Mid-Atlantic GTG @ Blue Knob, PA - Feb 26 & 27, 2011 - Page 3

Just make the decision which skis to bring.  Last year was bumps and tree focus.  This year thinking carvers and cruisers.  Also, ironed some warm weather wax on the rock skis but still hoping to use the big guns with universal wax for my NASTAR runs mid day Saturday.  Packed most of my ski clothes.  Almost ready to go!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jamesj 

 

Up to 8 inches of snow is forecasted for tonight at BK.  It's either good or good for ya.

I do plan to bring a pair of older 91s just in case Saturday night also brings good tidings.

Blue Knob report:

I skied Blue Knob yesterday, Sunday Feb 20.

Conditions were average. (due to a drop to colder 30 degree weather after Fridays huge warmup)

They had excellent snow (all runs open) until 2 weeks ago when a wet sleet storm

deposited a layer that froze up. :-(   A lot of melting has happened since, especially Wed to Friday

of last week.

There is little natural snow in the woods/glades. Extrovert has a lot of snow cover but has been closed

most of past 2 weeks (Ski patrol had it open Wed to Fri but their web site was not updated with this information)

Extrovert, Edgeset, & Triple Glades (no blue Ice) could be opened if it warms up or they get snow this week. The

lower glades need at least 12 inches of snow to open.

Jack Rabbit (aka Bunny Hop) had rather good conditions with a mix of loose granular & corn snow.

Expressway & Mambo were decent.  Lower High Hopes was a bit scraped but skiable. Deer Run has several avoidable

bare spots but lower part is poor (they have never figured how to groom this run) with a large scraped hard frozen area.

Stemboggen was better than usual though some turns had small slick areas.  Stemboggen Bowl well covered but frozen &

not recommended.

A lot of snow at the top & bottom of the double chairs so they can go at least 2 more weeks. There actually is none of their

famous blue ice anywhere.  Their report has Edgeset open but its closed.  A patroller I talked to had lower Extrovert open

for an hour early Sunday but she decided it was too frozen.

Conditions for this weekends gathering will depend on how the weather trends this week. Temps will cycle up & down &

precipitation of some kind is likely tonight & Friday.  A decent amount of new snow would do wonders.

hth

DC is getting snow now but they say rain in Altoona - this makes no sense !!   Can't be right.

I did not ski Saturday due to extreme winds.  They closed till noon on Saturday.

Thanks for the first hand info Mdskier!  Sounds like typical BK conditions.

FYI it's snowing hard in Pittsburgh right now and we're supposed to get 6-10 tonight so BK will likely get something similar or a bit more.  My worry is the warm up and rain on Thursday and Friday which may wash away any snow they get over the next couple of days.

Fingers crossed!

Mike

Just checked the Weather Channel online for BK and they are saying 8-12 for tonight and snow showers tomorrow.  Friday is still looking sketchy with a rain/snow mix.

After seeing the TR from last year I was planning on coming this year at least for Sunday, but my plans for Saturday got switched from a venue in NJ to Long Island, so that makes the drive Sat. night to impossible.  I hope you all get a good freshening up of snow, and I'll look towards next year. 

Conditions are looking nice.

Blue Knob report today says 8 to 10 inches of new snow overnight.

Upper & Lower Extrovert and all the upper mountain glades (inc. Laurel Run Glades) are now open.

Lets hope Thursday/Friday's storm is friendly!

hth

http://www.blueknob.com/winter/conditions.php

Or free call to a live person: 1-800-458-3403

Did I mention that I'm excited about heading up there to ski with everyone?  I'm hoping to be on the road around 5am Saturday and get there about 12:30.

It will be good to ski with you again too. Hey, the Pens got a few players from the Stars. Had to give up a very good young defenseman though. I hope it works for both teams.

All meetings will be at the top of the double chair, right outside the lodge.

Friday afternoon 12:30 to 12:45PM; 5:00 to 5:45PM

Saturday 9:00 to 9:30AM; 10:30 to 10:45AM and 1:00 to 1:15PM

Sunday same as Saturday.

If you have a ribbon to tie on one of your poles please do so especially if you are new to the outing.

I suggests you exchange cell phone numbers through PM or e-mail if you have not already done so. Cell phone reception can be spotty but Verizon is OK outside the lodge, top of the mountain, iffy on the lifts.

Any problems address through a post here or PM me.
 

See yunz at the Gathering.

Looking forward to seeing everyone again!  We likely won't be there till sometime around 10 or 10:30 but we'll track you guys down if we don't meet up at the lodge.

Mike

Bump- Meeting times corrections:

All meetings will be at the top of the double chair, right outside the lodge.

Friday afternoon 12:30 to 12:45PM; 5:00 to 5:15PM

Saturday 9:00 to 9:30AM; 10:30 to 10:45AM and 1:00 to 1:15PM

Sunday same as Saturday.

If you have a ribbon to tie on one of your poles please do so especially if you are new to the outing.

I suggests you exchange cell phone numbers through PM or e-mail if you have not already done so. Cell phone reception can be spotty but Verizon is OK outside the lodge, top of the mountain, iffy on the lifts.

Any problems address through a post here or PM me.
 

See yunz at the Gathering.

Bring on the rain I have my skiers umbrella!!

Given the forecast, I'm probably bailing - looking further north where frozen white stuff will hopefully be falling.

Yes, SKI-3PO, I'll do likewise. I'm bailing out on Saturday- really bummed out since

 weather for my ski club  visit to Blue Knob last weekend was also not great.

My toe is still healing from some minor frostbite at Breckenridge 3 weeks ago. It's not

really stopping me & the podiatrist today says it it will be fine.

No hot tubs for another week!

I'm still trying to come Sunday on a day trip only. No guarantees.

John in Silver Spring, MD

Quote:

Originally Posted by SKI-3PO 

Given the forecast, I'm probably bailing - looking further north where frozen white stuff will hopefully be falling.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mdskier 

Yes, SKI-3PO, I'll do likewise. I'm bailing out on Saturday- really bummed out since

 weather for my ski club  visit to Blue Knob last weekend was also not great.

 

\

Rain today yes, but Saturday looks good right?

Rain will change to snow overnight tonight.  The glades are closed today but Extrovert is open. Saturday and Sunday should be good. Less windy over the weekend, from the southwest. Saturday looks like the best day high in the mid 30s & cloudy.

Looks like my early morning drive should be OK,.  It will be warm enough to not be ice here when I leave and the precipt will probably be finished by the time I get far enough north and high up enough for it to be of the frozen variety.  Then things should be thawed out and roads cleared by the time I leave Sunday. 

BAH is all good . I need some ribbon and im GTG. see you all today later on.

See yunz up there, drive careful.

Leaving around noonish. See yunz air n at.

We didn't get anywhere near the amount of rain here in Pittsburgh as was forecast.  Rain stopped early this AM and turned to snow by 11am.  Tomorrow should be a good day at BK!

See you all in the morning!

Mike

Blue Knob was her usual cold and icy self this morning though I found inch deep untracked on beginner's run skier's right (ski area perimeter) . Ya gotta know where to look!

Gray skies turned blue and she softened a bit. Actually the snow was considerably better than I expected.

Not quite up to skiing with these guys, I resigned myself to watching from the lifts.

John

Vince

I did get to ski a couple runs with some of the gang.

Sorry I didn't have more time to hang out. It was nice to see old faces again and meet some new ones.

Thanks,  telerod15

See you guys at 9:30 or 10:30 am.

I'm counting on it being 10 degrees warmer today

which should soften up the surface some.

John W

Trip completed.  Whopping success as usual

Like Rodney said, Saturday was borderline boilerplate and bulletproof following rain late in the week.  Sunday was ......

"Like Buttahhhhh!!!!"

Nice and soft, the unforgiving ice cloaked frozen walls on Extrovert morphed to lovely, supple tater piles for blasting right through

Trip reports here