trackbiker

ski, thanks for the info. I forgot about the water park. I guess they plan on opening it this summer? Any info on the lift? I would think that it is in the specification stages if not already ordered. (sorry for the double post. don't know why that it happened but the site wouldn't let me edit it.)

Keeping the North Face open in April (ala Superstar at Killington) would likely be a marketing bonaza for them. I'm sure that every TV News station within 150 miles would have a van there covering it live. With opening about a month late, I'm sure that many season pass holder's would not be crazy about the extra $10.00. Maybe $20 or $25 for non pass holders would be a better idea. What's all the construction that they need to close the upper slopes for? The addition to the lodge? Any word on the new trails and lift? Will it be a Quad or 6-Pack? I'm planning on being at Sno on Sunday. I'm expecting spring conditions but they should still be good. Doesn't look like there will be a freeze to ice things up after the non-frozen precipitation. Keeping the North Face open in April (ala Superstar at Killington) would likely be a marketing bonaza for them. I'm sure that every TV News station within 150 miles would have a van there covering it live. With opening about a month late, I'm sure that many season pass holder's would not be crazy about the extra $10.00. Maybe $20 or $25 for non pass holders would be a better idea. What's all the construction that they need to close the upper slopes for? The addition to the lodge? Any word on the new trails and lift? Will it be a Quad or 6-Pack? I'm planning on being at Sno on Sunday. I'm expecting spring conditions but they should still be good. Doesn't look like there will be a freeze to ice things up after the non-frozen precipitation.

They're green this year. I used some from two years ago last year. They were the same color and date. I think for the last 2 yrs. they used to start on 3/8, this year they start 3/12.

And we all know that PennDot is not too good at plowing roads! If they could shut down I78, I80, & I81 last week after 4" of snow, I guess they could shut down Blue Mountain! (or at least access to it!) Here's another idea; how about a handle tow for the lower park? There are a lot people who just want to do the lower the park. Instead of hiking the park, they ride the 6-Pack to the top and ride down Tut's to Lazy Mile (or the big park which they not ready for) just to get back to the lower park. It would take poeple off the 6-Pack and Lazy who just want to do the park anyway.

stever2003, Glad to hear you got to experience the best ski area in PA. Best terrain and best managed. I was at Elk on Saturday. The conditions were great! It was the most crowded I've seen it in years but I never saw one empty chair on any lift and the longest I waited was 10 minutes. (What do you call a High Speed Six-Pack at Blue Mt.?.....a snowboarder's double! ) Elk runs their fixed-grip lifts faster than any other ski area I know. While it was crowded, other than Tunkhannock (the bump run) the black diamonds were empty! Try Elk midweek and you have fresh cord all day. You can get discount tickets for most PA ski areas at local township or borough halls. Elk has the smallest discount at $8.00 off for weekdays and weekends. Do a google search to find a place to buy them near you or pm me and I'll tell you a few places to get them on the way. As for slow lifts; if there is a line, a high-speed lift and a fixed-grip lift have THE SAME UPHILL CAPACITY. They both load and unload one chair every 6 seconds.

ski, thanks for the reports. I was wondering how things were this weekend at Sno. I didn't make it up Fri. night as I was sick on Thurs. and didn't get the wash, packing, etc. done to head out right after my son got out of school on Fri. We headed straight to Elk on Sat. morning. I was surprised to see that the Rt. 80 Exit on the PA.TPK was still closed! You couldn't even get off to get on Rt. 940! I was wondering if people heading to JF/BB maybe stayed on the TPK and went to Sno instead? Your comments about the shuttle are right on. Some one pulling into that lot for the first time has no clue where the lodge is! They should have a big sign on the light poles saying, "LODGE" with an arrow pointing towards the stairs. And they should have Shuttle Stops! Like Bus Stops with the canopies. I think we had the same grumpy bus driver you had when we were there. Not a great first impression. Plus, the ski racks are useless on the shuttles. They must have been designed for straight skis from the '70's! Hey, I understand you regulars are in heaven right now compared to past years. But if Sno is going to be succesful, you have to compare them to the current standards, not the $1million/yr. money pit that they were! Short lift lines are great on a holiday weekend if you are a customer, but they don't pay for HSQ's! Before some one throws up the "hater" sign; It's not "bitching" if you also offer a realistic solution, it's constructive criticism. Sno has done a great job in the time they had, but I'm sure that they wouldn't mind some feedback to make things better. I think a such a thread in March would be a good idea. But each item must have a solution or an impact. i.e. $3.00 ski check = stolen ski's/boards, a bad rep. and "I'm going to Blue Mt. where it's FREE. Ski, If you don't want to dis the bad driver, get the good one's name and write a positive email mentioning how much you appreciate his service.

Anybody notice Post #8?

ski, thanks for the info on the crowds. Sounds like it will be almost as uncrowded as last year. Is the Long Haul Triple really that bad? I'm sure that they had to have it inspected for this year. I know from my one-ever ride on it last year that it is slow. But I would think that it would still be faster than taking two lifts. If there aren't many (if any) beginner's riding it, I would think that it would stop less than most of the other lifts.

riderossi, thanks for the info. Sno will likely still be less crowded than the other areas in PA this weekend. The storm will likely bring out the once-a-year people as well as the usual Pres. Wkend crowd.

Thanks for the report. What were the crowds like over the weekend? Do you think that it will be crowded Presidents weekend coming up? How's the Long Haul Triple been running? The reason I ask is that while the N.F is nice, the runs are relatively short. It would be nice to do some top to bottom runs. My son and I will likely be up on Friday night. Then we are heading to Greek Peak and Elk for Sat., Sun. We may hit Sno again on Monday.

The DigitalGlobal photo was taken March 24, 2003 according to Terraserver.com

Google Maps uses images from the USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) that are typically taken in the spring after natural snowfall is gone but before the foilage comes out on the trees. If you look at images of ski areas in New England there is usually only some snow left on snowmaking trails in the images.

Just looked at the conditions report. They list the Long Haul Triple as closed. Noticed it was closed the other day as well when the 2 top to bottom runs were open. Are they not running this chair on weekdays? Do they open it on weeknights?

My niece had her board stolen at Blue last Saturday. Same old story, "only left it for a minute!"

Skied Sno Wed. night. It's amazing what 150 new snow guns will do! Conditions were good all over the mountain. I know it was mentioned in another thread, but what is up with those wristband lift tickets?! I hope that they haven't paid for that system yet! Don't want to be negative, but when you're waiting to be scanned while 4 empty chairs are going up.....customers will not be happy. I'm sure that that system will be fixed or gone in a short time. Otherwise, things are much better and I'm sure they will continue to improve. Look forward to going back when Runaway and Fast Track are open.

Just noticed that they changed the website to, ..."all trails open by this weekend" Hopefully, Runaway will be open Wed. night.

I'm not crazy about skiing through snow guns either. Blue usually does a pretty good job of aiming the guns to one side of the trail, when they can, so you can get by without skiing though a blizzard. They then groom it out the next day. It seems like Sno is really trying to show their firepower, or uh snowpower rather. Even though they got a late start, with the warm weather and washouts, everyone was really starting from scratch when it got cold last week. They got a lot of coverage in a short time even compared to the other areas who had been open. When I mentioned TTB, I was referring to Runaway and Fast Track. Never skied those trails. I would think that they had the lifts serviced after the closing so hopefully Long Haul will be not breaking down.

This IS on their website. Like a lot of others, I don't believe it either. Prior to opening, their website said something like their snowmaking capacity could put 1&1/2 feet of snow on the mountain in 1&1/2 days. That may be true IF they could run all of their guns at the same time. Maybe they are going to make snow only on the trails that are not open yet, but this still seems like a stretch. Why would they put this on their website if they couldn't do it? Do they talk to the snowmaking crew? What do you regulars think? Anyway, my son and I will likely be there on Wed. night. I would love it if they had TTB skiing!

What do you call a HS 6-Pack at Blue Mtn?....... A HS Triple Chair!

Thanks for the info. Hopefully it will stay cold and they will get those trails open soon!

Just curious; why did they do this? Do you think that they will have TTB skiing from Long Haul soon? Thinking about heading up for Sun night. Depends on the trail count though. Will most likely be there Wednesday night then heading north from there for a long ski weekend.

Well, we may not know WHERE he was but at least we know what he was doing! Missed your report! Was planning to go tonight, but had business to attend to. We work to support our lifestyles, can't we just skip the work part?

The NF was calling I'm sure! Been there done that! My daughter is in college now. Someday you'll look back on tonight and have a good story and a good laugh. From the free advice advice column, and we all know what that's worth, have Ty's friends mother sign her up for a lesson or two and she'll be skiing with Ty in no time and you'll be free to ski the NF with or without them. Enjoy it while you can. In a few years they'll be blowing you off to chase those boys in the park!

Nice report ski. Congrats on being the first ever Sno Mountain skiing customers! Does it look like they will have more trails open soon?

I hope your forcast is right. Some are still predicting a warmup for the weekend.