ELK 2-26

[phillycore]

Went to Elk for the first time yesterday 2-26.

Caught the first chair up and was the first one to hit the fresh pow (yeah literally) under the chairlift (seneca maybe??)

Only my second day on long skis since the 90's but I caught back on really quick.

Spent a lot of time in the woods off of Chippawa I believe and out of bounds over by the resoirvoir or whatever the hell it is back there. Took some path and ended up at some dudes house or shack or something back in there too...lol

The kickapoo was a blast... racing down there with friends is a total blast.

I attempted the mogul run but with my bad knee it just wasn't happening so I cutout through the woods and onto lackawana.

I pretty much suck at moguls anyway.

[Schif]

Took some path and ended up at some dudes house or shack or something back in there too...lol

 

did it have a deck? I definately found a house there last year. Definately one of the most incredible runs I've ever taken.

[CaptDave]

I was there Monday as well. My uncle lives a few miles away and I stayed up there this weekend. I was going to come back home Sunday night but with the weather forecast of a little snow I decided to be sick of work on Monday. Great day on the snow.

[phillycore]

did it have a deck? I definately found a house there last year. Definately one of the most incredible runs I've ever taken.

Honestly I don't remember a deck but that doesn't mean it wasn't there.. It was all wood on the outside and had an A frame shape to it.

It was a sick run even though I technically wasn't supposed to be on it...lol

There are some kick ass paths and tree runs there to be found if you are creative enough and willing to risk your lift ticket to do it.

We fond one that led to a jump off of a rock ledge that was maybe 4-5 feet high on a tree run....that was a blast.

The slow ass lifts, being a monday, and fresh pow made the conditions epic for sure.. There was fresh cord and pow to be found all day on the edges and tree lines.

That would've ben gone by like 9-10am easily anywhere else I've been to on the east coast.

Elk probably isn't somewhere I'd want to be on a busy weekend, as I'd go bonkers if I had to wait in any kind of lift line for that slow of a lift.

[phillycore]

I used the PE's all day/eve at CB on Sun and all morning at Elk (till 12:30 from 1st chair) then I pulled out the scouts for the 2nd half of the day.

There is truly no comparison between the two, and it's two completely different types of skiing. Both have their advantages / disadvantages.

Noone bothered us when we were messing around in the woods, but we didn't exactly announce that we were going in there either.. WE snuck in there every chance we got though....lol

I wouldn't exactly call them glade runs though, but by Pa standards it's probably one of the best areas to hit the trees. And I can say that honestly with only going there once and not exactly knowing where the good tree stashes are. I'm pretty sure we found the large majority of them though as the guys I go with and I look for every opportunity we can to get in there and mess around.

They have some really nice groomed steeps too, but I get down them way too quickly to ride those lifts back up forever. If you ride off the back side of the mountain and loop around to the quad you can make the runs longer and it can somewhat even out the lift time. Not to mention watching the people on the mogul run that runs directly under the quad takes up some time. There are some seriously talented Elk locals that tear up the moguls, and a lot of people like me who attempt to survive them (some even worse) and make riding the lift funny at times..

This season is the first in a few years where I didn't get any kind of discount card, ticket pack to any one mountain. This allowed me to more easily go to different mountain each time and break up the monatony of riding the same trails over and over. I realy want to hit up sno before this year is over and I wouldn't mind hitting Shawnee too as that's somewhere I haven't been yet. BC I haven't been to since it was Doe and I was too young to even remember it as well.. But JF has pricing deals, Blue is close and has great lifts, and my friend has cabin access near CB which makes those mountains easier to attend sometimes.

I had a lot of fun at Elk and it's a different kind of mountain than a lot of the others around here for sure. I wouldn't go along with their slogan as being like skiing in VT, but for Pa. standards it's a lot closer than the rest of them. Elk comparing to VT would be like Killington comparing to JH it's just not fair and it's not even close in comparison.... It doesn't mean it's a bad mountain but it sure isn't like skiing in Killington either.

It's a fun place and a special mtn for Pa. and if you haven't been there, or haven't been back there in a while it should be on your high list for a long day trip, or overnight 2 day trip deal... During the week of course, and wear an extra layer on bottom as those long lift rides = some cold buns