Trip to the Knob 2-18-07 (first post, it's long)

[Helmet959]

Hi everyone, my names David. This is my first post on this forum. I'm 24 and learned how to ski at Roundtop. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

 

I made it over to Blue Knob for the first time in my life. What a mountain! From what I had heard, it's best to wait for the big winter storm to hit before planning a quick trip there. So we did just that. I didn't exactly know what to expect terrain wise even though I had studied the trail map extensively. Good variety of runs for my taste and ability.

 

We hit the slopes around 11 and didn't quit till 8:30 (except for lunch and a couple beers around dinner time to warm us up). The wind chill sunday must have been around 10 degrees by sundown. It was not nearly as crowded as we had expected. I never waited behind more than 10 people to get on any of the slow lifts.

 

I'm by no means a true expert. I consider an expert to be anyone capable of doing every run on a given mountain. I consider myself a decent one diamond skier. I did everything at Blue Knob except Extrovert, Lower Route 66 because they were double blacks and Shortway which I thought was closed. I loved Stembogen, Deer Run, Jack Rabbit and Lower Expressway. Lower High Hopes was another story! I've been to Canaan Valley, Snowshoe (I've done Cupps Run), Roundtop, Whitetail and Tremblant and this is the only one black I've found to be above my level. Got a little scared even. I was afraid I'd end up tucking on such a narrow run because I had lost control of my speed. About every two or three good turns I would stop. Contemplate my next few turns and go again. It's definitely the most narrow run I've ever done, especially the part past Extrovert and it made me reconsider my tight turning ability. I feel challenged and want to give it another shot without someone who was more nervous about it than me. I wish it was lit so I could have practiced with no one on the run. Oh well.

 

My favorite run was Stembogen. The bowl was much more impressive in person than in pictures. By the 3rd time down I was able to manage from Bowl to lift without coming to a complete halt. Loved it at night too! The spotty lighting wasn't an issue for me.

 

My favorite blue was Jack Rabbit. I like blues that have good speed combined with pitch variations and left and right turns. This run reminded me of Toboggan on the Le Soleil face of Tremblant.

 

All in all I was very happy with the mountain. The lack of "amenities" did not bother me one bit. It reminded me of visiting a nature park like Shenandoah and stopping at the Panorama restaurant store at the Rt 211 gap. Someone on this board described it as third world? The toilets worked. They had lockers to store our bookbags. They served hot food with cold and fresh beer. The lodge was warm. The rental equipment seemed less than 5 years old. As a skier/snowboarder what more do you need? This coming from someone who's been to Tremblant 3 times and Snowshoe once. I enjoyed the rustic nature of the operation. However, the environmental mess that the management has presided over is another subject I'm not going to approach here and now.

 

I enjoyed Blue Knob more than Canaan Valley and Snowshoe. I have a new favorite destination for day or one night last-minute trips based on good sustained cold weather. I don't feel like it would good idea to plan a 3 or 4 day trip to the Knob far in advance for fear of catching it on a bad stretch of warm weather. It's a bit shorter and an easier drive from Falls Church, my hometown. No one I was with on this trip had been to Blue Knob before so it was all on my shoulders if it was disappointing. I did my research

 

If anyones curious my life skiing experience is as follows.

 

Roundtop once a year for a weekend from 1986 to 1999, and again in 2002

Tremblant 5 day trips in 2001 2004 and 2007

Whitetail 2003

Canaan Valley 2003

Snowshoe 3 day trip 2005

Blue Knob 2007

[n0xidee]

Yeah blue knob really is a great place. Just curious, did you find out about this site from the stickers i threw on each bathroom door? Also are you heading up there anytime again? I will prolly be going there sometime over this weekend.

[Helmet959]

Yeah blue knob really is a great place. Just curious, did you find out about this site from the stickers i threw on each bathroom door? Also are you heading up there anytime again? I will prolly be going there sometime over this weekend.

 

I think I saw a sticker on the back of someones car in the parking lot right after arriving. I would love to go again, but I might not be able to until sometime in March for financial reasons. I'll post on here if I'm thinking about going anytime soon. I've never gone on three one-day trips in the same season... but the idea sounds great to me

[volklyokel]

David: Welcome to PASR. Thanks for the good report.

 

I had a terrific time there last week and I'm glad you did too. Lower High Hopes is an interesting run, for sure. You have to get into the hop-hop-hop rhythm to negotiate it well. Its like a long, straightened out version of Roundtop's Barrett's Trail.

 

Did you run single black, Edge Set? I got tossed on that one when I was there a week ago, making a nice roll-over manoeuver after having coasted-up out of the groove a bit too high. Edge Set has a stretch that is a little like a natural half-pipe. In thick powder it is a bit of a trick to edge-set one's way through.

 

Stembogen is really a blast, indeed. Hairpins and drops. I too like Jack Rabbit, especially with the variable pitches and the nice off-camber turn at the bottom. Of the blues, I really like Deer Run. At Blue Knob its rated blue. At any other PA resort it would be black to double black. Deer Run is like a short version of Deer Valley's double blue run called Big Stick. Big Stick is about two to three times the height of Deer Run.

 

Here's one of my favorite run combinations at Blue Knob: Start off on Upper Rt. 66, cut right to Upper Shortway, dive down the big hill, then hook left (BIG) around the Mid Way Barbecue, down a short piece of Mambo, go straight and cut through the trees, hooking right onto Upper Expressway, bomb down to the left of the trees (and around the typical fencing where Mambo crosses) on another little piece of Mambo (the steepest part of Mambo), hook back right and catch Lower Expressway to the triple chair. If you can do all that in about 80 seconds, you've just run a very good short Super-G type of course. But be sure you look up hill as you merge onto each trail. On weekdays, its never a problem.

 

I always enjoy spending four or five days there. The multi-day rates are a steal and you'll get a sense of how variable the conditions can be there. Tuesday and Wednesday, last week, were moderately difficult ski days, but Thursday and Friday were much easier, after the heavy powder and slight chunkiness got tracked out and groomed under.