2018-19 Ski /Snow Board Season

Bike N Gear

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@roc - so the reason I make mention of the groomers is that there is 1 blue run from the top peak at Pico. The others are black. At the end of Saturday, the snow making got to the point that there was huge blobs everywhere, which were on a steeper slope. This was apparent in 2 spots. I figure that they will flatten this with the groomers overnight.

We hit this early Sunday, like 9:30 am, and they are all still there. Now mind you, guys like you & @Dominique & @UtahJoe think these are easy & great, but this is the equivalent of putting huge, half-car size rock faces in a mountain bike trail. Experienced riders love them, and think they are easy & super-predictable. People like me, not so much. Also, judging by the total mass carnage of people laying on them and ginger-footing their way down, this blue was far harder than any other blue in the park. Actually, this section of Forty Niner was orbitals of difficulty harder than the rest of the blue runs on the mountain. We had hit Upper Ka (black diamond) before this and it was just pretty much ice, and I found that easier.

Anyway, I am not sure if this is intentional, because maybe the advanced beginners should stay off this? But it made me think that they don't have enough groomers if they left this as moon-rocks of snow Sunday morning.

I love the Killington idea but I am not sure we have anymore free March weekends. Actually I just looked at our calendar and we have no more free weekends without the kids in March or April. The only chance would be if Short Track #3 were canceled. This realization makes me a bit sad, I have to admit.

Skiing VW sized moguls is never easy, but it can be fun and challenging. This is really no different than someone who has ridden a bike 10 times complaining about the rocks on the trail at Sourlands.

If you hung out on ski forums, you'd here see everyone complaining how the mountains do too much grooming and take out all the fun of skiing natural terrain. Sound familiar?

For future reference. Most mountains along with their Daily Snow Report put out a Daily Grooming Report. It will show which trails were groomed overnight, to take out the guesswork.
 

mattybfat

The Opinion Police
Team MTBNJ Halter's
It can be costly chasing powder from NJ
Unless you book rocky or BC every year and skip east coast. Gore had gotten about 8 " of fresh before arriving. Another 5" today timing east coast is lottery.
 

Bike N Gear

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Unless you book rocky or BC every year and skip east coast. Gore had gotten about 8 " of fresh before arriving. Another 5" today timing east coast is lottery.

Nah. Just the ability to drop work and drive North (in the snow) at any given moment. I've always had a decent number of powder days on the East following this method. Going West improves your odds, but unless you wait till the last minute to book, there is no guarantee you'll see powder.
 
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roc

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Nah. Just the ability to drop work and drive North (in the snow) at any given moment. I've always had a decent number of powder days on the East .
I e had success with the wait for some snow and drive up north. The main obstacles for that with me are
1. Not a lot of people can just ask their boss for a powder day.
2. Half the time it rains just as the storm is finishing. Which is always a bummer. Does t always ruin it, but it’s never ideal.
 

UtahJoe

Team Workhorse
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Nah. Just the ability to drop work and drive North (in the snow) at any given moment. I've always had a decent number of powder days on the East following this method. Going West improves your odds, but unless you wait till the last minute to book, there is no guarantee you'll see powder.
Ya, that is definitely key to finding powder around here.....Feel free to keep us informed, I might be able to take a day off once in a while.

Is it my feeble memory, or were there more bump runs when I was a kid compared to now? That was like the MOST fun that could be had on a mountain outside of a good powder day....Doesnt seem as popular anymore.

And @Norm has really impressed me with how fast he has picked up skiing at his shall we say ADVANCED age :)....The blue run Norm is talking about was the easiest way down from the top.....its fine and all...But at certain times of the day, it was SUPER crowded, heavily skied off patches with piles of snow scattered around....People mainly just sliding down the steeper pitches and into the piles of snow. Its a great example of how you look at these situations differently as you gain more experience. My first instinct is:...this is too crowded, and there are ice patches all over...Ill just move over to the left or right edge and stay there where they is snow and no people.....better still, I hit summit glades next to it that was all moguls...usually with moguls you have A. snow B. no people traversing across. To me, much easier/more fun. But at Norms level of experience, he cant quite stay on that 5' patch along the tree just yet and thus has to use some of the middle of the hill....which is a mine field of people and ice patches....But much MUCH better from just last year when I skied gore with him. Has the control down very well, just needs to work on fine tuning the technique. Which as we know in skiing is a progression.
 

Bike N Gear

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Ya, that is definitely key to finding powder around here.....Feel free to keep us informed, I might be able to take a day off once in a while.

Is it my feeble memory, or were there more bump runs when I was a kid compared to now? That was like the MOST fun that could be had on a mountain outside of a good powder day....Doesnt seem as popular anymore.


Without a doubt there used to be moguls all over the place. Most of the major resorts cater to the tourist/vacation skier. Easier, brings them back. Unless you ski the smaller mountains which seem to draw the more hardcore skier these days. Mad River Glen, Magic and Plattekill come to mind as places that do very little grooming and are hence typically covered with moguls. Gore isn't bad because it has som many glades you could avoid the groomers all day.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Here's a blog post from our first day at Pico. Day 2 of the trip, but first day of skiing.

Day 2: A New Ski Hill
"Day 2 of our 3 day getaway, and we hit the slopes proper, spending almost 6 hours at Pico Mountain, then heading home for some good dinner at home."
 

UtahJoe

Team Workhorse
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Without a doubt there used to be moguls all over the place. Most of the major resorts cater to the tourist/vacation skier. Easier, brings them back. Unless you ski the smaller mountains which seem to draw the more hardcore skier these days. Mad River Glen, Magic and Plattekill come to mind as places that do very little grooming and are hence typically covered with moguls. Gore isn't bad because it has som many glades you could avoid the groomers all day.

So you are probably around my age-ish...Did you get to see the movie hot dog and then just want to ski mogul runs all day? Thats what happened to me anyway.

The second half of the day starts on an entirely different lift on the right side of the base of the mountain, which takes us to the top of a smaller peak off to the side. We figure we can give it a try to see how it is over there. We jump on Sidewinder, which is a total & complete shit show, well beyond anything I can do at this stage, perhaps more than anything I will ever be able to do. It was ungroomed, and 100% unenjoyable. From there, we get in some better runs when we get the lay of the land from a local

Oh no, I found this very enjoyable. Sidewinder id say is fairly steep, ungroomed, moguls that were absolute concrete (like someone hosed the mountain down overnight). Its always fun when you bring your friend to a trail like this for the first time and they have that look of "FUCK ME!" But you figured out how to make the hard turn and cut across the hill a couple of times and get yourself down. This will help your confidence. I have taken people to that same kind of spot and they take their skis off and walk, or worse...take skis off and try to slide down. So you might not have enjoyed it, but its a good learning experience. You will eventually start trusting that your edge will hold you on whatever incline happens to be....then you can just traverse your way across without thinking about it. Its ALL good stuff to know and your going to need it when I take you to snowbird :)
 

UtahJoe

Team Workhorse
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Cause everybody loves when people do this on runs they don't belong on.:thumbsup:
well 2 things
I was referring to in this case norm (who has thus far spent most of his short skiing life on groomers) understanding that your edge will hold you on a steep slope.
yes, I dont recommend people cutting back and forth across the mountain, but everyone has to start somewhere...or in this case, run into something that they weren't expecting and then have to deal with it.
 

Captain Brainstorm

Well-Known Member
Skied up in VT this weekend, what a difference from last weekend. Despite being one of the busiest holidays of the year, the snow was amazing. There was copious amounts of pow to be found on most of the single and double blacks since those trails get little traffic. The lesser known glade runs still had freshies to be skied. By 1pm, the crowds start thinning also, and terrain induced snow was keeping everything fresh. The end of Feb/early Mar is shaping up to be pretty good.
 

UtahJoe

Team Workhorse
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Skied up in VT this weekend, what a difference from last weekend. Despite being one of the busiest holidays of the year, the snow was amazing. There was copious amounts of pow to be found on most of the single and double blacks since those trails get little traffic. The lesser known glade runs still had freshies to be skied. By 1pm, the crowds start thinning also, and terrain induced snow was keeping everything fresh. The end of Feb/early Mar is shaping up to be pretty good.
Where did you go? further north im guessing?
 

Captain Brainstorm

Well-Known Member
Where did you go? further north im guessing?

Went up to Stowe, further north has been the way to go this season, although Killington also made out pretty well. Only downside has been the cost of their lift tickets since Vail Resorts took over. Typically during a holiday weekend (and most other times of the year), people go in for lunch, have a beer or three, and never come back out. The Front Four also get very little traffic, and most of the better glade runs are off the beaten path. Last weekend the mountain was a skating rink, the 2ft they got during the week fixed things up nicely though. Mostly Massholes up there, but there is a very strong North Jersey contingent as well, I run into a lot of folks from here.
 

qclabrat

Well-Known Member
I ski so infrequently now that I don't even know when my skis were last tuned
I'm in Somerset county, and seems almost all shops are now gone
Can someone recommend a shop nearby?
 
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