trackbiker

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.

There is something seriously wrong with this. While the teleprompter readers on the "news" are just thrilled with the warm weather, and oohing and ahhing over the trees blooming in Philly, what they don't realize is that if those trees are blooming now they won't be blooming in the spring! If the apple trees start blooming the apple orchards will be hurting this year. That happened to the peach trees one year that I lived in SC. 75% of crop was gone. The sap has started to run in the maple trees. When the freeze does come, the sap will freeze in the branches. That popping sound you will be hearing is the branches exploding. While the warm weather fanatics are loving it, there are other repercussions besides not being able to ski. Now there's a guy who's glass is always definitely half FULL!

My guess is that they are closing Mon. & Tues. due to the forcast for heavy NFP Sunday night into Monday. I wouldn't be surprised to see the other areas still open follow their lead. At this point, it doesn't pay to spin the lifts. The few people who would be skiing are pass holders. Elk does have a 100 day guarantee for their pass holders. Don't know what the compensation is if they don't make it, but it is likely less expensive than staying open for maybe a few people. The forcast looks good for snowmaking on Tuesday & Wednesday nights, but then it's back to the 50's for daytime highs. The PA ski areas lost Christmas week, they'll lose MLK weekend, they will be hurting. The weather has to change sometime but ski was correct in stating that the long range forecast is based more on history than reality. A good 36" dump would help everyone. It has to get cold sometime this winter!

Yeah, don't you feel safer now? Back to skiing; my guess is that once it does get cold for an extended period of time, with all of those new guns, they'll blow enough snow to last until Memorial Day!

Bear Creek had a bondfire offering to the Snow gods last night where they were burning old skis. They had a band but I don't think they were offering free drinks. Maybe Sno could barge that ice shelf that broke off the artic shelf the other day up the Susquehanna River, grind it up and truck it to the mountain. I mean what the hell, it's only going to melt out in the ocean anyway. If they had enough snow, a rail jam would have been a nice addition to NYE.

"As a special thank you to season pass holders, the open bar is on us." Hey, at least they're offering something. That is if you don't already have plans for NYE. I don't know of any other closed areas offering anything. What else can they do considering the weather and the delay?

Nice Pics! I can't believe this weather either. It wasn't this warm in December when I lived in SC! Not the best year to buy a ski area in the N.E.! Is the white shuttle in the picture a trailer type vehicle or does it have a motor? Also, is there a place to load skis on the outside of it?

My guess is that they will be blowing every chance they get as soon as it's cold enough. They likely missed the last cold window to make snow because they weren't finished with the new piping. It would be nice if they had an update on their website though!

I can understand everyone's frustration. I drove by Montage for years on my way to Elk and Greek Peak. The trail layout never really interested me. 1000' vert. but only two TTB trails. After skiing there last MLK weekend, I saw the potential. Plus the no lift lines on a holiday weekend! My guess is that the snow that they blew were just trials of the new guns. I would think that the piping system has to be zoned because there is no way that they could turn on all 193 guns at once! If that's the case, I don't know why they couldn't complete the system one zone at a time and start making snow in the zones as they complete them. You're right about the website not being updated. But then if the lodge is still a mess, they may be waiting to complete the work there before they open. The bottom line is; I'm sure that they want to open as much if not more than anyone. But from a business point if view, it is wise to wait another week or two to be ready than to make a bad first impression. It's like any service industry. Never go to a restaurant the first week they open. Wait a week or two until they get their sh*t together! Elk isn't even opening until next weekend (maybe not with the weather forcast for this week). Would the old Montage be open by now? I'm sure that come January, with the new snowmaking, you regulars are going to be in skiing heaven. In the mean time, ski JF/BB, Elk, Blue Mtn., CB, or where ever.

I wouldn't be too hard on them yet. The deal only closed a little over a month ago. If they are installing all new piping, or even just new piping on the skiers right side of the mountain, that is a hell of a lot of work! Even if they could get the contractor to start right away and stay on the job full time. I would think that there is a mile or two of piping to install. I would guess that it has to be welded, then buried? If it is welded piping, that is a lot of welds, plus then it has to all be flushed out to get rid of the weld flash inside of the pipes. (I don't think that fan guns like bits of metal being shot though them at high pressure!) Then the 193 guns have to installed, which includes wiring for electic for those type of guns. I saw a Sno Mtn. billboard on the east-west PA TPK. last week out near Morgantown. I'm sure that they would have liked to put one on the N.E. Ext. but the spots were likely all taken. The message was about the 193 new snow guns. To be honest, I wish them success but I wouldn't mind having a place to ski on MLK or Pres. Day Wkend. without lift lines for one more season!

Utilities often offer reduced rates to big users if they limit their high energy use activities to off-peak hours. Has Sno started any serious snowmaking, or are they still in the installation/testing phase?

Personality counts. But this reminds me of what an old guy I worked with when I was a teenager said, "They say, 'Beauty is only skin deep'.....but ugly is all the way through!" If you want to know what your hot girlfriend is going to look like in 20 yrs., look at her mother. It's true! Looking forward to those snoguns cranking at Sno!

ski: Thanks for the offer for the hat, but like you I'll be happy if Sno Mountain is completely covered in snow this year and they speed up that Long Haul Triple. Everyone: No matter what happened politically, the deal is done, and Sno Mountain LLC is the owner. They have a contract that stipulates that they make the investments stated in the contract. If they don't, the residents and local businesses of Scranton will be screaming and demanding that they honor the contract. To be honest, regardless of the $30.00 hats; I think that they will have done a hell of a job (as opposed to a "heck of job") if they get the snowmaking in and the magic carpets installed for this season considering the delays! They must have been on the phone everyday with the snowgun manufacturer, magic carpet manufacturer, and the contractors installing them, while they were talking with lawyers and trying to get the deal closed. Also, they must have put nonrefundable deposits down in order to get everything on time. They don't start manufacturing snow guns and magic carpets until they have a deposit, and those are not "stock" items. If that doesn't show commitment, I don't know what does! Let's all wait and see what this year brings and remember that they have A LOT to do in a very short time to get ready for this season. Based on the meetings they've had it appears that they are the type of people who listen to their customers and encourage feedback. Just remember, they do have to make money to stay in business.