Elk 3/18/12

[spring_mountain_high]

Foggy morning kept the melt to a minimum, until things burned off around 11...very low vis in the fog...corn, hardpack, slush, grass, mud...mixed bag o fun...last day of the season and a great one...was skiing in a light baselayer...legs are toast from pushing the slop around...they claim they will open a couple days this week and next weekend, but i'm dubious...i think i may have gotten the last run of the year on kickapoo...had to skim over 2 feet of grass near the bottom:

lackawanna headwall was in great shape

little messy at the top though

 

[Rambo]

Some skier said that Elk needs to get in 100 days to fullfill their 100 day open guarantee to seasons passholders. He thought if they closed this Sun. 3/18/12, they would be short of the 100 and would have to give a 10% refund to seasons passholders.

 

[Cornhead]

Elk was in pretty decent shape yesterday all things considered. Much better than Greek was on Thursday, despite being eighty miles to the South. Unlike Platty yesterday, instead of looking down on the fog, we were in and out of it all morning. As you said, I think it helped preserve things. What a great weekend to ring out this wacky season, if I really made my last turns this year. I'm off the last week of March, something tells me I won't sit around all week without scheming up some plan to make some turns somewhere. Besides, I managed to crash on my last run of the day, caught an edge, or more accurately got one ski under the slop, pulled it up, but was unable to recover. I twisted on the way down, landed on my back, head pointing downhill. My head slammed pretty good, helmet in car, got some abrasions on top of my bald head. Kinda weird location, I'll be explaining that mark at work tomorrow, I'm sure. Don't want to end my season on that note.

Rambo, I heard yesterday from a skier at Elk that they would stay open till Thursday for exactly the reason you stated.

Tunkhannock was in great shape still.

Chippewa too

Tunk from the top.

View from the top of Susquehanna, love this view, you can see for miles and miles North.

Iroquois

Delaware

Slalom

More Tunk

Did my first tailgating at Elk, I had a bunch of goodies left over from yesterday's trip to Platty. Just had to pick up some hamburger buns and cheese.

 

[spring_mountain_high]

haha, so i think that was you i parked across from...i was in the black subaru...you guys pulled in right after me, and were just finishing up your grilling as i was leaving for the day

 

[Cornhead]

Yep, that was me and my bald friend, if we put our heads together, we make a perfect ass. I think he can be a perfect ass all by himself sometimes, I got something out of my car this morning, he put his muddy snowboard boots right on the leather seat of my $28,000 car, thanks buddy, that's what friends are for. I guess it'll clean up easier than if they were cloth.


Yes, I remember seeing your Outback. I almost asked you how you liked it, I considered buying one before I chose the Impreza. Was looking at Outback XT's with manual trans. Be a lot easier to sleep in, if necessary. What a great day at Elk. Elk never disappoints.

Here's a case for wearing a helmet no matter the conditions...if you are folically challenged. Mine was in the car. We've joked about putting that on your tombstone if you died on the hill, "His helmet was in the car."

Not too bad, just a few abrasions. I got slammed on my back, slid head first backwards for a bit. Kinda weird it's right on top of my head, my neck must have been being bent backwards.

 

[Nick]

those moguls look pretty nice

 

[spring_mountain_high]

good gravy, looks like you took some buck shot to the dome...it was tough sledding in spots, mostly because you'd go from hardpack to corn to slush...i took 3 diggers yesterday, including a slushy double eject on a relatively flat slope

 

[Cornhead]

Yes Nick, the bumps were awesome. Last weekend they were still pretty firm in the troughs, not so this. I was with my boarder buddy, he's not so fond of bumps, so I didn't ski them as much as I would have liked. I got him to try Chippewa, he was doing great, all the sudden, down goes Frazier, again, again. That was it for bumps for him. Spring_mountain_high, yeah Spring conditions can be interesting. I was almost able to save my fall. My ski was twisting me around. By the time I pulled it out of the snow, I couldn't ski it out on one ski, sorry Bode. I wonder if anything will be worth the trip next weekend? Whiteface? Gore? I always wanted to ski Whiteface in the Spring, all those long steep runs would be great in corn snow. I got a taste of it the Friday after Thanksgiving, their opening day, but skiing two thousand feet of corn after a six month hiatus really kicked my butt. I'm more prepared now.

 

[spring_mountain_high]

Spring_mountain_high, yeah Spring conditions can be interesting. I was almost able to save my fall. My ski was twisting me around. By the time I pulled it out of the snow, I couldn't ski it out on one ski, sorry Bode.

this describes 2 of the 3 falls i took almost exactly...my first was on tuscarora, got a ski stuck in the gloop and i went down backwards, just like you...this happened on a steeper pitch and i think i slid a good 10-15 feet backwards until i was able to spin around and self arrest...the other was on chippewa when i happened upon a mud trough in the bumps...it was one of the most interesting days i've ever had, conditions-wise

 

[Jersey Skier]

Those pictures all look a lot better than their webcam. Considering going uo Wednesday for my final turns of the season. Hoping some snow will remain. Really hot in NJ today.

 

[Cornhead]

Those pictures all look a lot better than their webcam. Considering going uo Wednesday for my final turns of the season. Hoping some snow will remain. Really hot in NJ today.

Go for it, can't believe there won't be lots of skiable lines there. Hell, Greek was fun on their next to last day, and they had way less snow than Elk. They even had a news crew from Syracuse at Greek, they filmed me, and asked me some questions, "Do you call each other hardcore?". Who? Me?, and the ten other people who are here? I just thought it was funny, I told her it was the best time of year to ski IMHO, and told her I was skiing on Memorial Day last year, that's pretty hardcore, I guess, it sure was fun. They didn't use my footage. Maybe I should have sprayed them with slush, that'd been pretty hardcore!

this describes 2 of the 3 falls i took almost exactly...my first was on tuscarora, got a ski stuck in the gloop and i went down backwards, just like you...this happened on a steeper pitch and i think i slid a good 10-15 feet backwards until i was able to spin around and self arrest...the other was on chippewa when i happened upon a mud trough in the bumps...it was one of the most interesting days i've ever had, conditions-wise

I hear you, I took my Brother to Plattekill Saturday. He's only skied a handful of times. I was hoping Powder Puff was in a little better shape for his sake. It wasn't bad, but there were spots that kind of freaked him out, twelve foot wide strips with dirt the remainder of the trail. He had no confidence of making short turns through those spots, or straight lining them. Things probably got worse as the snow got sloppier, especially on such a flat trail. He's on my old skis, and I waxed them that morning. I almost think it would have been better for him if I had not. He made only four runs. Felt a little guilty for making him hang there all day, sorry, I wasn't leaving early.