keltacer Posted February 15, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2013 I've never been to Blue, I'd like to check it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teach Posted February 17, 2013 Report Share Posted February 17, 2013 Camelback charges $20 on top of the Triple Ticket for "premium" days like yesterday and today. Also this coming Saturday it's $20 extra. I guess the schools up there have the whole week off, and Saturday is the end of the holidays. On the lift I talked with a few people who were knowledgeable about Camelback's business plans. They all complained about the inconsistent grooming (I guess they used to have a good grooming staff but they all left) and poor coverage on some trails. Like the furrows running down Rhododendron Glen until last Sunday, or the gaps filled with sintered iceballs that pop up here and there, or trails where they forgot to groom one side. That's gotten better, but c'mon, the season is nearing the end. One skier claimed that the management intends to close "as soon as possible" in order to get on with other development plans. Two main reasons I bought the season pass to Camelback instead of Blue: 1) Camelback (not Blue) opened again in late March/early April after a nice 15" snow. 2) It was way better than Blue had been all year. Now those reasons seem to be invalid, and I am seriously considering the Blue deal. I've heard they got their grooming act together this year -- how was it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keltacer Posted February 17, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2013 Rode Blue for the first time today with JohnnyLo, cafercr35 and Jessie (didnt catch bomber name). I thought the mountain was fantastic, wide trails with very good grooming. Got a little icy in spots later on in the day as all the fresh blown stuff was either blown off by wind or scraped off by skidders, but all in all I thought conditions and coverage were way better than camelback. The place got really busy after lunch, but I attribute that to the holiday weekend. Youre right about camelback, it's been a disappointment as of late as far as grooming and snow blowing is concerned. Lower cleopatra was ungroomed for two weekends in a row, what gives? Blue is the same distance from my house as camelback, so I think ill be hitting Blue up a lot more in the future. [h=1][/h] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teach Posted February 18, 2013 Report Share Posted February 18, 2013 Sounds like it was a good way to celebrate Honest Abe's birthday. I'm almost determined to get the Blue pass -- Blue is actually closer to me in miles, and also in hours if traffic isn't bad. That would allow extra time for carving... priceless. There have been a few very good days at Camelback this year... but more than a few where it should have been very good and just wasn't due to runs being closed or ungroomed or badly groomed. The other day the snow was great and both Raceway and Rhododendron Glen were closed until 11 or so -- when it got warm. Why were they closed? To change a few lightbulbs on Raceway! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jp1 Posted February 19, 2013 Report Share Posted February 19, 2013 keltacer, a couple of us plan to be at Blue Thursday (first tracks) morning. Personally I like BM over CB anytime, to me the trails have a lot more 'character' (JMO). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keltacer Posted February 22, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2013 jp1, hopefully I can catch you guys at Blue before the end of the season. Weekdays are hard to come by for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teach Posted February 24, 2013 Report Share Posted February 24, 2013 Anyone riding Camelback Sunday morning? Did anyone ride today? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keltacer Posted February 27, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2013 Teach, did you ride Camelback this past weekend? How was it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teach Posted February 28, 2013 Report Share Posted February 28, 2013 I should have gone Saturday morning but it was an extra $20 with the triple ticket (again). I bet it was good. Sunday was just too soft, but not that crowded. I don't know if it was just that it never got cold overnight or that it was poorly groomed (maybe too late) -- slightly frozen coarse grainy stuff over ice, so the surface looked smooth but it was a very bumpy ride (felt like rocks underneath) and little grip. That turned to soft granular with no grip in about an hour. I left at a record early 10:00. I got hit the other day. I was the only other person on Rhododendron Glen. A skier came straight at me as I was in the slowest part of the turn (slow snow that day, too) looking out of control (slight "pizza", hunched over, frantically trying to steer...). We both did what we could but his skis hit my board and (I think this is what happened) the impact cause us both to catch edges and cartwheel. I wasn't going that fast so didn't go that far; he went maybe 50' down hill, slammed his face on the hardpack and broke his nose -- blood was gushing out. I need a neon jacket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keltacer Posted March 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2013 Teach, sorry to hear that and I'm glad you're okay. Something similar happened to me early in the season which shook me up pretty good. A skier hit me from behind when I went down on ice. He took the brunt of the impact and had to be carted off with a knee injury. This Saturday may very well be my last day of the season. I'm out of town for 3 weeks beginning Sunday for work. I may do either Blue or Hunter mountain, not entirely sure yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 1, 2013 Report Share Posted March 1, 2013 teach - ! noo! Honestly that's why I wear knee pads, crash shorts (actually not that much padding, but I like to think it helps) and a full upper-body armored jacket. since then, I have taken a hit or two but the damage was noticeably reduced. Also, hence my orange pants and bright yellow coat I think there was a post on the main forums about what to wear. I definitely think bright colors are the key. We will be there saturday around....maybe 1:30? Probably going to be crowded, oh well. The high like 36* so conditions should be ok? I'm hoping? I grabbed a pair of carving boots for my fiance, I have some old snowpro bindings and a soft, 160cm board... saturday will be her first day out on hardboots! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teach Posted March 1, 2013 Report Share Posted March 1, 2013 (edited) Congratulations Nick! If you need a smaller board let me know -- I have two I got for my daughter to try and haven't been successful getting her on one yet. I hope to be there both Saturday and Sunday (now that it's free...) but plans are always getting foiled around here... Edited March 1, 2013 by teach added stuff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 6, 2013 Report Share Posted March 6, 2013 (edited) If noone knew: sunday was trash. Piles of snow-cone ice balls that were too heavy to push around and too soft to set an edge in. Almost dangerous, actually. I'm thinking of going friday morning - the weather looks good for the preceding days and with this storm coming an inch or two of real snow might make a huge difference. I am crossing my fingers here ... Teach - do you have any smaller bindings you used for your daughter? The board I have seems to be working for Mia, but the Snowpros she's on I think are too big. I may post on the main forum with some pictures to ask everyone in general if the bindings look too big for her boots. Also, it seems like my friend and I are going to try to do Mount Snow in Vermont on Saturday, March 16. Edited March 6, 2013 by NickG improper pronoun usage Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teach Posted March 8, 2013 Report Share Posted March 8, 2013 Sunday and Monday first thing in the morning were better than Saturday, and carveable, but just barely. Sunday lasted about an hour (with almost no one else to tear up the run) until it became like Saturday. Monday lasted a few hours. I have a feeling that what's happening is that each night they just rake out the sugar to make an even layer with the corduroy pattern. Whether it's rideable the next morning and for how long depends on how cold it got post-"grooming" (and so on when the raking occurred). Monday morning was a little colder than Sunday, and both days overnight lows were around 23 or 25, so it should have been very good with real grooming. But what do I know? I wanted to go Tuesday just to observe conditions, but instead... I went to Stratton Wed and Thurs and it was fantastic, even though the temperatures are about them same (mid 30s day, mid 20s night). Check out the online lift-ticket deals -- $40/day. Probably similar deals for Mt Snow and others in the area. Lots of snow up there, should last a while! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teach Posted March 8, 2013 Report Share Posted March 8, 2013 Nick -- I have some Oxygen bindings that appear to adjust pretty small. I'll look in the bin to see what else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 8, 2013 Report Share Posted March 8, 2013 Went last night, stayed over (yeah lucky me, neighbors have a house up there) and was basically first chair this morning. Last night: horrendous. All the sugar basically froze in place and was just...awful. However, there was one run, I guess it's the end of big pocono or something? They had groomed it out and it was untouched, but there was a fence there. I couldn't help myself. I went under the fence and it was like...stepping to heaven up from hell, incredible groom. This morning was exactly what I had hoped for: imagine taking Rita's waterice, freezing it, throwing an inch of snow on it, then grooming it. It was just the perfect consistency where it was super-firm, but you could always cut in to it. That lasted about 2 hours, which were totally worth it, then around 11-12 it started to get a little crowded/cut up/softer and I left. Anyways, so glad I went this morning, amazing. teach - let me know about the bindings, though looking at the next few weekends I'm not even sure how much of a season Mia has left (plans each weekend). My VT trip is definitely a go, and the weather up there this week looks perfect (high 20's during the day, low 20's at night). Saw another carver at camelback today, but I lost him before I could say something. Red boots (maybe UPZ?) F2 bindings, black pants...maybe a red-ish jacket, or the helmet was red? You guys gotta start wearing crazy stuff like me so I know who you are :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teach Posted March 8, 2013 Report Share Posted March 8, 2013 Emailed you, NickG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jp1 Posted March 9, 2013 Report Share Posted March 9, 2013 Nick, what flavor was the Rita's ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 9, 2013 Report Share Posted March 9, 2013 HA you know, when I pictured the analogy in my head, it was cherry. Go figure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teach Posted March 15, 2013 Report Share Posted March 15, 2013 (edited) Anyone riding Camelback Saturday or Sunday? I suspect it will be less crowded than weekends have been... and maybe halfway decent, given the overnight temperatures in the 20s for the last few nights, even a little snow yesterday. Anyone been to Blue Mt lately? Wondering if it's better (because of better grooming). Edited March 16, 2013 by teach ??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teach Posted March 16, 2013 Report Share Posted March 16, 2013 Raceway and Rhododendron Glen were OK other than for spots of poor grooming (groomer ridges, a few holes (!!), lots of small rocks in the snow in the run-in). Honeymoon was nice, but the snow was extremely fast, which made it really hard to get a full turn in before running out of trail (for me). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teach Posted March 17, 2013 Report Share Posted March 17, 2013 Went this morning, not bad -- and it's snowing. I bet it will be better tomorrow -- anyone going? It wasn't too crowded. Raceway and Rhododendron Glen were pretty good. I tried a few other runs but they were loose granular. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teach Posted March 17, 2013 Report Share Posted March 17, 2013 Way better than expected today. and it was just as good at 5 pm when I left. Great riding with JohnnyLo and crew. Ran into another BOLer minus carving board -- MillerXXXX? good to meet you, and next time bring the board! Tell BW (orange flame Coiler owner) I said hi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 18, 2013 Report Share Posted March 18, 2013 teach - nice to hear conditions are still ok! I am going to keep my eye on the weather. Depending on how it looks, I may try to go first thing friday morning. I have a sneaking suspicion that the groom on rhododendron/raceway will be great. I was in VT this weekend, we did killington. It was crowded but the snow was perfect, absolutely no complaints. Long drive, though :P On another note, after working on rotation technique all season I think I basically have the heelside EC down. Definitely still needs work but I'm not getting the chatter I used to get. Fun times, sad that season is almost over (Blut Mt. says it's over on the 24th - did camelback say anything similar?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keltacer Posted March 18, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2013 Hearing about great conditions is killing me! My season ended 3/2 with a broken tib/fib. I'm in MA right now recovering and were supposed to get a few inches of snow here tonight. It's torture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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