Ice, Rocks and Steeps - Oh My!!! a Blue Knob TR.

JohnL and his posse above Stembogen Bowl

this what they were looking at - Pierre

artsy shot of Phil, actually I think there is something spiritual going on here.  Phil was my guardian angel going down the snowy summit access road on Sunday evening!

Jimmy wearing a smile on Deer Run

Got a go to bed, sleepy.  Here's 4 quick posts.  Top is gang above Stembogen Bowl, second is what they are looking at - Pierre, third artsy shot of Phil on Deer Run, fourth is Jimmy wearing a smile on Deer Run.  Will post some more tomorrow. 

Great weekend guys!

Awesome weekend with some AWESOME skiers/people!!!

Bush, it was nice skiing with (trying to keep up) you today. Get ahold of me when you want to make a trip to Tline. You're always welcome to crash at our place.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BushwackerinPA 

 

 I felt like a hack skiing with them.

 

 

Ha!  I'm calling BS on that one.  You were rippin' it up fosho.  Great skiing with you, let's do it again some time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bumpfreaq 

 

 

Ha!  I'm calling BS on that one.  You were rippin' it up fosho.  Great skiing with you, let's do it again some time.

Good call.  I wish I was a "hack" too.  BPA's got the goods. Solid chops indeed

It appears there was also some gate crashing at the Knob

Josh

Phil

crgildart (yesterday pacesetter did a lot better)

Looks like you had a lot of fun. The snow doesn't look that bad.

it was a good time, and given the conditions i was glad to escape with only minor injuries and only one core shot. i will never complain about conditions in WNY again, i don't think have ever seen an ice boulder in the middle of a trail before. it was good to see pierre and bushwacker again and meet everyone else and hopefully i'll be able to remember which names go with which faces at future gatherings.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jamesj 

 

This line up reminds me of someting...

One...Two..Three...

...C'mon this is not a... ...Stay on the ground!

...For those still on their feet...welcome to the...hiring clinic...

Quote:

Originally Posted by BushwackerinPA 

 

 

I have run nastar since 05-06 but the last listing I could find I had a 12 handicap. So i guess I got slower from then to now lol. I had to beat the pacesetter by .5 seconds to get platnium.

I beat the pacesetter once when I was about your age long long ago and didn't have much trouble getting silver or gold when I logged more days per year (lots more)  Facing the reality that I have only skied 11 days since 1998 I'm happy with being able to keep up with the big dogs last weekend.  It was definately the most fun I've had since my last trip out West in the 90s!  Gotta get out more I do...

Why were conditions so bad? Lack of snow making? Lack of grooming? We have more thaw/freeze cycles here at Ski Roundtop but the conditions here have been absolutely amazing this year (not that I have been able to take advantage of it - frustrating). I'm sure that has something to do with the snow making capabilities.

If any of you guys are passing through this way this season you should check out Roundtop. Not as many runs but what we have is in tip top shape.

BPA and JJ

Thanks for the photos and videos so far.  I'd like to see as many as are available.  Most of mine didn't come out for some reason, maybe a bad SD card?  Please PM me with a link (photobucket, or wherever) if there are more out there that I can check out that might not be quite worthy of posting in the TR. 

Thanks!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Philpug 

 

 I don't think that BK is "cheap" with the snowmaking..I just don't think they have the money to blow as much as they want..or need. 

The do have a lot of acres to cover.  There were plenty of guns all along the Express (Name?) triple chair.  One was so close I reached over off the chair and touched it.  I'm glad those weren't on while we were there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by crgildart 

 

 

The do have a lot of acres to cover.  There were plenty of guns all along the Express (Name?) triple chair.  One was so close I reached over off the chair and touched it.  I'm glad those weren't on while we were there.

I touched that one too!! Did you notice how every gun up that slope was different from the next?? They had some pretty retro ones, homemade looking ones, and even a new Polecat... I must say that was awfully funny!! :) 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Philpug 

 

 I don't think that BK is "cheap" with the snowmaking..I just don't think they have the money to blow as much as they want..or need. 

I agree. With yesterday being such a ghost town, I'd venture to say that this hasn't been a poster year for BK (or many resorts for that matter)...

Re: BK snowmaking, I maybe mistaken but water resources might be an issue, compressor capacity another but I think Phil hit the big one, not enough revenue to justify the expense. All the snowmaking was concentrated on their money runs, greens and true blues. All those trails had good coverage and grooming. The blacks are expert trail after all except here the ratings are not just pitch but conditions also.

Now admittedly I'm not regular weekender or pass holder at BK but I've skied there more often this season than the Springs or Hidden Valley, both closer to me by an hour. This weekend was the busiest I've seen it and that includes MLK day and I read in a TR that the place was empty over Presidents Weekend too. You attendees, tell me how long did you wait in line for a chair (all old tech triples and doubles)? Well, that's great for us but the resort has got to be hurting, so temper your criticism with that understanding. The lack of crowds on holidays is alarming and I fear that the one of the last true expert ski areas in this state maybe lost.

This place deserves the support of any dedicated skier who thinks they are expert or advanced skiers. BK will humble the aspirant and cause the true expert to pay close attention. What more can you reasonably expect? All PA ski areas offer up groomed cruiser, a few even allow a dedicated bump run but only Blue Knob gives you the steep pitch of Extrovert comparable to K-ton's Outer Limits or the Stembogan Bowl and the switchback trail that gives you a shot of steep and a whole lot of character below. No other open PA ski area even has those types of trails let alone offers up snowmaking too.

Look up the face of East Wall Glades and soon you'll realize you are looking at rock bands and small cliffs. Shortway, Mine Shaft and Bone Yard can't even be seen from lift or trail. I hope PA gets winter back in my life time because I have skied these natural snow trails and glades and they are worthy of respect and loyalty. Can you say that about your local 'resort'?

I may have ranted on about it before but the ski industry needs the Blue Knobs and the Laurel Mountains and not just because they are feeder areas. Any little flat hill will get folks on skis. Local areas like BK and LM also allow the budding intermediate, full of enthusiasm and a hunger to grow, a taste of what's out there beyond the groomers, beyond their skill set, a standard to aspire toward. Places like the Knob and Laurel will also feed the soul of our sport and keep a large economic base involved and spending what they can afford just to touch the the limits of their skill and continue to beckon their improvement.

I applaud you guys that made the effort and attended.  I'm sure the commraderie helped makeup for the less than ideal snow conditions.  I was traveling back from Utah Sunday . Missed Contractor's Day as well being out of town 2 years running. Anyway, I skied BK in the late 70's when attending Penn State and it doesn't look like alot is different in 09.

I'm a little surprised that an owner hasn't surfaced over the years and tried to do something there and up grade the place. It has decent access to some population centers and decent access from the Turnpike. I was told years back by an old customer I had in the area the problem in developing BK were water and sewage related issues. You have a 1,052 vertical  and good elevation for snowmaking, it has alot of potential. But here in Pa. if you don't have a big snow making plant you're screwed in being able to offer any type of consistent snow surface and all that takes $$$ which it would appear is being generated .

Do you guys think it could be a chicken or the egg kind of thing? Would good snowmaking (and marketing ) attract enough people to generate sustaining revenue? A place with terrain like that so close and state of the art snowmaking would be killer.

Our area can lay down FEET of snow overnight. When the temps really dip the snow quality is amazing, better than Mother Nature ever serves up around here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Philpug 

 

 I don't think that BK is "cheap" with the snowmaking..I just don't think they have the money to blow as much as they want..or need. 

My choice of the word "cheap" is less than ideal, "thrifty" is probably a better word, and I do understand they probably don't have the money to go crazy with snowmaking in these economic times. 

That being said I've skied there a couple of times every year for the past three years and Extrovert has always been in a similar condition as it was this weekend.  They could certainly improve the conditions on the expert terrain by grooming and managing what snow they do blow better than they have.  Extrovert always has huge icy whales on it because all they do is blow a bunch of snow into a big pile and let it freeze up. 

Don't get me wrong, I really like the place.  That's why I've gone back every year since I started skiing again.  I just think it could be much better.

Did anybody but me look at this and think that on a softer day with decent coverage it would be fun to catch a little air off the top of that sucker (provided there was a spotter)?

Mike, I don't think that BK has a groomer capable to do the job, it is that steep. Trails like that use to be done with wench cats or tandem cats so the downhill machine can go slow and deep enough to do good, let alone keep the job safe. I don't know if the builders of modern groomers build a groomer that can do it solo. There's also the trail intersections and thin cover that can cause tiller damage or stone debris. I'm sure management would groom on occasion if they could. Lower Extrovert has been groomed at least once this year. I was there the day after they did it, two passes, side by side down the middle.