Blue Mtn 4-2-17 Closing Day

[legalskier]

There was skiing in Pennsylvania in April, at least at Blue- a feather in the cap of its excellent snowmaking team. The conditions were surprisingly good. All trails were open except Challenge, who's dirt patches didn't prevent poachers from sneaking some runs. Being that it was Blue's last day, I won't linger on conditions other than to say I got more than my money's worth. A full day ticket was priced at only $28- a nice way to show their appreciation for what was a solid season.
You can see how deep the base still is on The Chute:


Main Street held up very well, but there were no bumps:

Because the bumps could be found over on Razor's Edge, specifically about 1000' of vertical worth of bumps on skier's right:

Sunshine was in abundance all afternoon, causing me to stay towards the shady side of the trails. When the snow began to get a bit heavy, Switchback delivered the best conditions on skier's left due to the large pine trees that cast shade all afternoon.
For most of the afternoon cheers could be heard from the pond skimming contest over by Summit Lodge:

...while folks recharged their drinks until 5 o'clock, closing time:

"Closing time-
One last call for alcohol so finish your whiskey or beer.
Closing time-
You don't have to go home but you can't stay here"

 

[legalskier]

On the way out I noticed this sign in the lodge- seems that Blue's got some development plans:

I noticed a large crane out in the parking lot.
On the way home I spotted this:

A hot air balloon in west Jersey- a sure sign of Spring.

 

[Glenn]

Great pics. Looks like a perfect spring day to end the season.

 

[bdfreetuna]

That's a pretty nice (long) bump line!

 

[legalskier]

That's a pretty nice (long) bump line!

Literally top to bottom, a seeded bump corridor about 30' wide. Saw some excellent bump skiers ripping down.

 

[BenedictGomez]

On the way out I noticed this sign in the lodge- seems that Blue's got some development plans:

For the life of me, I dont understand who are the people that want to reserve a 7 night ski & stay in the Poconos. Beginners who've never been skiing and want to learn?

 

[Glenn]

Could be people coming from up south of the area. A much shorter ride than driving to Northern New England.

 

[deadheadskier]

For the life of me, I dont understand who are the people that want to reserve a 7 night ski & stay in the Poconos. Beginners who've never been skiing and want to learn?

Time matters to people. I live where I do because I want to be within three hours (and in most cases much less) of good skiing. It would take a huge salary for me to consider living down by Philly. If that situation ever presented itself, I'd learn to live with primarily skiing in the Poconos.

Sent from my XT1565 using AlpineZone mobile app

 

[dlague]

For the life of me, I dont understand who are the people that want to reserve a 7 night ski & stay in the Poconos. Beginners who've never been skiing and want to learn?

I think there are lots of people that do that because they do not look at skiing the same way we do! I have a sibling that vacationed around Henniker and skied Pats Peak all week and couple weeks back and they were excited. Their home ski area was McIntyre. I thought it was funny that they even stayed in a place less than an hour from their home. Think it was more for the kids! So for those 4-6 days per year skiers smaller places are still getting away and seem like a big deal.

 

[4aprice]

I don't know about 7 days but the Pocono's are worth weekends +or - a day or two. Camelback built their hotel with water park and it does fairly well from what I understand and really hasn't affected operations as much as I thought it would. A lot of customers come from places such as South Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland (Eastern Shore) even DC. The Catskills are 4+ hours from those places. They may be smaller but they tend to put a decent product out there with good snow making and I really don't mind having them in my back yard.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ