that are still decently rideable is so that they can prepare their facilities for the banquets that they hold there in the off-season. The do weddings, dances, etc... in the top lodge and I guess at that point in the season they make more money doing that than the do with the dwindling number of paying skiers when it gets warmer. And we know its all about the money...

that would be pretty interesting if Blue got a staircase. I'd be interested to know where you got that info, considering Blue has yet to change ownership or management, and given past events of the last how many years, even though Blue is BEGINNING to take some steps in the right direction in tems of their freeride scene, that they would be installing hazardous features like a staircase. The only places I've seen features like staircases at other mountains is in pass only parks, because if you fall to the inside you're basically F#$%ed. I've been to Blue the past two or three weekends in a row, and have seen no signs, nor heard any buzz of such steezestastic features. Ive walked around basically every place that such features would normally be stored. Blue wouldn't take a liability chance on stuff like staircase features, but if they do this year then I'll be stoked like you wouldn't believe.

I'm a big fan of Mt. Bakers website, because they always have ridiculous snow totals. Like an opening day with a 96" base that fell in a period of like two weeks. Sickness...

Haha, thats how it always seems to work out at giveaways like that, the people who need it the least always end up gettin it. Sorry to all who didn't walk away with anything else except a great time, hopefully we can hook it up in the future, or I can have a more accurate throw. Thanks for supporting the freeride skiing program.

Shanghai Six should be tight. The more I watch it the more I like it, so it should be awesome on the big screen. There is gonna be a ton of schwag too so thats always a big plus in my book.

Yeah I now tune my own stuff, and if it needs serious attention I take it to a reputable shop that I trust will make things right if something happens during the tuneup/repair process, usually Nestors. Blue wrote me a check for the destroyed skis, but since those skis were a pain to get in the first place, and unfortunately were no longer available from the company, this really didn't do anything for me. When I went back to the rental shop later in the day to ask to speak to a high level manager about how dissatisfied I was, I was met with sarcastic replies of "you don't want to do that." When I insisted that I did want to speak with someone, I was forced to wait 30+ minutes for the higher level manager, who promptly told me that if I did not exit the shop he would call the cops. If I had been the only one this had ever happened to, maybe I would call it bad karma and forget about it, but after I told the story to people, I heard time and time again of Blue Mountain rental shop follies. Blue just tries to rush the job, and when it was all said and done, I was told that the tech that worked on those skis did not have the proper training and that is why the skis were destroyed. I would have gladly waited a week and had it done right. Glad to hear that other mountains have somewhat decent shops, just remember to steer clear of Blue's!

I advise any serious skier or boarder to steer clear of Blue Mountain Rental Shop's "Tune Up Specials." Last year I attempted to take advantage of such deals, and ended up having my gear destroyed. In all fairness they didn't destroy the skis that were worth $150, they only destroyed the brand new $650 ones. Just a friendly warning from an extremely dissatisfied customer. Happy Shopping! Snow is in the forecast...