indiggio Posted February 14, 2011 Report Posted February 14, 2011 Interesting blog post on how Okemo does their grooming. 1 Quote
toast21602 Posted February 14, 2011 Report Posted February 14, 2011 have only had one day of 'bad' grooming at Blue this year... but i'm sure if they followed those tips it would help them stay nice later into the day. ever since the massacre of grooming that they showed us two years ago, it has seemed to be a steady improvement. as for this year, i have zero complaints. great article, though. Quote
Johnny Law Posted February 14, 2011 Report Posted February 14, 2011 The real problem is they are cheap and blow water heavy, base building type snow and then groom like idiots. My guess is they are farming persons and not snow persons but that is just a guess. What's more interesting than the cookies is the rutting and trenching, I'm not sure how they get so much wash-boarding at certain areas so quickly. Quote
AtomicSkier Posted February 14, 2011 Report Posted February 14, 2011 The real problem is they are cheap and blow water heavy, base building type snow and then groom like idiots. My guess is they are farming persons and not snow persons but that is just a guess. ding ding ding Quote
toast21602 Posted February 14, 2011 Report Posted February 14, 2011 has Blue done the 4PM grooming at all this season? not sure. i haven't been at Blue beyond 3pm this year. Quote
mbike-ski Posted February 15, 2011 Report Posted February 15, 2011 no niights that i've been there Quote
RootDKJ Posted February 15, 2011 Report Posted February 15, 2011 The death cookies were pretty nasty this weekend. No reason for that mid-season. Quote
toast21602 Posted February 15, 2011 Report Posted February 15, 2011 The death cookies were pretty nasty this weekend. No reason for that mid-season. wait, you did ski on saturday morning, right? one of the best days at Blue this year with the fresh that they blew? i hope you are referring to sunday, because i wasn't there that day. Quote
mbike-ski Posted February 15, 2011 Report Posted February 15, 2011 wait, you did ski on saturday morning, right? one of the best days at Blue this year with the fresh that they blew? i hope you are referring to sunday, because i wasn't there that day. yea i gotta say i thought saturday morning was excellent - especially after skiing tuesday. the change from some of the worse conditions ive ever seen to some of the best (man made) is nothing short of amazing! 1 Quote
bluemt1988 Posted February 15, 2011 Report Posted February 15, 2011 Ive done nothing but nights up there for years but after an early AM session a couple weeks ago I do nothing but 830-1230 sessions. It's worth waking up at 6:45am. Maybe I'll reduce my risk of knee surgery by charging AM sessions now lol. AM sessions are beautiful. So smooth and fast. By 1130 it's usually starting to get bouncy. Quote
RootDKJ Posted February 15, 2011 Report Posted February 15, 2011 wait, you did ski on saturday morning, right? one of the best days at Blue this year with the fresh that they blew? i hope you are referring to sunday, because i wasn't there that day. Sunday. Quote
indiggio Posted February 15, 2011 Author Report Posted February 15, 2011 When Blue did half the skier visits they did twice daily grooming and now they don't they need to step it up. If somebody buys a night ticket they should be entitled to a good experience. Yes indeed! Agree 100%. Used to be a great time going up after work, it was almost like first-run, morning conditions in the afternoon. Days gone by... yea i gotta say i thought saturday morning was excellent - especially after skiing tuesday. the change from some of the worse conditions ive ever seen to some of the best (man made) is nothing short of amazing! Agree! Opening run down Main Street found fresh blown and only half the slope groomed! Came onto the ungroomed WTF is that? Unfortunately after a few hours the boilerplate started showing from the previous week's warmth/rain. Jump landings were unbearably hard. Quote
VTSKI Posted February 16, 2011 Report Posted February 16, 2011 Good grooming video. http://bcove.me/kh4c76w9 http://bcove.me/ld25ryqh Quote
Freeski919 Posted February 16, 2011 Report Posted February 16, 2011 A couple problems with Blue taking a cue from Okemo. I worked at Okemo, so I have a better idea what they're about. The first grooming pass they make, with the 'aerator' or 'mountain tiller', uses proprietary technology. The aerator was invented at Okemo, and they have patented the process. So Blue can't use it. Also, Okemo has much more time to do legitimate intensive grooming. Blue doesn't close until 10, so grooming can't really begin until 10:45 or later. And beyond that, Okemo has more cash on hand to run their grooming operation. That means more groomers, better groomers, and more money to fuel and staff those groomers. And as far as the staff goes, the Okemo staff has been there for decades. They're so good because of massive amounts of experience. Now, I'm not saying Blue can't improve. They can make a ton of improvements with what they have. The nozzle size they use for surfacing, and letting the snow leech before grooming it out are definitely improvements they could make. But they're not going to be able to do many of the things Okemo does. Quote
Timeless Posted February 16, 2011 Report Posted February 16, 2011 Okemo's grooming is excellent, I dont think anyone would disagree with that, the only place even close to this (that allows snowboarders) that I've come across was Homewood in Tahoe, quite a surprise. IMHO Blue's grooming is poor because they don't give a sh1t. All the other resorts in the area do a better job, mostly with the same restrictions on time and resources. Most of the resorts here in tahoe are similarly (but not as) bad, but they get away with it because no-one cares about the cord-quality, just how soon it will break up into chalk. Quote
Justo8484 Posted February 16, 2011 Report Posted February 16, 2011 A couple problems with Blue taking a cue from Okemo. I worked at Okemo, so I have a better idea what they're about. The first grooming pass they make, with the 'aerator' or 'mountain tiller', uses proprietary technology. The aerator was invented at Okemo, and they have patented the process. So Blue can't use it. Also, Okemo has much more time to do legitimate intensive grooming. Blue doesn't close until 10, so grooming can't really begin until 10:45 or later. And beyond that, Okemo has more cash on hand to run their grooming operation. That means more groomers, better groomers, and more money to fuel and staff those groomers. And as far as the staff goes, the Okemo staff has been there for decades. They're so good because of massive amounts of experience. Now, I'm not saying Blue can't improve. They can make a ton of improvements with what they have. The nozzle size they use for surfacing, and letting the snow leech before grooming it out are definitely improvements they could make. But they're not going to be able to do many of the things Okemo does. while i don't know anything about the aerator thing, blue definitely does have pretty much the best groomers you can buy right now. Quote
phillycore Posted February 16, 2011 Report Posted February 16, 2011 Heh heh heh. He said Nozzle.... huh huh huh. Quote
Glenn Posted February 16, 2011 Report Posted February 16, 2011 You will never get good grooming with night skiing and melt freeze cycles nearly every day. Quote
AngryHugo Posted February 16, 2011 Report Posted February 16, 2011 Blue was terrible today. It was like an inch of mashed potatoes on top of an ice rink. Maybe it was more like riding on a pool table: a microscopic layer of felt covering a foot of slate. Razor's was the only run that remotely enjoyable. Quote
toast21602 Posted February 17, 2011 Report Posted February 17, 2011 Blue was terrible today. It was like an inch of mashed potatoes on top of an ice rink. Maybe it was more like riding on a pool table: a microscopic layer of felt covering a foot of slate. Razor's was the only run that remotely enjoyable. that's why i left at 11. too bad you couldn't make it for opening with me, you would have enjoyed he conditions then. Quote
toast21602 Posted February 17, 2011 Report Posted February 17, 2011 Conditions at Blue are typically the best when Toast is there. first thing in the morning? correct. it's like that at most places. Quote
AtomicSkier Posted February 17, 2011 Report Posted February 17, 2011 while i don't know anything about the aerator thing, blue definitely does have pretty much the best groomers you can buy right now. Yes. I was going to say that...Blue definitely has some of the best equipment $ can buy. Best people to operate it? Not at $7/hr. Quote
toast21602 Posted February 17, 2011 Report Posted February 17, 2011 Yes. I was going to say that...Blue definitely has some of the best equipment $ can buy. Best people to operate it? Not at $7/hr. true. they will never get rid of the locals who do it. they ahve been messing it up for years, why stop now? Quote
RootDKJ Posted February 17, 2011 Report Posted February 17, 2011 while i don't know anything about the aerator thing, blue definitely does have pretty much the best groomers you can buy right now. Agreed. It's not their equipment. Quote
Freeski919 Posted February 17, 2011 Report Posted February 17, 2011 while i don't know anything about the aerator thing, blue definitely does have pretty much the best groomers you can buy right now. And a 19 year old kid who was hired in November driving the thing. Quote
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