trackbiker

I wouldn't pass by Elk or Sno to go to Blue on a weekend but it would be worth checking it out on a weekday or weeknight. You may want to get a morning pass on a Sunday and get there for opening. The crowds tend to ski off the snow to ice pretty quickly after 10:00am. Blue does have a nice variety of trails and you can get a lot of runs in on the high speed lifts.

Before you get a tattoo take a look at some pictures of your parents 20 or even 10 years ago. Imagine they had to wear those plaid bell bottoms, big glasses, Donny Osmond haircut, gogo boots for the rest of their lives. Tattoos might be cool now, and they might even be cool 20 years from now, but even if they are,the ones that are cool now won't be then. Tattoos are fashion and fashion changes more than you think. Just take a look at what people wear for gaper day if you don't believe me. No matter what you get, it will be the rear entry red Hansen boots of tattoos in a few years. JMHO.

I skied Magic MLK weekend. Conditons were a little thin on the nonsnowmaking trails (which is most of them) but had a blast on the soft natural snow. Banged up the skis a bit but it was worth it. At 1700 vertical I wouldn't necessarily call Magic a small mountain. They've been making steady improvements including patching up the snowmaking system all last summer. I believe them when they say they are working on the Black Chair, but even if they don't get it running by Presidents Day Weekend, they don't really need it yet. But the crowds are growing. I was there on a Monday after a big dump last year and my son, nephew, and I felt like we had our own private ski area. Didn't see another skier until we were half way up the Red Chair. Sorry to hear about your shoulder, Moe. You'll have to hit Plattekill again sometime. Great steeps with no flat runout, lots of old school narrow winding trails, and you can ski the woods on the whole mountain. Thanks for the reports.

Great report and pics. Glad you got to experience Elk. I was there on Friday; a blue sky day, great conditions and no crowds. Looks like they avoided the r@!n event Saturday. We went to ski Sno on Saturday but decided to pass due to the nonfrozen precipitation. That must have kept the crowds down at Elk. I hate the stopping all the time too. I was having too much to fun on Friday and didn't realize until I left that I didn't take one picture.

Plattekill is the best place to be on a powder day or any day they're 100% open. Website says they are opening Wednesday for a Powder Day. Wish I could be there. From the Plattekill website: Its official: "POWDER DAIZE" OPENING -- 2 days, Wednesday AND Thursday this week!!! 6" of NEW SNOW as of 12pm and 1-2 FEET is expected by storm end Wednesday night......stay tuned! FORECAST Have fun and take lots of pictures.

Nice report and pics, toast. Never skied there but I stayed at the hotel for a convention in the fall one time and rode the alpine slide. Wow, you made great time getting there! (65 all the way, right? ) Glad you had an uncrowded powder day. It is pretty far from a population center but I heard that it gets crazy busy on the weekends from the Pittsburgh and D.C. crowds. A good friend of mine skied there on a weekend once and now will only go on weekdays. Heard the apres ski scene is great though.

The "Midmountain Lodge" is a picnic lodge. There is a circular fireplace on one end and picnic tables in the main area. It's on skiers left of the West Slope. You may want to check it out but the main lodge won't be crowded on a weekday. Go to the skipa.com deals webpage and print out 4 coupons to save $5.00 each on lift tickets. Have fun and let us know what you think of Elk

I shoveled when I got home at 6:30 and it was about 6". I just got in from shoveling again and it was at least 8" not including drifts. Some snow blew back in but there is at least 12" of undrifted snow on the table on my deck here in Perkasie south of Quakertown. Everthing is covered again with another 1/2 inch.

$52.00 if you buy the ticket at a local townwship recreation department for a weekend day. $42.00 for a weekday ticket or $43.00 for a weekday if you print out the coupon on skipa.com. Well worth it when you consider VT tickets are in the mid $70's to mid $80's. Wednesdays are $20.00 for college students with an I.D. Wish I still had one!

Skied Elk today. Pulled into the lot at 8:30. Took my time getting there because the guy I was going to meet backed out when his wife wouldn't let his 6 yr. old go because she thought it would be too cold. I thought it would be uncrowded for a weekend day but it was more like a busy weekday. I didn't see many cars heading north on the PA Tpk. and I couldn't believe how empty the lot was when I pulled in. Parked in the first row by the Elk Wagon, third car in. Elk Wagon driver said it was zero degrees. Booted up in the lodge and even got one of the few cubbies on the main floor. Got on the slopes around 8:50. They were only loading one of the doubles in front of the lodge and it was ski right on. They started loading the other one around 10:00 but there were lots of singles and empty chairs on the lifts. First run was straight down Susquehanna. Plenty of fresh groomed cord left. Skied all the trails on the east side then headed over to the west side. Skied all the trails on the west side except Tunkhannock ( not a good bump skier and didn't have anyone to drive me home if I got hurt.) I did ski the bumps on Chippewa and Iroquois. All in all a great uncrowded day. Even Tioga was a lot of fun. Without the usual hoard of gapers on it you could ski it fast and turn off on Tioga Spur. Cold but more sun than clouds. Took a morning and afternoon break in addition to lunch to warm up. They never ran the double on the double-quad on the west side. No need to. They stopped running the other double in front of the lodge around 2:30. Not many pics due to the cold...my hands and the batteries in the camera dying. Skied 'till 3:30 and took I81, I380, PA33, I78, PA309 home in the same time it took to get there without the $6.95 in tolls and better roads than the PA Tpk. Not much wind today but when there is Elk is a good place to ski due to all the spruce trees they've been planting for years. Tunkhannock is their signature bump run. The last few years they let Chippewa bump up and this year they added Iroquois to the mix.

Get to Elk early this weekend and see why they have the best grooming. You get to Blue a half hr. early to get first chair for 2hrs. on a weekend morning to race up and down the mountain before it gets skied off. Go to Elk and the conditions last all day. Elk has the best terrain in PA. Best bump run and best steeps. Expand your horizons and enjoy what each area has to offer. No, they don't have any high speed lifts and don't need any. For me the ride down is more important than the ride up and Elk blows Blue and CB away in that category. I'll be there for first chair on Sunday. Should be great. The cold will keep people home or in the lodge. I was at Okemo on Monday and it was -5F at the top and the masses were heading home while the conditions were great and it was ski right on the lifts. pm me if anyone wants to meet up.

You'd likely pay a little more but it would be well worth it. If you fly into Salt Lake City most hotels in the valley will pick you up for free. Then you can take the free ski bus to the mountain about 20-30 minutes away. Ski & Stay midweek is really cheap in Utah. Less than VT. I think I paid $89.00/night last year including breakfast and lift ticket. Lift tickets alone at Stowe are almost that much. When you subtract out the gas and tolls to get to VT and the extra you pay for a room and lift tickets, it's usually not much more. Of course it's the airfare and parking that kill you. CO is a little harder to do on the cheap. You pretty much need a rental car and since they built the new airport in Kansas it's a farther drive than SLC. I'm lucky because my company pays for the airfare, rental car, and parking. I just stay over the weekend and ski and they save money on the airfare.

Thanks again KC. Just like with the airlines....keep us informed and we won't bitch so much. It's easy to be an expert on running lifts, snowmaking, personnel, grooming, etc. when you are sitting behind a computer drinking a beer.

Elk knows how to groom. Blue should hire away one of their groomers. Planning on hitting Elk this weekend. The cold should keep the masses away or at least in the lodge.

I love New England skiing and the vibe, but there is nothing like skiing out west. Living in DE you can get a cheap ticket on Southwest from BWI to Salt Lake City and you don't need a car. You can get ski and stay deals in the valley and the ski bus picks you up outside the hotel for free. I don't mind driving either but you can be in Utah and skiing the same day faster than you can drive to Maine and likely for less money. Another area you may want to check out is Smuggs. Yes the lifts are slow but the terrain is great and it's close to Burlington. I'd go there before Bolton.

KCSKI, Thanks for your reply. Even if it was a little vague. I assume the lift has not passed inspection. To be honest, if I was management I would not run it most days either. Sno really skis like two mountains, the top is blue and greens and the bottom is blacks. Even the top to bottom trails are not well designed in that they get steeper at the bottom and are not really good for beginners and intermediates. Better for them to stay on the top of the mountain. While the lines were into the parking lot at Blue and CB on MLK weekend, I'm sure the lines were short and conditions were good at Sno. It's a shame that people don't know enough to drive an extra half hour for shorter lines and better conditions. If I was in PA last weekend I would have been there. Please keep us informed of the progress at Sno. They need the press. I'll still be there 2/5 with 6 people who never skied there.

OK. I'm a fan of Sno and will be there Saturday, February 5th with 5 Sno newbies and 2 been-there-befores. Skiing Elk Friday and talked them out of Greek Peek on Sat. in favor of Sno. Uncrowded days I can see them not running the Long Haul. It's never crowded and you can take the Phoebe and Iron Horse to get to the top. But I would think they would at least run it holidays. Is it down for the season? Not inspected? Is it down to save money? I'll take a "no response" or "I don't know" as a "Yes" to all three. Not trying to be a wise guy but since you work there you either know the answers or can find out. Not disagreeing with their decision. Just wondering.

I was at JF yesterday. First time in 6 yrs. Had a CBSlocal $25.00 ticket and yesterday was a good time to use it and still get home for the Eagles game. Skied 9:00 to 2:30. Nice conditions and no crowds. They must have gotten some snow Saturday night. It snowed a little in the morning as well. Ran into a friend who's son races for CB but I wish Challenge was open as it is one of my favorite trails at JF. Did the One Park glade and it was nice but the C glade looked much better. Here's pic of the bumps on Exhibition. Couldn't find a good line but then I'm not much of a bump skier.

Sorry to hear about your loss. There's three kinds of people who steal skis. The ones who just want to sell them for money. The ones who know what's good and want better skis. And the ones who have gone skiing for the first time, don't have a clue what's good or bad and just steal a pair so they don't have to rent anymore because they can't afford skis. I had a old pair stolen at Spring Mt. about 18 yrs. ago. The theif didn't have a clue what they were stealing and it was before ebay so I hope he broke his neck on those stiff GS skis. I had a starry eyed college girl try to pick mine out of a rack at Stratton but the lock stopped her. Her skis, different brand, different size, same color, were a few racks over. She then pulled my skis out of the rack on the bus in the parking lot! Good thing one of my friends saw her. She was concentrating more on her boyfiend than anything else. I had someone try to steal my skis at Loveland two years ago. My daughter went in the lodge and I stopped for a smoke at the end of the day. Saw a guy walking away with my skis. I told him he could either put them back or get his head bashed in with them. He made some excuse about mistaking them for his son's skis and I let him go. Later I realized that that was BS and he was trying to steal them. Moral of the story......ALWAYS LOCK YOUR SKIS/BOARD!!!! I know it's a pain but it only literally takes about 10 seconds. I can afford to buy another pair but it sucks when you walk out and your day is shot or you have to go rent because your skis are gone. I guess I'm not as rich as Atomicskier because it would still make a dent in my budget.

Vermont has had very little natural snow this year to date. Reports are that the middle atlantic areas with extensive snowmaking are skiing better right now. I'm heading back to VT MLK weekend. Was hoping to ski Magic but unless they get a really big dump by then the base will not be good. Have to hit it in March when I am back up there. Last year was fantastic after the big dump!

Give us a report and let us know what you think.

All the advice above looks great. The key to Elk (or any mountain)is GET THERE FOR OPENING! It's the best two hours of skiing you'll do in PA on nice fresh cord. Head staight to the west side trails. There's more trails over there and you'll have more runs on fresh groomed trails. The line for the double is always shorter than the line for the quad on that side. Oh, and don't forget your camera like I did today at Sno. Look forward to your impressions.

Great morning at Sno! Met a friend at 8:30 and they were still doing some grooming so we took the Shuttle lift to the top. Did another run on the upper mountain and then headed for the lower, steeper half. Fresh groomed corduroy on the top. Fresh cord with some cookies on the lower steeper trails. Skied every open trail which was all but lower Easy Street and Snake. White Lightning had nice bumps and some fresh manmade snow blown on it. No lift lines to speak of. Mostly ski right on. The top to bottom Long Haul lift does not look like it has been run yet this year. There were barrels and snow on many of the chairs and the load/unload ramps don't look to have been groomed out yet this season. We did several top to bottom runs by taking two chairs. There was a crowd at the ticket window when we left at 12:30 but don't know the ratio of skiers/riders to tubers. Hit the Waffle House for a late breakfast to cap off a nice, uncrowded morning of skiing. Sorry, no pictures. Forgot the camera. Didn't see the moose either.

That's the one. I think it used to be called Masthope Mountain. It's now called Ski Big Bear at Masthope. It's part of the Masthope community of vacation homes but open to the public. Similar to Eagle Rock which is also part of a vacation home community. Again, nothing for experts but great for families and beginners. They have a great lodge with a nice bar and restaraunt. And two lifties to hold the chair. Not pretend to hold the chair like Burma and Main Street at Blue, but actually hold the chair. If you're into mostly blue and green trails and a Comearound type park it's worth the drive on a holiday week or weekend.

Drove past Blue and right past Camelback on my way to Ski Big Bear. Nothing too tough there. Only a few very short real black diamonds. But fresh cord till noon and no lift lines. I can't deal with the holiday crowds so it's that or nothing for me. I mix up the runs and work on technique. Nothing much there for most on this forum but a great place for families and people who ski mostly greens and blues which is most of the people waiting in those lines at Blue, CB, and Jack Frost. Very nice lodge with lots of cubbies (no lockers required). The park is similar to Comearound at Blue. Mostly small features but they did have one nice big booter. I like to take a jump now and then but I'm not into the park so it doesn't really matter to me. Here's a pic of the lift line at 10:30. They don't even start the other double 'till 11:00 and the other chair at noon. Longest wait was maybe 3 minutes. Skied 9:30 to 4:00. Parked right next to lodge. JADIP.