Schif

I'm going to have to agree with GrilledSteeze and ski on this one. MLK is going to be crowded everywhere, but Sno will have the least. While you may be looking at liftlines as a problem, the real negative would be the amount of people on the trails. Its not going to help a beginner at all to have a million people in front of, behind, to the sides, and falling in front of you. Also, trail conditions will deteriorate much faster at CB than Sno. The sharp turn on Birches (the main beginner trail from the top of the sullivan quad) will be a sheet of boilerplate ice by noon of not earlier. The trails at Sno don't have many narrow forced turns which will ice up. When you say that you would rather wait in line for a mountain with all of its trails open rather than go someplace that is only half open I can understand where you're coming from, but I'll have to say your logic (in this particular situation) is wrong. Most of the open trails at camelback are going to be above her skill level anyway. At CB you're going to be looking at about between 3 and 5 routes from the top that she'll be using. At Sno, all the beginner terrain is open and right in front of the lodge. Sure there are some closed trails, but she wouldn't be going over there anyway. If you're looking for a good on snow experience, then Sno is going to be the place. Smaller crowds, better conditions for learning on, and a better shot at a private lesson. Plus, I don't know how good you are sigmapete, but if you want to ditch her for a while during the lesson, there are no better diamonds/doubles for lapping than the North Face.

It might seem a little unorthodox but this is how I learned. (with no lessons) The first time I ever went onto the hill, I just got on the board, pointed it down the bunny slope and went at it. On a small bunny like Sno's, I was able to just slide straight down until I ran out of steam and eventually came to a stop. By doing this a few times I really got a feel for the board and when it came time to start turning it came much much easier for me. I'll never forget that night either because I didn't fall once, which most likely kept me coming back for more. Granted I didn't try to do a whole lot on the board that first night, but it gave me confidence and a love to be on the hill. This will keep you coming back no matter how hard you ever fall. I think a problem that a lot of people have the first time they get on a snowboard is that mentally they are standing on a board and sliding down a hill. Get it in your head that the board is now an extension of your body. You don't think about standing on top of the soles of your shoes when you walk, so why do it with a board thats strapped to you 4 times? Also I try to avoid being flat based as much as possible. When the board is flat on the ground you have the least amount of control over it. I prefer to stay on one edge or the other which will allow you to take bumps or other unexpected obstacles better rather than being tossed. When you can get into the position where you think about where you want the board to be and the next thing you know you're there, then you're in for a real treat.

What do you do that makes you walk 14 miles per day?

Snowdrift was actually the old location of the pipe. It was graded as a pipe and everything at one point. If you look really closely now that there is a thaw you can probably see some evidence of this. They haven't had a pipe there in at least 5-6 years though.

45 minute drive to the mountain? That seems a little excessive. Aren't there any closer places that aren't necessarily slope side?

I really like Elk alot, but it kind of surprises me that they still rely on natural snow for some trails.

Nice TR kitten. How many verts did you rack up?

I didn't realize it for a while but my AC was on today too. I set the climate control at 68 which is what we keep the house at, and i noticed the ac light come on. After that I turned it off and opened the sunroof and window.

I wouldn't mind if there was music on the lift. Like a few speakers on the towers or one small one on each chair, but only loud enough that you could hear it on the chair and not on the trails.

I worked outside all day and got really hot with my long sleeved shirt so i had to ditch it and go in short sleeves

I like the ipod too just not if its too cold, I don't want to destroy it. I don't see a widespread music system working out too well. The odds that I want to hear what they're playing are slim to none.

Music on the trails? Where have you seen this before? The only music on trails I've ever heard of was in Laural Glade at CB, but I'm not even sure they do that anymore.

I heard he was spending the night in Scranton because of the bad roads and weather.

I noticed that light on boomer last night too. And there was one like it on Switch that kept shutting off when i was coming up the Iron Horse.

I forgot to mention lighting as a con but most people picked up on it. Has anyone noticed that Whistler doesn't actually have any of its own lights?

Pros: Great Terrain, I ski there, Low crowds, Good Snow quality, Nice deck on the lodge, Whistler finally being open. Cons: The stupid tent that takes up over half of the area in front of the lodge, the removal of the stairs, The overly cartoonish marketing and graphics, No brochure (mostly because I collect trail maps for my wall), only having the current terrain finished at this point when they have such an extensive snowmaking system.

I'll be up around 5 tomorrow night.

They've been there for 20 years I'm not a huge fan of the new trail map. The graphics are a little cartoony for my taste. Congrats to Sno I guess, apparantly they added 9 new trails since the old 21 of Montage.

Releasable bindings? Is this standard in the snowlerblade realm?

I"ve got a yellow Oakley lens and would never think of riding at night without it.

I agree with Glenn. Welcome to the board LJJ. Hope you have a good time here and don't get scared off by some of our antics. Keep up the stoke and remember to practice smartstyle, post up good trip reports and vote for GrilledSteezeSandwich in the 2008 PASR Staff Elections.

I tried to put this in my above post but I think I hit submit too early. If you're downgrading Cannonball to a double square then I guess lower fasttrack and runaway are single squares now. Seriously Sno, this is a terrible danger to everyone on the mountain. The way Cannonball is meant to be skied is by advanced skiers and riders ripping down the entire length of the trail. It is most fun when skied for a grand total of 35 seconds. Anyone crowding headwalls is putting themselves right in the line of high speed projectiles. If you haven't noticed, the headwalls on this trail are just begging to be aired off of. It is going to be impossible to tell someone like myself who has been doing this for 10 years to stop. Bumped up headwalls (which are caused by people turning and traversing) will cause people who are going straight down them to get seriously hurt. A beginner going 5 mph and tipping over can get banged up, but someone like myself and other members of this board who ski the trail properly are going to receive much worse injuries. The straight facts are that you can see very little of this trail at any given time while you are on it. To put something totally out of the norm i.e. beginner skiers/boarders and potentially bumps because of them is equivalent to throwing speed bumps on the other side of a turn on I-81.

Thats terrible about Cannonball. That trail should definately be a diamond. Also, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A DOUBLE SQUARE. I thought CB was the only place to do this but wow, this really sucks. TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN AT SNO MOUNTAIN: PLEASE KEEP THE TRAIL RATINGS THE SAME AS THEY HAVE BEEN

I liked the edit, you guys did a great job with what you were given by CB. Anyone know if they plan on opening Rhodo anytime soon? I'm probably going to be hitting up CB in the not so distant future.

A PASR day at Sno would be awesome, but how long is it going to take to open the whole place. I haven't been up there yet thanks to boulder's $10 wednesdays and the whole Christmas thing.