Anyone Else Going ? . 12/19

[train36]

I am off to Elk. I was going to go to Blue but decided ro head a little further North. If anyone else will be there I will be in a Black Sessions jacket and Black Helmet. I will be riding a K2 Jibpan with a clear topsheet so you can see the wood core, can't miss it. The names Dan. I will try and get some pics up later.

[Dan-]

Damnit, i was trying to go to Elk today, but couldn't find anyone to go, so i settle for JF. Im shooting for Elk sunday, looks like they'll be getting more snow saturday night into sunday, so hopefully it'll be good.

[train36]

You missed a real nice day. I should have posted this earlier but changed my mind last minute. I just got back and the roads were horrible but it snowed hard all day and there was nobody there, great day. I will have a TR up with some pics tomorrow morning.

[Bobert540]

I am looking forward to your TR. I am thinking about going up there next Tuesday. Hopefully they will have more trails open by then.

[boardin_nerd]

I'll be waiting for those pics.. i've never been to elk.. wanna see what its like :-)

[stever2003]

I'll be waiting for those pics.. i've never been to elk.. wanna see what its like :-)

elk is amazing. definitely go. it beats everything else we have in the poconos.

[pinemind]

elk is amazing. definitely go. it beats everything else we have in the poconos.

 

I was at Elk today. It was all snow, all the time, and extremely heavy most of the time. I got there around 11:00 am and there was almost no one there. It was hard to see far in front of you at times. I knew the pine trees of Elk would help keep all that new snow on the trails with the heavy winds (it was pretty windy) and I was not disappointed.

 

I think Elk was the right choice. I heard Blue got a mixture of sleet and freezing rain.

 

However, onto the roads. Some of the worst driving conditions I've ever been in. Once you got past the Pocono tunnel going North, it just got heavier and heavier and very windy. And that was at around 10:00 am. On the way back (I left early to go to a Christmas party) around 1:00 pm, the local roads were atrocious with basically 1-lane open. I cringed when I saw cars coming the other way.

 

What was most disappointing was the I-81 and Northeast Extension (North of Exit 38) snow clearing/sanding. I figured by 1:30 when I hit I-81 and eventually the Northeast Extension, they would have done something. But it was one lane mainly traveled and even that was sketchy. The left lane in some places was pretty much a death trap, even for those of us with AWD. Plus I got stuck behind 2 different plow patrols going 30 MPH. One of them was for at least 20 miles before they turned off.

 

So, in short, a normal 2:45 hour drive to Elk took me 4:15 on the way back.

 

All in all, a tremendous day at Elk. One of which that is very rare these days it seems. I wouldn't be surprised if they reported > 10" of snow upwards of 12". There was about 5" when I left the slopes at 12:30 and it was really coming down. Sorry no pictures. I was limited on time and wanted to get the most of my powder day.

 

Peace,

 

Justin