Top five most challenging runs in Mid Atlantic?

[millerm277]

How steep is White Lightning at Sno/Montage?

I did the math in some other slope/pitch thread, go look for it. (I'm not going to :smile. If I remember, it is up there in the range of "real" steep trails of New England. Of course, it's 350 vertical feet, but when it's bumped up as they've been letting it get lately, it'd qualify for this list I think.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

I did the math in some other slope/pitch thread, go look for it. (I'm not going to :smile. If I remember, it is up there in the range of "real" steep trails of New England. Of course, it's 350 vertical feet, but when it's bumped up as they've been letting it get lately, it'd qualify for this list I think.

I know that on Challenge and Razors at Blue and anything at Camelback..I can just straight run without a care in the world..due to an actual intermediate pitch except on 7 second "headwalls" which provide a boost of speed for the intermediate pitch below..but White Lightning is a different animal..it's as steep as some of the pitches at places like Hunter and in Vermont..but..there is no runout..the bottom is the lift..essentially..A steep run with no runout and just trees at the bottom..makes it alot tougher when there is a nice long runout/homestretch...I know Ski9 hit 70mph or so on his GPS on White Lightning..the icy Pocono snow..can make for fast descents..but only ski that way if you know you have the run clear..

I would say Switchback at Blue skiing it the way the trail is intended with big Super-G turns really whoring the whole trail..is a really exciting run. The midd section is wide from where they used to host downhills and you can take a right down the falline..line to get mad steezy speed going into the bottom..but check your speed going into the shuttle due to Red Coats..Switchback at Blue is a Saturday morning Blue Crue favorite..and where some of the best skiing can be found....don't tell anybody but Switchback is good..lol..

 

[hardline]

I know that on Challenge and Razors at Blue and anything at Camelback..I can just straight run without a care in the world..due to an actual intermediate pitch except on 7 second "headwalls" which provide a boost of speed for the intermediate pitch below..but White Lightning is a different animal..it's as steep as some of the pitches at places like Hunter and in Vermont..but..there is no runout..the bottom is the lift..essentially..A steep run with no runout and just trees at the bottom..makes it alot tougher when there is a nice long runout/homestretch...I know Ski9 hit 70mph or so on his GPS on White Lightning..the icy Pocono snow..can make for fast descents..but only ski that way if you know you have the run clear..

I would say Switchback at Blue skiing it the way the trail is intended with big Super-G turns really whoring the whole trail..is a really exciting run. The midd section is wide from where they used to host downhills and you can take a right down the falline..line to get mad steezy speed going into the bottom..but check your speed going into the shuttle due to Red Coats..Switchback at Blue is a Saturday morning Blue Crue favorite..and where some of the best skiing can be found....don't tell anybody but Switchback is good..lol..

the only time i have ever had a run in with patrol was on a monday morning
i got into a lets call it a an altercation with younge ski school intsructor. that had decided to bring one of his students down zero g in the morning. problem is i am doing nice sg carves down the trail. they are way over on the left and i am on the right. the guy start yelling at me to slow down. i tel him to take him beginner lesson to the beginner areas and that it was very iresposible for himto even have to the child on the slope in the first place. he threatens to call the ski patrol. at this point i unstrap my board and walk up to him standing on his skis. call the patrol and lets see what they say im not going any where and neither are you. two seconds later a patroler shows up. i walk up shake is his hand(i had met him earlier in the year) and explain what the dumb kid had done. he says dont worry about it and to just leave. so i go to strap back in an leave while the patroler and instructor get into a fight. at this point the little girl i looking really unhappy and the instructor is occupied with the patroler. so i go over and try to cheer here up by talking to here. i ask here how she likes the snow, how many times she has been this season. just about the time she is smiling again the instructor comes back and almost drags the girl away. i felt horrible for the little girl to be put first in the situation of going down the trail then to have to see me and the instructor get into it.

 

[TeleMac]

White Lightning at Sno is maybe 40 degrees . . .

on the backside of a steep mogul. That said, it IS very impressive from the bottom. Too bad the steep section is all of 150 yds long or it would be a classic right up there with FIS at Sugarbush.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

on the backside of a steep mogul. That said, it IS very impressive from the bottom. Too bad the steep section is all of 150 yds long or it would be a classic right up there with FIS at Sugarbush.

I wouldn't call FIS at Sugarbush a classic...lol

 

[PA Ridge Racer]

Interesting info--thanks, everyone. I didn't give the area much of a shot when I lived there for a few years. Went to Whitetail for night skiing after a weekend storm one time, but that's it. There's a chance we may end up moving back that way, so I'm curious how bad it would be skiing-wise.

Depends where your coming from I guess. I have a number of hills within 30 minutes, a few of them decent, so for me it's not bad. If your coming from ski country out west you'll likely have a diffferent opinion.

 

[PA Ridge Racer]

I know that on Challenge and Razors at Blue and anything at Camelback..I can just straight run without a care in the world..due to an actual intermediate pitch except on 7 second "headwalls" which provide a boost of speed for the intermediate pitch below..but White Lightning is a different animal..it's as steep as some of the pitches at places like Hunter and in Vermont..but..there is no runout..the bottom is the lift..essentially..A steep run with no runout and just trees at the bottom..makes it alot tougher when there is a nice long runout/homestretch...I know Ski9 hit 70mph or so on his GPS on White Lightning..the icy Pocono snow..can make for fast descents..but only ski that way if you know you have the run clear..

I would say Switchback at Blue skiing it the way the trail is intended with big Super-G turns really whoring the whole trail..is a really exciting run. The midd section is wide from where they used to host downhills and you can take a right down the falline..line to get mad steezy speed going into the bottom..but check your speed going into the shuttle due to Red Coats..Switchback at Blue is a Saturday morning Blue Crue favorite..and where some of the best skiing can be found....don't tell anybody but Switchback is good..lol..

White Lightning is nasty, easily the steepest in the area. Steeze. I'm with you regarding Switchback. Has always been my favorite trail at Blue. GS turns are really the only way to go on Switchback.

 

[ta&idaho]

Depends where your coming from I guess. I have a number of hills within 30 minutes, a few of them decent, so for me it's not bad. If your coming from ski country out west you'll likely have a diffferent opinion.

Most of my ski life has been out west, but my current basis of comparison is living in New York. I know that NNE would be several hours further away, so I'm most curious about how the closer options compare: PA vs. Catskills.

Oh, and I already know that Blue is "mad steezy, yo." ;-)

 

[PA Ridge Racer]

Most of my ski life has been out west, but my current basis of comparison is living in New York. I know that NNE would be several hours further away, so I'm most curious about how the closer options compare: PA vs. Catskills.

Oh, and I already know that Blue is "mad steezy, yo." ;-)

What part of the Mid Atlantic are you possibly moving to? In NE PA, besides Blue Mt's mad steezyness, Elk Mt. and Sno may keep you happy. Jack Frost has ample tree skiing and some steep but it's small vert may not bode well for you. Snow quality at Elk, Sno and Frost tend to be excellent most of the time. But again coming from out West you may think otherwise. If you're closer to the DC area I would think Snowshoe and Blue Knob may compare favorably to the Catskills although I've never skied down there. To some up it's not all that bad and obviously Belleayre, Hunter, SNE are just a few short hours away as well.