method9455

yea but 500 vert is not freeriding, look at echo mountain. I think this area can support 1 all terrain park mountain. I think Bear Creek is most suited for it becuase of its short vert, not great free riding. Too bad Mountain Creek is the closest to it with 8 park trails, cuz every trail they use is a good free riding one.

the only reason why global warming became political is because it requires that people actually do something about it. no one cared when they started coming up with crazy new physics theories or math concepts, but all of a sudden we have a theory that actually impacts daily life, and people get pissed off because it might make them realize that in fact, they themselves are not the center of the universe. THe people who are against global warming are against it because they don't want enviremental restrictions on businesses and people because they don't want to be bothered with the inconvience. THen it becomes a political issue and partisan cronies toe the Republican line on it and start putting out essays here and there that go against it. But when someone says that a hurricane can hit New Orleans and swamp it with water creating a huge catastrophe, the government went right ahead and built up the levees even though some other poeple kept looking at history and said "look, the hurricanes haven't been THAT BAD, why waste my tax money on it becuase I need an extra $100 in my pocket now damn it.". Thats the same thing with global warming, some people in this country don't want their taxes to go up a tiny bit, but the government says, no lets take the cautious route and listen to the majority of scientists becuase if they are right, we are in serious trouble. Thus the great strides forward we have made. Whoops, wrong universe. Scientists predict, people don't listen, government doesn't act, people get screwed. A great example, my dad is an executive at a paint company. Decades ago they used to clean out the paint vats with paint thinner, dump it into a 55 gallon drum, take it out back and kick it over. It evaporates right? Well decades latter the ground is contaiminated with lead. Ignore what all that solvent did to the atmosphere. My dad is no friend of the EPA or the envirment, but looking back he wished the people before him had never done that. Why? Becuase now it costs them millions of dollars a year to pump clean water beneath their site so the lead doesn't get into the city's ground water. The cost of disposing it back then compared to the cost of cleaning it now is crazy. So now they don't even wash the vats. They make the light colors first, and the cleaner for the tank is actually included in the next batch, so it goes like yellow->blue->green and eventually they make black paint with the end. It only has to be cleaned once for every 10 or so batches. If we just make everything more efficient we won't have as many problems. Go ahead and drive your car next year, and run your heat. But explain to me why we aren't researching fuel cells more? Why waste our time and money on ethanol when it doesn't do anything consequential, whereas fuel cell technology would?

bullshit on that VTMark, maybe if you were argueing with a bunch of idiots, but how anyone can deny the exsistance of global warming is beyond me. Its really a simple concept, even those scientists that are 'against' global warming don't say that it isn't happening, just that its not happening to the degree others say, or that greenhouse gasses don't change the atmosphere like other scientists say it does. None of the scientists out there will argue that humans have no effect on the climate, some just say less effect than the dooms-dayers. Think of a glass of water. If you put hot water out on a table, eventually reach room temperature. The amount of time it takes depends on the thermal conductivity of the glass, but eventually it will happen. Now look at the earth, it is basically the water in the glass, and our atmosphere is the glass itself. The atmosphere has a pretty much constant thermal conductivity. One side of hte earth heats up, one side cools at any given moment. Clearly the atmosphere can't dissapate heat at an infinite rate becuase at night when you are facing space, the temperature drops only a few dozen degrees, not the hundreds of degree shifts that happen in space between shade and light. Well now put that glass of water over a fire, and look - it heats up. Everything is the same as before, same amount of water, same room, same glass, but the extra energy from the fire heats up the water. THe glass still dissapates heat at a certain rate, but now there is too much heat to get out at that rate and it climbs even higher (lets just say it never boils). Well in this case, the earth is over a fire. That fire is the use of energy by humans. We are adding energy to the system that wasn't there before. All of our energy is at some point or another heat, with probably the exception of solar power. THere is all this extra heat, the atmosphere can only dissapate it at a certain rate, so everything is slightly warmer. Now this doesn't seem like a big deal becuase we have seen its not a huge amount, but lets look at melting rates around the world, and we all know from snowboarding that the differance between snow and rain is just a few degrees. Not even factoring in if green house gasses do something or not, the extra heat around is melting snow that wouldn't otherwise have been melted, etc etc etc. Eventually we will have a problem. Now on the other hand, a massive volcano (killamanjaro) can drop worldwide temperatures and average of 2, 3, degrees a year. So if we just nuke a volcano every decade or so, we can equalize global warming right? Not a good idea? Why? Sorry, hate to hijack the thread but the whole "I don't believe global warming" thing is a rediculous notion perpetuated by selfish people.

Actually the wood features are mad fun. When you are trying to stall like that you don't really want metal, wood and plastic work a bit better, slip out a little less. You do catch edges a bit but its not that bad really.

Go approx. 3.4 miles to first stop sign and turn left, go thru the covered bridge and follow signs to Blue Mountain Ski Area. It was somewhere around that stop sign and the follow signs part that got me lost as hell, but hey no hating becuase the journey is half the fun and I had a fucking blast lost as hell driving around for like a half hour, but yea, they should work on that

theres not even like that charming ski village area or really any area around it but farm land, although i judget that based on my one and only trip to blue mountain, in which i got lost on my way there and on my way back so, i could have missed the town. OH YEA BLUE MOUNTAIN - on your directions instead of saying 1st left 2nd left bla bla bla, can we get some street names? becuase if you do in fact get lost, 1st left, go to the stop sign, make a right, doesn't help you figure out where you need to be going.

it is a really fun video to watch

thanks guys, I think i've decided that I'll go to park city and/or brighton, I'll do tahoe when i'm 21 and cuz i hear its a drink fest. I'm trying to decide between brighton and park city. I've heard good things about both, never heard anything bad about brighton but I have heard some people complain about park city being over hyped. I think I'll look at the deals when they come out over the summer and figure it out, but what do you guys think about brighton vs. park city. Heres the deal, I can ride any trail I've seen on the east coast from Tremblant south and I love the powder I've hit, and I love park, so I want to go out there and hit some hard trails, with powder, and I know I can get that at both places. But I'll be with people are more intermediate, most groomed black diamonds on the east coast are fine for them but they're not itching for something harder than that yet so some blue/black groomed trails are more to their liking. I saw Park City has a lot more trails that aren't like double black diamonds, and brighton looks like a lot of their trails are rated pretty high. I would be hitting up some of the harder trails at Brighton but I also don't want the people to be bored becuase its all either too hard or too easy. How do they compare in that sense. What do you think of hte parks in comparison? I heard brightons is a lot of fun and park city its either really easy or huge and there is no in between.

Yea so I'm planning next year already, becuase well I'm bored and the snow melted. I'll be in college, but thats not going to stop me. Blue mountain day trips, but I'm planning at least 3 bigger trips. Probably Tremblant or one of hte VT mountains over winter break, Killington to warm up early decemebe, and a big trip the end of march. Thats my spring break trip, and I hope to go out West for the first time in my life. I'm thinking of going to the South SHore Soldiers camp at Heavenly from March 27th ~ish until April 2nd~ish. THey haven't posted next years dates but thats about the week. Its either that or like Park City just on a trip of my own. I can afford the camp pretty easily, but the airfare is killing me. WHere do you guys fly into? Reno or Sacramento? And is the airfare usually cheaper when you book early? WHat about Park City in terms of cheaper than going to Tahoe? I could give up the camp in exchange for just going to like Park City but the night life at Heavenly looks like a lot of fun, and its probably going to be just me and my girlfriend, and if we do the camp itd be cool as hell to have her learn to ride more park. ANyway, any thoughts/tips on the best place for a spring break trip out west and the cheapest plane to get there. Indirect flights cheaper? Any thoughts really is what I'm looking for. If it helps, I'll probably have a billion continental miles cuz my dad flies so much, I'll be leaving from Newark/JFK area and she'll be leaving from Oahu, so yea, a major airport is needed.

Naw its either pass or not pass. I usually seperate it with this, if you can ride up to a rail and do nothing and not get worked, thats beginer. If you have to ollie, park pass should be required becuase people catch their nose and do flips and get hurt if they don't realize it. Jumps, I'd say 15 foot or smaller table top, or a step down with a 5 foot drop or less should have no park pass. In reality what was in the lower terrain park is perfect for no park pass, and what was in sidewinder was perfect for park pass. That seperation is already there, the progression is there, just add in the park passes and some wider ramps and they're set.

bump

Yea we're by no means a stuck in the past type shop, hell even we're opening a full internet shop with a warehouse even though we're one store, but that doesn't mean I think people will be better off using the internet. Its one thing for you, or me, or most of the poeople on this board to buy their stuff online. Its another thing entirely for the average person to go on and try to buy stuff. I think snowboarders will do it more than skiers becuase a binding is a binding right? Wrong. I just think that a lot of people will end up with stuff thats not good for them. Hell I'm getting out of my shop now anyway so it doesn't effect me much, but itd be a shame for shops to be replaced by websites becuase a lot of guys in smaller shops know a hell of a lot about ski equipment. Although your are damn right about the novice/intermediate thing, the thing that jars you when you come home from a big mountain is how shitty everyone around you is, its amazing that after being surrounded by really good skiers and riders with like 1 intermediate totally standing out, and then come home and there are like 6 guys who can actually carve a snowboard on the hill at a time.

yea screw the S rail man its a waste of space, snow, time, money. its one of those things people can get if they tried a lot but i've never met someone who was like consistantly good at them

you guys better take some freakin pictures for me, I would be in the bottom category doing a method 180 over the 70 footer becuase tahts basically my best trick on a big jump, and if i'm going to hike my ass up a hill i/'m not taking the small ramp, i'm getting maximum air time per step up the damn hill. BUT - gotta work, last weekend to sell skis and after that I'm pretty much out of a job (well out of commision which is basically out of a job becuase $8 an hour won't do jack shit for me)

yea i'm so glad that blue is close enough to ride at, I'm definately getting a season pass next year

i've pulled them by accident and they're scary as shit, when i go inverted i panic and fall straight down on my head. I usually end up landing on my shoulder blades like a pile driver becuase i duck my head in as a reflex. It really sucks. THat being said, I'm alwasy impressed by people doing them. I remember one kid trying to leanr them and he was trying over and over and not landing them and he finally landed one i had to go and give him some props cuz he landed hard so many times in a row

well no one said my shop is in the poconos so don't judge your informal poll on my shop. We're a small store, not pelican/princeton and all that crap. You come in here and you get service. On average we make 30% profit on stuff, so right now during our 50% sale we're losing money. Realize half the stuff you find online is last years anyway, or at least thats what I find on most of the internet sites I look at. But of course it doesn't mention that anywhere. SO of course the prices look good, but in reality our last years stuff is 80% off so its a moot point. As for the internet, our shop is going online for next season, so yea, its inevitable that they will have to go that way. but to tell people that by simply sizing their foot they can pick a boot is irresponisible. I can see the argument for skis/bindings/snowboards etc, so you want to save some money, if you can find a better price ok. But to tell people that all boots are the same is wrong. I'd rather see people walk into pelican and spend 5 minutes per boot than buy just one off the internet, the more happy skiers out there, the more money the mountains have, the more snwo they make for me.

^^^^^^^^^Thats funny until you start going into facts Fact - there was have been 3 kids at my school who have died skiing in the last 15 years, not a huge amount, but considering there are only 1,000 kids a year and not many ski, its pretty bad. Fact - all three were expert skiers Fact - all three were killed by collisions with solid objects (2 trees and a lift pole) while avoiding other people Fact - one of them one was avoiding a kid who ventured out onto a high school ski team course and the kid from my school turned to avoid him and went into the woods Now, you have a trail like sidewinder, where there are turns and as far as parks go, it is narrow as hell and crowded with features. add in a really large numbero f blind spots becuase the ramps onto rails are high and the pitch isn't that steep, and you have traps where you can get into these situations really easily. You say we're overly emotional? Do you want to know WHY? Do you want to UNDERSTAND why we HATE these idiots so much? Becuase people DIE. And those people, are US. I'd rather not be the 4th kid from my school whos going really fast, has to avoid someone and slides off into the woods and dies. I've already hit a tree once while avoiding a kid, I'll pass on the 2nd time becuase the first didn't feel so great. I've hit a kid as well, and that kid didn't turn out so great. So if the $5 inconviences you, too fucking bad. Becuase that $5 is the differance between me being able to tell a kid - for his own safety - he needs to learn some park etiquette or someone is going to get hurt - most likely him. But if its over crowded and bad behavior is the norm, there is no way the people who know what SHOULD be going on, can police it. Becuase we all know the rangers aren't going to police it, and without it being regulated, someone is going to get seriously hurt. We're not talking broken arms/legs, we're talking paralyzed or dead. So you think its funny, but if people are reading this from Blue, they don't need to see dissent. If we're all on it together, we can make it a safer place. And even if you never go in there, you should want that - the liability insurance comes out of your season pass and lift ticket. As for mountain creek/stratton, a page of history is worth a volume of logic. THose passes HAVE worked. They HAVE made it safer, easier to maintain, and easier to ride park. They HAVE done it for $5 and a video, and guess what, despite all the logic to the contrary, it DOES work.

As for the lips being chewed up faster if there are no park passes and they are wider, they should be redone every night. here is a short clip from mountain creek that has a good example of how big the ramps are - the entire width of a snowcat blade. Last year they used the middle 1/3 but this year for some of them they were the width of the whole thing flat. grooming everynight, every rail needs that

What? Every good place in the world has metal on the outside and plastic in the middle. Actually I've never seen it just plastic on any rail at Mountain Creek/Stratton/Okemo/Mount Snow/Tremblant. Some shitty places, maybe. But even then rarely.

word I dunno if you ski or ride but on a snowboard there could be a 4"4" piece of wood at the end and you'd get out of it becuase you have the tail so far down to float across. Skis are a little harder cuz less surface area

yea but its like saying becuase you need a license to drive a car, you need a license to ride a bike. Sure they are both dangerous, but driving a car is a lot more dangerous than riding a bike so it takes some responsibility. Someone screwing around on a black diamond is for the most part annoying but harmless. Idiots in a park get people killed.

You can call the whole internet price thing "crap", but would you buy a board from a shop for $500, or the exact same board online for $250? I don't call that crap...I call it common sense. I've NEVER seen that happen at my shop. And believe me I spend even more time on snowboard.com then here following up on those 'get a board cheap at this site' threads, and so far I've never seen something mroe than $20 or $40 more, but most of the time about equal or our store is cheaper. I don't know what internet site you can go to and get a few guys to talk to you for an hour, or 2, or even 3, about what is the right gear but for your average person its over whelming. As for the boots, if you think you can just order a boot off the internet without knowing a huge amount of boots and sizing already, forget it. And if you go into a store and figure out what boot you want and then go on the internet to buy it, well 1) your an asshole, you are basically stealing the store's time if you give a guy the impression you are buying a boot and then walk out and buy it off the internet. 2) that doesn't work in this argument, becuase the shops obviously are worthwhile. As for how many times do people spend more than 30 minutes in their boots? I would say 8 out of 10 customers of mine are in their boots for more than 30 minutes. Its rare I'm with a customer for less than an hour unless they come in and have an idea what they want already. If the conversation starts with, I need a new pair of skis, but I don't knwo what kind - its an hour or more. If it starts, I want a pair of Volkl 5-stars but I was wondering what else is comparable, its a shorter conversation. And 30 minutes of walking? Why bother walking in your boots they aren't made to be walked in. It's a lot better to spend your time flexing them as if you were actually skiing in the boots. "You do know that practically all boot molds come from the same factory in Italy, right?" Whats your point, the boots are still differant. If they were so similiar then why do people love 1 pair of boots but hate 5 others? " Once people figure out that boot brands and styles come in different widths, just like shoes, then they'll be able to match their size. " But forget anyone who has an odd thing on their foot like one toe thats longer than the others, a high arch, a pressure point somewhere on the ankle, a bone that sticks slightly out. Obviously they can just measure how wide their foot is and how long it is and VOILA the perfect boot is there. Obviously the process of trying 5 or 8 boots on for fit shows how STUPID the guys fitting the boots are, becuase after fitting a hundred customers they should just know what boot fits. But wait what happens when you get the guy who has a wide foot and likes a Lange and the guy who has a narrow foot but wants a Technica HVL becuase he is a boot pussy no matter what you tell him? Maybe it works for you, I bought everything but boots off a pro-form for a reason. Boots for me are a lot more specific than 'they fit my feet'. I want the boot that is perfect for my foot. "And, anyway, when was the last time someone walked into your shop and was fitted properly? " Today, and the day before that, and the day before that, and the day before that. Forget that we have 3 or 4 guys who have been in ski shops for 8, 10, 12, 20 years selling boots. Obviously boot fitting is best done through a catalog or better yet a flashy website. This is my first year working in a shop and despite going through all the clinics and talking through all hte gear like a hundred times over, tried every pair of boots on etc etc I dont' sell ski boots without one of hte more experianced guys advice. That doesn't come up for skis/snowboards/bindings/snowboard boots, but for ski boots it takes longer to learn what will work for the woman with the cankle. Or woman with the really narrow ankle that needs a tighter heel pocket. By now I know what boots but once in a while a person will come along that I haven't dealt with before and one of hte other guys will have to find a boot. You expect people to figure this out on their own? "As shops continue to go belly up, more good custom boot fitters will find better business." But if it becomes the norm, people will start to come to the boot fitters, find the right boots, and then go online to but them. At what point does the store have to start charging people to try on boots? We do it for tennis rackets already, $5 for each tennis racket you demo, but you can deduct that from the cost of a racket when you buy it. WHat if it were $5 for each half hour of my time you waste trying boots on you don't intend to buy, and if you buy one you get it back, becuase most of hte time while this goes on there are other customers waiting for help.

The more we push for it, the louder its heard, the sooner they will come. And thats one year of me being at blue 40 days a year, flying over jumps 100 times a day, with a lower chance of killing someone else. It is necessary, if all blue did was make their lips wider and add park passes, that would be a HUGE improvement for me. I will be harping on it all summer. So whether you like it or not, these threads will live on becuase they are whats important to the terrain park. If you don't like it, stop reading them. Lets look back at some idiot comments from the posts above: thats a stupid assumption. Just becuase they aren't posting here, means they are against park passes? Let me tell you the secret behind a park pass. Its not the $5 cost, its not if there is a safety video or not, its the realization that, oh wow this place is not for me. Everyone skiing can buy a park pass, but when they see a fence and a gate and a guy making sure you have a 'pass' to go in here, and you signed a warning becuase its so dangerous, people get intimidated. Are daddy smith and mommy smith going to take junior in the park if they have to sign a bunch of forms about how dangerous it is? Hell no. But right now its like, hey lets go look at people in the terrain park! Its cool! Lets stand right here its nice and flat! Wow I'm so close to where they are landing! Meanwhile, i once fell on the first jump at mountain creek, as I was sliding down the landing a friend of mine on skis hit it behind me. Yes we were going off a little too close together, but i never really fall on it except this time there was a kid sitting on the landing and i tried to avoid him. This was 2 years ago pre-park pass days. His skis popped off becuase he landed in a hockey stop to avoid me, one of hte skis helicoptered off and hit me in the back of the head. It dented my metal helmet there was so much force from it spinning. Imagine if he had gone over first and tried to land like i did and the ski hit the kid who was below me without a helmet? The pass makes it much more intimidating, people who don't belong will go in with a little more caution, and the large majority of people would understand why they're needed if you explain it. its not closed, $5 a year is just breaking your bank account? Realize at mountain creek its not a hassle to get the pass, you walk up to a shack thats on the top of the mountain, fill out a form, hand over $5 and your done. Total time - 5 minutes, total cost - $5. Once per season. Yet it has made the parks 1,000 times safer. Ok maybe the statistic is 60%, but to me the differance between riding in that park and any other in the area is HUGE. There are 1 or 2 idiots in there a day tops that I run across, my average run at Shawnee it was 1 or 2 idiots per feature. dirty little secret about the park passes, now that being an idiot is the exception not the norm, those little kids lose their toughness real fast. Plus they start to stand out becuase there are so few. Get in someones way once and your taught to watch out your standing in a landing, twice and your yelled at because your in a landing, 3 times and they probably won't skip the rail next time and your getting hit. Usually once is all they need. Really good point onthe Nastar comparison I hadn't thought of that

"What about the people who fly down expert trails completely out of control? They hit people all the time." But thats entirely differant. You can't equate park passes with all these other things. First of all the driving one is a terrible analogy, ever heard of a drivers license? Parks don't equal black diamonds, its too differant things. " Learn to avoid them, it will make you a better skier." You obviously can't ride park. Realize that half the things in a park are blind. On a black diamond, you should be under enough control that you can avoid people in front of you. If you get hit from behind by an idiot, and your such an expert skier, why where you standing there? In a park you can't see beyond a jump ramp, you can't see down the landing on a lot of rails, you definately can't see the end on a downslope rail until you are there. When I ride a crowded park I usually have someone going up and standing on the knuckle next to the ramp telling me if its clear or not. But what happens if I try a rhythmn line? They can't move as fast as I am if I'm going straight into the next jump and they're just standing them. The nature of riding park causes you to do alot of things where you can't see where you are going, and the speeds involved are much higher.