Elk Mt., 2/18/2006

[stever2003]

Hi all. I went to Elk Mountain today for the first time ever. I just wanted to post a report to let everyone know how great it was. Elk Mountain regulars, I'm sorry if I'm exposing your secret.

 

My two friends and I arrived at Elk around 8:45, booted up at the car and got the shuttle to the lodge. Everything LOOKED crowded (ticket lines, lift lines), but in reality, I don't think I stood in any line today for more than 5 minutes. People up there are very friendly, all the regulars seem to know each other, are always saying hi to each other. It was very homey. We rode the main lift (double) for the first three runs, each of us sitting with a random person every time. Then, since we were a threesome on the quad, we always had someone on the lift with us. We struck up some good conversations with these other skiers and everybody was extremely friendly. We talked to some more experienced skiers about tips for moguls, or how to tweak certain techniques. It was a very enjoyable experience.

 

Oh ya, we skied there too! Logged 18 runs (6 off the main double, 12 off the quad). The snow was INCREDIBLE, to say the least. I was skeptical when I heard that they got 20 inches of snow last week, but the snow was unlike anything I've ever skied on before. The runs are very nice...the scenery was amazing. I read on Elk Mountain's history that they planted 13,000 trees back in the 80's...it was really cool skiing under the cover of trees on some trails. But, most of all, as I already said, the snow was AMAZING. Soft, powder, not too packed. My friends and I were snowing each other, we could shoot snow over each other's heads. Also, on the trails to the one side (Lackawanna, Lenape, Wissahickon) there were a lot of spots where you could ski through some trees. I mean, a LOT of spots. I know you're not supposed to, but they were all well travelled, and since they were not roped off and there was so much snow, we decided not to pass on the opportunity. Today was truly a day where we made the experience our own. It was just a truly fun day of skiing.

 

One funny incident that occurred...there was this little jump on the side of Lower Tunkhannok (skier's right). It was toward the bottom, there was a nice smooth dip before it, and then the takeoff and landing were very smooth and nice. I hit it, landed, and turned around to watch my friends. Eric went off next, and he's new to jumps, so he fell back and landed on his ass. Ry was next, but he chose to pass the jump in exchange for the perfect opportunity with which he was presented: snowing Eric. Ry went around the jump and proceeded to bury Eric in a cloud of snow, then skied over and joined me while Eric recovered. It was one of the funniest things I've ever seen....people were congratulating Ry from the lift. Just another fun addition to a perfect day.

 

Elk is probably the best mountain I've ever skied at. Lift lines were not bad (and people were saying it was more crowded than ever). Slopes were not at all crowded. Snow was perfect. Moguls were nice (P.S. I learned how to ski moguls ). Parking wasn't bad. People were friendly. Lift lines were extremely well managed. There wasn't a single bad aspect to the day. I've read some posts from people in the Blue Mt. and Bear Creek threads, and I feel bad that they had bad experiences this weekend. Please, do yourself a favor, call up a few friends, take off from work, and drive up to Elk. The snow was great this weekend and should be nice for a while. I've never been more satisfied with spending $50 on a lift ticket (but if you're reading this, Elk Mountain Management, a student discount would be greatly appreciated by us college kids). I'm going to take off from work on my 22nd birthday (March 7) for their Wednesday college discount.

 

See you soon, Elk Mt.

[bigdaddyk]

I've been there numerous times and was thinking about going Moday (Pres. Day), but don't know if I want to face the lift lines. It's really awesome on a weekday .

[stever2003]

Ya, I don't blame you. Though, today's lift lines were daunting. But once you got in line, it moved along. Elk definitely has a top notch operation going on up there.

[Schif]

I love going to elk. I really should do it more often. For me at home its only about 45 minutes to an hour away and is totally worth the drive. The only drawback to elk and what keeps me from being a local (other than the fact that Sno is 10 minutes away) is that they have very limited night skiing (never been there at night) and its generally pretty expensive.

 

Gotta love the terrain there though. There are a lot of great cliffs as Glenn mentioned and a million opportunities to ski the trees or just wide open fields of snow. On this one run last year I went with a local through the woods on skier's left of the mountain. We had to have spent a solid 40 minutes riding extremely deep, to the point where we actually stumbled on a house. . I'm disapointed I wasn't there for this powder day. Maybe over spring break? My big thing with elk was that whenever I went I would always skip a day of school (with parent's blessing) to do it. Nothing like leaving early in the morning, passing your highschool twice when you pick up your friend, and then continuing on to Elk.

[NJSkiFamily]

Hey, you guys beat me writing a trip report.

 

We were at Elk on both Saturday and Sunday (2/17 & 2/18). Yeah, the snow was Ah-Mazing!!!!!

 

Okay Doug.....now I know what you mean about liking soft powdery snow versus hardpack. It was like white pixie dust. And the great thing about this stuff is that it stayed on the trails and never got brushed off to the sides. I only encountered a wee bit of ice on Kickapoo and that was on Sunday around 2pm.

 

How about skiing on groomed blacks and not hitting a single bit of ice nor that scary scraping sound. Unbelievable.

 

Having said that, this stuff bumps up really well and even the blue cruiser trails started bumping up by mid-afternoon. It was great. Perfect for a newbie bumpee like me to practice on.

 

As for the crowds.....yeah, the lines got long. On Saturday around 9:30am the line to buy lift tickets extended all the way across the ski shop almost to the top of the stairs where you board the shuttle bus. And the lines at the lift in front of the lodge almost extended to the other lift. The lines at the quad/double lift sometimes got long.

 

But Elk does a good job managing the lines and they were always moving so even though you did have a wait it didn't "feel" so bad. My only complaint on Saturday was lifts constantly stopping. The quad was particularly bad at constantly stopping. My advice - the double is faster than the quad.

 

Even thought the lift lines were long the trails never felt crowded. The biggest problem was deciding which one - they were ALL fantastic. Yes, my kids loved heading off into the woods. My son (age 12) tripped on a branch and fell down and found himself stuck because his arms sank up to his armpits in the snow. I had to tell him the "cross your ski poles" trick to get up.

 

We headed over to the terrain park a bunch of times. Its neither the biggest or the best but my kids had fun. Everyone there seemed well behaved.

 

I've got some pictures that I need to upload and post.

 

My only rant is the nonsense in the cafeteria. Its bad enough people bringing in their luggage and depositing it on the tables but this time we saw way too many full-sized Coleman coolers blocking table space. Elk needs to build a separate cafeteria only accessable from the trails for people who just want to eat a quick meal and then head back on the slopes.

 

Only bad thing to the weekend was coming home when we almost got into an accident. It snowed enough on Sunday to coat the roads. We were on the road leading away from Elk and there was a purple Suburban/Excursion coming the other way who skidded and slams on the brakes and starts fish-tailing. The SUV does a full 360 and misses us by inches. The only reason we did not get broad-sided is that my husband drove straight into the snowbank on the side of the road to get out of the way.

 

And get this.....the SUV is still sliding and has spun around and is now blocking the road. We are completely stuck in a four foot snowbank on the side of the road. So what does the other driver do? Just puts the car in gear and drives off - doesn't even check to see if we are okay.

 

On the positive side....plenty of people stopped and got out of their cars to check if we were okay and helped push us out of the snow. It took about 15 minutes but we were on our way. A bit shaken but fine.

 

It was really nice to see so many come to our aid.

[stever2003]

Hey NJSki...it's good to hear that you're alright. Everybody in the area was extremely friendly and it's not surprising that people came to your aid.

 

I agree, the cafeteria was a mess. We tried going into the bar/restaurant, but we didn't want to be seated for a meal and nobody was moving from the quick food/drink tables (there were a few guys sitting alone at tables who looked to be chilling there for the day. That is somewhat frustrating). We found a family that was leaving and they let us take their spot. Got our food, ate, and were on our way in about 30 minutes. The best value on the menu had to be (just like at Blue Mountain) the chili. Can't beat it at $3.50.

 

Like you said, there were beautiful bumps on Upper Tunkhannock....it was the first time I was able to ski moguls. I try to learn but could not find any bumps for my skill level until yesterday. It was fun, and I talked to a few people to find out their tips/tricks on the bumps.

 

Doug, you are absolutely right. Yesterday was truly a fun day. I miss it already. I hope all of you can take some time, put up a little extra money, and take a trip to Elk Mountain.

[Glenn]

It was really nice to see so many come to our aid.

 

On wed during the snowstorm I ended up shoveling/pushing out multiple cars both in the Elk mountain resort, and the Idlewood ski shop at the end of one of the roads on the way out. At both locations a number of people gathered around to give a helping hand. Good stuff. At idlewood the owner brought his SUV and some pulling chains and two locals were just out in their truck with shovels looking for people in distress.

 

The locals in that area are super nice, it's really refreshing to have that kind of atmosphere in NEPA. I wasn't even sure it could exist in this area.

[VTmark]

i was there sunday and today. All in all it was good all around. but i didn't think it was perfect. the grooming torwds the lifts just killed it for me. when i'm trying to stop i hate getting thrown around by roller type things. Other then that it was sweet. I did a couple of bumbed runs. So if you saw a snowboarder doing decent on a bumbed run it was probly me. I stayed over night at my friends mom's boyfriends cabbin. and now I have a place to hunt every year. I couln't make it up his drive way so i had to park at his neibors house. and he came and picked me up with a ski doo. Everyone from my street was there but my parents, so i got plastered. I just remember waking up on the kitichen floor. and thats as far as i'm going to go on that.

[Kyle]

the only problem with elk are the lifts. they're so damn slllooowwww

[stever2003]

I agree that they're slow, but I would argue that it is a good thing. The trails were not at all crowded, despite regulars saying they've never seen so many people at the mountain. I'm thinking to myself right now that I cannot remember any instances where I had to dodge any noobs or had a snowboarder barreling down on me. Slow lifts were worth the sacrifice for the uncrowded trails, and I still fit in 18 runs in about 6.5 hours.

[trackbiker]

stever2003, Glad to hear you got to experience the best ski area in PA. Best terrain and best managed.

I was at Elk on Saturday. The conditions were great! It was the most crowded I've seen it in years but I never saw one empty chair on any lift and the longest I waited was 10 minutes. (What do you call a High Speed Six-Pack at Blue Mt.?.....a snowboarder's double! ) Elk runs their fixed-grip lifts faster than any other ski area I know.

While it was crowded, other than Tunkhannock (the bump run) the black diamonds were empty!

Try Elk midweek and you have fresh cord all day.

You can get discount tickets for most PA ski areas at local township or borough halls. Elk has the smallest discount at $8.00 off for weekdays and weekends. Do a google search to find a place to buy them near you or pm me and I'll tell you a few places to get them on the way.

As for slow lifts; if there is a line, a high-speed lift and a fixed-grip lift have THE SAME UPHILL CAPACITY. They both load and unload one chair every 6 seconds.

[bigdaddyk]

I took Friday off of work and plan on hitting Elk for first tracks . There's nothing like it....around here anyway .

[skierdaddy]

I'm glad everyone is enjoying the elk experience. It is truly about pure skiing or riding. no gimmicks or slick or misleading advertising and the terrain is wonderful for pa. I've been skiing in pa for 25 yrs and bought a cabin at elk because after skiing everywhere else I found myself not satisfied unless I was there! And I''ll be there again this weekend, hope to see you there.