Blue Knob TR MLK Weekend

[Tim says]

My brother, dad and I left the hotel at around eight thirty on Saturday, mainly to miss any traffic and potential crowds. After seeing maybe three other cars the entire way up the mountain (all of which were driving the other way) we hit the summit. It was pretty sunny and snowing lightly and by the time we hit the slopes (at nine thirty) there was still hardly any people on the mountain. We started off on Mambo Alley, just as a warm up, then quickly progressed to runs down Jack Rabbit, Upper High Hopes, Expressway, Upper Route 66 and Shortway, capped off by the smooth ride on Run Out to the bottom. Lower High Hopes was open, but was extremely icy, making it both extremely fast and very hard to stop on with out falling. The lift on Route 66 was (just as I had been warned) the single slowest lift I had ever been on, but still provided a fair view of the snowmaking jets on Deer Run and the NASTAR course. Sadly, though, the midstation was not open, and what we could see of the lower mountain was dotted with twigs and grass sticking up from the snow. Still, the snow was good, there was only ice in the really high traffic areas and on Lower High Hopes, and even that got better as the light snowfall continued all day.

 

On Sunday the thermostat read a balmy 1 degree as we reached the summit, and loose snow was being blown in great gusts across the packed base all across the mountain. The snow was better than the day before, almost less packed down and softer and provided for less ice and a smoother ride. The midsation opened up and allowed access to Deer Run and Lower High Hopes. Deer Run was great, and the combination of Blue Knobs groomer and snowmaking machines left huge mounds in the snow between maybe five to fifteen feet high by about thirty feet around all over the run. It wasn't all bad though, as this provided for extremely steep sections while giving some variations on the standard slope terrain. Other than that it was pretty much the same as the previous day, although a thin coat of powder covered up the ice on Lower High Hopes making it much less frightening to go down.

 

Overall the weekend was great. There was almost nobody there (which was surprising for MLK weekend) and I maybe only waited for a lift three times. The only downside was that almost none of the lower mountain was open and none of the glades were, but that's to be expected since it's been a warm winter with almost no significant snowfall.

 

Oh, and I was going to try and take some pictures, but it was too cold on the mountain and my camera wouldn't turn on.