mobile chernobyl

The other blue... Blue knob. Not exactly "around here" but it's in PA none the less. To me blue mtn is just too spartan lol doesnt mean im hatin on it tho.

Maybe I'm missing the definition of freeriding, but isnt blue 100% groomed, with limited woods skiing if any? IMO blue seems to be the best to get alot of (longish) runs in on consistant groomed conditions with the occational bumb run down mainstreet or w/e trail the center one is. That i won't argue with

In the poconos... perhaps. good thing bear isnt in the poconos haha.

Do you think theyll have a few small (like at least 10'-20') jumps or somewhat technical gap to rails set up by sunday - u know just something to dork around on? or would bear be a better bet for that? I'm kinda spoiled now with boulder having LOVE and freedom setup but i dont feel like making the drive up there if i can shed almost an hr by going to blue. Plus most of my friends just like to cruise and not hit rails and they think boulder is not a good cruising mtn.... lol

Definately givin props to boulder for being the first and only mtn open for a month almost now. They had almost every trail open yestarday so it was prolly the best $20 i've spent there sofar. I also didnt get to go to freedom park as I was trying to hang with some non-park friends. But i did get to hit up LOVE park a few times and the smallish jumps were a nice refresher to get back into the swing of things. The rails were setup nice as well with great booters to get on and perfect landings compared to some of the shit freedom had early on haha. Does anyone know what material the last rail on LOVE park was made of? It was mad sticky and I almost came to a stop with a decent run in on it haha.

Yea that would be pretty kick ass like 5-6 10-15 foot booters with trickable lips and enough elevation change and transom so anyone can hit the whole line clean as long as they land and pump the trannys. mmm pumping trannys. not quite the same feeling on snow as it is on wheels but it would good on the right woods side of cascade fer sho - esp if its sessionable in length.

If you wanna avoid crowds the farther bowls and BSB are ur best bet, you can find some powder stashs on the main hill, but ur best bet is in some of the glades in the bowls, i forget which one at this moment, and definately BSB - mainly because it takes a long ass time to get there from the village and the terrain is a little more technical and definatly more natural, in other words... sweet.

Get some simple green - works wonders All the white gear and parts i have for racing DH (read: extremely muddy, dirty, greesy bike parts as well) comes clean with the green.

Yea Unfortunately this trip is a little early in the season, but its the only realistic time we have available as both of our colleges start early in january - making it almost impossible to get 2 weeks out there unless we go over new years - not out of the question yet, but needs to be decided soon as ticket reservations need to be made. But I'm looking into it because from what i've seen the bowls and BSB only open mid december with enough coverage to be skiable, not covered in powder. I'm mainly interested in BSB with the cornices and stuff they have, so I may have to push the trip back to early january to ensure decent coverage since last time i checked they dont make snow back there, much less have a lodge or anything to eat except a few grills to cook ur own stuff on. Sooo pumped tho because by the time i get back PA may be skiable haha.

Well it looks like the trip itinerary has changed. Heres how it looks like its gonna stack up: Free roundtrip flight (Air miles, gotta love 'em) Free Stay at Vail Village (My friend's cousins pulled through hardcore and actually live in the village and give "backcountry" lessons out there) 2 weeks of tickets at heavily discounted fee's - 70% off, to beaver and vail(again thanks to the village residents/instructors) 50% off food in village (haha same as above) discounted travel to and from Denver Now what sucks is factoring in the beer and partying which unfortunately are not free or discounted haha. Better start saving. Where planning on Dec 8th to the 22nd, to account for traveling times, and to have a full 2 weeks out there. Can you say Epic? This will def go down as one of the sickest trips ill ever take. I'll see what i can do about a camera but last time i was there the damn thing froze up from the gnar up drafts in the bowls haha, and the thing was it was on an inside pocket in my coat. Might have to invest in one of those new Alpacca Fur sub zero fanny packs.

Ya man from like 6 to closing it was a ghost town practically compared to earlier. Easy to catch lift, hit rail line, catch lift, hit rails haha, great practice and about a 5 minutes a run with features including lift.

My buddy and I have been trying to do an "epic" trip for quite some time now. We finally have an opening in the beginning of December until Christmas. We're planning a two week trip out to the colorado valley. Due to our ages (21, 20) we can't exactly rent a car (That im aware of) so a plane trip is unfourtunately out of the question. So we plan on Driving out... ugghh my fav haha. The stay is hopefully free, As my friend's cousin lives in the valley. Some questions I have are - Typical drive times to get to the colorado valley from Philladelphia - Value of the Colorado Pass Vs. Buying ticket vouchers off of ebay - Realistic cost of food for 3 weeks of travel (Spaghetti every night is a good possibility haha) - Feasibility Although I'm quite attached to skiing the rockies, Would VT be a more realistic approach? I'm not aware of a "colorado pass" for VT tho, so all tickets would need to be bought in advance, and VT's mountains seam to feature much more of a spread over the Co. Valley. As you can tell I've never embarked on such a trip - Just race weekends for DH MTB, but Would like to before beginning college again, as I dont see a trip being as easy to plan as this coming again in.... well a long time. Let me hear your input, any is appreciated. Overall goal is for 2 solid weeks of skiing/boarding, possiblity the weekend in between as well. Another week we've alotted for travel to and from. Thanks :

QUOTE(GrilledSteezeSandwich @ Nov 12 2007, 01:10 PM) What's the pitch like on the run that is open??? Is there enough pitch to get decent speed if you straight run it? Haha totally agreed. I went from barely being able to slide the butterbox to being able to hit almost every rail and land forward or fakie last night in like 3-4 hours on skis haha. I never thought i could do it but i just grew a set and fell hard a few times but didnt give up. The vert sucks, I straight lined just cause i thought it would be fun, it sux. Maybe if u put like teflon super turbo nutter wax on ur skis itll be interesting or slightly hurt if u fall, but prolly not. Break out the twins and hit the gigantic butter box. Just remember to spread 'em or eat shit haha.

For blue knob i'd say stembogan bowl to the ditch glades - nothing like a bowl run to canyon'ish run with trees u can jump up around. Thats got some character that PA doesnt really have anywhere else, the extroverts are just another steep bump run. At roundtop the Gun Barrel trail is unbelievably short and last year it got "ruts" not bumps, but literally ruts that i could ski in and they would be higher than my head. I guess thats gnarly, more kinda like going in an annoying downhill maze. And IMO Challenge and Razors edge at Blue shouldnt be included cause they are basically a straight blue run anywhere else (out west up north) and dont really have much character to them, just elevation change. It just feels like someone cut a straight line down the mtn and called it a trail. I dunno just my opinion, a signature trail should have some gnarly tight turns or something out of the ordinary.

I'd definatly reccomend it as well. I dunno if anyones mentioned it but Its prolly the only place in PA with a true bowl. It's also got a sweet canyon'ish run. Not to mention the glades, most of which have some fun rock ledges to drop off, nothing huge but just adding to the fun. All of this I doubt many other PA mtn's have, making it one fun mountain. It's definately the most challening PA mountain i've been to as far as natural terrain goes, and I've been to alot of central and eastern mtns with college at york and living near philli. It's worth at least one trip, Hit up roundtop or liberty as well while your other there to get the central PA vibe.

Haha yea I'm almost thinking something as "rebelious" as somethning you'd see in "out-cold" only run professionally. I think it'd be a really fun race as it would blend the lines between lycra wearing skinny ski racers and loose gucci burton wearing park rats in attitude. Most mountains could accomadate it - but most mountains couldnt really plan it i guess as they dont usually blow snow into the trees - it just has to fall. PA wouldnt be able to do it i guess unless we got like a 3 foot dump the week before - it would just be non stop rock scraping woods runs. O well. Hell to spruce it up we could throw in some wooden stair gaps and make it a little more urban. Maybe I'm just getting carried away but that would be my euphoric idea of a race and I cant think of a reason why people wouldnt travel 100 miles or more to compete in it given its advertised correctly and features a cash purse in a pro/am format with am's getting skis or some other material prize.

Does there exist a race where competitors race through Glades/Off-Piste/BackCountry (or whatever the heck you want to call freeskiing type terrain) in a timed fashion. Note what I have in mind is something similar to downhill mountain biking (youtube -> "Downhill mountain bike race" for a better idea of the type of courses im talking about). I'm sure the courses would become obliterated within a day - so make them wider? What I'm asking basically is - is there a race format or even a fun race where the competitors race slalom'y style through the trees, bumps, jumps (step ups, downs, tables, gaps, drops etc.) and all the time between two tapes so the course is not totally up in the air, and in a single competitor timed fashion. It could be flat in spots - hell make it more endurance oriented where the skiier has to push or kick - same as pedaling in the flats on a downhill mtb course. This would most likely not be very fun for snowboarders if its not all downhill tho. If not I think it would be pretty cool, albiet dangerous, but so is doing it on a bike. If im not being clear just let me know, but if you youtube downhilll mountain biking youll get a much better idea of what im talking about - and keep in mind the mountain bike courses almost ALWAYS are on a skiing mountain (with the local exception of Reading PA's freeride race and races in warmer climates like aussyland and other countrys) Maybe redbulls already done it? wouldnt doubt it lol

If your into MX, and skiing - You might also be insterested in Downhill mtb. Racers Edge and the former Reading Racing team held the Mid Atlantic Cup series finally race at bear creek last year - around sept-Oct i forget. It wasnt much in terms of "gnar"ness but it was fun none the less to be able to race bike at my "home" skiing mountain (esp cause i won my class haha). Search Downhill mountain biking, or Freeride/free ride mountain biking on youtube to get your taste buds wet. like i said if u like MX and skiing/boarding, i dont see why you wouldnt like DH haha. the eastcoast "Hub" for DH is definatly Mountain creek tho. Their high speed gondola is hard to beat for maximum amount of runs/day. Back about 2003 and earlier Spring Mtn had a pretty sweet DH venue going on with races and a whole series. Believe it or not Spring mtn is hella technical on a (downhill) bike - albiet flat in spots, and alot of pedaling for what is called "downhill racing" it was still very very fun, and got me started in racing. Bear creek may have looked into this, they had races a good while ago, before i started racing (pre - 03) but I'm not sure if bear of today is interested in investing in a whole series. Its not that bad if they stick to the NORBA sanctioning rules, they can get cheap(er) insurance through them that way. It only requires one lift to be run. Minimal impact on the skiing areas as most of the courses take place in the woods - any run down a slope just kills grass at worst, not much soil being moved. bears not a huge hill, so runs around 3 minutes may be tough, maybe not, if they use the right side. Money can be made if its done right - look at mtn creak - Diablo freeride park. Maybe not realing in the do' but they are making money in the off season - and providing enjoyment for bikers from as far as Austrailia and asia/europe (people from 40 countries showed up to this years U.S. Open of mountain biking downhill race).

As far as downhill/freeride goes, Mtn Creek shines above all other local mountains with its high speed gondola and hosting its own series and the US Open of mountain biking. Bear creek is the location of the final DH race in the mid atlantic cup series hosted by Racers Edge/Reading Racing this year i think. Reading racing has their own labrynth of trails on the hill with the pagoda on it, duryea i guess, those trails kick total ass, but a shuttle truck is pretty much nessesary, adding a little to the run times. french creek is an awsome techy rocky/rooty XC haven and is very fun, has many trails and is very organized. another place not often mentioned but worthy of noting is march creek, near Eagle. has fast flowey trails with some roots and rocks, but no where near the technical level of french creek, but i enjoy it cause its fast.

Did they just add that? Or was that there on monday? Your talking about the bigger middle table I guess. either way it'd be hard to over shoot that, and if its the same as monday it only seemed like a 45'er I think its been hard to keep up cause this snow moves around more than the ice crud they've been blowing up till now. either way the landings have been taking a major beating more now than ever.

Holy hell i'd hafta agree - the last table was insane (with crashes) , i saw sooooo many people eat shit on the bump after the landing, and not just little slide outs, full blown yard sales and snow clouds, well it was more like a 2 foot high speed bump 10 feet after the tranny. i just stayed away from that after my shins were hurting so much from casing the top jump repeadedly, couldnt seem to get enough speed no matter how i tried. all in all, the snow held up well, and the crowds died down pretty much all by 9. it was nice night of skiing other than the park.

Bear was definatly worth hitting up today. finally got to hit the woods again lol and timberline (although i think it was closed?) all in all, the best two hours i've had at bear, and i didn't even bother going in the terrain park since pretty much anyday is a good day in there. by the looks of it too many groms in it and the lines were crazy for the quad. im glad i made it, considering my rover was stuck in some farmers feild last night in a mysterious swamp that was covered in snow goddammit, thank god he was nice

haha - i saw some of the new bras, papasteeze. i did a double take on the tree and thought huh?? is there more than last time? unfortainetly the rain gods (ski patrol it looked like) took them down around 9:45pm. Other than that i actually thought tonight kicked ass, sure the snow was a bit slush, but you could really lay down some deep carves! flying outta the mouth of sasquatch and laying down a carve never felt so good.

The jump line is badass and just what bear creek needed! keep them as long as possible! the run in to the first jump is fine if you just keep goin after that little jump in the side park. the last one needs a little more tranny like ski_unit said, or maybe just push the top of it down the hill to shallow it out.

I was poachin up some trails in the woods. There was plenty of powder to make any line you wanted. For most of the night i was just going from woods to woods all the way down the mountain 'cept for that stupid run through the woods at the bottem right under the lifts with the stump jump.