trackbiker

Good lighting for night skiing at Sno.....if they last long and can still afford to make good snow.

Great to hear about the lights! I love skiing at night but hate skiing in the dark. You'll likely see me a few more times this winter with the new lights. Pine trees on the upper mountain along Switch would not only block the wind but add to the view as well. Thanks for the updates!!! It's great to hear from insiders. It makes us feel that the owners are listening and actually care about their customers.

A bunch of lawyers with a lot of money bought a business that they had absolutely no experience in. They were evidently good in the court room but had no knowledge of mechanical devices, construction, or running an entertainment/amusement business. You see it all the time where people who never even worked in one, buy a restaurant because they think it would be "fun", then promptly run it straight into the ground. Sometimes the cheapest thing you can do is hire an expensive, experienced, professional manager, who knows the business. The investors may have had deep pockets, but when the market tanked and 30% to 40% of their net worth disappeared, I bet their interest/ability to dig a little deeper in those pockets disappeared as well. One of the biggest law firms in Philly went bust a few months ago, so lawyers aren't doing so well in this economy either. I bet the first thing the next owners do is put in a new lighting system for night skiing and market the hell out of the best snow making system in PA because they'll focus on getting their core business 100% before they dabble in other things.

Now is the best time to go. Unlike Camel Beach or Dorney Park, no crowds at all! Are they doing any advertising on local radio or TV? Haven't seen anything in the Philly/Allentown market.

From the website: "Spring is here and Sn

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Anyone been up to see how far along the construction is? Anything in the local paper? We're coming up on Memorial Day weekend, the traditional time for opening these type of places.

Anyone have any news on a projected opening date? The website doesn't have any real information but they are selling passes. I'm hoping that after not opening last year that they get an early start this year. I'd definetly hit it at least once this year.

The only good thing about Shawnee is that it catches a lot of the once-a-year gapers from NY/NJ coming across I80 before they get to the rest of PA because it's closest to the border. But seriously, I skied there a few years ago to check it out. It's really flat on the top and the trail map is distorted. The bottom steeps are really short and I didn't see any bumps. The 4 or 5 center trails are essentially all the same. The terrain park looked OK but I'm not a park person, so I wouldn't be a good judge of that. The lodge seemed OK and kind of rustic but you have to walk across a long bridge across a lake to get to it from the parking lot. Might be worth a night session to check it out if you've never been, but most people on PASR would be bored pretty quickly. JMHO.

Lights, lights, lights! It keeps coming up and is a relatively inexpensive way to greatly improve the night skiing experience. But hire a professional and do it right!

It appears to me that the patrollers at Blue are the ones with the control issues. I've never skied with GSS or AtomicSkier, but I've read these forums for a few years and I've never got the impression that they were anything but responsible skiers. I've never read from anyone who has skied with them that they were out of control or skiing fast and endangering other skiers and riders. GSS posts a report everyday here and on AlpineZone.com. His posts offer honest reports on conditions, some constructive criticism (which should be welcomed from their best customer!), but are never negative, and represent A LOT of FREE publicity to Blue. Not to mention PASR days that bring in ticket sales. If I owned Blue, I'd give him and AtomicSkier free season passes. They are surely getting many times more FREE marketing from their post than the value of two season passes! Instead, the Blue Mountain Ski Patrol is harrassing them! The Ski Patrol is supposed to be the professionals! Waiting to hop on a chairlift to harrass two of your best customers is not professional. Those patrollers have every right to call them on legitimate issues, but waiting to ride a lift with them and harrassing them should be reason for dismissal! Real professionals would make friends with them, explain the policies, and give them a break when Paradise is empty. Even say, "It's all clear guys. Let 'em rip!" when the trail is empty, "But keep it slow at other times, OK?" Yes, the Ski Patrol does a great job helping injured skiers, but anyone who manages such an organization should also realize that it attracts a lot of "control freaks". Police departments recognize that and weed out a lot of those people who end up being mall security guards. Maybe Blue should weed out some of their control freaks. I used to ski Blue the most of any ski area. Due to a job change this past year my night skiing is shot and I haven't been there this year. But I did get whistled at on Paradise one time last year when the trail was EMPTY on a weekday. I was skiing at a moderately fast pace, and was as far away from the patroller as I could have been. But the thing that got me was how she SCREAMED "Slow Down!!!!" That never would have happened at any other area I have skied. And made me think, "That women should never be allowed to be on Ski Patrol" Blue needs to get their patrollers under control and remind them that the customers are more important than they are. GSS's videos only reinforce that a lot of them are probably rejects from the PA State Police Academy with their "ticket" policy.

I don't see anything on their website yet either. Can anyone confirm the free ticket deal or post a copy of the email? Until it's confirmed I wouldn't plan on going there expecting a free ticket.

Elk is a well run ski area. The improvements they made this year made sense and added to the quality of the experience. Regrading and adding snowmaking to Tioga Spur to avoid the intersection with Tunkhannock. Regrading Lenape. I could see them expanding the lodge or eventually adding a HSQ in front of the lodge. More lights would be nice but they really don't have a big local base for night skiing midweek. They really don't need more trails at this point, but I wish they would change their attitude on glades. Some nice glades would really enhance the place and add to their loyal base.

Bluebird day at Elk Sat. 2/21. Packed powder all over the mountain. Only ice was in the valleys on Tunkannock. Nice soft bumps on Chippewa. Longest liftline was 5 minutes. Trails were uncrowded. Susquehanna was high speed packed powder all day. Best terrain in PA. Terrain parks aren't what Elk's about. They had two nice jumps and a few rails. If that's what you're into, go to BC. If you like bumps, steeps and long cruisers, get up there.

CLAUSS, I agree with you 100%! Bobert540 has it right. They need to completely redo the lighting system. Just tear down those parking lot lights and hire a lighting engineer to redo the system. It would probably pay for itself in a year. In the mean time a few strategically place lights would greatly enhance the night skiing experience at a relatively low cost. Skiers right of the headwall on Boomer is completely dark as are many other places on the mountain. The owner's a lawyer for crying out loud. If someone gets hurt night skiing, all a jury would have to see is that they can't see the hand in front of their face in a lot places on the mountain, never mind on a black diamond!

GP was awsome on Friday! 8" of fresh dry powder! Fresh tracks into the afternoon. Went to GP with two GP virgins last Friday. Their choice, not mine. They had never been there and wanted to check it out. It was very windy and snowing sideways as we walked to the lodge from the parking lot. Debated about paying their exhorbitant $58.00 all-the-time rate. Headed straight for the east side. Very little wind on the mountain and 8" of fresh dry ungroomed powder. No lift lines. Lots of great fresh glades. It snowed all day and just enough snow and wind to keep refreshing things. Even when it got skied into piles it was so light you just skied right through it. GP is in it's own microclimate. Just like last weekend, not a lot of snow even at the I81 exit, but a ton at the mountain. When we were leaving it was again very windy in the parking lot. But one of the best ski days so far this year including CO and VT. Old, slow lifts, but hit it on the right day.....

Skied GP from 12:00 to 7:00pm. Expected crowds and icy conditions. Crowds were nonexistent. Longest line was maybe 5 chairs. Conditions were excellent. They got 7" of snow on Thurs. and did a great job grooming. Packed powder everywhere until we left. Some icy spots on Arcadian Gate where the water had puddled during the warm spell but easy to ski around. No bumps but Odessy was high speed packed powder. Best trail of the day.

I would expect conditions to be pretty good on Tuesday. I was at Greek Peak on Sat. and conditions were excellent! Elk had a little bit of snow last week and their grooming is much better than GP. There is still some natural snow cover above the Pokes. They likely blew some snow for Pres. Day weekend. Give us a report when you get back.

What GSS said. I was there last Sat. night. Lodge and parking lot were crowded. Slopes were empty. No lift lines to speak of.

Thanks riderossi, that clears things up for me. If Sno updated their website once in a while it would help. They must have left the conditions reports in the ticket windows since Fri. since it had the Long Haul listed as opening at 5:00. I wonder if the same ones are still there today? I just looked at their website. Long Haul is listed as "Closed".

Go to Sno on a weekend. No lift lines and the conditions are good the whole day and into the night. Camelback sometimes runs the old FG doubles on weekends but it seems the new owners are after the gapers who ski once or twice a year rather than than a regular crowd and don't often run those lifts. They have no lines if running but the mountain is likely skied off by lunch time anyway. Sno is only about 30 min. farther than CB on I380. See my report in the Sno forum.

Skied Sno Sat. night. The parking lot was the most full I've seen it when pulling in for a weekend night session. Conditions were pretty good. Some slick spots in the center of the headwalls on the lower mountain but if you skied the sides things were pretty good. Some nice powder in spots. Some improvements in lighting but the right side of the headwall on Boomer is still completely dark. The 2 lights on Whistler are a huge improvement from skiing in the dark and Whistler had the best conditions. Lift lines were still really light. Only maybe three chairs early on if you got behind a group skiing together. After 7:30 they were mostly ski-on. The lodge is still a disaster. I think the slopes are empty because everyone is in the lodge. Still bags and junk piled all over and under the tables. They took out the wall of $3.00 lockers and lined it with video and arcade games. Now instead of a high school cafeteria I feel like I'm booting up in a bowling alley! The restaraunt area looks nice. Nice atmosphere and uncrowded. Will likely have lunch there in a few Fridays if I can talk my Jersey friends into going to Sno instead of Greek Peak before a Saturday get together at Elk. What's up with the Long Haul? When I checked the website before I left it said it was closed. Was glad to see it running and took 3 rides on it before hitting the North Face. At the ticket window they had a list of conditions and lifts. There was a "5:00" next to it. Did it open at 5:00? When I was there last year they would close it at night. All in all a good night. I'm sure CB and Blue were skied down to ice way before my 6:00pm arrival at Sno.

Good to hear they are doing well. The great conditions and lack of lift lines makes it a great weekend altenative to crowded slopes and lift lines at the other local ski areas. I keep recommending Sno to other skiers but very few check it out. Seems most people would rather wait in a long line for a high speed lift or they'll drive past it to go to Elk for the terrain. I still don't believe the numbers but can't blame them for exaggerating. It creates a "buzz" that will hopefully get some more people to check it out.

While I don't doubt that their numbers are up, I would take the Snow numbers of 1000 season pass sales and 30% increase in skier visits with a grain of salt. Last year they claimed season pass sales of 700 while the actual number was 400. Based on that and nearby Elk's numbers, I would estimate their season pass numbers at 600 and increase in skier visits at 17% max. Any regulars notice 30% more people on the slopes?

Nice report GO. Did they have the Long Haul lift running? How were the crowds in the lodge?