LOL. Ok, thanks! I'm a little slow on the uptake...

I thought those photos were from Kuwait after the first Iraq war. The devastation! I am however amazed at how fast those trees grew back from the logging.

I'm glad you had a great time at Blue Knob. The conditions are good right now. We have a nice snow base 30-45" and it's currently snowing. We received about 3 inches of snow already today and we hope to get over a foot before the storm ends Wednesday afternoon.
Ski Good or Eat Wood,
BK Tim

Great pictures! Just wondering....did you happen to take any pictures of the following: The Ditch Glade, the Cliff-Hanger Glade (an unofficial glade located just down the ridge from the Ditch Glade), The open area along the left side (facing downhill) of Jack Rabbit where the "Blue Trail" is located, The Bone Yard Glades, The Mine Shaft Glades, Lower Route 66 (after it had been open to skiing for awhile) or the lower 1/4 of Shortway, before it meets up with the Run-Out.

Some of the higher elevations of South-Central PA could receive close to 2 feet of snow!

I'm leaning towards skiing BK tommorow. Thanks for the photos. I've never been to BK, so the terrain excites me a little more than Whitetail's mctrails. Should be an interesting drive.

Wow! You-all really covered some ground! It was rather cold that day so I can see why your camera froze-up. Even, if your camera hadn't froze, it can be kind of difficult taking lots of pictures when it's cold and you're trying to get lots of runs in.

You should have seen the one before this one was built.
I remember staying there in the early seventies during an April Easter (stayed in the old AF barricks, really hot inside, freezing outside and a major blizzard.
I call BK the "icebox" of PA, and when one says "ice" at BK, they are talking about the clear variety identical to that in your freezer.
But what potential the area has.
The Colonel

Sorry Tromano! I missed the toungue-in-cheek and feel bad about it. Ugh, it's such a terrible feeling to have a joke fly over one's head.

I doubt that there's anyone left who can remember this, but the original ski lodge at BK had GRAVEL on the floor (inside the building), for a couple of seasons (in the early 70s). The manager of BK at the time, Lee Yoder, CPSIA must have decided that having gravel on the floor would save money because no cleaning would be required. I think where Lee might have gotten the gravel idea, was a gravel filled hallway along the back (ski slope side of the lodge) where the ski lockers were located. Perhaps he figured if the locker area was a good place to have gravel on the floor, then why not spread gravel throughout the entire lodge. Although the original lodge wasn't much, the skiing was awesome during those early years. Stembogan had a LONG access trail (called Sleeper) that ran through the woods (where 2 snowmaking ponds, tubing park, and Little Valley road are today). Also, the original Stembogan ski slope had two additional turns that were eliminated when the Little Valley road was built (to allow for the building of homes at the chairlift mid-station). Anyway, I guess it's just nostalgia, but it always seems like the old days were better (despite gravel in the lodge).


I might add that I still have each Blue Knob brochure (starting with their first season) up until about 1995 (I was on the cover of 2 issues). Of course, my father collected all of the very early brochures. There wasn't too much snowmaking during those early years, but the coverage was often pretty good.

It's so cool that you remember the old days at BK! I think that most of the snowmaking was limited to Bunny Hop, Mambo Alley and the Beginners slope. Extrovert did have snowmaking (the air and water pipes ran above the ground along the left side of the slope (facing downhill)), but snow was rarely made on Extrovert. Sometimes my father would take me over to 7-S (when the North Face was open). In those days the North Face had just one poma lift and, no snowmaking (if my memory serves me correctly). I remember that the North Face was kind of an on-going joke in DC since it wasn't open much of the time. Little did we know what a success story the North Face would become.

The thing I remember most about the early days of Blue Knob was how long the runs were....and how long and slow the ride up that double chair was! Since this was before the days of regular grooming, the flat run out at the end of Mambo Alley (which they now have renamed "Run Out") always had these "washboard undulations" which ran perpendicular to the fall line. These things were real thigh burners, especially at speed. My brother and I used to "race" down the uncrowded Mambo Alley and finish by bouncing through those undulations. I remember the above-ground air/water pipes on Extrovert. Didn't they use those tripod mounted ground guns in those days? My Dad, who worked in the steel mill and often had weekdays off, would take me out of school to ski here as it often had more and better snow conditions than HV/7SP/LM. I have a lot of good memories eating our bagged lunches in those old Air Force bunkers.

I also remember taking that long poma ride on North Face on a day we were lucky enough to be there during a big snow. It sat next to the Double Chair for several years before they took it out.

Would you scan one or two of your old BK brouchures and email to me? I'd love to have them. I have a scan of the old Bear Rocks brochure (Thanks to Dan Boggs) and I'd love to add them to my history collection which I will post some day. I also found an old BK jacket patch while doing some fall cleaning last year.

It is really cool to find people that remember these places back then.

I remember the North Face poma...I remember on one of my first visits there being lifted off the ground by the poma while going back up the hill. Sort of grabbed you, if you know what I mean!
The Colonel

Yes, as soon as the weather clears (I'm snowed in right now), I'll head down to Bedford and have the brochure scanned. I have the brochure mounted between a couple of pieces of plexi-glass and hanging on my wall. That way, it can be taken down and viewed from both sides. I'll first try to see if it will scan it OK, without removing the brochure from the plexiglass. The original brochure is really interesting because it shows a map of all the Airforce buildings. It's also kind of funny because it touts BK's "vast" snowmaking system. Also, there's some wonderful art-work on one side of the brochure. The other BK brochure that I think DCSki members might find interesting, is a brochure from about 1972, when Lee Yoder was general manager. That brochure is filled with some of the best color pictures of BK that I've ever seen. There's even a picture of the late Ward Keyseker (I'm not quite sure of the proper spelling of his last name), Ward worked as a ski repair technician in the BK rental shop, and before that, worked in the old Hecht Co. ski shop (with Dutch M.) in Wash., DC. Ward was a real "piece of work" and sadly passed away about ten years ago.

While I'm thinking of the old days at BK I can't help but mention of some of the truly awesome skiers who were always blasting down the hill. I remember Ralph (Ruffy) Himes with his new Lange boots and red Head Killy 800 skis (or his Dynamic VR-17s, Rossi Strato 102s). Ralph basically owned the hill for many years. And, I can't forget Andy Himes (BK's current manager) who had his own style that always seemed to work the best in the bumps and on the steeps. Then, there was Harry Benjamin and wild Jeff Friday on his new Head 720s. I saw Jeff tuck Extrovert, High Hopes and Lower Route 66, all in the span of a couple of weeks. In fact, Jeff's season pass was suspended for 2 weeks because of his tucking. And, a few years after that came the GREAT "Stormin Norman" Helm...hands down, one of the BEST all around skiers I've ever seen. Anyway, BK has sure had it's share of characters over the years and, while I've skied the world over, I don't think that I've ever seen guys who could "take the hill apart" quite like the guys from BK!

And, when it came to Apres Ski at BK, who could forget Doug Hart's A-frame on Bunny Hop (now called Jack Rabbit), the A-frame that used to have a pink block foundation. The place had every bed (and then some) rented out each weekend. It was often THE place to hang-out after a day of skiing.

Nice pics! I remember going down Shortway (or was it lower High Hopes?) when the conditions looked like that -- my bases never forgave me.

BK is claiming 12" from last night's storm. I've never seen Bone Yard, Mine Shaft, or East Wall glades open -- maybe I will soon?

Tim,

I think your new middle name is "Pull No Punches."

PM me your email address and I'll send you the three pix I took of you in Blue Point. Unfortunately, I should have zoomed in closer on the shoots.

I also had a pic of Tim ducking under a tree leaning against another tree, but I had my camera out of my pocket too long, and the camera went into shutdown mode just as I was snapping the shot. It would have been a good shot.

MM don't take it out of the glass. If it's that old, I'd hate to see it ruined by taking out.

So yea I am definitely going to be up at BK on Saturday. If you see a guy on fristchi freeride pluses or a shorter girl on Head IM88s thats me and Madeline. Just say hi or ask for change for a nickel. That always works. --Tim

h

I spent four days skiing the knob last week, during and right after that last storm came through. Conditions improved dramatically. Since I am more active with the PA Ski & Ride group, I posted my TRs over there. Included in the TRs are links to photos.

I really enjoyed my time over there and always try to go every year. If you can ski Blue Knob well, you can ski anywhere! - Volklyokel