Tussey 1/16/23

[abe]

I took a nice drive up 322 to visit a cousin at Penn State and ski Tussey. I made use of my Indy pass (finally) and with another friend we took advantage of the 2 for 1 college ticket monday which is pretty rad that they offer specials on a holiday.  A bit of a line for the two lifts formed early afternoon but it was not too crazy I thought considering schools had off.  Blue sky day and the sun had softened the snow up nicely except parts of the Deer Run green from the top (narrow shaded cut and the only green from the top today so it got skied off) and Upper Tuscarora (double black with massive whales they just opened for the season).

 

The hill is actually a bit steeper than I imagined.  It is a consistently steep pitch down 400-500ft under the quad.  From the quad the green would be a blue and the blue a black at a lot of other PA areas.  The beginner slope at the bottom is a good setup but it is really a big step up to send beginners down from the quad after that- narrow, crowded, slick and kind of steep. If they were to get that outer Lions way green open in this wacky weather that might be a better less steep next step and way to spread the traffic.  They had some jumps set up at the bottom of the one blue.

 

Classic sort of lodge with a fire and that ancient quad lift are fun.   Fun place with everyone just having a good old time skiing for a few hours.

 

That T bar straight up the side would be a wicked ride...

 

[rgrwilco]

Looks like a fun time.

 

Fun fact: Tussey was actually a much taller ski area on the other side of the gap, but was relocated to this location. The prior spot had 900 feet of vert.

https://www.dcski.com/lostareas/viewlostprofile.php?id=95

[toast21602]

Thanks for sharing this! I really enjoy reports from smaller hills like this.

[abe]

 

6 hours ago, rgrwilco said:

Looks like a fun time.

 

Fun fact: Tussey was actually a much taller ski area on the other side of the gap, but was relocated to this location. The prior spot had 900 feet of vert.

https://www.dcski.com/lostareas/viewlostprofile.php?id=95

That's pretty interesting,  I didn't know that.  I've wondered driving by along 322 through all those mountains and hiking in the area why the ski area isn't on one of the larger hills.  Now I know why.  This seems like the general idea as I tried to picture it from those maps:

Another 900ft vert area in the state would be a nice thing to have.  Add that to that list with the 1200ft thompsontown area along the juniata just past duncannon and the 1200ft area up by tunkhannock past scranton as places that I really wish had materialized.

 

Out of all the huge mountains in the middle area of the state... we get Tussey Mountain and Blue Knob as ski areas.  Which is not to knock on them at all but you wonder what could have been

 

Edited January 18, 2023 by abe

[abe]

It's fun to visit some of the more low key areas around.  I would have loved to have a place like this 5 minutes from the old U of DE

 

4 hours ago, toast21602 said:

Thanks for sharing this! I really enjoy reports from smaller hills like this.

Edited January 18, 2023 by abe

[abe]

Waiting for Tussey to announce the Colonel Boal express Peak to peak gondola to bald knob

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

39 minutes ago, abe said:

Waiting for Tussey to announce the Colonel Boal express Peak to peak gondola to bald knob

Good one Abram!!!!

[rgrwilco]

11 hours ago, abe said:

 

That's pretty interesting,  I didn't know that.  I've wondered driving by along 322 through all those mountains and hiking in the area why the ski area isn't on one of the larger hills.  Now I know why.  This seems like the general idea as I tried to picture it from those maps:

Another 900ft vert area in the state would be a nice thing to have.  Add that to that list with the 1200ft thompsontown area along the juniata just past duncannon and the 1200ft area up by tunkhannock past scranton as places that I really wish had materialized.

 

Out of all the huge mountains in the middle area of the state... we get Tussey Mountain and Blue Knob as ski areas.  Which is not to knock on them at all but you wonder what could have been

 

North mountain out by ricketts glen had plans for a 1400 foot drop, same with miller mountain in tunkhannock. PA could have been the alps of the mid Atlantic /s.

[Johnny Law]

Good Ole Tussey, I skied there a bunch with my cousin many moons ago when he went to State College. 

Only place less concerned with safety than blue knob, of the 3 trails one had more than one cinder block. I also love they have 4 ways down but like 20 trails allegedly. 

Tussey is Spring Mtn for state college or Doe mtn before Bear became Bear. Blue Knob is worth the drive Tussey only if you got a date to pick up meth in Boalsburg.