Tyler

Fall closing in means the start of prime hiking/backpacking season. Put in 22 miles on the iron stone loop out in Rothrock state forest by state college this past weekend. Was supposed to be a 2 day 15 & 7 mile split. Ended up reaching our campsite by 4 pm and kept pressing on, by 5:30 we only had 4 miles left and decided to hoof it on out. Turned into essentially a 22 mile day hike with 25 pounds on the back just for good measure- we'll just call it a training hike. Nice views of state college on one side of the ridge and nothing but state forest and the Appalachians on the other. Oh, and we were lucky enough to be sharing the trail with 8 friendly timber rattlers (that we saw). Thankfully they were kind enough to give us about 10 feet of notice before we tripped over them. A few of them approaching 5 feet and about as thick as a Pringles can. There were actually 4 of them hidden in this shot Two of the more pissed off customers

Awesome move by blue! Won't make it but stoked to see them going for it! 08-09 season I managed 8 straight months of PA snowboarding. Halloween snowstorm at boulder in October all the way through May Day. Can just about guarantee I won't ever duplicate that one

Didn't bear mention they were removing all features from the parks this weekend for the snowmobile races? Just beware if your going to ride park

Hope everyone is having a great winter! Haven't posted much lately but figured you all might enjoy this TR... Jumped on a deal for a Frontier Airlines flight from Wilmington/ New-Castle, De (ILG for anyone wondering) to Denver back on Veterans Day when they offered 20% off. Ended up scoring round trip tickets from ILG to DIA for $255. Non-stop, stretch seating, 2 free checked bags, free airport parking, and a free beer each way. Not sure we'll ever find a better deal. Anyway... Got to the airport Wednesday 2/26 around 10:30 am for our 1:10 pm flight to Denver- found out it was delayed 2 hours due to wintry weather where ever our plane was coming in from. Took off around 3:15 pm landed in Denver 3 or 4 hours later. Once we got to the airport we were able to hop on the 7:30 pm Colorado Mountain Express Shuttle since we had missed our previous one. Arrived at the Frisco Transfer station around 9:30 pm where we met our buddy and headed over to our accomodations aka his apartment in Frisco. Day 1: 2/27/14 Copper Mtn Snagged our $59 passes to Copper at 9 am for opening. Big savings via friend being Copper employee. Overcast morning, snow flurries, temps in high 20's. Snow was terrific, sun came out and temps rose to about 30 as the day wore on. Ended up being a beutiful bluebird day. Spent most of the morning just exploring the mountain, top to bottom. Decided to hop on the free Cat skiing just before lunch. Took the cat up, hiked another 40 minutes or so over to Fremont Chutes. Highlight of the day was the untouched powder run through the Fremont Glade after we got through the first 200 feet of heavily windblown and chunky snow from a previous slide. Spent the rest of the day playing in the trees, upper bowls, and a little in the park. Day 2: 2/28/14 Copper Mtn Woke up to about 3 inches of fresh snow in Frisco. Still falling when we got to the mountain. $59 tickets once again and we were off. 4-5 inches of fresh snow had fallen at the base of Copper with more as you went up. Took a few amazing runs through the enchanted forest off of Copper Peak and in the Union Bowl off of Union Peak. Snow was light and fluffy and just a blast to ride. Followed our buddy up to the top of Union Peak, skiers left into the union meadows where he promised there would be untouched snow. And boy did it deliver. By this time 6-8 inches had fallen and run after run the only tracks we met were our own. A few laps through union meadows and down through the woods near the ski area boundary were some of the most memorable of the trip. Finished the day riding the skiers right side of the mountain, searching for some leftover snow in the Resolution Bowl. Excellent day. Day 3: 3/1/14 Breckenridge Forecast called for 3-5 inches overnight, I'd say we had another 3 in Frisco when we hopped on the 7 am shuttle to make our trip over to Breck. Puking snow by the time we got over there. Visibility very low, Imperial chair and other lifts to the top of the mountain closed. Oh well. Fresh snow all day. Spent the vast majority of the day on Peak 10 lapping the quad. Fun, playful lines through the trees all day with some of the softest snow I've ever ridden. Crowds weren't bad for a Saturday at the Breck, 5-10 minute lift lines. After lapping Peak 10 we headed across the mountain with Ore Bucket as our planned destination. A bunch more awesome runs down through the trees before we came to a pretty heavily tracked out Ore Bucket. However, traversing hard left allowed for some more fresh snow even around 2 pm. Overall an awesome day, despite the top of the mountain being closed. Scored a slight discount on tickets since our buddy holds an epic pass, $99 compared to $130. Well worth it though, especially with the 6-8 inches of fresh snow. Day 4: 3/2/14 Arapahoe Basin Our final day riding, another 4-5 inches of snow had fallen overnight at A-Basin. We had picked up a couple of the Colorado Gems cards, good for BOGO lift tickets at 8 of the smaller resorts in CO, one being A-basin. Ended up being $41 per person. None of us had ever been to A-basin so we were pretty much starting from scratch. I have always liked the feel of low-key resorts like A-basin or Brighton in Utah. A couple laps on the lower half of the mountain to start the day. Excellent snow, crowds pretty minimal. Once 9 am rolled around the more terrain became accessible (only 2 lifts open at 8:30) we headed straight up to the top. Visibility was poor in the morning up top, but the snow was fantastic. Dropped over the backside into the Montezuma Bowl where we spent the majority of our day. Lap after Lap of awesome lines through some wide open bowls, dropping little cliffs and trees, and into some loose glades as we funneled down to the chair that would take us back up to the top of Montezuma. Fresh tracks were becoming harder to come by, and by about noon we decided to pop in for lunch. By that time much of the fog had lifted, sun came out, temps warmed up to around freezing. Ate some lunch and came back out to take a few more runs and take in some of the scenery. Visibility was excellent after lunch and we ended up only taking one more run. Up to the top, snapped some pictures, cruised back down and decided to call it a trip. All in one peice and exhausted. Ended up leaving around 1:15 pm, feeling satified, after 3 previous days of riding open to about 3 oclock. Overall, f*cking awesome trip. Plenty of fresh snow 3 out of 4 days ( i probably estimated on the low side for snow totals, especially higher up). We don't usually seem to hit the snow right but the gods were on our side this time. Staying in Frisco was a good time, sampled the local fare at Backcountry Brewery and Johnnie G's, and took a trip to the Breckenridge Brewpub. The CME and the summit county free shuttles really make the trip enjoyable and stress free. Caught the shuttle back to Denver Monday 3/3 for our flight back to Wilmington. At this point we were ready to get home, so we werent particularly dissapointed to see the storm back east was a bust. Boarded our Frontier plane with a Puffin on the tail at 445 Mountain time and were on the ground by 10 pm here. Trip was a complete sucess. Flying Frontier out of Wilmington is highly recommended. We had no troubles with the airline or the Colorado Mountain Express shuttle besides the shuttle being a little crowded. I'll post some pics below for your enjoyment. Don't remember taking my phone out for any at Breck since visibility was pretty limited. Most are scenery pics, had too much awesome snowboarding to do to worry about snapping too many. I'd probably have more if iPhone's didnt shut off in the cold, especially some good ones of the Montezuma bowl. Anyway, Enjoy! Pictures Plane from ILG to DIA Free Airplane Beer Copper, day 1 at the top of the Cat hike i beleive Copper, most of the crew Twas a good day Copper, Day 2, back bowls, plenty of snow Yum! They may have gotten the shack at Breck... Copper's is pretty impressive Some morning snow falling at A-Basin After lunch, all cleared up Some cool scenery at A-Bay Last run of the trip This Guy is one happy camper Breck Brewpub The apartment in Frisco Free cheers from Frontier on the way home was just icing on the cake

Ended up with 7.5" according to the news down here in Amish Country

You had me at free... How long are they? Who's got some old, still functional bindings? I can barter with beer or dollars

Title says it all, who has some old skis they want to unload for cheap? Looking to start doing a little skiing in addition to snowboarding. Don't know much about the gear, have skied a few times and enjoyed it. I'm 5'11" 190 lbs, wear about a 27 boot. Gonna need those too... Would prefer twin tips- not sure on length I was imaging somewhere in the 165-175 range. Looking for a set of skis and bindings on the cheap. Don't need to be pretty, don't care about brand/scratches/chips that kind of stuff just structurally in tact with a little bit of life left in them. Would like to keep it around $100-150 for the skis and binders, looking for that set collecting dust. Let me know what you've got! Open to suggestions too! Advice is appreciated

Was just up there last Wednesday. Nothing spectacular from a terrain standpoint a few trails on the skiers right side of the mountain are fun. It's short though- skis somewhere between boulder, bear, spring mountain size. But if your gonna be in the area it's always cool to check out a new place and I believe Wednesdays are mens days up there so like $40 for a four hour ticket- which sadly is good for that place. Lift tix are outrageous but that is a perk of being the only show in town. Have fun! Any day on the snow is a good day

Hopefully they'll stick with the $15 tickets until the weekend since they shorted us last week by closing Thursday and Friday

Conditions were solid tonight- good to see them open this early. Closed tomorrow and Friday, re open for the weekend?

Awesome report, hiked gothics, Armstrong, and the wolf jaws this past summer-was thinking about how cool they would be in the winter.

Can't go wrong with 32's. Put 250+ days on my old pair and I've probably got a good 60-70 on a pair now and their still in great shape. Highly recommend over DC or burton

Rode Stowe Friday and it was excellent. Jay peak sat and mt snow today. Stowe was far and away my favorite day of the trip. Enjoy

probably my favorite resort ive ever ridden. so sick and such a cool vibe. hope you enjoyed

agreed, would have been my last day at bear for the season too, but i guess that was wednesday now. bummed.

Bear gonna make it through the monsoon? Hope so I'm looking forward to riding tomorrow for the first time In a month

I wouldn't call ticket prices mellow, your gonna pay 65-70 for a weekend. Avoid weekends there at all costs

How big were those big air jumps? Hard to tell from pics

im telling ya the place is sweet, ill be riding there again sunday. they get a ton of snow for pa and the parks are perfect. only downfall about the place is crowds. makes blue mountain on a holiday look pretty empty on any given weekend at springs

I should be there, just gotta check the hockey schedule.. I'll try and bring a crew from slippery rock

speedbumps are annoying but i can see where they were necessary, people used to come cruising down that hill into the lower lots. and the attendants have always been fine by me.

love spring mountain, It's where i learned to ride. I should get back there more often havent been there in a year or two

and i will not bitch about bear. I'd rather ride spring mountain

Hm, i cant say i remember but I believe you. My bad. Im not saying the jump has been bad just needs a little more attention sometimes. Its probably my favorite feature in the park on a good day

those old black bear parks were alot of fun, cascade is too flat after that first jump to really carry speed through for a decent jumpline. Last year's 3 or 4 jump line(i dont remember exactly) down blackbear was a blast, they were smaller than back in the day but alot of fun to flow through. Not enough snow for that yet i suppose.