Sno 1-16-10

[trackbiker]

Did a morning session at Sno today. Met a friend from N. Jersey in the lodge at 8:15, booted up and hit the slopes. The whole upper mountain was groomed cord. The lower mountain had some small death cookies but not as bad as the typical Blue grooming. Sun came out around 9:00 and had a very enjoyable morning. Skied every trail except for Smoke (there was a race on it today), the parks, and White Lightning. White Lightning looked good like they had blown snow on it last night and the bumps looked to have good lines but my buddy wasn't up for it today. Run of the day was Cannonball. Not so many death cookies as the rest of the lower mountain. Lower Runaway was getting a little scraped when we left but just a little. Great choice for MLK weekend. No lift lines to speak of.

My friend who skis all of New England, and out west every year summed Sno up this way:

- Sort of like skiing two mountains. Top is all flat green trails. Bottom is all black diamonds. No real blue top to bottom cruisers.

- Great snowmaking and grooming for PA.

- Top trails are all pretty much the same. Very wide. They need to plant some trees and let some sections grow in.

- No need for a HSQ. The experts ski the Phoebe on the bottom and beginners ski the Iron Horse on the top. They don't even run the Long Haul mid week.

- Nice place for an uncrowded MLK weekend day in PA. Camelback and Blue would be mobbed and skied off by 11:00. But not too much to keep an advanced skier interested for more than half a day after they've been there once.

- No real "character" to the area. The trails are surounded by medium size deciduous trees. Your view is of industrial parks and the dump on the other side of the turnpike. They need to plant some pines on the upper mountain.

-Glad they have place like this in N.E. PA to help the economy and to introduce kids in the Scranton Wilkes Barre area to skiing.

[ski14]

I was up yesterday from 4-close and the place was PACKED. The entire parking lot was full. Over 1000 kids just in groups they said

[Santa Clauss]

yeah I went up around 3, got to the parking lot saw how incredibly packed it was and went home... I've never seen it that packed. and thats a really good thing! (bet its because the website )

[trackbiker]

Glad to hear they're getting busier. There were a lot of people buying tickets when I left at 12:30. Never waited in a line to speak of but never saw so many full chairs on the Long Haul either. The parks were pretty empty as well. How were the lines later in the day?

I'm sure there were crowds at CB and Blue. They really need to market to that crowd. It's only about half hour farther than either and the whole upper mountain is beginner friendly. Much better than traversing the "rush hour traffic" on the greens at Blue and CB.

Maybe they'll be able to afford to improve the lights!

[riderossi]

lines started building up as the day went on but tapered off by 5 or 6. The lines didn't get much further out past the end of the blue ropes though so the wait wasn't too long at all. Tubing line stretched from tubing all the way over to the top of the bunny lift. Definitely brought in some money Saturday. Bad weather today though,not busy at all.