trackbiker

Thanks for the info. I'm flying Southwest so I think I'll take my skis with me and check the weather as it gets closer. Nothing on the calender for Sunday so I'd be heading up to the mountains anyway. I have a party to go to Saturday night so I don't know how early I'll get there.

Snowbird is saying they are open until Memorial Day so you should get a day out there. All the others will be closed by May even with a 200" base.

From their website: "Mother Nature was our friend the last few weeks, but this time she got the best of us

I'd pick Mt. Snow. I like it better than Stratton. I like Magic the best but they have limited snowmaking and the base is getting thin. The latest I have skied is April 8th at Stratton 2007. 4" of fresh snow that day with mid winter conditions on Easter Sunday, their last day of the season. April 4th also Easter Sunday last year at Snowbird, a powder day. Hope to set a new "latest date" this year at Alta or Snowbird on April 24th, also Easter Sunday.

Southwest is actually one of the better airlines these days, despite the cabin rupture. They are one of the only airlines to not charge for baggage so you don't have every person on the plane carrying their luggage on including "Suzie Q", on her once in a lifetime vacation, trying to stuff every piece of clothing she has ever owned into the overhead compartment. They also count two pieces of ski baggage as one. Just make sure you check in online to get an early boarding number. I'm flying SW to Utah later this month and will be taking my ski equipment because it won't cost me $50.00 each way ($100.00 total) when I can rent for 2 days for $40.00. The village at Northstar is really nice. You'll have a good time and, either way, the skiing will be better than that time of year in PA.

Flew into Reno from Vegas last Saturday night. Was watching the weather all week and while the Lake Tahoe areas got hammered with 158" of snow over the previous week, they also got hammered with wind. Up to 65 mph at the summits. I got up early Sunday with plans to ski Mt. Rose because it's close to Reno and I had to stop and rent skis. For some reason I could not get internet service on my BB but there was no wind in Reno. I headed to the rental shop and they told me that MT. Rose was still on wind hold. They checked all the other areas and the only one that was 100% open was Nortstar at Tahoe. They said Northstar is the place to go when it's windy because it is sheltered from the winds. Northstar was the last place on my list but it was the only choice. They have the fake village thing going but it's a really, really nice fake village. Conditions were wind hardened powder, a few inches of soft powder, packed powder on a soft base, to broken up wind blown powder depending on where you were on the mountain. Winds were from 35 mph at the top to calm on the front. The Backside was the most windy but the winds weren't bad at all once you got 1/3 of the way down. What looks like chunks in the pics was the broken up windblown powder that just crumbled into powder when you hit it. All in all a great day. Weather was sun and clouds. When it was cloudy it was snowing. I'll let the pictures tell the rest. I never saw so much snow in my life! They had a little snow Sugar Pine Glade Powder Bowl Trail Lookout Mountain Lift Line Tonni's Trail Washoe Trail Since I had already bought a discount ticket at the hotel on Sunday morning I headed to Mt. Rose on Monday. Mt. Rose originally had opened with just the lower beginner trails open on Sunday but ended up closing. It was the complete opposite on Monday. Blue sky day, no wind, and no crowds. Some clouds did drift over the mountain but not for long. Got a sunburn on my nose and between my hat and goggles. Don't forget the suntan lotion when you go out west. Only took me 30 minutes from Reno including a stop for coffee. I didn't realize that I could see Mt. Rose from my hotel window until I could see my hotel from Mt. Rose. All the tall mountains out there have slides that look like ski trails. Was glad to see that chains weren't required on Rt. 431, Mt. Rose Hwy., on the way up. I gave a thumbs up sign to the road crew when I passed them. That must a gnarly road when it snows. Skied every trail except for some glades and the Chutes. I did ski up to the Chutes and looked over. That is the closest thing I've seen to a cliff on lift served terrain. Wanted to try one but I was skiing alone without a helmet. There are no double black diamonds when the snow is that soft. At 9700' you are literally skiing in the clouds View of Lake Tahoe From Upper Ramsey Trail View of the Chutes Wild Side Glades View of the Winters Creek Base Area View from Winters Creek Lodge View of Glades from the Blazing Zephyr Lift

From the Elk Conditions Page: Comments: Spring Carnival is on Sat., March 19! Elk will remain open thru Sunday, March 20! Elk will be closed Mon., Mar. 21 thru Thurs., Mar. 24, & POSSIBLY reopen for Fri., Mar. 25 & Sat., Mar. 26! Please check for updates on Wed., Mar. 23!

Glad you're getting the goods out there. I was out there last year and skied Alta and Snowbird. Liked Snowbird better than Alta even though I was looking forward to skiing an area that didn't allow snowboading. (no offense intended to our snowboarding friends. I was just so used to hearing that scraping sound behind me in PA from out of control boarders that I was looking for a relaxed ski experience. I ski with a friend who boards and just spent 5 days in VT with my nephew who is a boarder but I am not worried about them hitting me.) Well there is no "scraping" sound out west as the conditions are so good. Had a powder day at Alta and Snowbird. There are plenty of off the map places to find powder at Alta and Snowbird even with the rush on a powder day. Had a local show me some lines at Alta later in the day only because he said, "It wasn't crowded that day", and Snowbird was empty on Easter Sunday and there were plenty of lines all day. The Mormons were all in church and no one from out of the area is booking trips that late. I don't think I'll ever have as good conditions on such an uncrowded day. A good friend of mine told me that Powder Mountain is the best place to ski out there on a powder day. Fresh lines all day and no crowds.

From Hancock, NY you take 17 to 30 to Halcottsville and follow the signs. About the same distance as Belleayre but a much better mountain when there is snow. Support the independant guy who bought it and has to compete with NY State owned Belleayre that gives away tickets. Plattekill has some pretty good deals as well, is less crowded, and while they've increased snowmaking capacity, it's the place to be when it snows. Here's a pic of Plunge and Giant Slolom from this time last year.

That was the Reader's Digest version of the report. I could do the GSS version and tell you what I gnashed on on the way up and what music I rocked out to. (Hint:It wasn't nachos from Sheetz or rap.) I even had pictures and my report was shorter. Just bustin on ya Douglas from A-Town. I actually find your reports amusing.

My legs were shot by 12:30 after things got chopped up so I'm glad I only did a half day. 4.5 hrs was enough. I'll be out in Tahoe end of March and Utah in April. Will be renting skis so I'll try some different wide boards. Loved the AC30's in the pow but I might try something different. Couldn't justify buying new skis when I love mine on the groomers which is 95% of east coast skiing. Plus 2 kids in college and I'll be spending alot of dough on the spring break trip. They tried to sell the AC30's to me at a really, really good end of season price last year. But I just didn't like them on the groomers. I hear you though, and I'll try some different wide skis.

Nice report and great pics. I was there on a super windy powder day two years with two guys who had never been there. We were debating to even ski but bought our tickets and headed over to the east mountain and there was virtually no wind over there and 8" of powder. I think you found the place to be on Saturday. Virtually all of New York/New England was on wind holds.

Thanks for posting but the deal closed yesterday. I don't think Sno offers that many tickets and they sell out quick. At least that's what happened last time. I heard on the radio today that they had a JFBB deal but didn't see it on the site. I got one last time for $25.00. But you can get B1G1 coupons at Lukoil good for Sundays. Works out to the same price. $25.00 each. Good at any Peak Resorts ski area. I picked up a bunch for Mt. Snow in 2 weeks.

Friended 'em the day I signed up on Facebook. Great old school mountain with legit steeps and some nice old school narrow trails. Just hope it isn't March 3rd because I'm taking a half day off on Friday the 4th to head to VT until the 8th with my kids and some friends for their college spring break. That would be a great Plattekill Thurs, Belleayre Fri. trip if you haven't been.

I wouldn't believe it either. I took the picture so tomorrow I would know I wasn't dreaming. The second run on Nightmare/Dreamweaver looked like I was out west. Was having too much fun and going too fast to stop and take a pic. They're actually not bad if you keep your speed up and they turn nice in the pow. I've skied several powder days on them and I love them on the groomers. Dropped 'em off at Pelican for a sharpen and wax on the way home. They got a little beat up at Magic MLK weekend. Last year I rented AC30's in Utah. They got right up in the powder but I hated them on the few groomed trails. Kept banging the damn things together and I wasn't trying to ski 70's style with the skis together either.

Since GSS was absent for a Blue powder day, I'll try to fill in. Don't worry, I'll do a Reader's Digest version. Woke up to about 1.5" of wet snow. Roads were just wet up to where RT.145 narrows down to one lane where there was some slush on the road. Got behind a plow truck so it was slow going for a little bit. Started snowing again on Blue Mt. Drive. Snow didn't look too impressive on the way up. Pulled into the lower lot at 7:45. Parked second in near the lodge. Men's room, booted up, bought ticket, and skied right onto the lift a chair or two behind 3 patrollers. Must have just missed toast. Was surprised to find 4" to 6" of light fluffy snow at the top. More like 6" at the top of Razors. First run was down Razors. I was 4th or 5th down. Blasted right thru any tracks like they weren't there. Was suprised how quickly my 105/65/93 groomers began to float. Took a turn or two to get the powder feel back. Stopped to take the photo below before the last drop-off. Didn't take too many pics because powder doesn't last long at Blue. Next run was Nightmare/Deamweaver. I was 5th down then 4th when I passed the guy who was 4th on Dreamweaver. Great powder run. Then it was over to Challenge which had some tracks but plenty of fresh. Again the snow was light so it was like the tracks weren't there. Challenge was so much fun I did it again. Then back to Razors and Nightmare/Dreamweaver. 6 legit powder runs in the first hour. Then it was over to Switchback which still had some fresh on the sides and wide in the turns. Then onto Widow Maker/Midway because the little hike from the lift keeps the traffic light. The trails on the west side had been groomed before it stopped snowing so there was only about 2" of fresh on top. Could still get some float though. Next was Widow Maker/Chute. Chute wasn't groomed and had some fresh on the side. By then everything was pretty chopped up and I just lapped everthing except Burma Road and Vista. Switchback was getting a little scraped in spots. It must have been bullet proof this past weekend because it was groomer tracked boiler plate under there. Didn't do any woods because they looked pretty icy just below the snow. Skied 'till 12:25 on my morning ticket. No lift lines. They started the Quad when the 6-pack line started to build around 10:00am. $49.00 was worth it today.

Google Maps says 33 minutes but I bet you could do it in 25 min. without speeding too much. It's right up PA 220/I99 from TPK exit #148. Of course if you did it in a snow storm it would take much longer. The lodge is really at the very top of the mountain and it's a gnarly road to get there in a storm. The last time I was there there was so much snow the ski racks were buried with about a foot sticking out. Everyone just layed their skis against them anyway. Much better terrain than 7 Springs. No high speed lifts. Real glades. 2nd only to Elk in PA IMHO.

Blue Knob is the better place to go if there is some natural snow. It's not far off the TPK, has better trails, more vertical, and less crowds. $55.00 weekends all day or $45 for a 4 hr. flex. $38.00 weekdays all day or $28.00 4 hr. flex. I'd go there over 7 Springs all things being equal.

Alpine is still around and is a great place for beginners. They can ski almost all of the trails. It's uncrowded and prices are great. Not a lot of vertical but the trails are relatively long. The top to bottom lifts are quads so you can all ride together. Definitely worth checking out. The lodge is dated but it sure beats waiting in lift lines to ski one or two mobbed trails at a bigger ski area.

X2. Jackson Gore has some interesting trails as well.

There is. It's called tequila. Oh, wait. That's how a lot of people got them. Reminds me of a Jimmy Buffet song. "...how it got here I haven't a clue..." Oh well. Tequila can help you forget you have it too.

Definitely check out the deals at Mt. Snow, Okemo, and Stratton. Okemo and Stratton have deals that give you a free ski day on Monday if you stay the weekend. Check the deals out online then before you book, call them directly to see if there is a better deal. Both Mt. Snow and Stratton have less expensive lodges at the base. Avoid the high speed lifts after 10:00am and especially that thing they call a gondola at Stratton on Sat. & Sun. to avoid lift lines. Everywhere will be ski on on Monday. Have fun and let us know where you went and how it was.

Not judging. Just trying to encourage people to think before they put something permanent on their body that they may regret later. You shave your head it will grow back. You dye your hair purple it will grow out. You get a piercing you can take it out. You get a tattoo...it's forever.

Just make sure the bag matches your shoes. It's so gauche when it doesn't! P.S. Clogs look great with those jeans.