Has anyone been up to Blue Knob yet this year? I looks like they are almost 50% open which is pretty good considering that the entire mountain should be open before Jan 1 (that is pretty damn good for BK). Anyway I am heading up there tomorrow morning and staying for 2 days - just wanted to get some early season reviews of BK if there are any.

Thanks

I don't have any but I'm looking forward to your review. I haven't been there in 2 years so I hope to go this year.

Sorry, haven't been yet - but I am definately interested in a trip report (WITH PICS!!!)

Well I dont have any pics as I never bring along a camera. I was quite impressed with the conditions there - they actually had a pretty good amount of powder and the only runs still closed was the bottom half of the mountain (all the black trails) however the blue trails up top would be considered black trails at any other local resort so I was just fine with that. The second day there it was cloudy and began to snow, it was 13 degrees for most of the day but not very windy so it was very good conditions overall. I was very impressed with my first trip to the knob this year. At this point this year I have only spent 2 days at WT and 2 days BK and its really no contest, BK was incredible and to think they still have to open the bottom half of the mtn......this should be good year!

Sweet! The Knob has it hands down as far as terrain goes IMO. Can't wait til the bottom opens up!

Since LM isn't open this year, I am going to try to get over to BK. Anybody know the shortest way there from Ligonier, PA?

There is no easy way!

I realize I am jumping topic, but can anyone tell me what's going on at Laurel this year. I had heard so many good things about this mountain, I thought about putting some time in there this year. Now I hear it didn't open. What's up?

Much disappointment to some of us, LM will NOT be opening this year. Won't go into it too much as there have been many posts wrt this issue! If any news comes down wrt LM, someone will definately pass it on (Hockeydave is great for that!)

Just spent the weekend at the Knob and i have to say that the conditions were awesome. Friday was a great day, cold and about 8 inches of new pow from the previous 2 days, got in a good 5 hours of skiing on friday. Saturday proved to be even better I actually skiied 8 hours on saturday - temps warmed up but the base remained solid and we even got Stembogen open! I would encourage any one looking to get some great challenging skiing in to get up to the knob soon - they have moved the mogules that were on Deer run off to the side so now you just have a great steep slope that you can really carve on - possibly my favorite run there - anyway Blue Knob was great and considering that the lift tickets are some of the cheapest I have seen I strongly recommed heading up there. I will be back up in two weeks and will post again as to the conditions at that time.

Gavin, how much of the mountain was open?

Roy,
All of the usual trails (greens and blues) were open, Run out was open so you could actually ski to the bottom making a 2 mile run if you take Mambo Alley to Run out all the way down. No glades were open but the important blues (Upper and lower Expressway, Deer Run, Jack Rabbit, upper High hopes) and then they opened Stembogen but the traverse to get there was very thin in some areas but still, you do what you have to do when Stembogen is open. I cant give you a percentage of the mountain that was open but I would say about 19 trails were open. Stembogen was the only diamond open but I am not sure if they can make snow on the other diamonds. Lets hope for a great second half and maybe we can get BK 100% open......that would be awesome. Roy - are you planning a trip to the knob soon? They have a super bowl party package this weekend, sounds pretty cool as long as your down with the Steelers

I don't have anything planned but I want to get up there once (if) they get some better coverage. I'm a big tree skier and like to ski the glades once they're open. Doesn't sound like it's worth the trip right now.

I'm a redskins fan but I'm rooting for the steelers.

Looks like Blue Knob is opening up some diamonds! Stembogen and the Stembogen bowl have been open for a while now and uppper and lower Extrovert and Lower high hopes are opening up! and they have 3 of the 5 glade areas open - Forever, Laruel Run and the Triple glades. I was there about two weeks ago and Stembogen just ate up the misses, her knee is still tweaked from it but at least she is out there taking on some true diamonds! I went to Whitetail on Monday morning and although it was fun its just amazing in contrast in what WT calls a diamond and what BK calls a diamond. I am heading back up to BK on friday and staying until Monday - I will give a report when I get back but I expect it to be great! With the bottom half of the mountain opening up I expect this to be the best trip of the year up to this point. I know someone on here has issues with BK but I would suggest if anyone can get up there before the end of the season to do so. With the bottom of the mountain opening up it could easily be the best resort we have around here.....well only if you judge on terrain, the amenities obviously are behind the times
Can I expect to see any DC skiers out there this coming weekend?

Never been to the knob. How long does it take to get there from DC? Best route?
May try to go with a chum Saturday.

mm

Blue Knob has about 18 or 19 "gladed" runs total (including a couple of out-of-bounds glades). These are areas where the valuable timber was harvested in a select-cut fashion. Therefore, sizable stumps and rocks can be found in most of the glades, which requires a deep natural snow base (about 26" to 30") to provide adequate coverage. The glades do not have snowmaking; however, some of the shorter gladed runs located between Jack Rabbit and Expressway or Mambo Alley (like Triple Glades or Forever Glades) receive some "over-spray" from the snow-guns. But it's usually just enough snow to cover the ground in white and make the aforementioned glades look inviting. Right now, there is NO natural snow on the ground at BK, ONLY man-made snow on the ski slopes and a tiny hint of over-spray in a couple of the glades. NONE of the glades are skiable at present without risking major damage to your equipment.

By the way, what happened to the new and expanded Terrain Park at BK? Has it ever been open? I see that BK cut even more trees down along the left side (facing downhill) of Upper High-Hopes. As I understand it, the trees were taken down in order to expand the Terrain Park. All that I've seen in the Terrain Park area is an unsightly junked school bus. Yes, a junked school bus sitting out in the middle of the slope! And nothing that I would call a half-pipe or terrain (for air), etc. What's the deal here? Is this just a bad joke or something?