Crowds This Weekend

Nice photos....Gorgi.


Typical lift line is 5 or less.   Yes, when these PA mountains can make money, there seems to be no shame.   I agree that (sadly) the skiers who are coming for the first or second time can be (likely are) turned off and won't return.  Sometimes I feel sad for them, other times I want to say....what the heck are you thinking DUH....if you have the great idea to come today....what do you think the other 6 million people in the trisate area are thinking?   The 45 mins were for green/blue runs.   Blue/Black runs was a 7-8 min wait, where normally you ski to the lifts.     So one cannot really complain.    As a compassionate guy, I felt so bad doing the lift cut thing with my lessons.  But at over $100.00/hr, on top of lift ticket, there should be some cutsies...otherwise it would be $100/run.      

Not a big facebook guy---however I do need to do something to tell all my non-avid skiing friends to NOT COME.  I get texts all day...."can I get some tickets today, can you ski with my kids, how busy is it?"    One post---DO NOT COME, GO TO NY/GORE.       8 short hours.    

snoloco wrote

Here's some MC lift line pictures for you to cringe at.

That is just disgusting!!!  

snoloco wrote

Lines at the PA mountains which are MC's competition were 45 minutes?!  The longest lines at MC were about 20 minutes.  They weren't parking people on the fields either.  That's just ridiculous that the PA mountains did that.  They should have just stopped selling tickets once the parking lot overflowed.  I guess $$$ drives everything, I'm sure people wouldn't be having a good time at a mountain that was that crowded.  45 minutes for 7-800 foot vertical which is smaller than MC.  You Gore guys are so lucky.

Don't be so smug about the vertical at Mt Creek.
Bear Peak Express 675vf
South Peak Express 995vf
Granite Peak quad 859vf
Cab 850vf
The old triple at Vernon 942vf

Blue's 2 main lifts both have more vertical than any lift at MC.

You just did not come to the right PA mountain.  Elk mountain  had less,than 5 minutes lines both days.  Lodge gets crowded and the blue run Delaware can get crowded.Mogul runs other than Tunk ,you will have to yourself.

Gunny J wrote

You just did not come to the right PA mountain.  Elk mountain  had less,than 5 minutes lines both days.  Lodge gets crowded and the blue run Delaware can get crowded.Mogul runs other than Tunk ,you will have to yourself.

That's cool considering it was Berger's $20 day on Sunday if I'm not mistaken.

That's it. Sonolco has to start a Jersey skiing blog. Please. Please.

My friend dragged me to Huntah sunday (season passes@belleayre so I usually go there). There were crazy lines, and even though it was snowing most of the day, the whole mountain rode like cement after 11:00 am. Thinking west would be better, we went in and it was 100% windblown ice. Nobody seemed to be enjoying the ride over there. It drove home what I already know, hunter is only fun when there is a ton of fresh snow, or at the start or end of the season. Otherwise, I put hunter with MC as my least favorite destinations.
 
Belleayre has shorter and shittier lifts, but the runs are so much more interesting than haulassing down hellgate which is scraped clean by 10:00 am usually, or cruising the belt side with a billion other people. Seriously, that run is the most congested I have ever ridden.

Het skunkape have you ever tried Plattekill. It's about 15-20 mins past Belleayre. It's usually ski on for lifts.

skunkape wrote

Belleayre has shorter and shittier lifts, but the runs are so much more interesting than haulassing down hellgate which is scraped clean by 10:00 am usually, or cruising the belt side with a billion other people. Seriously, that run is the most congested I have ever ridden.

Couldn't have said it better. Was at hunter last week and felt like I wasted a day. I'm a pass holder at Bell too. It's been skiing really great this year.

Thehof wrote

Het skunkape have you ever tried Plattekill. It's about 15-20 mins past Belleayre. It's usually ski on for lifts.

Is there a certain route you take?  

 I own one of the best radar detectors on the market, drive fast, and take chances, and it's about 20-22 minutes past Belleayre for me.

I wouldn't admit that on the internet

skunkape wrote

My friend dragged me to Huntah sunday (season passes@belleayre so I usually go there). There were crazy lines, and even though it was snowing most of the day, the whole mountain rode like cement after 11:00 am. Thinking west would be better, we went in and it was 100% windblown ice. Nobody seemed to be enjoying the ride over there. It drove home what I already know, hunter is only fun when there is a ton of fresh snow, or at the start or end of the season. Otherwise, I put hunter with MC as my least favorite destinations.
 
Belleayre has shorter and shittier lifts, but the runs are so much more interesting than haulassing down hellgate which is scraped clean by 10:00 am usually, or cruising the belt side with a billion other people. Seriously, that run is the most congested I have ever ridden.

How could a bunch of boring repetitive parallel trails all the same width and pitch running straight top to bottom be more interesting than Hunter's layout?  In Hunter's layout, there are things called turns and variations in pitch/width of the trails.  They make skiing more fun.  You need to ski all the trails as they all are unique.  At Belleayre, the trails ski so similarly that you could change all the trail signs and not even notice.  The only terrain that Belleayre has an edge on Hunter for is glades since they get more natural snow.

snoloco wrote

How could a bunch of boring repetitive parallel trails all the same width and pitch running straight top to bottom be more interesting than Hunter's layout?  In Hunter's layout, there are things called turns and variations in pitch/width of the trails.  They make skiing more fun.  You need to ski all the trails as they all are unique.  At Belleayre, the trails ski so similarly that you could change all the trail signs and not even notice.  The only terrain that Belleayre has an edge on Hunter for is glades since they get more natural snow.

Snow quality! And crowds! Hunter is pretty much always flat, firm and fast which makes it boring to me. Belleayre's trails do ski differently and the availability of GOOD bumps and glades make it very interesting. The edges of the trails are often awesome, particularly in mid winter when the middle gets skied off. Skiers push the fluff on/over the berm and it skis fantastic. Hunter has 2 foot high walls on the edges of their trails that you can't get on/over. Plus on a weekend the place is a shit show. In my experience it's only good in fall and spring when things soften up.

snoloco wrote

a bunch of boring repetitive parallel trails

Kind of like this

hey skunkape go to plattekill. well worth the extra time it takes. i like hunters west side but can't deal with the crowds. i have gone there midweek after a big storm only to watch a damn bus pull up.  really!!!!!!

sig... don't like the buses?  More enviro than everyone driving their own car.  Or just want the mountain all to yourself?  Lift ticket... $10,000?

Teasing. Sorta. Hunter gets kudos for getting all their terrain open fast. Jess P told me $13,000 an hour for 7-10 days (200 hours?) gets that mountain open 90%. So that's... some coin.

Yeah, nothing off of a 4080' summit worth mentioning.





http://nyskiblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Hunter-Mountain-Trees.jpg

http://nyskiblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Westway-Powder.jpg

Trails were being referenced

harvey i don't want to see a bus pull in on a wednesday with two feet of powder on the ground.  selfish - yes.. against carpooling - no

skimore wrote

snoloco wrote

a bunch of boring repetitive parallel trails

Kind of like this

Here comes skimore to dispute every word I say.  Ski Hunter any day and tell me if the trails ski all the same.  They sure don't to me and I go there every weekend.  Just compare it to the picture below.  All but 3 trails start on top of the ridge and go to the bottom of the ridge completely straight, or almost completely straight.  I'm not counting the beginner area because it is even flatter than the rest of it.  Hunter has sustained vertical all the way to the bottom like Plattekill while Belleayre ends in a long boring runout.  Hunter has also got better snow than almost anyone in the state.  They have at least a 10 foot base on many of their trails now and have said that they will be open well into April.  My dad and I skied Gore and Windham on days where there was no recent snowfall and the conditions were not as good as Hunter was the weekend before.