Riding the Knob. The Blue one.

90 miles and a 100 minutes from our house lies Blue Knob. With a name like that, its appropriate that it has the biggest vert in PA, a huge 1072 feet of cruisy groomers, a few bumpy steeps and glades that would probably ski great with good cover. 2 slow main chairs ply each flank of the ski area, with a top-to-bottom ride taking a good 10 minutes. That’s plenty of time to take in the views of the rolling hills of Pennsylvania and observe the antics of the locals staying in the slopeside accommodation. These antics seemed to revolve mostly around drinking a fair bit of beer from late morning, sat around fire pits and in the lively bar at the Knob tip. It all happens on the top of the Knob, ticket window, a basic but functional day lodge and bar which looks like it hosts some pretty rowdy evenings.

A week of consistent snowfall and cold temperatures meant we saw the Knob in some of the best conditions of the season according to the locals. The groomers all over the mountain rode like western snow all day long, soft and forgiving, from the cold 20F of 9am through to 36F at 4pm when we rolled off the hill. The cover in the upper (officially closed) glades was respectable, and with care there was some good turns to be had. As the day warmed, some of the best skiing was on the strangely orange-tinted slushy of Extrovert. A run with genuine steeps, in the morning only budding base jumpers were to be seen sliding down in various non-vertical states. By late morning though, the ice transformed to firm gelato, and this became a run of choice for much of the afternoon.

Despite the slow lifts, there was never a lift line. Hence, combined with the respectable vert, we managed to eek out a decent day of skiing in a mere 25 runs. If winter and snow keep a firm grip on the Knob during March, there might well be another blow out before the lifts wind down for summer.

Saturday 7200m vert

Season Totals: 51 days, 21 powder days, 469,300m vert

Presidents Weekend at Holiday Valley, NY

Presidents Weekend is never the best weekend to ski anywhere. Too many people on slopes and hard to find places to stay. Luckily our buddy DeadSled had already plans to hit Holiday Valley in New York State, and had a spare room in his cabin. We were there as fast as our truck could carry us – a tad over 3 hours from Pittsburgh.

An early Saturday start gave us a jump on the crowds. Firm but decent ‘roid was all ours, and we followed Sled on a quick mountain tour. Like teenage sex, each run was a brief but enjoyable event. And it was easy to get up and do another one.

Weekend crowds finally crawled out of bed, and it was busy from then on. Not horrendously, but when you wait 5 minutes for a lift, have a 5 minute lift ride and are back at the lift two minutes later, it’s not a recipe for a big vert day. We bailed at 2,30 after 40 (!) runs and went drinking.

Sunday was a whole different matter. 4 inches of incredibly light Lake Erie poop (lake effect snow) blanketed the mountain. We were on 3rd chair, and the reward was an hour of super-fun groomer pow and bumps. It was mighty cold too, hovering around 12F all day with a wind chill that made me appreciate how my namesakes fish products might feel.

The skiing stayed pretty darn good all day, as the attractions of the charming nearby Ellicottville‘s good range of drinking establishment seemed to take its toll on the souls who braved the conditions. The Wall, a steep solid 5 turn pitch was worthy of multiple runs, and the runs off the Eagle and Chute chairs held some soft snow all day. It took 44 runs before we felt we’d got value for money off our lift tickets (~$1.15 per run!) and rolled back to the Steel City. If every day at Holiday Valley was as good as Sunday, even with the limited 750ft vert, I could ski there all the time. If only …

Saturday 6100, Sunday 7200m vert

Season Totals: 50 days, 21 powder days, 462,100m vert

A little easterly move – skiing at Seven Springs, PA

All good things have to come to end. We’d just skied 35 from 37 days during December and January at numerous Pacific Northwest venues. And then reality returned. We relocated to Pittsburgh for new pastures. Good professionally, not so good skiingly.

Ah well, new ski adventures to be had, I guess. And they started on an early February Sunday at Seven Springs, a 70 minute home-to-parking lot ski hill to Pittsburgh’s south east. ‘Hill’ is the operative word here, with 750 feet vertical and some 30 runs to sample. It’s a bit of come down from Mission Ridge, never mind Whistler, our previous two ski venues.

Expectations were not high, to say the least. But crowds were manageable, the snow cover decent – there was even some glade skiing out of range of the snow guns – and it softened nicely as the day went on. The north face area off the 6-pack Gunnar chair had some fun little gullies, pitches and bumps that made for surprisingly good skiing. It was firm, but far from the East Coast bulletproof that everyone had warned us about. If only the runs were twice as long ….

It took us the best part of 6 hours to rack up 6100m vert (from 29 runs!!). This slow pace wasn’t caused by the obvious – short runs and long lift lines – as the lines weren’t too bad anywhere but the 6-pack Gunnar chair, and even there the singles line usually made for a 5-ish minute wait, which was very respectable. The slowness was due to the lifts continually stopping as people hit the deck on the increasingly icy on and off ramps. The lifties,  mostly fine looking Appalachian woodsmen, simply watched and helped people get up off the deck. No attempt to throw snow on the ramps, or raking to break up the surface. They just watched as things got more and more treacherous at every lift. And picked people up from the deck.

The consequence was every lift stopped multiple times as the day went on. The 6-pack took about 3 minutes normally, but it seemed nearer 10 by the afternoon. The fixed grip chairs moved slower than an average glacier, stopping every few seconds to allow the carnage to be cleaned up. It was all very weird. Fun, but weird …

6100m vert

Season Totals: 48 days, 20 powder days, 448,800m vert

Mission Ridge at the end of January

The snow drought continued through  to the last weekend of January. With no massively appealing options, we headed back to our staple, Mission Ridge. Colder east-side temperatures, no rain, and a good chunk of north-facing mountain should have worked wonders during this freeze-thaw cycle.

Our intuition was pretty spot on. There was still excellent snow off anything below Windy Ridge, a good 3/4s of the mountain. Maggi’s, Lemolo, and lower down WaWa and all the tree shots in the vicinity rode well all weekend. Mission’s trademark wind also helped, blowing in new cover to smooth out bumps and soften chopped up crud.

By 3pm Saturday, with a decent amount of very under our belts, it seemed like a good idea to have some comedy. Beer, boots change and time to try teleskiing. The results are here.

I’d have done a third run if my borrowed boots hadn’t cut off all blood circulation to my feet. Maybe another time?

9200m, 8300m vert

Season Totals: 47 days, 20 powder days, 442,700m vert

January pow returns at Whistler

Like comedy, skiing is so much about the timing. After a week of mid-January-doldrums sun and freeze-thaw, Whistler was holding up well, but definitely showing some wear on the Wednesday morning we arrived. By noon it was snowing, and did so on and off until we left Friday afternoon. A good 30cm+ turned the skiing from decent to darn fine. With midweek ‘crowds’ (timing, remember), there was no panic to lap up pow. Like hipsters on fixed gears, we cruised casually around, picking off the best terrain on offer..

A line of fresh on the Blackcomb glacier? Ok …

Untracked lines under Flute and in the Symphony trees? Sure ..

Ripping groomers down Rock n’Roll? Why the hell not …

A clear and cold Friday opened up so many possibilities. Ruby Bowl was skiing like a dream. Dodge the thin rock band into Cougar Chutes, and boot deep freshies were the reward. At 1pm. Mid week in January at Whistler can be a fine thing indeed if you get your timing right.

11,200m, 11,300, 8400m vert

Season Totals: 45 days, 20 powder days, 425,200m vert