Kimmyt
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Speaking of how some people will do anything to ski for free..
Last night I was able to take part in a sponsored social event at Sno Mountain, PA. It involved FREE ride to the mountain, FREE skiing, FREE rentals, FREE beer and FREE food. I am not a fan of the social outing thing as done by young people (I know, I'm only 25 but getting drunk and hooking up is not my thing) but I figured I could suffer through the usual annoying personalities to get my ski on. I was a bit wary of the drunken skiiers and boarders, but hoped that they'd end up staying close to the free source of beer.
I haven't ever been to Montage, and I know that some people I guess had issues with the management? So I don't have anything to compare it to in the past.
We arrived at the mountain shortly after 5. Chomping at the bits to get on the slopes, because the area had gotten some snow in the past week or so and conditions looked pretty good. Luckily the line for rental skis was much shorter than snowboards. I hadn't brought my skis, as I need to get them sharpened anyway. I did wish that I had brought them, because the rental were ridiculously heavy Elans that felt like I had lead boards strapped to my feet. After a few runs I got more used to them, but I definitely understood the joy of a well-tuned ski and my zippy little Volkls.
Headed straight to the 'black' side of the mountain. To our surprise and delight, the conditions were much more than favorable. They were, without a doubt, the best conditions I had experienced in PA. Ever. Dry, light powder that wasn't fresh but couldn't be classified as packed. The kind of snow that even when you carve on it, it's silent and you can't hear your edges. We zipped down all of the hardest trials in short order and I finally got the hang of the heavy dead skis. They did engage in shorter turns, but only if you hopped into them.
Took a run down the double black mogul run, which looks insanely steep from the ground, but the moguls were soft and the spots in between were only moderately icy, so I thoroughly enjoyed it.
We skiied almost nonstop until ten, with only a break for dinner around 7:30. After dinner we went off in search of the glades which I had seen from the lifts. I was amazed that a place in PA had glades, and they actually looked really great.
We headed to the blacks off of the Long Haul lift, which wasn't operating that night. Due to this, the snow on these trails was fantastic. Both trails were rimmed with widely spaced, moderately pitched glades, and we spent the rest of the night making fresh tracks (!) in there in between runs on the steeper trails.
We were a bit confused about status of the glades, they were obviously maintained, as there wasn't hardly any groundcover, so we assumed they were open. The lights weren't exactly on on the trails on that side of the mountain, due to the closed lift, but at no time was there any orange tape, or other familiar signs of off-limits trails. Nor did I see a sign saying 'this area is out-of-bounds' by the trees. We didn't get stopped, and at one point we passed a patroller on snowmobile as we were entering the trail from the woods, and they just looked at us funny but didn't say anything.
So we continued doing our thing. Wooping and hollering through the woods and in the deeper powder on the sides of the trails.
I felt like a smile was plastered on my face. And the best part? No one was around. Even though there were ~400 people on the trip, we think the majority hadn't skiied before so either stayed on the bunny trail, stayed at the bar, or never even intended to ski. There was maybe a handful of us on the harder trails all night, and those that were there were obviously there for the skiing, not the beer.
My kind of people.
All in all, one of the BEST nights I'd had in PA in my life on skis. And the best part was? It was a total surprise (and totally free). I wouldn't have ever expected the conditions to be so good.
And I quite enjoyed the glades! I think I'll have to check this place out again and see if it was really that great or if the beer clouded my vision!
k.
Last night I was able to take part in a sponsored social event at Sno Mountain, PA. It involved FREE ride to the mountain, FREE skiing, FREE rentals, FREE beer and FREE food. I am not a fan of the social outing thing as done by young people (I know, I'm only 25 but getting drunk and hooking up is not my thing) but I figured I could suffer through the usual annoying personalities to get my ski on. I was a bit wary of the drunken skiiers and boarders, but hoped that they'd end up staying close to the free source of beer.
I haven't ever been to Montage, and I know that some people I guess had issues with the management? So I don't have anything to compare it to in the past.
We arrived at the mountain shortly after 5. Chomping at the bits to get on the slopes, because the area had gotten some snow in the past week or so and conditions looked pretty good. Luckily the line for rental skis was much shorter than snowboards. I hadn't brought my skis, as I need to get them sharpened anyway. I did wish that I had brought them, because the rental were ridiculously heavy Elans that felt like I had lead boards strapped to my feet. After a few runs I got more used to them, but I definitely understood the joy of a well-tuned ski and my zippy little Volkls.
Headed straight to the 'black' side of the mountain. To our surprise and delight, the conditions were much more than favorable. They were, without a doubt, the best conditions I had experienced in PA. Ever. Dry, light powder that wasn't fresh but couldn't be classified as packed. The kind of snow that even when you carve on it, it's silent and you can't hear your edges. We zipped down all of the hardest trials in short order and I finally got the hang of the heavy dead skis. They did engage in shorter turns, but only if you hopped into them.
Took a run down the double black mogul run, which looks insanely steep from the ground, but the moguls were soft and the spots in between were only moderately icy, so I thoroughly enjoyed it.
We skiied almost nonstop until ten, with only a break for dinner around 7:30. After dinner we went off in search of the glades which I had seen from the lifts. I was amazed that a place in PA had glades, and they actually looked really great.
We headed to the blacks off of the Long Haul lift, which wasn't operating that night. Due to this, the snow on these trails was fantastic. Both trails were rimmed with widely spaced, moderately pitched glades, and we spent the rest of the night making fresh tracks (!) in there in between runs on the steeper trails.
We were a bit confused about status of the glades, they were obviously maintained, as there wasn't hardly any groundcover, so we assumed they were open. The lights weren't exactly on on the trails on that side of the mountain, due to the closed lift, but at no time was there any orange tape, or other familiar signs of off-limits trails. Nor did I see a sign saying 'this area is out-of-bounds' by the trees. We didn't get stopped, and at one point we passed a patroller on snowmobile as we were entering the trail from the woods, and they just looked at us funny but didn't say anything.
So we continued doing our thing. Wooping and hollering through the woods and in the deeper powder on the sides of the trails.
I felt like a smile was plastered on my face. And the best part? No one was around. Even though there were ~400 people on the trip, we think the majority hadn't skiied before so either stayed on the bunny trail, stayed at the bar, or never even intended to ski. There was maybe a handful of us on the harder trails all night, and those that were there were obviously there for the skiing, not the beer.
My kind of people. All in all, one of the BEST nights I'd had in PA in my life on skis. And the best part was? It was a total surprise (and totally free). I wouldn't have ever expected the conditions to be so good.
And I quite enjoyed the glades! I think I'll have to check this place out again and see if it was really that great or if the beer clouded my vision!
k.
?
we wanted. I guess it was a publicity thing. 
