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Blue mountain..12/7..opening day..

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Hey All,

I'm back from day one of Blue mountains 2007-08 ski season. After a short delivery day, I got out of work at 11:40AM and stopped at Sheetz for some ghetto nachos and Sugar Free Red Bull. It was snowing on the drive up and the temperature dropped from 29 degrees to 25 degrees in the upper lot at Blue mountain. I had that mad steezy feeling like I just got laid or won a poker tournement. If I could bottle that feeling I'd be a rich man..a natural high.. I got the 4th closed spot to the lodge and Booted up. I made sure I had everything, wallet, skeeze, keys, steeze, cheeze, I-pizzle, and I was ready to go.

I stepped into my Rossi Scratch fat twin-tips 30 yardsa away by the ski school office and skated down to the ticket check..my pass got scanned and then the magical ding sound...Off onto vista for my first Blue mountain run of the season. Then down midway to lower mainstreet. The snow was very nice machine made with some smaller chunks lower down. Nothing like the death cookies of past opening. The I skied Main Street from the top and they started a seeded bump trail on Barneys bumps for 1/2 the length of Main Street. That's where the big death cookies lurked but alot of weekend traffic should make for some nice moguls. On the next liftride I saw Atomic Jeff arcing his SL2700s to the max on Midway. I waited at the top for him and then we skied Lazy Mile which had really nice packed powder. From the last turn on Lazy Mile we had a good view of the massive snowmaking efforts on Shuttle, Homestretch, Falls, and Challenge. They were also blowing snow on connecter and Chute. Chute and the 6-pack could be ready tomorrow..it depends if they want to staff the lower lodge. Then we ran into Glenn and did some laps with him. We were also joined by one of the race coaches who helps out with Nastar in the start shack.

At some point early in my ski session, they groomed the skiers left side of Lazy Mile and it was sweet velvety cord..a combination of manmade and natural snow which was falling moderately from the sky for the majority of my session. We also skied one run on Raceway which was pretty icey but also grippy..The Come Around park looked sweet and there were about 10 jibs set-up..gap on stuff..a wall ride..and a huge rollercoaster box that looks real easy..Props to park crue for manicuring the park..it looked great. Then Toast skied the last few runs with us. I quit at 4:10PM and skied 18 runs in total for 14,400 vertical feet. You'd be surprised but there were alot of gapers out and plenty of snowlerbladers..The lift stopped quite a bit and it will be so nice when the six-pack opens up. It was the best opening day I remember at Blue mountain with 5 different ways down from the top and very good surface conditions..When I left there was a solid inch of snow on my car and the temperature was 26 degrees. It looks like snowmaking should continue into tomorrow. I'll be out there bright and early for fresh cord and a few uncrowded runs before the race team and most of the season passholders descend on the mountain with Pennsylvanias highest vertical drop..That's my boy Blue..
 
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I don't feel the need to start a new thread for todays trip report because there are only a few PA/NJ skiers and riders on here. This is copy/paste of the report I posted over on www.paskiandride.com from this morning December 8th. It looks like another good night of snowmaking with even more terrain opening shortly followed by possible frozen precipitation..Excellent conditions thus far for early December in the southern Poconos. Here is my detailed report from today.

Today was a fun day at Blue mountain for sure. I arrived around 7:10AM and there were already alot of cars in the lot. The temperature was 30 degrees under overcast skys with moderate winds. I booted up and saw Toast waiting at the upper lodge ticket checker. Atomic Jeff arrived a few minutes later and at 7:30Am sharp..we were scanned in and ready to ski. Wow the cord was sa-weet the first 3-4 runs. Firm yet soft..kind of hard to explain..but it was essentially effortless skiing on Midway, Main Street, and Lazy Mile. The red coats were out in full force including PASRs own Concussion Ted. We saw Ted at the top and he even tooted his whistle for us but unfortunately he didn't join us. We also saw First Grade Teacher Larry all decked out in gray from the lift On one lift ride we were riding up the Main Street chair and this gaper on twin-tips..yelled up to Atomic Jeff and it was Noxidee. A-Jeff said hi but we didn't see him again. In the future if you want to meet up with the group..just wait at the top and we'll be there within 10 minutes or so.

As the session progressed the snow got choppier due to more and more traffic. The race team, ski instructors, and all the TDHs(Tom Dick, and Harry's) were out in full force. Definitely some snakes of racers to weave through on Lazy Mile. What I don't like about the race team kids is that when they're stopped in a big group on the side of the trail..They start skiing without looking uphill and yielding to other skiers and riders. That's bad Smartstyle. I really hope the race coaches give me and skifreak a few minutes so we can discuss Smartstyle with the race-honks.

The session ended with some runs with BMTourblemaker, TMaki, Justo, and some other jib-sters. Then after 15 runs, it was around 10:20AM and the liftline was a full corral. The line moved fast though with both the Burma and Main Street chairs running but it stopped alot. By this point the temperature was in the mid 30s and the snow was softening up a bit and Barneys bumps skied pretty well. Atomic Jeff and I headed directly to the Blue Mountain Drive-Inn for brunch. It was mad empty in there and it was cool being back in there after more than 8 months. I didn't order any fresh sausage. I was more in a bacon mood. I then stopped at Weis market and just spent the past 40 minutes cleaning my place and now I'm drinking a Wheat Beer..

Tomorrow should be another mad steezy day..be sure to arrive early...rumor has it that Sexkitten, Phillycore, Coffeebrew(Chippy), and Eugene could be in the house. Nastar Glenn might be there as well. The Boot is banging..get up there and ski...
 

TreeLine

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thanks for the report.. I'm lookin to hit up Blue this week. Are they opening for good or just weekends? Any deals going on there?
 
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thanks for the report.. I'm lookin to hit up Blue this week. Are they opening for good or just weekends? Any deals going on there?

They're open for good and the base is DEEP. They're charging regular prices but deals abound...




$10 Off Adult Lift Tickets on following days (non-holiday) Ages 19 and older

Monday Men's Day
Tuesday Business Person's Day (Bring your business card)
Wednesday Ladies' Day
Thursday Ski Club Member Day(Show your valid membership card)
Monday thru
Friday College Student Discount (Must show valid college ID)
Sunday Discount Night 4-10pm
 

koreshot

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GSS, thanks for the reports.

Sudha and I were actually there for opening day. We decided to brave the weather and the long drive, took off of work an hour early and were on the slopes by 7pm. Given our late arrival we felt like we needed to keep skiing until ski patrol kicked us out at 10pm.

Indeed the base was deep and the volume of snow they were able to blow was rather impressive. We spent most of our time skiing mainstreet/barneys and lazy mile. Lazy mile had really great snow, actual packed powder that you could set a good edge on and GS down. Main street wasn't too bad but as always the second half of the run was that classic granular strange snow on top of a frozen base. I don't know what it is about this trail but it always gets like this. The bumps were seeded that afternoon it seems so they were basically horrible. I did 5 runs on the bumps trying to get some kind of line going, but the seeds were too far apart and the snow was really bad. Thats to be expected though - just need more skier traffic to turn it into an actual bump run.

My other observation was.... snowboarders. Lots of them. I don't know if something was going on on Friday that caused more boarders to come out but there were 3 boarders per skier on the hill. Is Blue starting to cater to more boarders or something? Most of the boarders were high school and college kids. There were a couple of occasions where we got trash talk cause we were skiers.

But overall it was a great day and solid start to the season by blue...
 
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GSS, thanks for the reports.

Sudha and I were actually there for opening day. We decided to brave the weather and the long drive, took off of work an hour early and were on the slopes by 7pm. Given our late arrival we felt like we needed to keep skiing until ski patrol kicked us out at 10pm.

Indeed the base was deep and the volume of snow they were able to blow was rather impressive. We spent most of our time skiing mainstreet/barneys and lazy mile. Lazy mile had really great snow, actual packed powder that you could set a good edge on and GS down. Main street wasn't too bad but as always the second half of the run was that classic granular strange snow on top of a frozen base. I don't know what it is about this trail but it always gets like this. The bumps were seeded that afternoon it seems so they were basically horrible. I did 5 runs on the bumps trying to get some kind of line going, but the seeds were too far apart and the snow was really bad. Thats to be expected though - just need more skier traffic to turn it into an actual bump run.

My other observation was.... snowboarders. Lots of them. I don't know if something was going on on Friday that caused more boarders to come out but there were 3 boarders per skier on the hill. Is Blue starting to cater to more boarders or something? Most of the boarders were high school and college kids. There were a couple of occasions where we got trash talk cause we were skiers.

But overall it was a great day and solid start to the season by blue...


Boarders are generally more diehard early and late season than skiers..I notice that every season..plus alot of the older Blue regulars who ski only ski Saturday and Sunday mornings and never go night skiing. You'd be surprised by how many season passholders don;t go night skiing at all due to the perception of cold temperatures and bad visibility when in fact, vidibility is fine with the right goggle lense and it;s actually colder early AM. I can't wait till they get the 6-pack open.
 

koreshot

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Boarders are generally more diehard early and late season than skiers.

You think? I think it depends on the hill and their client base more than anything else. Hunter was loaded with skiers on Thanksgiving weekend, with a snoboarder or two here and there.

Anyway, Blue seemed to have a lot of younger kids there - high school and college age. There was the random trashtalk, some racing down Lazy Mile, followed by donuts and burnouts in the parking lot. Maybe I sound old, but thats not what I look for in a ski area.
 
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Great reports! No pics? ;) How are you liking those Rossi Scratches?

I usually just take pictures when I go to Stowe and Jackson Hole. Dial-Up sucks for pictures. The Rossi Scratches are nice. I've been using them so far because they have the best edge of my quiver. One of these days my buddy is going to wax and sharpen my Scratches, Atomic LT11s, and Elan S12s. He owes me $35 and he'll earn it tuning my skis. I can't wait to try the Scratches in powder since they'll 88mm under foot. They're great for big long radius turns..and are pretty stiff and heavy which is a plus..
 
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You think? I think it depends on the hill and their client base more than anything else. Hunter was loaded with skiers on Thanksgiving weekend, with a snoboarder or two here and there.

Anyway, Blue seemed to have a lot of younger kids there - high school and college age. There was the random trashtalk, some racing down Lazy Mile, followed by donuts and burnouts in the parking lot. Maybe I sound old, but thats not what I look for in a ski area.

You were also there for the night session..when prices are cheaper and so yes night skiing draws a younger roudier client base. On Saturday and Sunday mornings it's an older crowd on people and the terrain park is deserted until late morning. I'd say Blue is about 1/3 boarders and 2/3 skiers. Not bad considering they didn't allow snowboarders until 1996.
 

Method9455

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I don't think snowboarders are more hardcore, this is just a really good time for them right now. High school kids don't have much going on this time of year, colleges largely have class off this week for finals. Kids are less fickle about conditions as well. My dad rarely comes out if its not sunny and packed powder, I'll go in rain/mud/slush/ice/night/clouds/brutal cold I don't care.
 
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Plus alot of real jaded skiers in the area don't even bother with the Poconos and opt for strictly New England and sometimes just out west. I'm an all conditions skier and would have fun arcing in frozen dog shit...I want to ski alot and Blue is a hop skip and a jump away..if it wasn't for Blue..I might not be a skier..

I can never get enough of the place..sure the runs aren't scary steep but you can get mad steezy air and speed. Lazy Mile was fun on my 4th day of skiing and now I'm closing in on day 1,000 and it's still fun..
 

patricsaint

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Thanks for the update. I'll be trying to get up there this weekend.
Just got back from 3 amazing days in CO to get me ready for Blue!
;-)
 
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Thanks for the update. I'll be trying to get up there this weekend.
Just got back from 3 amazing days in CO to get me ready for Blue!
;-)

It looks like the 6-pack and additional terrain will be open this weekend..there are some huge whales on challenge...and tubing also opens this weekend..:spread:
 
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