In it for the Long Haul

[Rex Goliath]

So I have bee watching the Status Report for the Lifts at Montage.  Many have said they are frustrated by the lack of a single Bottom to Top chair and some have said they don't ski there for that reason. 

 

Here is a thread to document the status of The Long Haul: 

 

Please feel free to update!

 

Closed Today

[poconoceancity]

I think they only run it on the weekends.

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Replace it with a gondola.

[Ski2Live Live2Ski]

The reason for non novices to ski Montage is all handled by Phoebe Snow. Long Haul is a nice sky ride to some flat stuff though.

Edited January 19, 2016 by Ski2Live Live2Ski

[trackbiker]

If you've ever skied Montage you would know that the Long Haul is not a well placed or designed lift. Montage skis like two areas one on top of the other as opposed to side by side like most areas. Novices and intermediates ski the top of the mountain. Better skiers ski the bottom North Face. If you want to ski top to bottom take the Phoebe and the Iron Horse. If the Long Haul not running is keeping someone from not skiing there, good. Less lift lines for everyone else.

[JFskiDan]

I find it interesting that so many people are all uptight about the long haul not running.  But so few people from here ski there.  

 

I like Montage. I dont really get the hate on the long haul though.  Its not like it opens up the whole backside of the mountain or something.  

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

I find it interesting that so many people are all uptight about the long haul not running.  But so few people from here ski there.  

 

I like Montage. I dont really get the hate on the long haul though.  Its not like it opens up the whole backside of the mountain or something.

 

Because without it running you need to take two lifts to get to the top which is lame for a little PA mountain.

[RidgeRacer]

Who from here goes to Montage for the upper mountain? The few t2b runs all the way over on the far side are nice. After that, when I'm there I'm usually sticking to the North Face lift.

[toast21602]

Need a HSQ.

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Need a HSQ.

This.

Who from here goes to Montage for the upper mountain? The few t2b runs all the way over on the far side are nice. After that, when I'm there I'm usually sticking to the North Face lift.

When I skied it I would usually take the phoebe snow quad then skate over to the upper mountain lift. What good is a ski area that's 1,000 vert if you can't ski that all in one run. White lightning, smoke and boomer are fun but last like 30 seconds. The last time I skied Sno-tage in 2008 I was so happy to be back at blue the next day.

[Johnny Law]

IDK....... the day I was there it was empty bleachers when you go to a place like that where you expect low crowds the trade off is normally slower poorly designed lifts plus the extra terrain up top was pretty flat. 

 

Long Haul is a vicitim of the area, they just don't do the kind of numbers to justify the investment to either rehab it or replace it. If they go HS does that bake in increased visits ? I don't think so there problems I feel are more historical, geography and a strange inability to get that NJ/NY business.

Edited January 19, 2016 by Johnny Law

[poconoceancity]

Who wouldn't like the option of having a longer run in PA serviced by a HSQ?

[poconoceancity]

I agree TP4, what do they have to make people drive past Blue, CB and JF? At that point they are just 15 minutes away from southern VT.

[Kyle]

This.

 

When I skied it I would usually take the phoebe snow quad then skate over to the upper mountain lift. What good is a ski area that's 1,000 vert if you can't ski that all in one run. White lightning, smoke and boomer are fun but last like 30 seconds. The last time I skied Sno-tage in 2008 I was so happy to be back at blue the next day.

I thought you would be pretty used to things lasting 30 seconds by now

[guitar73]

I agree TP4, what do they have to make people drive past Blue, CB and JF? At that point they are just 15 minutes away from southern VT.

 

cheaper lift tix, low crowds, different terrain, etc.

[Ski2Live Live2Ski]

If they were to build a hsq I would want it where Phoebe Snow is. White Lightning and Boomer and glades off WL are IMO the best skiing in eastern PA, even with 600 foot vertical.

 

If they are over in 30 seconds as you say (they take a good bit longer for me when moguled up as usual), then at least you get right back on the lift and do them again, as opposed to skiing 48 seconds at Blue and then queueing up like cattle for 10 to 20 minutes.

 

To me the slow lift beats a line for a fast one anyway. I would rather sit with a view than stand in a crowd.

Edited January 19, 2016 by Ski2Live Live2Ski

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

If they were to build a hsq I would want it where Phoebe Snow is. White Lightning and Boomer and glades off WL are IMO the best skiing in eastern PA, even with 600 foot vertical.

If they are over in 30 seconds as you say (they take a good bit longer for me when moguled up as usual), then at least you get right back on the lift and do them again, as opposed to skiing 48 seconds at Blue and then queueing up like cattle for 10 to 20 minutes.

To me the slow lift beats a line for a fast one anyway. I would rather sit with a view than stand in a crowd.

Not possible to ski top to bottom off six pack in 48 seconds. Videos I have show like a minute and a half

[Rex Goliath]

The issue for me is that i like the long cruisers and yes the upper mountain is flat, but cruising long GS turns on Fast Track and Run Way is a lot of fun.  Sure the North Face steeps are great cruisers too, but i like to ski the whole mountain, especially when it is as small and short as we have in Pennsylvania. 

[Ski2Live Live2Ski]

Not possible to ski top to bottom off six pack in 48 seconds. Videos I have show like a minute and a half

Of course it isnt. Nor is 30 seconds possible for White Lightning or Boomer. But 30 is to 48 seconds (ok should have said 50) as 600 feet is to 1000, even disregarding that Montage is more challenging.

Edited January 19, 2016 by Ski2Live Live2Ski

[guitar73]

The issue for me is that i like the long cruisers and yes the upper mountain is flat, but cruising long GS turns on Fast Track and Run Way is a lot of fun.  Sure the North Face steeps are great cruisers too, but i like to ski the whole mountain, especially when it is as small and short as we have in Pennsylvania. 

 

^^this is why they should replace the current LH with a HSQ. even then, it's not technically TTB skiing, but darn close enough. I really like the combo of upper fast track to lower fast track. I can't think of a single run in PA like that combo.

[pcklein31]

As a snowboarder, Long Haul being down does make it rather difficult to run Upper /Lower Fast Track.  I do really enjoy riding lower Fast Track, something about the speed long sweeping turn at the bottom of the run.  

 

It is strange, even though the terrain is much better at Montage, without easy access to Upper/Lower Fast Track I get bored faster at Montage than I do at Jack Frost.  I like variety, I don't like running the same trail much more than 2-3 times a day.  At Montage, I don't touch the upper mountain(besides F.T.) or even lower Runaway.  You can only run Boomer, Smoke, Rattler(i wish there were more trails like it), Cannonball so much.

 

Now, saying that you can get rather creative in using the Phoebe lift for some longer combo cruiser runs(not much vertical, but good distance covered).  (Ex: Exit the Phoebe --> Lower Runaway --> cut over to Lower Fast Track--> back to Phoebe). 

[rgrwilco]

They were supposed to have more top to bottom trails when it turned into sno for the few years, with a high speed quad.

[Schif]

Montage, oh the mythical beast that is often discussed and seldom skied.

 

A HSQ would be a terrible idea to replace Long Haul. Think about it, all of a sudden you're putting hundreds of people at the top of Upper Runaway and Fast Track and of course the Glades. From there you could also reasonably access Whistler and maybe switch. These 3-4 trails funnel into Lower Runaway and Fast Track, as well as the possibility to go to Rattler which funnels into Cannonball. So long story short you're talking about 2 decent routes top to bottom that would get you back to the HSQ. Let's also remember that all of this terrain is labeled as intermediate and above. All of a sudden you've got tons of Tom Dick and Harrys all over the damn place. These guys will fall, they will slide, they will scrape, they will get hurt and most importantly they will ski off the only top to bottom routes within 2 hours. 

 

Let's also remember that the Glades at Montage are pretty great and they stay untracked for hours and hours if not days if you know where to look. All of that is gone with a HSQ. It will turn into blue mountain where you have to be up there for first chair if you want any chance of getting the goods. 

 

Ok so here's my take on why Montage doesn't do the numbers of blue and CB. First of all it's the extra drive. Camelback is a hair over an hour from the GW bridge, throw on another 45 minutes to an hour and New Yorkers don't have time for that. Same with Philly Pholks. An hour and half or so from the Philly area and you're at blue. Gotta go a few extra exits (45 minutes or so) and you're at Montage. Why go farther than you have to especially when you've got kids in tow.

 

Now for the locals, The ones in the relatively close poconos have CB, Frost and Boulder so they are obviously locals to those places. The really close people now come from a really interesting part of the world. The Wyoming Valley which stretches from Scranton to Wilkes-Barre has never really given up on the old ways. These people live in bubbles. People from Pittston go to Wilkes-Barre for their shopping, people from other towns go to Scranton. Even though these places are close together it's really one or the other. You kind of stick to the paths that people around you run in and deal with what you know and not a whole lot outside of that. Wilkes-Barre has 2 major newspapers. Scranton has 2 papers. These cities are 20 minutes apart and admittedly in different counties but if you read these papers the stories are very different. Now on top of this there is another complete bubble in the are known as "The Abingtons" This encompasses Clarks Summit and the surrounding areas. The Abingtons might as well be somewhere in Kansas because people from up there know nothing of the rest of the valley. This area is easily the wealthiest in the entire region. These are the people that overall have an interest in Golf and Skiing. Interestingly enough Clark's Summit lies equidistant to Montage and Elk. If you ask someone from "the summit" where they play golf they say Glen Oak, ask them where they go skiing and they will all say Elk. These people will admit that Elk is too expensive, they will admit that it sucks they don't have a lot of night skiing, and they will all hate the fact that it's out in the middle of nowhere as opposed to Montage which is in the heart of a metropolis. Doesn't matter to them. Their parents went to Elk, their friends go to Elk, so they go to Elk. They almost forget that Montage is even there. They don't even really register the fact that CB or Blue or Frost/boulder exist either. One track mind. 

[trackbiker]

^What Schif said.

[guitar73]

 

 

Now for the locals.....The really close people now come from a really interesting part of the world.

 

this makes me laugh b/c growing up in Hazleton I saw the same stuff there. glad I was able to escape the black hole that is NEPA.