Wanted to give you all an update and let you know that I skied Montage last Saturday. I now understand what you regulars are talking about. I've skied 9 areas this year alone, 8 in PA, so I'll do my best to give an objective review.
First the positives:
- The North Face area is great. It appears that this is the area that they concentrate on opening first and keeping in good condition. The conditions and grooming were best in this area.
- There were virtually no lift lines! In fact after 5:00pm there were empty chairs! On one of the busiest ski weekends. (I have to admit that is why I chose to try Montage that day.) It was cold, but even during the day there was at most a one or two chair wait for the Phoebe Snow.
- The trails on the North Face were interesting. I didn't do White Lightning as I'm not an accomplished mogul skier and my son is only 15 and can't drive if I get hurt. The conditions looked good and I was tempted, but my son didn't want to do it. I would have if he had and almost did. Next time I will do it if conditions are good. A lot of areas have steep trails that are always a sheet of ice. I don't know if it was Pres. Day Wkend. or if they always blow snow on that trail, but it did look to be in skiable shape even getting there as late as we did. The other trails are different enough to keep things interesting. They have some turns and pitch changes. If you ever skied Shawnee you'll know what I mean. If you've skied one trail there, you've skied them all!
- The terrain in general looks very interesting. I have to say "looks" because a lot of trails weren't open. It would have been nice to do a long fast cruiser like Upper/Lower Fastrack or Upper/Lower Runaway under good conditions and get the use of the full 1000' vertical.
- I did like that there were no flat runouts.
- The lifties were the only personnel that I had any contact with other than buying the tickets and they all seemed personable, socialable, and interested in their jobs despite the cold that day.
Now the negatives or not-so-positives:
- Pulled into the lot and didn't have any clue as to where the lodge was. OK, that is only a problem the first time. But it is still a problem that would be easily solved by putting up some signs with an arrow pointing to the lodge.
- Parked near the top of the Phoebe Snow. Since we couldn't see where the lodge was, and more importantly didn't know how far it was, we saw the shuttle and decided to take it. Since it was a cold day we had decided to boot up in the lodge (more important for debooting on cold nights). It's nice that they have a shuttle, but it would be even nicer if they had a rack for skis on the outside of it. We were carrying boots, skis, poles, bag with ski pants, hats, gloves, etc;and a bag with lunch onto a commuter bus. And so was everyone else. They need to at least put some ski racks on that thing like every other ski area. Even Elks works better where you stand up for the ride.
- The lodge was an absolute zoo! I realize that that happens only a few times a year and was due to mainly the people tubing, so I'll give a pass there. But since there was no room at all in the main lodge we went to rental area thinking that it wouldn't be crowded at that time of day. It was. And is a rinky-dink little area with a few small benches to boot up at. They need a separate area with benches near the lockers to boot up and stow your stuff.
-Stopped back in the lodge around 7:00 to eat. It wasn't as bad as earlier but was still crowded. The personnel were starting to clean up, but most of the tables were still a mess. The lodge, including the tables and seats are like a grade school lunch room. My son even commented that he hadn't sat on those type of stools attached to the tables since 5th grade.
- I rode the Phoebe snow with a couple from VA who had the same experience. They need a decent trail map to direct you to the North Face area from the lodge area. Like my son and I, they had taken the Iron Horse first then skied Lower Runaway to the bottom. Like us they were ready to leave until they found the North Face area. Lower Runaway was a sheet of ice that day.
- The open terrain was very limited. It has been a bad year for every ski area in PA, but if they had more terrain open it would be much more enjoyable. It is nice having no lift lines and no one on the slopes, but if they had more terrain open to spread people out, the skiing experience would be the same as far as crowds but still better. The layout of the mountain is such that they could keep the snowboarders who only want "hits" in a decent terrain park at the top of the mountain, and leave the rest of the mountain to the serious skiers and boarders.
Summary:
A great facility with lots of untapped potential. I love that there are no lift lines, but there's a reason for that. A good management team could maximize the skiing and the skiing experience and increase skier visits. Which would provide the money for some decent snowmaking, and get the whole place open in a bad year without overcrowding the area. Montage will never be a Camelback or Jack Frost. They don't have the timeshare, ski-once-a-year market. But they could be more like Elk, who doesn't either, but still has a lot more terrain open! The county needs to sell/lease the area to a Snow Time or Peak Resorts who knows how to manage a ski area. To the benefit of them and everyone else. Then you would see what you are really missing in a well designed area that is poorly managed.
They don't need a HSQ to attract skiers. (OK, maybe you could replace the Long Haul with a HSQ) The North Face is only 580' vert. Elk doesn't have one with 1000' vert. Real skiers want good conditions and a well manged area. Montage is a ski area that is a diamond in the rough that could be the premier ski are in PA.
