method9455

There has been a huge backlash from current Hunter season pass holders on their management the last two years, I'm not surprised Hunter is looking to entice new ones.

Structure = texture on the bottom of your board from a stone grind. Course is good for wetter snow, though I go tight most of the time because we do relatively little spring riding compared to the rest of the year and I don't want to be bothered going back and forth. I did switch to warm weather wax about 2 or 3 weeks ago and it makes a huge difference.

Haha yea, when I showed myself around WP I was kind of like "this is fun but its not crazy", and then I started riding with glenn.

The whole trip looked awesome, glad you enjoyed CO. JH is not the only place out west with snow and good terrain. Aspen just moved on to my "must go to" list.

It definitely is a step down from years past, I'll see if its any better thursday.

No way would you skip the first jump based on lack of speed. It was quite easy to clear and last thursday the temp was 48F when I was hitting it. I was dropping from right above the DFD box, just have to be smooth on your turn into it and you'll be fine. The 2nd jump is the biggest of the three and if it were 20' lip to knuckle I'd be surprised, that one was more of a struggle for me on some runs if you scrub speed off the first even a little it was unhittable, but if you skip it you can get the 3rd pretty much no matter what happend on the 1st. But - those are the only 3 jumps at Blue. The jumps in Come around and down in the lower park are rollers with pointy tops - if that.

Never, they are going to blow a killy style glacier and stay open 365 days a year. (That seems more likely than Xanadu anyway)

ski club was one of the most fun things I remember from school, and its were i met my girlfriend so that has to count for something

Yea it was a fun day, I actually have been looking forward to spring conditions for the last few weeks. its my 2nd day so far, but I will be there tuesday and thursday of next weekend. It works on the weekends you mean? I did not know that. I'm not sure if the weekends are worth the drive for me but if they plan to close early and I can't use them all I'll have.

I got up there around 1:30. I stopped in the Blue Mountain Drive In for some food right beforehand so it delayed me a little, but well worth it since I hadn't eaten anything for breakfast. I've never actually been there before. I rode the park from 1:30 to 6 (when it closed for a comp?). With Challenge closed for bump making and Razors for race team (maybe the opposite, I always forget which is which) I decided to leave after a few regular runs. The snow was mad sugary. Not surprising considering my car said the temp in the parking lot was 46 when I got there and 41 when I left. There was a little wind at times and it was keeping some exposed areas colder than the rest so that was sugar on crust but the park was all sugar which makes for soft landings. It also makes for mad bumps, by 3 or 4pm the two rails right after the big wall ride were completely unrideable because there was basically a mogul field all around them. The speed of the snow was fine, especially with a fresh waxing, but I sometimes struggle in that condition to keep my speed up because my feet are big and I get toe drag in the sugar. Sometimes coming off the first jump I'd just have my board sink in and my toes would slow me down (even though I was flat based) and I couldn't clear the 2nd jump. The jump line is pretty sweet right now, my complaint is that there are so few jumps around the mountain. There are basically only 3 real jumps and they are only about 8-15' from lip to knuckle. I do really like the landings on them though. All the jumps in come around and the lower park are 0' long. It would be nice to have some small tables or a big jump some where just to mix up the sizes. I also think the first section of the park was better last year with the 3 lines, I was basically getting 2 hits in - the first rail, skip the circus crap, DFD, then setup for the first jump. Then I had to skip the two rails after the wallride because of the moguls, and that 3 box crap thingy right at the end of upper sidewinder had a bomb hole out of the opening scene of a war movie after it so I was skipping that. Then down to Central Park which had 2 good features but I'm not going to hit a wallride right there when then you would have to walk up and over the hill. So basically 3 jibs, 3 jumps, then 2 jibs for only 8 hits on that run. On a more normal day I'd be hitting those other 2 rails so 10, but still thats not many features per run, I feel like in the past there were more. Anyway I had a fun time, this was my first real day of park riding this year and it felt good. I was very inconsistent, one run I'd nail everything and the next I'd fall doing nothing, but it was real fun to lap the park for a few hours. Especially when there are no lines and you have a high speed lift.

I will be there, mostly remembering how to ride park. I'll be up on the hill by 1:30 and staying till my legs are beat. If anyone wants to ride I'm sure I'll just be lapping the 6-pack so say hi.

Yea thats what I was thinking. What is the vert on that lift? Like 600?

I just don't think people are used to natural snow. It is different and it does not hold up nearly as well. There is a reason I'm waxing tonight for skiing tomorrow.

Sounds like a good day at JF, I will make next years if I still live in the area. As someone who primarily skis full weekend days and nothing else you can see why I liked my JF/BB pass so much. I'll take good conditions at 2pm over pretty much any other factor.

One of my room mates family are all twigs, and his brother just broke his wrist at Blue this weekend. First timer on a board and didn't wear wrist guards like I recommended.

Not always. I've hit more than one tree and never got hurt. Its all about technique.

If you have the option get the thin kind, 1/8" diameter, it usually comes off a spool. I'd ask the shop if you could buy 5-10' of it. It will last you a long time and is a lot better than the thick candle.

Conditions weren't great but I always have fun skiing. I looked for Doug before Jeff and crew got there but didn't see him. Nice to meet Root & Toast for the first time. I got about four hours in and then hit the road because I knew it was going to be a long drive to Poughkeepsie - sounds like I left when I should have. I'll be up every thursday until Blue closes and staying longer than yesterday for sure.

I did basically the same thing, got really bored snowboarding and started skiing. When I was packing for CO I was considering not bringing my skis, but I ended up skiing about 50% of the time. It is so fun to have a challenge and progression again. I only ride my board for park or powder now, the rest of the time I'm skiing. If not for the skis I would not have bought my tickets to Blue this year, and if not for having already put the money in I probably wouldn't even bother going in PA this year. Totally worth it. Sometimes it helps to get out of your routine as well. I did 4 days of exploring Delaware after the last set of big storms. A lot of work for 200 vert runs here and there but honestly it was really fun to have a bunch of untracked powder for 4 days in a row within 20 minutes of my dorm.

You took the Thruway->Albany->9 route? Where did you wind up staying? Dots has decent chili and good breakfast food, there is on in town and one on the road up to the mountain. The one on the road to the mountain is slightly better. TC's is probably a good place to go as well - owned by Kelly Clark parents so would have been the place to be a few nights ago during the olympics. The silo? I think its called that, (or is it the barn?) is more of a bar than a rest.

grrrr, grand theft screen name. lets call him by his real name (ttc6) please?

These two statements seem very contradictory.

My friend has those exact skis - he loves them. He got them 2nd hand but in good shape so no idea where to get them originally.

Isn't it faster to go to Stove via 95 through CT than up 87 through NY to Stowe? At least in bad weather once you head east from Albany it all goes downhill quick in my experience.

The last day skiing Clay and I went to Loveland with Glenn, his gf, and two other guys he works with. Conditions were not that good, thin base and hard/icy surface. We had fun anyway. We saw less than 10 people. I remember bitching about the slow lifts and small vert at the time, I sounded like Doug talking about JF. This picture doesn't make it look so damn small, but it is about half the height of WP and a tiny fraction of the acreage, and all of the lifts are regular instead of high speed. Frustrating on a day like this were you could just be lapping a high speed quad but the terrain is actually really fun. Some steep shots for sure and almost all above tree line. I would really enjoy a powder day here. The lift tickets were cheap too, $32 on Liftopia. It is about an hour ride from WP. If I lived in Denver I would definitely go for powder, but I wouldn't exactly fly out there for it. From the top you can see a-basin, breck, and keystone. Considering the drastic difference in snow & conditions compared to WP I'm extremely glad we did not choose Breck when we were looking at mountains.