Metz the Jersey boy

heh... not much of a Camelback PASR day without 'Dude and Glenn...

Well Doug, Roundtop is about 2:15 from Bound Brook. Luckily my cousin Lauren and her husband Bradley live approximately 8 minutes from the mountain and they've put me up for the weekend. Yeah ski, I wish Dave and Roman were out here this weekend to throw down with Bernie. I know Dave really likes these turny technical courses. They threw some interesting stuff at us: off camber turns, a turn extended by a through-gate to change up the rhythm... It really was a learning experience. And Jeff- most of the time I'll bet on you. You know that. This time, however-

I'll be there late after the ASRA race at Mountain Creek. I'm hoping to get there between 4 and 6

Got back a little while ago from Ski Roundtop, which I have to say is one pretty sweeeet small mountain. I think that between Bear Creek and Roundtop PA has some of the coolest sub-800 vert mountains around. Anyways, about the race- This was ONE HELL OF A COURSE!!! I didn't ski to well today, but I think I've got strep throat, so I didn't feel so well this morning. I was really close to being the slowest guy on the hill today. The course was REALLY offset and A LOT of fun. I ran a 42.-- and a 41.--. Bernie Resch, who may be the fastest racer I know put up a pair of 31's. Basically- I got smoked like a crackpipe in Newark. Bernie was also the fastest person on the mountain today by almost 5 seconds across two runs. It must be nice. I really can't get over how great the course was today. Props to the Roundtop Race Dept. for running 4, yes 4 RACES TODAY!!!! 3 of which were on the same trail, that somehow never got rutted out. Great job guys!!!! The snow was great today, and RT's snowmakers are fantastic at what they do. We started seeing a little bit of boilerplate at the end of the day, but it was nothing you couldn't get an edge in. The best part of racing here is that they have Nastar directly following the ASRA race and they give us a discount- $5 gets us unlimited runs after the ASRA race. I think I did 6 runs today. I logged a few more silvers, but with a little bit high handicap today. All in all it was an awesome day on the snow. I'll post a report after the slalom tomorrow. PEACE.

...coming from a guy that skis blue

More great thinking from the NJEA!

Instruction is rather touchy a lot of places that you go. I took a snowboarding lesson in New Hampshire a couple years ago and the instructor could definitely rip, but he was possibly the worst instructor of anything that i've ever encountered. I took a group lesson at Shawnee 2 years ago and it was absolutely horrible. First they paired me with a 13 year old girl in our "advanced" lesson. Then the instructor kept asking why I wouldn't make tight "slalom-like" turns for him. I was wearing 18m sidecut skis. He then proceeded to teach me stem christy. He also had the gaul to ask me if I enjoyed the lesson when it was over. I told him that I had officially wasted my last dollar on the shawnee mt. ski school. As for camelback... I'm planning on taking a private lesson during the week sometime this winter. I'll let you all know how it goes. The only experience I have with the CB ski school is with a guy named Walt from the masters program. He was really competant, as he was a race coach there as well.

Wow rob, I might even be tempted to let you ski one of my pairs of skis... BC on a weekday huh... a 17 second course... sounds fun. The last time you did something in 17 seconds... wasn't Ridge the result? j/k pops. I might be able to sneak out to BC on a tuesday or wednesday... I have a pool league I play in mon, tue and wed. I'd have to find a night I can skip out. Like I said, this coming weekend is the only weekend I'll be at Camelback until late march, if they're still open. I've got ASRA races starting feb. 3rd, and every weekend thereafter, with a trip up to Loon thrown in, and then finally a wedding in western PA for one of my fraternity brothers. A weeknight might just have to be it. But its on... I'm thinking up names now... ClevelandSteamer Molasses PapaCompensation SkiTooSlow Slowsteeze AntiSteeze LimburgerSteeze EmployeesShouldParkInFront RidesTheShuttle I'm sure more will come to me...

Sounds to me like Rob needs to come out to blue any thursday night... or maybe CB this weekend if they have nastar running and Raceway open. After this weekend I'm racing with the big boys every weekend til March.

wait a second here... last time I checked skidude was faster than both jeff and ski... Rob- at no point in this thread did I mention either of your sons, as they don't race nastar at blue. And why don't you step up and race me... unless the prospect of someone with only a year of racing experience beating you does something to your ego... Just trying to preserve the natural order of things...

Mom, come on, it was openers... everyone's sloppy... Bernie even lost a pole on his first run. IT WAS FUN THOUGH!!!! Maybe we'll see you at Roundtop the 3rd or 4th? Mountain Creek the 10th? Maybe the TBA will be Spring Mtn?

Eh, no offense here tre, but I'd have to side with Jeff (as much as I hate to do it) on this one, no matter what skis you're on. I faced the facts early last year- the kid can rip. Besides, if you race Nastar on thursday nights there's a certain order that things need to be approached in... a ladder if you will... And methinks Doug and I have a little rivalry to rekindle... I have to see if maybe I can ditch out on work early this week and run me some gates at blue to practice for when he's back

I just want to be there when Cleopatra's lowers are released...

It was definitely awesome meeting you too Kat. Your dad and you have a great relationship, and believe me I wish I could get one of my parents to come out and watch me race just once. It was an awesome weekend overall, and Ski did some awesome racing. The winner in the "best fall that didn't happen" category definitely has to be Kat, though. That really was a Bode-esque recovery. I can't wait for the rest of the southern ASRA races and definitely for nationals. Its such a fun time. I really recommend that anyone with any interest at all in racing come try it out. PS- Ski's daughter took her clothes off and gave them to me

Doug, from what I've heard he was, but because of you plugging Blue, much like bellbottoms, is now old, out of style, and destined to not return for 30 years. Or so we hope.

Sometimes it helps to think before you speak. Just a suggestion, as I know I'm guilty of not doing so at times. But, you should educate yourself a bit in this case... 1.) They're not a cover band. They're an up and coming punk/pop/core band thats coming off tour with Breaking Benjamin. If you wanted to see them live it would cost you 20-30 bucks anyways. 2.) The night pass is good until close. They close at 8. They open back up again at 9. You need to buy another lift ticket to ski when they reopen. 3.) If you don't like the fact that you need to pay to see a good band and ski for 6 hours, THEN DON'T! Its that easy.

How much is it to add a date along with chocolate covered strawberries and champagne?

Rob- Please shut the F up about employee parking. If I was CB management I'd be at the point now where I'd designate the top lot for employees only just to spite you. Obviously the broken record approach DOESN'T WORK. Show us some of that famous problem solving skill and find another way to approach this issue. PS- I've got 10 days at CB this year. 9 of them I was parked in the first or second row in the lot. Most of the time when i get there around 8, the compensationmobile is nowhere to be found...

If I could go back in time I might not have posted that... but I'd DEFINITELY go back 20 years and introduce your mother to the pill.

I'll applaud when ski posts a thread stating that he got the check. And I applaud Craig for making an obviously genuine attempt to be a liason between the corporate types and us skier types. Craig, feel free to PM me if you ever have any questions about skier experiences or what people think about the mountain... in an unbiased situation... I promise none of my critiques, criticisms, or ideas have anything to do with employee parking... Wow, I bet the Blue people wish they had someone like Craig to be a go-between.... well, i guess Blue doesn't really need it... unless CB closed down.... then i'd have to ski at Blue, and I'd bitch as much about Blue as a lot of people do about CB.

bravo POC. Doug, just saying that Camelback is a more expensive ski area. By nature, many people of wealth are Republicans. Tannersville/Scotrun is a more expensive area than Danielsville/Lehighton. Just my take on things. Jeff himself said that Blue is run by ski bums (in different words), CB by big business. Big business=Republican. Blue isn't big business. Financial standing has a lot to do with political preference in many cases. Not all. And didn't you say you went to a ghetto high school... By the way POC- does the lack of spelling skills present on this board bother you at times?

Dude- LOL... watch out... you might just turn into one of those republicans you speak of one day... Anyways, I don't even want to get into political standpoints, but I'd probably be willing to guess that CB is more of a Republican type of place than Blue is... Just a guess though, based on stereotyping, etc. Frankly... if I was Blue Mountain I would have given Jeff Nastar as well... He can be pretty annoying when he doesn't get what he wants... Then again... so can Rob. (these are harmless pokes at two people who I actually do like in person, but who just happen to be easy targets in this situation, just as I am when it comes to dating, doug with postwh0ring, racerchick being vertically impaired, dude being... well, just being dude, etc.) If you guys REALLY want to get us something we want... how about snow? Who can you talk to about that?

I haven't completely lost faith in CB yet. Like any other place, they have positives and negatives. Call it foolish, but I'm hoping the building of this hotel will motivate CB to do all they can to stay open later in the coming seasons... after all- spring break business is big money... Maybe it'll even get them to think about more coverage earlier in the season, to make the resort more desireable to families vactioning over christmas break. They need motivation from somewhere... Honestly, I think that if the new management doesn't "get it" then they'll be gone soon as well. Its sort of like the golf facility I work at now. They start a bunch of different projects that they think will bring in more money, but they don't do it wholeheartedly, and because of that they don't get the returns that they could. Lets think what CB could do to stake a solid claim as being far and away the best mountain in the poconos: 1.) First and foremost- Get open that one to one and a half weeks early. If CB was the first or second mountain to open it would help greatly. Cost: approximately $20,000. 2.) Upgrade the park to compete with Blue or Bear Creek. They have the terrain, they just need to upgrade the jibs and give the park crew some more free reign, or bring in some new park builders. Cost: approximately $10,000. 3.) Stay open those 3 days a year that you usually close during the season. Cost: approximately $5,000. These costs are really rough estimates from someone without much experience on the business end of the industry. Lets break this down though. Say CB averages 2,000 skiers a day. Average cost of a ticket: I'll go low and say $20, averaging in all season passes that have been purchased and used that day. That is $40,000 a day in revenue. This is more than enough to cover these costs. I know there are operating expenses, but I'm sure 40k can be made up rather quickly. Just some food for thought...

Alright, after ski's experience- Not too happy with customer service. Thank God I usually only have to deal with them once a year. I'm not so much worried about them closing, and I'm not too upset about it... Hopefully the money that they save by not opening here and there will pay off when we finally get a good winter, or even after a good dumping this year. If that money saved doesn't go to good use, then I'll be really upset.

Wow... half of me really wants to get in some gates this weekend... the other half of me wants another week to work on some stuff... Right now I'm still a bit of a backseat bandit... I'm planning on skiing without poles all week to work on that though... Its really cold right now (compared to what's been going on) but its supposed to be 60 on friday/saturday... not good. Either way, I can't wait for the race season to kick off. and welcome back 'mom! You were missed!