Official 2017-2018 Opening Day Thread

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

1 minute ago, saltyant said:

I already broke two straps off my boots by walking down steps. One was from exiting the Camelback shuttle because I had to park several football fields away. Never go there at 2 pm on a weekend or you'll park in the boonies.

 

Wow just wow so you were walking with your straps undone and they were dangling along the ground. I don't understand the logistics. On busy days you should see how happy people are to get the spots in the PASR section of the lower lot when we leave. 

[saltyant]

4 minutes ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

Wow you sound like an early riser were you ever a paperboy Saltyant?  Montage was a joke?  Didn't you get to enjoy fluffy pow pow in the woods??

Nope. I just like getting up early to beat the crowds.

I don't ski in the woods because I think it's against the rules.  We were annoyed because Lower Runaway was horrendous... icy moguls with dirt in between. Then we took Long Haul, a 13 minute ride, and had to then walk uphill to get to the next trail because almost everything was closed. I had gone to Vermont (Elk) the day before, and there was just no comparison.

 

 

[saltyant]

11 minutes ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

Wow just wow so you were walking with your straps undone and they were dangling along the ground.

Nope, had my straps securely fastened. I just stepped the wrong way and broke a rivet... twice.

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

1 minute ago, saltyant said:

Nope. I just like getting up early to beat the crowds.

I don't ski in the woods because I think it's against the rules.  We were annoyed because Lower Runaway was horrendous... icy moguls with dirt in between. Then we took Long Haul, a 13 minute ride, and had to then walk uphill to get to the next trail because almost everything was closed. I had gone to Vermont (Elk) the day before, and there was just no comparison.

 

 

 

Were any of the runs at Montage good??  I'll show you some sweet woods at Blue that require mandatory Giant Slalom turns. 

[saltyant]

1 minute ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

Were any of the runs at Montage good??  I'll show you some sweet woods at Blue that require mandatory Giant Slalom turns. 

Boomer was good. Smoke was really bumpy. Cannonball turned to a sheet of ice. I don't do White Lightning yet, sounds too intimidating. Can't wait to try some double diamonds at Blue in a few weeks. Cliffhanger @ CB is getting too easy.

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

4 minutes ago, saltyant said:

Nope, had my straps securely fastened. I just stepped the wrong way and broke a rivet... twice.

Wow just wow...I broke a buckle hot dogging it in the lift line..luckily ski patrol didn't see me or I would have gotten a demerit and 15 lashes. 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

2 minutes ago, saltyant said:

Boomer was good. Smoke was really bumpy. Cannonball turned to a sheet of ice. I don't do White Lightning yet, sounds too intimidating. Can't wait to try some double diamonds at Blue in a few weeks. Cliffhanger @ CB is getting too easy.

 

I think midway at Blue is harder than Cliffhanger at Cameltoe..the chute for sure..it's so narrow and steep you need hop turns to get down it..

[saltyant]

5 minutes ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

I think midway at Blue is harder than Cliffhanger at Cameltoe..the chute for sure..it's so narrow and steep you need hop turns to get down it..

I'd be interested to see how steep each slope is at CB, Blue and Montage. Has anyone ever figured out what the grades are?

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

9 minutes ago, saltyant said:

I'd be interested to see how steep each slope is at CB, Blue and Montage. Has anyone ever figured out what the grades are?

Nothing is steeper than 30 degrees except white lightning at Montage and the elevator at Jack Frost.  Top of razors and challenge are high 20s I inamine the tops of the front four at Camelback is mid 20s cliffhanger likely low 20s

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

 

What makes PA skiing easy is the lack of sustained pitches for instance the Hobacks at Jackson hole are 30-35 degrees in pitch for over 2500 vert. 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

 

If it's something that interests you buy an inclinator 

[saltyant]

12 minutes ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

Nothing is steeper than 30 degrees except white lightning at Montage and the elevator at Jack Frost.  Top of razors and challenge are high 20s I inamine the tops of the front four at Camelback is mid 20s cliffhanger likely low 20s

Interesting, thanks. I always thought Cliffhanger was easier than the other 4 despite it being ranked a double diamond.

10 minutes ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

If it's something that interests you buy an inclinator 

Tomorrow I'll bring my cycling GPS which tells me elevation and grade. Not sure how accurate grade will be since it needs to cover some distance to calculate.

[enjoralas]

3 hours ago, Ski2Live Live2Ski said:

They posted on FB they will give a pass good for a return any other day. May well check it out for two runs and if it bites take the free return pass and head for Blue. 

Never underestimate Camelback's ability or willingness to intentionally obfuscate the details of a situation when ambiguity of said details is financially adventageous to Camelback..

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Cliffhanger is easier than the other four. Camelback just wanted to have a double diamond.  Nightmare at Blue mountain is a double diamond and the chute is a single diamond and harder.  Things don't always make sense a lot of it is pure marketing.  Smugglers notch even has a triple diamond. 

[enjoralas]

4 minutes ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

Cliffhanger is easier than the other four. Camelback just wanted to have a double diamond.  Nightmare at Blue mountain is a double diamond and the chute is a single diamond and harder.  Things don't always make sense a lot of it is pure marketing.  Smugglers notch even has a triple diamond. 

Every time I've skied the Camel Cliffhanger has been edge to edge moguls. I always assumed that's why the double black rating

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Just now, enjoralas said:

Every time I've skied the Camel Cliffhanger has been edge to edge moguls. I always assumed that's why the double black rating

Cliffhanger has been groomed the majority of times I've skied it but I haven't been to Camelback in 4 years. 

[saltyant]

19 minutes ago, enjoralas said:

Every time I've skied the Camel Cliffhanger has been edge to edge moguls. I always assumed that's why the double black rating

It's groomed most of the time. In spring conditions, the top tends to get a lot of moguls but the middle of the slope doesn't.

Edited December 2, 2017 by saltyant

[saltyant]

1 hour ago, enjoralas said:

Never underestimate Camelback's ability or willingness to intentionally obfuscate the details of a situation when ambiguity of said details is financially adventageous to Camelback..

Very true. I can't believe the preferred parking debacle. That was mainly the reason I bought the season pass. I guess they figured they could make $400 more by selling those 20 spots. Unbelievable. Since they forgot to change their website to reflect this change, I think I should get my own personal parking space as compensation.

[saltyant]

Wow! Look at all those piles. Told you guys they just needed to spread it around. And you thought I was trolling...

Edited December 2, 2017 by saltyant

[enjoralas]

25 minutes ago, saltyant said:

Wow! Look at all those piles. Told you guys they just needed to spread it around. And you thought I was trolling...

I was just coming here to post the same screenshot. What a shit show it's going to be with everyone having to funnel  in there to that lift. Tough to gauge how wide it is from this angle, but it can't be that wide. I almost want to go up there to watch it. Might be more entertaining than actually skiing at Blue. I would actually consider going up there, taking a run, watching the show and then heading to Blue after exercising the "WTF were you thinking opening today" guarantee to get a cheaper ticket for later in the season. But with the limited terrain open at Blue don't want to miss good runs there before the conditions turn. 

[saltyant]

21 minutes ago, enjoralas said:

I was just coming here to post the same screenshot. What a shit show it's going to be with everyone having to funnel  in there to that lift. Tough to gauge how wide it is from this angle, but it can't be that wide. I almost want to go up there to watch it. Might be more entertaining than actually skiing at Blue. I would actually consider going up there, taking a run, watching the show and then heading to Blue after exercising the "WTF were you thinking opening today" guarantee to get a cheaper ticket for later in the season. But with the limited terrain open at Blue don't want to miss good runs there before the conditions turn. 

It'll be interesting for sure. I'll post a detailed report tomorrow. It depends on how many people actually show up. I doubt many people are going to come from NYC and the major cities to ski 1 green trail. The worst part will be the "Marc Antony" trail - that area reminds me of driving on a busy highway sometimes, no joke. Two lanes of people and not much room for error. One person falling will literally cause a traffic jam tomorrow. Fittingly known as the "gapers delay". badum tish

Edited December 2, 2017 by saltyant

[enjoralas]

56 minutes ago, saltyant said:

Very true. I can't believe the preferred parking debacle. That was mainly the reason I bought the season pass. I guess they figured they could make $400 more by selling those 20 spots. Unbelievable. Since they forgot to change their website to reflect this change, I think I should get my own personal parking space as compensation.

They continually hide their closing information as long as they can as well, presumably so that hotel guests won't cancel while they can still get refunds.

Just about every advertisement they place on social media for their passes references the cheapest possible (child's) price with no mention of "starting at" or that it is not the everyone price.

Even their opening announcement of one white ribbon of death was preceded by a video full of all-mountain skiing. Sure no one here thought that was their situation by any stretch, but there are a lot of gapers out there that have no clue.

 

Again, I'm probably the Camel's second biggest fan on here now that you'er here, but the place sure seems to be run by dirtbags.

Edited December 2, 2017 by enjoralas

[enjoralas]

4 minutes ago, saltyant said:

It'll be interesting for sure. I'll post a detailed report tomorrow. It depends on how many people actually show up. I doubt many people are going to come from NYC and the major cities to ski 1 green trail. The worst part will be the "Marc Antony" trail - that area reminds me of driving on a busy highway sometimes, no joke. Two lanes of people and not much room for error. One person falling will literally cause a traffic jam tomorrow.

Yeah, that elbow is also gonna be prime people watching. Post pics and vids for sure

[saltyant]

7 minutes ago, saltyant said:

One person falling will literally cause a traffic jam tomorrow. Fittingly known as the "gapers delay". badum tish

I think this is the most creative thing I came up with this week. Too bad I can't like my own post.

[saltyant]

8 minutes ago, enjoralas said:

They continually hide their closing information as long as they can as well, presumably so that hotel guests won't cancel while they can still get refunds.

Just about every advertisement they place on social media for their passes references the cheapest possible (child's) price with no mention of "starting at" or that it is not the everyone price.

Even their opening announcement of one white ribbon of death was preceded by a video full of all-mountain skiing. Sure no one here thought that was their situation by any stretch, but there are a lot of gapers out there that have no clue.

Lol, you really analyzed the hell out of their posts. I'm impressed! Thanks for reminding me of the pass references. I was sure I saw them do something sleazy but couldn't remember what it was. And good point about the video showing the whole mountain open, I didn't think of that. That's why they made people watch their video until the end.

It'll be interesting to see the coverage tomorrow, since it looks like they dropped the ball in delaying making snow to try to save money, hoping the forecast would stay warm, and got too much pressure from social media to open something since 3 places are already open.

Edited December 2, 2017 by saltyant