racer139

SNO seems to be off the air or am I missing something?

Personally, I prefer Elk over any other place in Eastern PA. If your kids can do a green slope that is beyond a bunny slope, then Elk lets you have top to bottom skiing. The Tioga/West slope run is great for them. Ride the lift all the way to the top. The summit views are amazing. If they can do blues then that opens up the Delaware trail on the one side and the long lenape/Schyukill/Wissahickon trails on the other side. I just spent two days at Elk with skiers of all ability levels and everyone had a blast. Jack Frost is not bad, but avoid on a weekend. SNO does get crowded, but only on the green trails right in front of the lodge.

I like the parking idea. Roundtop does it. They have one lot near the lodge for just passholders. It's about the same size as the first five rows at BC. Rope em off and only let in Passholders.

If your crashing for the night after SNO, there's a Hampton and a Comfort Suites right at the intersection of 81 and Montage road. I've stayed at both, Comfort Suites is 90 bucks. Hampton about the same, but a little nicer. They both have the free breakfast and a pool. Can't beat it for close to SNO and then close to 81 to head to Elk the next day. Closest place to Elk is Stone Bridge Inn, like 2 miles close. It's kind of a funky place, with a restaraunt and bar on site. Can't beat it for close. Not cheap though. I've stayed there and like I said it's a little funky, everyroom is different, some with lofts, but I would stay there again.

Mark, really nice job communicating whats going on - it is really appreciated! Can't wait to get going, lets all hope the weather holds.

If the liners are bigger, your going to have more liner than you need between you and the boot and that could be a problem, mainly as the liner packs out. Then you'll have other problems, like a loose spots in the boot that you won't be able to tighten around because of the excess material. Ever consider the new moldable liners that get formed to your foot? If you have a particular foot problem you can tell them and they can work around it when they form the liner. Not sure how far you want to travel, but Pinnacle in Reading has good bootfitters. Found them when I searched for bootfitters, PA in google. I had a lot of shell work done and they were very good. Friend of mine had the liners done at Buckmans and he liked them, so you've certainly got choices.

I've skied both a few times each year and generally I think Hunter has better snow conditions, but Windham is a way nicer facility with nicer people (customers and employees). Windham does have two high speeds, they go to different peaks which is good to spread the crowds out. Hunter has more mid-mountain access which also spreads the crowds. They really are two different style mountains. I guess for me it comes down to the fact that the whole experience seems better at Windham. One Windham negative, they sometimes are a little overoptimistic about the conditions. "top to bottom" early season skiing can mean a trail that is so narrow it looks like it was squeezed from a toothpaste tube. Hunter has a definite early season advantage in that they can blow just the top of the mountain and then down lift you back to the base.

Pro's - not crowded, good snow most of the time, varied terrain, lots of good plans, NASTAR. Con's - a lift that never runs, trails that are really nice but you can't use without a hike up hill, poor execution of all the new plans. Will Long Haul run this year???

I still don't get "Upper Runway" and "Lower Runaway". If one's supposed to be Runway and the other Runaway, then lose the upper and lower designations. I guess it's just one of those quirky things which made Montage unique and SNO has kept.

There is no snow on Timberline as confirmed by Mark and the camera during the daytime. Must be something with the lighting that makes it look white.

Mary, how about some information on what's going on with the back side of the mountain particularly Timberline. It's great to get a camera over there, but why no snow blowing. BC spent a lot of money on a race trail, organized a race program and your not even blowing snow over there? Very disappointing!

Mark, sounds like your most pressing problem is power. Without which you won't be able to implement any of the really great ideas both you and everyone else has proposed. What's the downside of renting a whole bunch of diesels and supplementing what you get from your power supplier? Once you had that in place and all the requisite electrical work, then you could do the other stuff. I'd rent the generators and upgrade the guns immediately. The gun upgrade would be a great permanent investment and you wouldn't be locking into the generators, just renting to buy time. Also, didn't get a clear picture from your post, do you use Snomax or something similar? If not why?