First Blue Mt Trip report of the year?

[Timeless]

I've just arrived at work having spent the morning at Blue. Had a great time, it was very quiet first thing but got steadily busier through the morning.

 

Positives:

 

I was really surprised as I walked out with my ticket at 8.30 to find no-one at the gate and only a few people on the hill, my first couple of runs down mainstreet there was no-one else in sight.

 

The top 1/3 of mainstreet was nicely groomed, decent surface and the bumps were quite nice (soft)

They seem to have done a great job on that park set-up in come around, lots of features, looked well set-up and plenty of people there to maintain it.

They have blown (and are still blowing) a ton of snow, they even opened Raceway mid-morning.

$35 morning tickets.

Did 6 runs each on mainstreet and lazy mile plus a couple of "filler runs" on midway / vista etc, then 2 raceway to midway runs.

Overall a good morning, seemed to be a lot of kids there for a school day.....

 

Negatives:

 

Not sure if it's just new snow, or the grooming quality but the middle of mainstreet and all of raceway were pretty ropey right from the off and got worse.

 

On mainstreet there were loads of "pebbles" and some seriously deep ruts across the hill especially where the other trails feed in, not quite what I would have expected after a week of perfect snowmaking weather and no traffic. I hope they do a mid-day groom for the rest of you heading up later.

 

When they opened raceway it was like they had groomed it with the bulldozer, all scraped off and bumpy. It was nice to have another trail to play on but a really sub-standard grooming job.

 

 

Great to be back on the snow though, it's been two weeks since my last confes.... I mean ski-day. Beats a morning at work anyday.

 

Camelback on Sunday, hoping for a good start there too.

[Dan-]

I've just arrived at work having spent the morning at Blue. Had a great time, it was very quiet first thing but got steadily busier through the morning.

 

Positives:

 

I was really surprised as I walked out with my ticket at 8.30 to find no-one at the gate and only a few people on the hill, my first couple of runs down mainstreet there was no-one else in sight.

 

The top 1/3 of mainstreet was nicely groomed, decent surface and the bumps were quite nice (soft)

They seem to have done a great job on that park set-up in come around, lots of features, looked well set-up and plenty of people there to maintain it.

They have blown (and are still blowing) a ton of snow, they even opened Raceway mid-morning.

$35 morning tickets.

Did 6 runs each on mainstreet and lazy mile plus a couple of "filler runs" on midway / vista etc, then 2 raceway to midway runs.

Overall a good morning, seemed to be a lot of kids there for a school day.....

 

Negatives:

 

Not sure if it's just new snow, or the grooming quality but the middle of mainstreet and all of raceway were pretty ropey right from the off and got worse.

 

On mainstreet there were loads of "pebbles" and some seriously deep ruts across the hill especially where the other trails feed in, not quite what I would have expected after a week of perfect snowmaking weather and no traffic. I hope they do a mid-day groom for the rest of you heading up later.

 

When they opened raceway it was like they had groomed it with the bulldozer, all scraped off and bumpy. It was nice to have another trail to play on but a really sub-standard grooming job.

Great to be back on the snow though, it's been two weeks since my last confes.... I mean ski-day. Beats a morning at work anyday.

 

Camelback on Sunday, hoping for a good start there too.

 

 

Answered your question right there. Blue's grooming at least in my opinion is defiantly not the best.

[Timeless]

Answered your question right there. Blue's grooming at least in my opinion is defiantly not the best.

 

Yeah, but to be fair I'm not sure if the first pass at newly blown snow comes out very well. Some of the "first mornings" on newly opened trails at CB are not much better and I think their groomers are among the best in the area.

 

I wonder if it has to do with the type of guns used. The early season conditions at JF were excellent last year despite horrible, marginal conditions.

[Dan-]

I've seen crappy grooming at blue well after the first pass at it.. and im not biased against blue.. I do have a pass there so...

[GSSucks]

The reason blue has subpar grooming is because the guys running the groomers go mach 10. Blue does have all most all new groomers but I am pretty sure it is the guys running them. That don

[Stevo]

That don't know how to ski and or really care about the conditions. They are from Palmerton and it is their lifelong goal to run a groomer for the rest of their life at blue.

 

 

interesting

[trimreaper]

I thought the grooming was fine today, as it is most days.

[toast21602]

grooming at Blue always needs improvement. but over the years it has been better... sometimes.

[AtomicSkier]

grooming these past two days has been perfect.

[Glenn]

grooming these past two days has been perfect.

 

Your on cloud 9.

 

I'm not going to say the snow or grooming was bad, but it could be so much better.

[AtomicSkier]

Your on cloud 9.

 

I'm not going to say the snow or grooming was bad, but it could be so much better.

 

What was wrong with the grooming this morning? My first run down was smooth as silk. What happens after some traffic gets on the trail is not a product of the groomers.

[Justo8484]

What was wrong with the grooming this morning? My first run down was smooth as silk. What happens after some traffic gets on the trail is not a product of the groomers.

its a product of the snow they blow though ha

[toast21602]

its a product of the snow they blow though ha

 

and also a product of jeff tearing it up with his stupid turns

[Ski]

The reason blue has subpar grooming is because the guys running the groomers go mach 10. Blue does have all most all new groomers but I am pretty sure it is the guys running them. That don

[Glenn]

What was wrong with the grooming this morning? My first run down was smooth as silk. What happens after some traffic gets on the trail is not a product of the groomers.

 

Perhaps it's just the quality of the snow, but I got cord on my first run and it really wasn't that great. The trenches were shallow, there were borderline hardpack sections on the connector for come around into main street. On top of that there were still death cookies on trails that didn't even get blown on.

 

I had a blast and I wouldn't complain about the conditions, because even for midwinter that was fun snow to be on, but... to say the grooming was perfect... get real. Ride CB for first tracks, or Sno anytime of the day and find fresh cord, or JF/BB.