Schif

Solid little trip out to the Rockies. Here some update from my perspective. Saturday at Breck was fun. Lines were long ish but I just kept thinking to myself that I was on vacation so it was OK. The higher up you went the less the lines were a problem with the exception of the T bar which had a long line and sucked as a lift. Long and steep is not particularly fun to get dragged on. Breck is huge and I really enjoyed exploring it. Would like to get two days there next time. The stuff above the tree line was really cool and I would have liked to spend more time up there but it really hasn't snowed much and the stuff high up was really windswept and not so great. It was day 1 on the snow and the altitude was definitely getting me a little so it was a nice casual day of exploring and western groomers. The first groomers off of Independence Super Chair were a great way to just tear up some long and fresh cord before we started exploring more. Lots of great Blue cruisers. Most of the black trails were just sun baked bumps so they were not particularly desirable. I didn't do a ton of research on the lift layout so a second day would have been good. At the end of the day getting on chairs became a guessing game as to where it would end up. First time experiencing chairs that crossed each other was pretty cool and the last chair of the day was a slow double that made a hard right hand turn at one point. That actually worked out for a nice cruise down to a bus stop where Skiincys brother picked us up to head back to the hotel.

Is lightning groomed?!?!

That Truly looks grate. Nice new sign at White Lightning too!

Sitting on the plane. 10 minutes late to push back already. Here's Sunset in Denver. See you back in PA. More detailed trip reports to come.

A few more pics from Breck yesterday. Also, it was me who needed a little break on the side of 70. Really nice so far and Silverthorne is pretty nice. Dinner last night was at the Dillon Dam brewery

Brattleboro and no stop at Hermit Thrush??

Not this weekend. Enjoy Mt. Bleu

Is instruction on the perfect swagger to walk with in ski boots included in the premium or the platinum level?

They couldn't even get a real groundhog?

I think they will open if the ticket is a Buddy Pass though

This isn't very Stoke-y. Let's make this a day of kindness towards all trails.

I hope you guys chatted about Wawa and the area's premier asphalt contractor.

Great job to Elk's ski patrol for doing a great job and no one got hurt. I guess that's what you get when you can source your patrollers from VT. The news said it was a problem with the gear box. They should have popped a Ford transmission in there as a back up.

Today was fantastic. Some days I just think, man I'm lucky to be able to ski. Today was one one of those days.

Major debate going on in my head now. Sixers tickets for Saturday night. So do I go Saturday morning and deal with the weather, come home, nap it off and hit the game? Or chill all day Saturday, go to the game, go to bed right when it's over and then do Sunday?

Scrapped tonight. Couldn't get on the road early enough.

Anyone doing RAW tonight? Heading up soon with @skiincy.

That's a lot of dings

I'll put some cones out for you in the lot of the BMDI.

If they do wind up changing the parking lot situation I think this just means that the end of year party needs to be bigger and better than we could even imagine just in case it's the last one.

I respectfully disagree. Glad you guys are off to a great start on the trip. Looking forward to the report!!

Even Camelback gives free parking for season passholders. I understand the desire to not leave money on the table but I feel like this is kind of teetering on the edge of worth leaving it on the table to impart some goodwill. Whether or not they mean to, the best thing Blue is doing is creating communities. Whether it's PASR, or the many other crews in the parking lot or the freestyle team, or the cross team or even the racers they either let these groups form or actively form them so that people make it a habit to come to their facility, buy passes and maybe some food. I'm not exactly frequenting many other PA mountains but I really doubt that this kind of thing exists on the large scale it does at Blue at other places. Not every store needs to be a Walmart and not every mountain needs to be a Vail resort.

I love how this seems to be as much a food trip as it is a ski trip at this point. I'll be landing in Philly at 1am the day this is planned for so I'm likely out but maybe just maybe if there's the right blend of plane sleep and red bull I might make it.

I have an uncle who was a ski instructor in the 80s and was a total ski bum/partier for a while. He moved to the beach for the next 30 years but recently took a job up in St Albans, VT and moved up there. We were talking at Christmas and he was excited to get up there and said he would probably get back into skiing. "I hear the skis are shaped now", but he was oddly adamant that he wouldn't be one of those "losers wearing a helmet". I told him that 99.5% of people out there wear helmets and it's kind of insane not to at this point but he was unfazed. Thankfully he works at a hospital so one would assume when he crashes at Smugglers Notch he will have top notch care.