indiggio Posted December 31, 2012 Report Posted December 31, 2012 It was an interesting day today at Blue. Went to the bottom to see what was up down there. For some reason, there was nobody manning the lift lines, so a bunch of outlanders made their way right to the pass readers and nobody gave them grief. So once they did, we all did the same. Lower Paradise had been groomed, so we thought it would be open, but once we got to the top, no dice. It hadn't even been touched by a groomer as of 8am, so down Tut's and over to Main Street, which was nicely groomed and fast. Made the 6-pack lap again, but took connector over to the park and took a run down Chute. It was quite hard and they didn't push the wells entirely across the trail, keeping a ditch with ice boulders on skier's left. Another run up the 6-pack around 8:30 or so, saw a groomer heading down Paradise from the top. Perhaps they would open it today? A later ride up around 9 had the grooming fleet behind the tape at the top, just left of the 6-pack and the SP setting up tape to keep skiers off Razor's and Challenge. People were wanting to go down Paradise, but SP wouldn't open it for another half-hour, so we went on our merry way. Crowds were surprisingly light early on. Thought there'd be more out, but I guess not as many had off today. This made lapping the mountain easy until about 10, when crowds starting appearing. Main Street from Midway on down started to look like an ant hill. This made for some interesting spectating from across Chute. Lots of collisions, people skiing right off the sides of Chute and Main Street. One really odd sight was a group of 4 ski instructors skiing down Chute backwards, in a reverse stem christie sort of way At one point the last instructor bit it and was fighting to get his skis back on. Very bizarre. Back up the 6-pack around 9:45 and Paradise was now open. Took a run down and it was all marbles. Guess they wanted all the grooming they did to re-freeze. Took a run down it later, around noon or so and the middle had broken up a bit, but the sides were still rollers, as expected. The lower part, just after the last sharp left turn had quite a bit of natural snow on skier's right, which made for some pleasant sliding to get away from the marbles. Now that people are on it and the groomers can get a few more goes at it, the surface should be good. They were still blowing full out on Razor's, Lower Sidewinder and Falls. Nothing going on Dream Weaver, Challenge, Sidewinder, Switchback, Window Maker (even though it was open) or Burma. There also were no features in the lower terrain park. Quote
toast21602 Posted December 31, 2012 Report Posted December 31, 2012 today was good. the selection of parking lot beers was better. 1 Quote
indiggio Posted December 31, 2012 Author Report Posted December 31, 2012 today was good. the selection of parking lot beers was better. Vacation day from work, 4.5 hours skiing, beers in fridge for tonight, no work tomorrow... Indeed a good day! Quote
RidgeRacer Posted December 31, 2012 Report Posted December 31, 2012 The instructors were probably doing some sort of goofy training exercise. Sucks when you bite it under a lift while sporting the colors. Quote
Ride Delaware ? Posted December 31, 2012 Report Posted December 31, 2012 The instructors were probably doing some sort of goofy training exercise. Sucks when you bite it under a lift while sporting the colors. That would be what we like to call a beerable offense... Quote
AngryHugo Posted December 31, 2012 Report Posted December 31, 2012 Super fun day skiing and drinking with everyone. Paradise was absolutely horrendous. It's stupefying how they can take freshly-blown snow and turn it into giant ice chunks. Quote
Ride Delaware ? Posted January 1, 2013 Report Posted January 1, 2013 Super fun day skiing and drinking with everyone. Paradise was absolutely horrendous. It's stupefying how they can take freshly-blown snow and turn it into giant ice chunks. That's exactly what happens when you rush the opening... What they should have done was opened it ungroomed with whales and put an advanced terrain sign at the top of it... It would have bumped up, but it would have given them the extra trail and given them time to let the water drain out... I understand that with the late opening and the crowds, that the trail count game with competitors is important, so that's why they did it... However, the past two years Sunday River has done a two day opening procedure on trails that has worked fantastic... They turn the guns off, open the trail, let it drain for a day, close the trail and track pack it, let it sit for another day, and then go back the next night and lay stripes on it... Unfortunately, when it gets opened that quickly, all that moisture that is uncovered freezes if temps allow, and you get chunky snow... I understand why they did it, but if they wanted the trail open so it could be used by beginners, then they played the only card they had, even if it wasn't the best one... Quote
AngryHugo Posted January 1, 2013 Report Posted January 1, 2013 I get why they did it. Honestly, it really thinned out the crowds on the rest of the mountain. It's just how they did it. It was seriously like skiing down the backs of a billion turtles. It was pretty unsafe, especially for a beginner trail. Quote
toast21602 Posted January 1, 2013 Report Posted January 1, 2013 I haven't skied on turtles since I went to the Galápagos Islands to shred. 2 Quote
RidgeRacer Posted January 1, 2013 Report Posted January 1, 2013 (edited) Edited January 1, 2013 by Ridge Racer Quote
AngryHugo Posted January 1, 2013 Report Posted January 1, 2013 I haven't skied on turtles since I went to the Galápagos Islands to shred. That was a great trip. Those iguana kebabs were sooooo good. 1 Quote
indiggio Posted January 1, 2013 Author Report Posted January 1, 2013 With people like Indiggio chomping at the bit to ski a Pennsylvania classic like Paradise what can the patrollers do. Nah, don't really chomp for that one. Mostly just newly open trail curious. Quote
toast21602 Posted January 1, 2013 Report Posted January 1, 2013 That was a great trip. Those iguana kebabs were sooooo good. We have to plan a return trip. 1 Quote
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