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Thunder Ridge this Saturday!

nycskier

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After a winter living in Tahoe I am back on the East Coast and going to ski Thunder Ridge this weekend! (I am sure it will be nothing like Kirkwood.)

A friend of mine has to write an article on the place (I'll post a link and give more info on this after he has written it and it has been published).

As the good friend that I am I agreed to hop on the Metro North with him this Saturday and check the place out.

I figured I couldn't handle skiing a whole day there so I plan to try snowboarding for the 1st time ever!

Any advice or tips on the place would be greatly appreciated.
 

WoodCore

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My only advice is make sure you use the restroom facilities before 10:30 am. You'll thank me later.
 

JimG.

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After a winter living in Tahoe I am back on the East Coast and going to ski Thunder Ridge this weekend! (I am sure it will be nothing like Kirkwood.)

A friend of mine has to write an article on the place (I'll post a link and give more info on this after he has written it and it has been published).

As the good friend that I am I agreed to hop on the Metro North with him this Saturday and check the place out.

I figured I couldn't handle skiing a whole day there so I plan to try snowboarding for the 1st time ever!

Any advice or tips on the place would be greatly appreciated.

Not much to the place...tiny vert, short runs.

Pray the double is open and some of the upper runs are skiable...if only the triple is open, you'll be stuck on the Face where there is usually race training going on. Competition Bowl is open but again may be reserved for racers.

Perhaps by some miracle Fool's Delight will be open which is actually genuinely steep for about 6 turns.

Still wish they would seed a bump line somewhere...I have to see Sotto one day to discuss this. I've tried to see him twice but he was not there either occasion.
 

abc

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I would think a small hill like that could benefit from a seeded bump run, and/or a small park to provide some diversion.

It was ok'ish when I came back to skiing after a few years. And a handy place to go when I try to dial in my new boots. Though only because I live about 15 minutes away.

Even then, I got bored after a couple hrs.
 

JimG.

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I would think a small hill like that could benefit from a seeded bump run, and/or a small park to provide some diversion.

It was ok'ish when I came back to skiing after a few years. And a handy place to go when I try to dial in my new boots. Though only because I live about 15 minutes away.

Even then, I got bored after a couple hrs.

Well, they do have kind of a half pipe and some features down near the lifts.

Like you, a couple of hours is my max...but I would stay alot longer if there were bumps and even a kicker.

I understand that the emphasis is on families, but the bumps can be tucked away and marked easily. I think part of it is the bumper/kamakaze outdated image people have too.

I think it would lend something to every part of their program including lessons.
 

abc

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I would have gone more often had they got a park and offer park lessons, for example.

The low lift price would have been a good draw for people in the surrounding area needing lessons, be it beginners or just beginner-with-park/bump. Wouldn't Mom's accompanying their kids there be interested in a bit of brush up special? And they probably woud get some return visits from those needing a place to pratice their new tricks. ;)

I don't really know. I'm not in the ski industry so this is just a wild guess. Take it with a grain of salt.
 

Sotto

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Sorry to chime in so late, but this is my two cents.

I'm with you guys on the bumps and after talking with the ops management. We will have some sort of bump run by the end of January if not sooner. We are still working out the details, locations would be either something off the top, blackberry pass, or skiers right of the face.

As for the park, We currently have a 20foot flat box, 20foot flat bar and and 8foot learning box setup. I just got in from pulling the small rainbow rail out, and will be installing the rainbow box for either tomorrow or Sunday. Look for at least one maybe two kickers in the meadow coming soon.

Sorry Jim but fools hasn't seen any snow making as of yet. We have been focusing our efforts on the upper mountain. Once we are satisfied with up top the guns will go out on fools.

Woodcore: We have gotten some of the restroom facilities issues fixed, so they are good to at least noon now. But on a more serious note we are aware of the issues with our 60 year old waste management system and have been on the list of DEC improvement project for about five years now. They made some progress last summer by drilling test holes, but with the current economy the project got sidelined by the state.

abc: We do offer park lessons, but on a case by case basis as we only have a handful of instructors trained to teach park lessons. We are working on getting staffed trained to deliver a park program for next year.

nycskier: Some advice for you, use the outside ticket booth located on the deck to avoid the lines inside. If the line is bad for that booth try the inside one, normally only one line is backed up. If you want to take lessons book them in advance as the classes normally fill up early. Avoid the cafeteria around noon, as lines will be long. Be prepared to have to wait in some sort of line, weather it's the lift line, rentals, snowsports school, cafe, or ticket booth; looking at the lesson reservations for tomorrow it should be a busy day. And of course try out the new bar that we just opened up earlier today!
 

nycskier

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I had a blast. Skiing there really was not much of a challenge for me. So I decided to snowboard for the 1st time ever! I rented a snowboard, took a lesson, fell a lot and had a really good time.

Needless to say I am still a little sore today. I must say it is a real come down going from droping gate 1 at Mott Canyon at Heavenly on skis to falling down on a snowboard on the bunny hill at Thunder Ridge. Gained new respect for the newbies!

I would say Thunder Ridge is a great place to go to learn how to ski or board. It's close and cheap and you dont need much more terrain if all you plan to do is fall on you tukas on the bunny hill!

My friends article about the place will be out on Wednesday and I will post the link here.
 

JimG.

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I just read a nice PM from Sotto...

Fool's Delight will open midweek. Since Thunder Ridge is a client of mine, I was there today...the snow is building up fast and the skiing was tempting. Work truly sucks.

The other big word from Sotto is that bumps are a go. And it looks like they're going to seed them on black terrain. I was thinking that Blackberry Pass would be a good place and it seems that is the general area being considered.

Volunteers to help set the course and ski it in?
 

BeanoNYC

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bvibert

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The other big word from Sotto is that bumps are a go. And it looks like they're going to seed them on black terrain. I was thinking that Blackberry Pass would be a good place and it seems that is the general area being considered.

Volunteers to help set the course and ski it in?

Very cool! Props to Thunder Ridge! :spread:
 

Greg

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I just read a nice PM from Sotto...

Fool's Delight will open midweek. Since Thunder Ridge is a client of mine, I was there today...the snow is building up fast and the skiing was tempting. Work truly sucks.

The other big word from Sotto is that bumps are a go. And it looks like they're going to seed them on black terrain. I was thinking that Blackberry Pass would be a good place and it seems that is the general area being considered.

Volunteers to help set the course and ski it in?

Name the date. I would be there in a second and we'll throw together a radical Thunder Ridge video.

Now we gotta work on Mohawk!
 
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