# No Blue or Camelback TR's since 1/27? How are things in the Poconos?



## jaywbigred (Feb 15, 2011)

What's it like out there guys?

Also, how are the bumps at Blue and Camelback? Anyone been to Shawnee?


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## RootDKJ (Feb 15, 2011)

Blue was ok over the weekend, Sunday seemed better overall to me, but Switchback was nothing but death-cookies.  Razor's was smooth and sweet.  I took some pics, but left my camera in the car.  Maybe I'll post them later.


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## gorgonzola (Feb 15, 2011)

ths past weekend was awesome at blue early mornings, not so great later in the day / night. great recovery from the major thaw / re-freeze earlier in the week and they blew the living shit out of barneys bumps friday and saturday nights. challenge bumps were re-seeded friday night but scratchy and in need of some skiing in, nightmare's moguls were deep and scratchy. thurs/fridays temps might make for some good bump skiing depending on what the nightime temps do.


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## 4aprice (Feb 15, 2011)

Hey Jay:

Almost wrote a Camelback TR for yesterday morning but held back.  Was beautiful Monday even skied in the sweatshirt.  Bumps on Lower Cleo and the headwall on Rocket.  Deep, deep troughs on Rocket but they were skiing nice yesterday.  Plan on being up several times in the next few days to enjoy this (hopefully brief) warmup. Still pushing them to seed skiers right of Cliffhanger.  Got in a verbal jab at the GM Sat and am gaining some support from some other skiers (attn: Charlie:smash.  The mountain still says they will blow snow as weather conditions permit and I'm sure continued condtioning of Rocket is in their plans.  Let us know if your headed up.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ


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## gorgonzola (Feb 15, 2011)

haha wow, ask you shall receive!


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## RootDKJ (Feb 15, 2011)

gorgonzola said:


> haha wow, ask you shall receive!


the magic of the internet :razz:


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## Geezer (Feb 15, 2011)

I was at Blue on Monday from about 11am to 4:30pm and it was great.  There was a very small crowd and spring-like conditions.  The bumps on Main Street were in excellent shape with multiple lines to choose from.  There was a good group of people enjoying them.  The bump skiers seem to gravitate together.  At one point at about 2pm, there must have been about twenty people all together getting the horde-of-mogul-skiers thing happening.  I’m sure the warm days later this week will bring more of the same.


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## gorgonzola (Feb 15, 2011)

hey j you should come out to blue tonight for some birthday turns & beers! i'll be on the sl skis so no bumps (or at least very few!) for me tonight but there will be a few of us at the bar from 9:30-10:30 or so!!!!


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## jaywbigred (Feb 15, 2011)

gorgonzola said:


> hey j you should come out to blue tonight for some birthday turns & beers! i'll be on the sl skis so no bumps (or at least very few!) for me tonight but there will be a few of us at the bar from 9:30-10:30 or so!!!!



Thx for the suggestion gorg and for noticing the bday. Can't tonight, but Weds and Fri are both in play. Depends on a few things, Weds is prob a 25% chance, Friday is near 100% but I will have my 10 y/o nephew w me, who is a beginner, so I will prob just go to Shawnee to checkout the new quad and cut down on trip time.


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## gorgonzola (Feb 15, 2011)

jaywbigred said:


> Thx for the suggestion gorg and for noticing the bday. Can't tonight, but Weds and Fri are both in play. Depends on a few things, Weds is prob a 25% chance, Friday is near 100% but I will have my 10 y/o nephew w me, who is a beginner, so I will prob just go to Shawnee to checkout the new quad and cut down on trip time.



cool, enjoy! a few of us are likely headed over to bear creek tommorrow to take advantage of a BOGO and terrorize ther NASTAR and bar a bit if anyone's interested :beer:


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## dmc (Feb 15, 2011)

When does night skiing end at Blue?


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## RootDKJ (Feb 15, 2011)

dmc said:


> When does night skiing end at Blue?


Usually when they close for the season.


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## dmc (Feb 15, 2011)

RootDKJ said:


> Usually when they close for the season.



when is that?  My nephew want to go there..


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## gorgonzola (Feb 15, 2011)

pond skimming is scheduled for 3/20, usually closing day is a week either way depending on conditions and/or visitor interest


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## ERJ-145CA (Feb 15, 2011)

jaywbigred said:


> What's it like out there guys?
> 
> Also, how are the bumps at Blue and Camelback? Anyone been to Shawnee?



I went to Shawnee a while back, well before the thaw.  It was great conditions and the new HSQ made it a 3 minute ride to the top.  Don't know what conditions are like now though.

I was at Blue today.  I got on the snow at about 10:30 and it was hardpack and dust on crust.  The freeze thaw created ice right below the groomed upper surface.

It still was pretty edgeable though, my skis only almost slid out from under me a couple of times.  There were bumps on Barney's Bumps, skier's right on Nightmare and skier's left on the first steep pitch on Challenge.  I didn't ski in the bumps so I can't tell you the conditions though.  The last hour or so that I was there Challenge had been skied off pretty bad but Razor's Edge stayed edgeable all day though there were quite a few death cookies on the first pitch of RE.

It was very fast snow though and I got lots of speed on Challenge and RE, so fast my helmet started lifting up a couple times until I got to the bottom and tightened the chin strap.  A fun day, and it was cold, which was nice, I'm not really looking forward to the warmup this week, hopefully winter comes back in full force next week.


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## RootDKJ (Feb 16, 2011)

ERJ-145CA said:


> It was very fast snow though and I got lots of speed on Challenge and RE, so fast my helmet started lifting up a couple times until I got to the bottom and tightened the chin strap.  A fun day, and it was cold, which was nice, I'm not really looking forward to the warmup this week, hopefully winter comes back in full force next week.



Good stuff.  I also know I'm flying when my eyes start to tear up under my goggles


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## tarponhead (Feb 16, 2011)

jaywbigred said:


> What's it like out there guys?



Blue trip report for 15-Feb, night skiing: Better have some good edges. 'nuff said.

I won't be at Blue for the next two weeks; I'm heading up to Burke and Jay this Saturday with my boys in tow. Be back in time for tailgate season at Blue come March


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## RootDKJ (Feb 16, 2011)

I won't be back at Blue until 2/22-2/24 for some night skiing.


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## gorgonzola (Feb 16, 2011)

RootDKJ said:


> I won't be back at Blue until 2/22-2/24 for some night skiing.



headin' anywhere good for the weekend?


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## RootDKJ (Feb 16, 2011)

gorgonzola said:


> headin' anywhere good for the weekend?



Mount Snow.  You going to GP?


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## gorgonzola (Feb 16, 2011)

RootDKJ said:


> Mount Snow.  You going to GP?



nice...yep :beer: have a happy prez day


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## 4aprice (Feb 16, 2011)

Was at Camelback again today.  Guess its kind of good news bad news.  This warm up has not totally acted as advertised.  The good is that there has been very little melt on the mountain.  The bad is that there was no softening today what so ever.  The bumps on Rocket and Lower Cleo were closed and for good reason.  The shine coming off of them was blinding.  Gonna be there tomorrow sometime and definately Friday.  Should be softer then.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ


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## 〽❄❅ (Feb 16, 2011)

Given the thaw and lack of natural snow i'd say Blue wasn't half bad today, 41º at 3:30pm. The lower section going to the quad was slush, actually i didn't care for conditions on that side of the mt., at these temps, i think it looked to be getting too much sun exposure? The trails of the peak by the upper lodge/double chair were better top to bottom. Conditions there were "spring like nice" early on and didn't deteriorate too much thru the afternoon. Bumps on that side were soft but on the small side, not even close to what i encountered at Elk two weeks ago. 
Have to say this was my first time there and from what i consider a good turnout today, i'm not looking to find out what weekends are like:\


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## jaywbigred (Feb 17, 2011)

〽❄❅;600527 said:
			
		

> Given the thaw and lack of natural snow i'd say Blue wasn't half bad today, 41º at 3:30pm. The lower section going to the quad was slush, actually i didn't care for conditions on that side of the mt., at these temps, i think it looked to be getting too much sun exposure? The trails of the peak by the upper lodge/double chair were better top to bottom. Conditions there were "spring like nice" early on and didn't deteriorate too much thru the afternoon. Bumps on that side were soft but on the small side, not even close to what i encountered at Elk two weeks ago.
> Have to say this was my first time there and from what i consider a good turnout today, i'm not looking to find out what weekends are like:\



Well, based on this thread and reports that the bumps were good Monday, I decided to shoot out to Blue for a quick session yesterday. Wound up being a waste of time. Got there around 4:45 (took me 1:30, my slowest time so far). Headed straight to Main Street and found skating rink troughs inbetween very firm moguls. Headed to Challenger and it was even worse. Headed to Nightmare, which was a touch better but a much shorter field. Headed back to Nightmare and found that one of the middle lines was much better. It was a little bit funky line, I think most people had skied the lines on either side, which pushed a touch more snow into it. Lapped that a bunch of times. Went back over to Main St. and found that the middle line there was passable as well (everything is relative). Quit around 7 once I felt i had earned my dinner. 

Overall, I would have been better off staying home and getting a good workout in and saving my time and money, probably.

Also, it was not nearly as crowded as my other Blue trip this year, but there was still a good crowd. My opinion of the RFID remains the same; without proper usage and oversight, it does more harm than good. It was a total Lord of the Flies situation last night with all the teens (esp. on the chair side of the scanner), and the operator had to stop the 6 pack often bc too many (more than 6) people were trying to shuffle out for chairs.


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## 4aprice (Feb 17, 2011)

jaywbigred said:


> Well, based on this thread and reports that the bumps were good Monday, I decided to shoot out to Blue for a quick session yesterday. Wound up being a waste of time. Got there around 4:45 (took me 1:30, my slowest time so far). Headed straight to Main Street and found skating rink troughs inbetween very firm moguls. Headed to Challenger and it was even worse. Headed to Nightmare, which was a touch better but a much shorter field. Headed back to Nightmare and found that one of the middle lines was much better. It was a little bit funky line, I think most people had skied the lines on either side, which pushed a touch more snow into it. Lapped that a bunch of times. Went back over to Main St. and found that the middle line there was passable as well (everything is relative). Quit around 7 once I felt i had earned my dinner.
> 
> Overall, I would have been better off staying home and getting a good workout in and saving my time and money, probably.
> 
> Also, it was not nearly as crowded as my other Blue trip this year, but there was still a good crowd. My opinion of the RFID remains the same; without proper usage and oversight, it does more harm than good. It was a total Lord of the Flies situation last night with all the teens (esp. on the chair side of the scanner), and the operator had to stop the 6 pack often bc too many (more than 6) people were trying to shuffle out for chairs.



I'm guessing tomorrow is going to be the day to be up there.  Sounds as if Blue was softer then CBK yesterday. The only softness I saw was on the bottom flats and the south facing unloading ramps on the chair.   Not seeing the advertised warmth today (yet) either but heading up for a pm session anyways.  

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ


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## gorgonzola (Feb 17, 2011)

jaywbigred said:


> Overall, I would have been better off staying home and getting a good workout in and saving my time and money, probably.



thats just wrong... it always like pizza and sex for me, always good even when its bad


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## 〽❄❅ (Feb 17, 2011)

jaywbigred said:


> ...Overall, I would have been better off staying home and getting a good workout in and saving my time and money, probably.
> 
> ...It was a total Lord of the Flies situation last night with all the teens (esp. on the chair side of the scanner), and the operator had to stop the 6 pack often bc too many (more than 6) people were trying to shuffle out for chairs.


 I stopped at 3:30 right around when the kid scene was picking up, missed the lift line chaos. Ventured to the quad side around 2:45, teens were bombing challenge on boards as if they were on a supper slide and i didn't want to have to be bothered dodging them. Also skipped razors edge as ski patrol was busy preparing some unlucky person for the sled. Bailed from them onto nightmare. Thought i missed a turn somewhere and was on a blue square, i couldn't see why it's a double black. 
For me the best and really the only enjoyable snow conditions of the day were on widow maker, chute and midway. The upper part of Main st was ok, i'm glad you found the better mogul line and yeah the rest wasn't so great. I didn't ski any of the others to comment. 
I only went to use previously purchased discount tix intended for the morning of our last snowstorm. Snowplows didn't hit my street till 1pm and between the 16" dump and wind blown mounds my car lacked the clearance to get out so i did x-c skiing locally. 
Was thinking yesterday may be the last half decent day of the season for the Blue tix. 
I could see going back early morning midweek shortly after a good snowfall or during a moderate snow shower if roads are manageable, other then that i'll stick with Elk if skiing the keystone state.


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## jaywbigred (Feb 17, 2011)

gorgonzola said:


> thats just wrong... it always like pizza and sex for me, always good even when its bad



I've said that before too, but yesterday proved wrong. I was frustrated at having driven that far. Among the iciest ski days of my life. I am pretty surprised those bumps weren't roped off.


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## 4aprice (Feb 17, 2011)

Just returned from Camelback.  Today was A+.  The temperature popped about 11am.  Bumps on Rocket skied the best they have all season.  Took about 15 runs on that sucker.  Slush explosions tomorrow.  Can't wait.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ


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