TR: Elk Mountain 1-25-13

St. Bear · Jan 25, 2013

I haven't done a TR in a few years, but I wanted to mention how pleasantly surprised I am with Elk. I took advantage of a Winterfest special with $25 tickets from a local ski shop I picked up this morning on my way up.

It only has 1,000 ft of vert, but there is a bit of steepness to the top of the of the mountain that makes it interesting. They have 1 run bumped up, and they blew a coating of snow on top last might, so its not rock hard.

Simple and clean base lodge. Sam Adams and Long Trail on tap. What more can you ask for.

ScottySkis · Jan 25, 2013

And coffee less then $1.50. Enjoy your day, I hope to go on Sunday.

St. Bear · Jan 25, 2013

$1.86 for a large, but since I'm not going to keep change on me when I ski, its really $2 even.

ScottySkis · Jan 25, 2013

St. Bear said:
$1.86 for a large, but since I'm not going to keep change on me when I ski, its really $2 even.

I only had the small.

legalskier · Jan 25, 2013

Good mountain, nice people. My kinda place.

Cornhead · Jan 25, 2013

Glad you enjoyed Elk, my other home mountain. I've never been disappointed with the snow quality on my many trips there. Did you park in the upper lots and ski down to get your ticket? That's the way to do it. They only allow season pass holders up there on weekends, the rest of us are herded into those damn cattle cars, yuk.

JimG. · Jan 25, 2013

I like Elk too...I think it's the best PA mountain by far.

〽❄❅ · Jan 25, 2013

I was going to take advantage of the $25 winterfest tix too, but would've been freaking watching the snow i wanted to be skiing in falling on the start of my drive home! I'm not big on night skiing, planing to drive up tomorrow morning.

...Shush Cornhead...they're not supposed to know about the upper lots

spring_mountain_high · Jan 25, 2013

Scotty said:
And coffee less then $1.50. Enjoy your day, I hope to go on Sunday.

i'll prolly be there on sunday too

St. Bear · Jan 25, 2013

I rode the lift with an older local couple, they mentioned something that I found interesting. Years ago, they said the top of the mountain was cut too much and always windswept and the skiing was pretty poor. They said that lately, each year Elk picks one or two trails and plants evergreen trees on the slopes to fill in what was overcut. You can see the areas that are replanted, because the trees are all varying heights, but are relatively spaced apart. Usually it's along the sides of the trail, and at the corners of the intersections. They said that it does a great job of holding the snow and makes the skiing much better. Someone at Cannon should take note.

vinnyv11 · Jan 25, 2013

Always glad to see a TR from Elk. Now that there 100% i'll definitely be making my way up there soon.

〽❄❅ · Jan 25, 2013

St. Bear said:
I rode the lift with an older local couple, they mentioned something that I found interesting. Years ago, they said the top of the mountain was cut too much and always windswept and the skiing was pretty poor. They said that lately, each year Elk picks one or two trails and plants evergreen trees on the slopes to fill in what was overcut. You can see the areas that are replanted, because the trees are all varying heights, but are relatively spaced apart. Usually it's along the sides of the trail, and at the corners of the intersections. They said that it does a great job of holding the snow and makes the skiing much better. Someone at Cannon should take note.

...hum, i've been skiing there since the mid nineteen seventies and that sounds about right. I'll have to ask my friend about it tomorrow when we're on the lifts. She's my age and has been skiing there since she was seven.

jfrenchu · Jan 26, 2013

how are the weekend crowds?I'm limited to w/e this year mostly and don't care for the nys crowds.I know Platty might be less crowded bit its just too far fora day trip
thanks

ScottySkis · Jan 26, 2013

jfrenchu said:
how are the weekend crowds?I'm limited to w/e this year mostly and don't care for the nys crowds.I know Platty might be less crowded bit its just too far fora day trip
thanks

The 2 times I was there, one was New Years holiday weekend so it was crowded maybe 15 minutes line on a holiday week after snow, so not bad. And the other was a normal Sunday maybe 1 to 5 minutes at the most. They have no high speed chairs which is good in my opinion. Probably the best hill in Pennsylvania and all the trails are almost open unfortunately for Platty their about half way open. Elk does seem like they do really good grooming. They say no one is allowed to ski glades but I saw people do it. Probably because of their ever green chairs. Also you can buy 4 hour segments tickets, I be their tomorrow with some others from A zone, I like Elk a lot so far and am considering buying a season pass next year.

St. Bear · Jan 26, 2013

Here's a cell phone pic from yesterday.

In a few years, after my son learns to ski, if I still live in NJ, I'd definitely consider Elk as a home mountain.

〽❄❅ · Jan 27, 2013

jfrenchu said:
how are the weekend crowds?I'm limited to w/e this year mostly and don't care for the nys crowds.I know Platty might be less crowded bit its just too far fora day trip
thanks

No more than a five minute wait around noon one'ish when the race was going on. Most of the time a 3minute wait or less. Quad chair, practically no wait. Trails where not crowded either. All things considered the ungroomed blacks were skiing well. Wasn't enough new snow to keep the groomers interesting. Managed to park in my favorite ski on ski off lot by the Quad chair. A congregation of patrollers had just roped off Schuylkill at the fork diverting skiers to Tioga, we asked if it would be ok to ski to our car and they let us duck the ropes to do so. Gotta love it there!
You guys will have fun tomorrow. If i wasn't wiped and sleep deprived, i would've liked to join everyone on Sunday.
And btw, my friend remembers the top just about always being cold, we both seem to remember fewer trees up there.

jfrenchu · Jan 27, 2013

thanks for the heads up

x10003q · Jan 27, 2013

I finally got to ski Elk on Friday, Jan 18. It is usually a little too far vs skiing Plattekill or Hunter but I had to drive past to take my son back to school. I really enjoyed the place. According to the Elk web site they have planted over 13,000 mostly Norway spruce since the mid 1980s. There are a number of expert trails that really are expert trails.

Here is my trip report:http://forum.nyskiblog.com/Elk-Mountain-PA-1-18-2013-tp4023661.html

ScottySkis · Jan 27, 2013

Was their today, great skiing with other members of a zone, trip report.later.

4aprice · Jan 27, 2013

St Bear your the first person I've ever heard compliment the lodge at Elk. Love the mountain but the lodge is dated and cramped. Can't stand the Elk Mobile either. Will be up there the last weekend in February. Always look forward to that trip. Its Blue next weekend for me. Hopefully many will opt for Super Bowl Parties and the Mountain will be less busy then usual.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

TR: Elk Mountain 1-25-13

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