Christmass Carving Mountain Creek 12/25/07

[hardline]

Date(s) Skied: 12/25/07
Resort or Ski Area: Mountain Creek
Conditions: 42, Corn, Edgable Hardpack
Trip Report:

Presents open, bag packed

Clear skies nobody on the road

Looks like a few other people had the same idea

Lets See what the damage was from the rain
Today

Last week

Valley

The Cab

On to some trails
Half Moon

Lower Horizion

Conclusion:
This was my 12th day at the Creek (22nd overall) and buy the far the busiest but what do yo expect for Christmass day. Overall i have been very happy with the things that have done. the Trail rollout is slow, but thats becuase they can only blow snow at night. was over at south the other day and the 3 kickers that have are pretty good, dont realy care for the rails.boxes. durring the week and at night (except for thursday H.S. race teams) there is no one there. so for a 199 its a great deal. However unlike some people i have the time/money to chase the snow so if its snowing somewhere up north im out. so its a good way to stay up on skills.
on a funny note this is the third day that some little new schooler has asked me "whats up with the i ride"
to which i responed "what do you mean"
"How do you get your chest and but so close to the ground"
i then have to laugh and say "thats carving"
Kids need to take lessons and learn how to carve down a hill and not be content with edging fast down the hill but thats another conversation.
Over all good 3 hours of riding.

 

[Rob A]

I've gone to creek 4 times thus far this year. Each time has gotten better. I skied south 2 weekend mornings, Vernon one night and one weekend morning.

All I can say is that I've been VERY surprised with some of the stuff they have done up there. I'm loving the whole attitude adjustment they have going down now. I thought all the changes they were making would be a huge problem, but it seemed it all worked out. The raising of the season pass prices and implenting the 5x7 seems to have worked like a charm. In the 3 weekend mornings I've been at creek thus far, there have been nearly no waits at all on the lifts. Looks like so many opted for that 5x7, creating a really peaceful weekend morning. I was able to get 21 runs in on saturday in only 3.5 hrs at Vernon, unbeliebvable for a cool saturday morning in december. Another thing I love so far is how much everyone seems to care now. The security guards in the lodges pointing out the free bag and ski check, the scanning of lift tickets to avoid those sneaking on, and really caring about that first hour being all access pass holders only. In this past, that rule was hardly ever inforced, with the new scanning it works like a charm and each time I enter the lift I hear lifties saying "don't let them in till 9" and always greeting you with a "how are you today?" and such. One hell of an attitude adjustment, great job by MC! As if that wasn't enough, last saturday the triple chair was running, and there were no crowds! I was actually able to sit down after a few runs on the gondola to rest my legs on the triple. Usually that chair only opens when there are 10 min lines at the gondola, great move keeping that chair open. Without granite open yet, we skiers do need some time to sit, so that is just fantastic.

And of course I was ranting (as well as many others) about South and Bear becoming all park. Well, to this point, it isn't a problem. Hell I actually like it better this way so far. I skied twice at South (2 weekend mornings) and twice at Vernon (one night, one weekend morning) thus far this year, and skiing over at South seemed mostly unchanged. Avoiding the park terrain was easy as silk and I was able to ski the same old nice South terrain peacefully. The lift lines moved quick, and the boarders seemed to keep to themselves more. Putting benches at the top of South may be one of the best moves they ever made, finally they aren't blocking the trails all the time! And for the first time EVER at creek for me, I saw 90% skiers at Vernon last saturday, how awesome is that?. Creek seemed like a skiers resort again. Vernon is much more enjoyable, I rediscovered the missed Great Northern terrain, and had a blast on Zero G all day. That's another thing, Zero G open in December?! Can't remember that last time that happened, great move again by MC. I was able to carve all over Zero G all day with the trail staying mostly quiet. And after about every 3 runs on Zero G, I'd venture over to Great Northern for a nice cruiser.

The only thing I'm waiting on now from them is the result of racing on Zero G. I'd really hate to be kicked off such a great trail all the time. To this point, they haven't closed off the trail during race training when I've been there. And I'm also interested to see when they plan to open Bear (has looked ready for weeks) and Granite. I'd really love for them to get Granite going soon, hopefully they can blow a good amount of snow at night. I'm dying to get on Pipeline and Devil's Bit, and just being able to ski the whole place connected. It's a shame they have both bases open, but no connection to them.

I'm heading up again tomorrow morning. Considering the weekend mornings have been most crowdless, tomorrow should be blast. I'll try to be at the Vernon base sometime around 8:30. Conditions should be pretty good tomorrow on Zero G for carving, atleast early. Hopefully it doesn't get too warm. I'm a little surprised it was more on the crowded side on Xmas, hopefully tomorrow when everyone goes back to work, it will be crowdless like any other day. I have a feeling it might be more crowded than last saturday (again almost no one there 8am-12pm and all skiers) just because of the winter break and 5x7 users allowed to ski in the morning during the week. We'll see, hopefully it ain't crowded. I think most of the kids that are off will venture over to South anyway.

 

[wa-loaf]

Valley

The Cab

Whats up with that lift? Is it an open cockpit gondola? Can you sit or do you have to stand? I can't think of much worse than having to stand in a open gondola exposed to the elements. :blink:

 

[MRGisevil]

Thanks for posting! I've never been to MC so it was cool to see some pictures

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Nice pictures,,,I always wanted to ski in New Jersey..

 

[andyzee]

Nice pictures,,,I always wanted to ski in New Jersey..

Don't only thing worst than PA is NJ. Ok ok, maybe CT and RI :smash:

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

We don't have a cabriolet in PA..

 

[Rob A]

Today was a bit disappointing.
Plan: Get there early, ski Zero G all day.
What actually happened: Arrived 45 min before opening, took first run, Zero G CLOSED for racing till 1pm. You could say I was a little disappointed (ok, really, really pissed). Great Northern just isn't enough, too piddly to just ski that all day. So I popped the skis, backed the car, and went over to South. Skied there till 11:30 (when the lines were out the gate) and went back to Vernon. Skied (very short lines at Vernon) Great Northern till a little after 1, got 2 runs in on Zero G when it opened, then left at 1:30pm.

I was hoping to ski Zero G all day, really pissed the racing program is on it now. Tomorrow I'll go up at Night probably, so I don't have to deal with racers.

 

[BeanoNYC]

Whats up with that lift? Is it an open cockpit gondola? Can you sit or do you have to stand? I can't think of much worse than having to stand in a open gondola exposed to the elements. :blink:

You stand. They pack you in there with sardines. Worse the floor isn't diamond plated it's a grate that you loose balance on. It's like a bucket of hell.


Thanks for the report Hardline.

 

[hardline]

i have to agree that they have had an attitude adjustment. the ticket checkers are extreamly polite. while the backside isnt exactly enough for cruising its better than nothing.
Rob A
i was on zero on christmass and it was nice because it had little traffic. sorry to hear it was closed on you the other day.
wa-loaf
you have to stand which sucks beacuse after about 6 or 7 runs my legs are like rubber. i dont mide having to take my board off everytime but the sould weld a ledge to sit on and it would be much better. sometimes i breakdown and sit on the floor
MRGisevil
i though people could use some referance plus i had to use the new present.
GrilledSteezeSandwich
im there at least 2 days/nights a week let me know if you ever decide to come by ill buy you a beer

 

[loafer89]

Don't only thing worst than PA is NJ. Ok ok, maybe CT and RI :smash:

Defending some former home turf, Elk Mountain has some really nice skiing for P.A as does the lower half of Montage and Blue Mountain isn't half bad.

I'll take Mohawk and Sundown over living in the flatlands with no skiing at all, like living on Long Island used to be.

Any turns are usually better than none at all.

 

[wa-loaf]

You stand. They pack you in there with sardines. Worse the floor isn't diamond plated it's a grate that you loose balance on. It's like a bucket of hell.


Thanks for the report Hardline.

Well, I guess you can all huddle together if it's cold and windy. :lol:

But really, who thought that would be a good idea for a ski lift?

 

[BeanoNYC]

But really, who thought that would be a good idea for a ski lift?

Intrawest.