trackbiker

Great place for beginners. Much safer for kids without the crowds of CB or Blue.

What is the Heat Index today?

Conditions were great and crowds low. Left around 1:00 and had lunch at the Chat & Chew. Got on the turnpike around 2:30 at 38F. Rain picked up and temps dropped heading south. After the tunnel the turnpike turned into the demolition derby. They would clear one accident, people would start moving, try to go fast in the left lane and spin out and cause another accident. One hour ride turned into 2.5 hrs.

Weekday tickets are still available. $25 + $3.75 S&H. $28.75 is still a great deal.

News report on the new lights. http://wnep.com/2013/11/21/bright-white-lights-saving-money/#

The trail map is now on the website. http://www.montagemountainresorts.com/Images/Inline/Originals/79_148.jpg Has anyone had a chance to check out the new lighting?

And where is that on the website. It isn't showing up anywhere when I look at the website. Can you post a link.

6 is not too young for a lesson to be of value. The instructors are trained on how to teach beginners and they will advance a lot faster with even the first lesson from an instructor. DO NOT ski with the kids between your legs. An adult's weight falling on top a kid even at a slow speed can cause serious harm. Yeah, I know, we used to ski and bike without helmets and ride in cars without seat belts and we survived. Your kids may not. Stay away from Blue and Camelback on weekends. You don't need your kids getting run over from some yahoo. Alpine is a great little uncrowded place for beginners. i recommend it all the time for beginners. It's uncrowded, the prices are better than most places, and they will be able to ski the whole mountain in no time. Get there at opening and they will likely have a private lesson in a group lesson. Call ahead to make sure someone is available at opening.

They have a conditions report but no trail map on the website yet. I know that the trail layout has not changed but for those who have never been there, there is no map. I don't know about others, but every time I go to a new area, the first thing I look at is the trail map.

If you love places like Plattekill and Magic you will really love Powder Mountain. If you love places like Stratton, don't bother going. You won't "get it".

Thanks for the report and photos. Looking forward to getting up there and checking it out first hand.

Powder Mountain is the place to be on a powder day. You'll have untracked all day. I'd love to get a local to show me around on a powder day. It's big and spread out and you have to know where to go for the steeps. Everything off the Hidden Lake Express is pretty flat. You have to go down to the Pardise lift for the steeps.

Blue is grooming out Main Street so you guys will have a nice bulletproof surface on Friday after todays rain and then the freeze up tonight. Why they wouldn't wait until some of the water drains out is beyond me. But then they may not have their trademark death cookies if they did that.

I'd love to get there sometime when they have a good snow year. Don't think it will be this year. I have too many plans for N. Vermont and the Daks this year.

Wow! Ski Denton has a new trail map. That old one had to be the worst one I'd ever seen. The new one is not James Niehues quality but it is a lot better than the old one. http://skidenton.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Trail-Map.jpg

They definetely don't want to push it out for this warm spell. It looks like they may have pushed some out on Vista from the cam but can't really tell.

I was surprised to see that they even blew snow in the valley. I would have thought that they would have put as much production as possible into getting a good base on Vista and Main Street. I hope it all doesn't melt this weekend.

Guns are off now at 11:40am. I guess it got too warm or too warm to make snow efficiently. It's an automatic system IIRC.

Great to hear. When are they going to get the winter website up? Trail maps, rates, hours, etc....?

Glad to hear about the new lights. Those tall parking lot lights were terrible. Too many dark spots and shadows.

I think all the new things will be up on the website soon. KC will likely chime in when it's time to release any news. From what I heard so far things are looking good.

Heard from a little bird that the morning ticket may be going to $29.00. Still a great deal.

True, but most eastern areas are a collection of pods and you need to take multiple lifts to get the full vert. The Adirondack Express is 1500' and Burnt Ridge Express about 1450'. The K1 Gondi is only 1647' at Killington. You need to take stage 1 & 2 of the Skyeship Gondi to get any more and the bottom is all flat.

The hotel and condos are across the street from the ski area. I think they run a shuttle bus if you stay there. The mountain is only 900' vertical but it is spread out. About the only improvement in 30 years up to now has been the glades. Zeus, Hercules, and Olympian are pretty steep. The East side is pretty flat but has some nice glades. Like mbike-ski said, when they get the lake effect the snow is great. If you have the WNEP card it's worth the drive to check it out. Gore is a much longer drive but a very big mountain. The 2D trailmap doesn't do it justice. It's a 3D mountain. Worth the trip with the "free" ticket on the WNEP card. I was there last weekend at the Harvest Festival.

Nothing has really changed there in 30+ years up to now. They are getting a new fixed grip quad with a conveyor loader. Great place when they get some natural snow. The snowmaking system still needs an upgrade. I hope the new owners continue with skiing improvements. The old owner sunk all of the money into condos and the water park.