Elk 3-26-11

[rummy]

What a great day! Conditions were almost mid-January great. Temp was 17* with a moderate breeze when Capt Dave and I hit the slopes. Conditions firm and fast with no ice, except in the bump runs. Small crowd with only a slight 45sec. backup at the quad for most of the day. Skied West to East on all the trails and didn't find a bad one. Wall to wall coverage on all trails with only one spot on Lower Tunk turning into a bare spot. Conditions softened up a little bit by early afternoon and many took advantage of the softer snow on the bump trails.

 

After a three beer break at the bar I went back out again and ended the day with 20 runs, not bad for a 60 year old phart, if I do say so myself. I saw many of the regular pass holders but, there were a lot of "tourists" with fresh passes hanging on their coats too.

 

I went into lodge at the end of the day to change into my shoes, and another old guy said: "I didn't see anybody come in here without a smile on their face." Pretty well summed up the day and the season for me too. I tallied up my time at Elk this year, and I totaled 32 days ($22.35 per lift ticket and about $1000. per day in fun!).

[PASKIINGSUCKS]

I played hooky on friday and got in on this as well. Had some free passes from a ski the east showing in bethlehem earlier this year. I took my buddy who was a first time alpine skier.

 

Fantastic conditions, pretty much light snow up until 11 or noon, then great sun and pleasant temps. I spent the morning teaching him, then took a couple runs on my POS snowboard. Switched back to skis around 2pm and finished the day with some black diamonds as he really picked it up fast. Actually it was his idea to take on the moguls at the end of the day hahaha. So yea if ya saw a gaper getting thrashed in the moguls around 4ish, that was my kayak buddy giving it his all for his first day on skis.

 

Overall great day for sure, especially for the low low price of FREE haha. Felt like there was almost nobody there.

[OutCold]

Went on Saturday with my wife, Ride Delawhere? , and Afroman7. It was a great day. Great snow, wall to wall coverage, and no liftlines. They could easily be open another couple weekends if they wanted to. We were still hitting the trees with copious amounts of coverage. We went through the bottom of the Park and poached Lehigh a few times. Plenty of crusty pow down there.

 

All in all it was a great end of the season. Glad to see my wife progress to being comfortable on blues now. Afroman7 was shredding the gnar pretty hard as well. I'm sure RideDelaware will be posting a fancy photo TR eventually.

 

I think I saw CaptDave because I saw another guy riding a Venture board and they're pretty uncommon.

[vinnyv11]

Glad to see my wife progress to being comfortable on blues now.

 

Ya that totally blows that there not open next weekend especially with the forecast and current conditions. I'm still waiting for the day when my fiance is comfortable on most blues. She did the easy ones at Jack Frost and I thought that was an accomplishment.

[CaptDave]

Friday and Saturday were great. I think Friday was a bit nicer because it was warmer but both were super days. Kinda sucks to close with such great coverage. Rode with rummy Saturday and covered all the trails one last time for the season and then inside for a few beers and then back out for a few more runs.

 

Outcold ... If it was a green topsheet on the board then it was me. You should have said Hi.

 

 

[Ride Delaware ?]

Friday and Saturday were great. I think Friday was a bit nicer because it was warmer but both were super days. Kinda sucks to close with such great coverage. Rode with rummy Saturday and covered all the trails one last time for the season and then inside for a few beers and then back out for a few more runs.

 

Outcold ... If it was a green topsheet on the board then it was me. You should have said Hi.

 

I didn't see the topsheet, but I want to say that the bottom of the board was blue and the Venture logo was in neon greenish... Was that it? My report to follow soon in the same thread...

[OutCold]

Friday and Saturday were great. I think Friday was a bit nicer because it was warmer but both were super days. Kinda sucks to close with such great coverage. Rode with rummy Saturday and covered all the trails one last time for the season and then inside for a few beers and then back out for a few more runs.

 

Outcold ... If it was a green topsheet on the board then it was me. You should have said Hi.

 

I would have but we were getting on the lift as I saw you strapping in. At least I'll know it's you next time and I can say hi then.

[Ride Delaware ?]

Here is my trip report for the same day as all of our above PASRs... Its a shame we couldn't have met up to have some brews at the picnic lodge or something. I'll remember to throw a 12 in the back of the car next year. I had a blast today so I only shot 3 pictures. Sorry...

 

After an excellent weekend of Winter/Spring riding, Afroman7 and I decided to repeat it this weekend. However, due to Elk's closing on a Saturday, we flipped our schedule around and went to Elk on Saturday. After a mostly uncrowded weekend with great coverage last weekend, we were pretty sure that it would be as good as it gets in PA this week with 8" of additional snow. We were not to be disappointed. We called up Outcold, made plans to meet him Saturday, and planned to leave around the same time as we did last weekend. Afroman7 arrived at my house around 6:30 and we were on the road at 6:45. We arrived in Dunmore at the Days Inn at 10:30, unpacked, watched the end of the VCU game, and went to bed.

 

The next morning we awoke at 6:55, packed our bags, and were in the car by 7:40. I knew I needed gas, but I was pretty sure I could make it to the Sunoco at exit 206 in I-81. Unfortunately, my vehicle dropped 2 bars on the meter and the light came on earlier than I expected. I pulled off I-81 at exit 198 and filled up at the mobil station there. I pulled into the upper lot at 8:11 with the thermometer registering a balmy 14 degrees. I was already parked about 3-4 cars farther down than last weekend and the lot was filling up pretty quick. We booted up and made it down to the ticket booth just before 8:30 and the lifts had not yet begun to accept passengers. There was already a line of 10 or so people waiting at the 2 open ticket booths, so by the time I had gotten my ticket, it was just past 8:35. As I stated in the CB thread, there were a great deal of people buying discounted passes with tickets from other mountains, and other people like me who were buying full priced tickets on the last day of the season. I don't know if it was the fresh snow, the discounted tix with a season pass, or the fact that there were only 3 shows in town still operating (CB and Boulder too), but it was busier than last weekend right from the start.

 

Afroman7 and I hopped on the lift and decided to follow our same path as last week until we met up with Outcold. I shot the same picture as last week at the top of Susquehanna. It looks very different with all the natural snow coating the countryside:

 

 

Unlike last week, we weren't the first tracks down, but more like the 10th. The snow was some of the best I have had on groomers all year. True to its reputation, I did not see a single death cookie all day. The snow was softer than last week and was a mix of granular and powder. Since the temperature stayed under freezing all day under beautiful bluebird skies, the snow did not bump up and was quite easy on the legs all day. After Susquahanna we hit Slalom, Tuscarora, Mohawk, and Delaware. We skipped Iroquois because of the ungroomed terrain, but I am sure it was much better than last week because of the fresh snow. Here is a shot of the Delaware right after the terrain park:

 

 

Through the first 5 runs, there were no backups at the lift at all. In fact, they never put up barriers to create lines. However, after going down the Delaware, there were about 10 people waiting for the lift by the base lodge and I noticed the other double getting warmed up. It was about 9:40, and as I looked to my left, I saw Outcold and his wife waiting for us. We got to the top and decided to let her warm up on Tioga. We headed down to the quad where there was once again no liftline and excellent snow. When we got to the top we decided to take Mahican to Lenape. I cut through a little track of woods at the top of the lift. I was one of the first people through there and got stuck once or twice in the crust, but as the day wore on I was glad I had taken one for the team and blazed a trail. I saw a bunch of people using it throughout the day. We continued to lap the quad until about 12:45 when we all got hungry. We headed back to the lodge and ate some of the reasonably priced lodge food. We took a little longer of a break and finally got back out on the slopes at about 1:45 to 2.

 

We decided to go up and hit the Delaware and the terrain park several times as it is one of Outcold's favorite trails at Elk. The extra snow this past week made the area below the terrain park leading to the Lehigh very rideable and we decided to drop off the back side and traverse the Lehigh. It was a tough going at the beginning due to the crust, but as more people poached it throughout the day it became much more rideable. I even witnessed a guy do a 4 foot cliff huck in the woods between the Mohawk runout and the Delaware. Here is a picture of Outcold where we came off the Delaware onto the Lehigh:

 

 

After cruising down the Delaware several times, we decided to head back over to the quad. There was one slight lift line of maybe 45 seconds and then it cleared up the rest of the afternoon. We decided to head back down the Mahican to the Lenape, Wissahickon, and Kickapoo. When I was here with Outcold several years ago, I remembered a tree run that cuts off the Mahican, slopes up into the woods, and then drops down a huge drop off back onto the Mahican right before the Lenape, Wissahickon, and Kickapoo intersection. After one or two exploratory runs, i finally found it and was well rewarded with a fun but slow little meander through the woods. Outcold and Afroman7 followed me in and we all had a good deal of fun making our own path in there. The coverage was excellent with only some small briars popping out out interspersed intervals. There was a point where we lost Afroman7 and found him walking out on a different trail, but other than that, it was a successful adventure. As we neared the end of the day, OutCold expressed some interest in trying out Tunkhannock. Since it snowed the past week, I decided that if I was going to do a bump trail with him, it might as well be now. Well damn, I forgot how much of a workout it was. I was incredibly toasty and out of breath by the time I finished that run. I found a good line and really had my rhythm going for awhile. I only slid out onto my ass twice and I considered it a pretty good run. We continue to check our watches and decided to head back to the double around 4 PM. We went up and did another run or two down the Delaware when the liftie announced it was time for last run. When we got to the top we decided to go down the Tioga. Afroman7 and I were to head down Hiawatha to the upper lot while Outcold and his wife were to head down to the quad since they were parked in the lower lot. Since he is a super noob, Afroman7 followed Outcold and I had to drive down in my boots to the lower lot. We packed the car and headed out on the backroads to Plattekill. We stopped at Arlo's Country Store and picked up a Rebull and some Twizzlers for the ride.

 

Overall, another great day at Elk. While they had to run the 2nd double lift this weekend, there were no real lift lines to speak of and the snow was in much better shape than last weekend. It is a shame they posted this as their last day. If they saw the turnout, which incredibly surprised me, they probably could have decided to stay open an extra weekend. Based on last weekend, the business definitely justified it. Unfortunately, Elk is now closed, and with it, a bunch of great snow. Looks like CB and Boulder will have to duke it out for the last ski area in PA. Elk probably could have claimed that, but it is what it is. I'll be back to Elk in December, Conditions Permitting of course.

[CaptDave]

I didn't see the topsheet, but I want to say that the bottom of the board was blue and the Venture logo was in neon greenish... Was that it? My report to follow soon in the same thread...

 

Yup that was me.

[OutCold]

Nice TR. You forgot to mention Afroman7's glorious head first dive back onto the trail when he came out of the woods. Great end to the season... looking forward to next year!

[vinnyv11]

Great report. Maybe you'll hit up Camelback this weekend.