oakapple
New member
I took a bus trip to Camelback from NYC on Saturday. The bus company runs a "twilight" package, which leaves the city at 10:30 a.m. and leaves the hill at 8:00 p.m., taking advantage of Camelback's night skiing (which is actually open until 9:00).
Despite its modest vertical (800'), Camelback is very spread out, and they get a lot out of what they have. There are about a half-dozen legitimate single-blacks, though true experts will probably find that they aren't long enough and have long blue (or green) runouts. Most of the blacks are groomed; only one (Asp) was heavily bumped. One trail, Cliffhanger, is rated double-black, for reasons that utterly eluded me. It was perhaps the third or fourth-hardest trail on the hill.
Camelback's terrain parks are isolated from the rest of the mountain, served by a separate lift, and you need a "park pass" to use them. I haven't seen any other ski area with this "feature". I don't spend a lot of time in the parks, but I do like to try them occasionally as a change of pace. The liftie explained that the separate pass is required "for liability reasons," but I don't see why, as most other ski areas don't feel compelled to do this.
Camelback's website said that they had made snow the night before (ahem, Killington). I don't know of many places that are still making snow in March. Snow quality was some of the best I have seen this season. Temperatures were very comfortable, around 40F. Like everywhere else, they've had almost zero useful natural snow, but the mountain was nearly 100 percent open, with the odd exception of Pocono Raceway. (It had good snow cover, so I can't imagine why they closed it.)
I skied pretty much every trail that was open, other than a couple of beginner slopes, and many of them two or three times. Lift lines were minimal, except for my first run of the day. Night skiing felt a bit eerie, as there were very few people out there, and almost every trail remained open, so you could spread out and hardly see a soul. The lights don't quite cover everything, so you find yourself in near darkness at times, heading for brightness that is some distance away.
Despite its modest vertical (800'), Camelback is very spread out, and they get a lot out of what they have. There are about a half-dozen legitimate single-blacks, though true experts will probably find that they aren't long enough and have long blue (or green) runouts. Most of the blacks are groomed; only one (Asp) was heavily bumped. One trail, Cliffhanger, is rated double-black, for reasons that utterly eluded me. It was perhaps the third or fourth-hardest trail on the hill.
Camelback's terrain parks are isolated from the rest of the mountain, served by a separate lift, and you need a "park pass" to use them. I haven't seen any other ski area with this "feature". I don't spend a lot of time in the parks, but I do like to try them occasionally as a change of pace. The liftie explained that the separate pass is required "for liability reasons," but I don't see why, as most other ski areas don't feel compelled to do this.
Camelback's website said that they had made snow the night before (ahem, Killington). I don't know of many places that are still making snow in March. Snow quality was some of the best I have seen this season. Temperatures were very comfortable, around 40F. Like everywhere else, they've had almost zero useful natural snow, but the mountain was nearly 100 percent open, with the odd exception of Pocono Raceway. (It had good snow cover, so I can't imagine why they closed it.)
I skied pretty much every trail that was open, other than a couple of beginner slopes, and many of them two or three times. Lift lines were minimal, except for my first run of the day. Night skiing felt a bit eerie, as there were very few people out there, and almost every trail remained open, so you could spread out and hardly see a soul. The lights don't quite cover everything, so you find yourself in near darkness at times, heading for brightness that is some distance away.
