trackbiker

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.

How were the crowds?

I'm thinking with his anger management issues that he's either in jail or the insane asylum. So you should be safe to go back to Sno.

Don't know about the crowds but if there are any they will have well managed lift lines and because of their extensive trail network the conditions will hold out much longer than CB, Blue, or JFBB. Their "slow" lifts will get you to the top faster than if you are standing in lines at CB or Blue. I'll be there Friday.

Good plan. I'll be at Elk Friday. Great conditions, well managed "crowds". CB and Blue will be a $hit$how all week. This week is a good time to check out Sno as well and avoid the once or twice a year goobers at the other areas. Since I don't have a season pass, paying $50+ for two hours of skiing is not an option or something that I want to do anyway.

Snow in the customer's back yard always brings more people than snow on the mountain.

Sno is a good uncrowded alternative to the $hit$how that will be Camelback and Blue this week when the once a year hoards arrive after the wind ends on Wednesday and Thursday. Great snowmaking and grooming. It is kind of a funky area. Really two areas. The top of the mountain and the North Face. The North Face has some nice steeps about the same length as CB without the flat runout. Blues black diamonds are longer but not as steep. The lifts are slow but you'll get to the top faster because you won't have to wait in line for 10 to 30 minutes and it doesn't get scraped down as fast as CB and Blue. You can go at night and the conditions are still good but the lighting sucks. Have they made any improvements to the lights?

Thanks for the reply g15. The question was in the post you quoted, "...is it(the 3 for $60.00 night ticket) good on the weekends?" or is it like the 3 for $90.00 day ticket and only good for weekdays? Can you use all three at the same time for 3 different people or is good only for the person on the order? Like I said, there is very little information in regards to restrictions or even if there are any. Since most ski areas have holiday/weekend restrictions that would be good info to include so people weren't leary to buy. Doesn't really matter now. The offer was only good until today. But for future reference that info should be included somewhere in the offer. JFBB had a lot more tickets available on the CBSLocal offer than Sno. I think the JFBB offer was for a certain time frame and Sno's was for a limited number of tickets. Must have been very limited because they sold out fast and I don't think that was because the sales were higher than JFBB's sales.

Looking forward to getting up there one day next week. I'm trying to figure which day will be least crowded. If we get snow Sun./Mon. all the gapers will be out Monday or Tuesday. Snow in the backyard always brings out the once or twice a year skiers. Last year Wed. of Christmas was the most crowded with cars parking down the road at CB and Blue but the snow could affect that this year.

I agree with everyone's post above. Sno is a bit of an odd duck. The trails at the top are flat and all the same. The North Face has some interesting trails with a constant pitch but are relatively short. Their prices are too high for what they offer and where they are. They do need to offer some discounts to get people to drive the extra miles and to check the place out. Diehard skiers will keep going to Elk as will I for a day trip. I like Sno for a weekend night session but the lighting sucked in the past. Does anyone know if they made any improvements this year? That said, next week is a great time to check it out. When Blue and Camelback have people parking down the roads and are scraped off by 10:00am, Sno will have good conditions into the night. Slow lifts are a relative thing. If you are waiting 10 minutes for a 5 min. ride to the top on a HSQ, at Sno you can ski right on and be at the top in less time. The only other problem is the lodge. It is too small and is usually packed with mom, dad, and grandmom hanging out while junior is tubing. The restaraunt/bar doesn't seem so crowded but I don't really hang out in the lodge anyway. The 3 nights for $60 is a great deal but I wouldn't know about it if it weren't for this thread. I may take advantage of it but as usual their website doesn't have much info. Is it good for weekends? The 3 for $90.00 day tickets are only for weekdays which has no interest to me or most of the people who haven't been there. They really need to figure out their marketing or they will be bought at auction by Peak Resorts or Snowtime.

Thanks for the report. Looking to get up between Christmas and New Years. Elk can be crowded on holidays but not nearly as crowded as Blue or Camelback. They manage the crowds they get well and the mountain has a lot of trails that are spread out. Doesn't get scraped off as fast as Blue or Camelback if the expert trails get skied off at all.