moe ghoul Posted January 3, 2009 Report Posted January 3, 2009 We got up to Scamelback by 8AM, gave the top parking lot $15 charge the finger and parked topside in the handicap spots. Stood in the "ticket only" line for 15 minutes to get our overpriced $53 ticket and proceeded to the cafeteria to boot up. Lapped the front 4 off Sullivan, groomed cord (barely), low 20's temp, overcast, little wind. Conditions were unremarkable, not great, not bad. Headed over to the Stevenson lift around 10 via Raceway, which was goobered out with a million nubs as was the lift line, so we rode it to the top and traversed back to the Sullivan lift, lol. Wow, boatloads of hoodie sweats, one piecers, reverse entry and antique equipment, intermingled with nouveau russian/eastern eupopean transplants wearing top dollar Spyder gear and somehow managing to make it look cheap and gaudy. 2 dollar for the ski checks, new season passholder locker room (the old Fireside lounge) which rumor has it they'll charge 300 for a locker and 300 TO USE THE LOCKER ROOM per season. 30% hike in food prices (season pass holders get a 10% discount) the ticket lines were so bad by 11AM people were leavin in droves. We brought our own snax and bevvies so we took a 45 minute break around 12 and then hit the front 4 off of Sullivan until about 2:30. We stopped having fun around 1:30. All 4 front runs (excluding the Hump, which was getting blown and will prolly open this weekend along with Cliffy) were pretty much scraped off and iced on the top third, with a little sugar on the sides.....very little. Hit the bar with a few friends for a Sammy Winter Lager and came home. I'll just say that it appears new ownership's marketing campaign seems to be working, at least it seemed that way from the crowds today. And that's all I gotta say about that. Except were skiin Elk Fri-Sun and not hitting CB. No pix, nothing pic worthy, and I was afraid some CB employee would pop up and try to charge me for taking a pic. Quote
trackbiker Posted January 3, 2009 Report Posted January 3, 2009 Moe, Great report. Loved that you scammed the $15.00 preferred parking! Seems the new management only wants the NY, NJ gaper crowd. Did they run any of the doubles, or just let the gapers stand in long lines? I was there Tuesday and they shut down the Raceway Triple at 6:00 with long lines at the quads. The gapers were left with icy conditions top to bottom. Lots of people getting hurt. I won't be back. Quote
moe ghoul Posted January 3, 2009 Author Report Posted January 3, 2009 (edited) Moe,Great report. Loved that you scammed the $15.00 preferred parking! Seems the new management only wants the NY, NJ gaper crowd. Did they run any of the doubles, or just let the gapers stand in long lines? I was there Tuesday and they shut down the Raceway Triple at 6:00 with long lines at the quads. The gapers were left with icy conditions top to bottom. Lots of people getting hurt. I won't be back. They were running the raceway double, I didn't bother to check on any others. Granted, after reading TR's from BC, Blue and other Poke hills, it sounds like everyone had record breaking crowds yesterday, so my comments on the "crowd" mighta been unfair since it was unusually busy everywhere. But the nickel and diming is obscene. A few of our free heeler friends that have been season passholders FOR YEARS think this might be their last season at CB. Elk is rapidly becoming the preferred destination. Edited January 3, 2009 by Moe Ghoul Quote
DiMe Posted January 3, 2009 Report Posted January 3, 2009 (edited) You can't judge any mountain for its crowds/conditions on Christmas/New Years week lol. If you do than your just another one of them gapers that were out there. CB is definately trying to nickle and dime the NY, NJ people without a doubt. Anyone that holds a season pass at CB dosnt park in the main lots anyways, why would you? Pass holders park by the glenn or stevenson and take a 10-20 yard walk directly to a lift. I also bet Camelbacks park pass lift line was the shortest lift line in PA this entire holiday season Edited January 3, 2009 by DiMeThIcOnE Quote
Timeless Posted January 5, 2009 Report Posted January 5, 2009 As someone that has ridden at CB for the last 4 years (most weekends when not in VT or somewhere better) I can say that the crowds this last few weeks have been very bad, this past saturday being the worst I've seen it for a long time. That said, I had some great riding there this weekend. As a passholder a lot of the "observations" above are not really relevant: The upper parking lot is free to the first 20 pass holders so you just need to get up there for first lifts (My kids and I have been up every weekend since they opened and got free parking both days each weekend) The lifts are open to passholders for "first trax" from 7.30 so you get a clear hour scuffing up the new corduroy before everyone is allowed on and there are generally not that many people taking advantage of this (and most that do are decent skier / riders). The food? doesn't seem any more expensive than last year and we don't eat there very often. Liftlines are bad from 10:30 or so onwards, by which time we've had 3 hours of continous laps in decent conditions. Raceway is a triple Conditions this Sunday, up to 11am were fantastic. Hump was the only real disappointment, being covered with "pebbles", I guess because it hasn't had much grooing since they blew it. Anyone who expects decent conditions at CB on a weekend after 11-12 given the size (and type) of crowd they draw is insane, get in early, make the best of it and get out alive. I am really enjoying my season so far at CB. Quote
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