Getting tired talking about gas prices.

Just got a confirmation receipt from Timberline for my season's pass. First winter I'll be a passholder at T-Line. Thanks to Jimmy for the continual reminders to get my procrastinating butt in action.

Jimmy, want to share some info on the Ski PA voucher deal?

If offered again and I don't opt for the Ski PA voucher deal, I'll likely sign up for a six pack (of tix) for Blue Knob.

I'll probably ski a lot of 2-3 day weekends to Timberline and Blue Knob next winter. Hopefully car pooling on most of them to save $$$. Day trips may be minimized.

I'm looking forward to skiing Blue Knob, and hopefully Laurel. I'll probably hit Whitetail and maybe try Liberty and/or Round Top. The real excitement will be my trip west. Planning to avoid Colorado this time, but I haven't decided between Idaho/Montana or Utah.

I'll have new skis, though! Nordica Hot Rod Nitrous I won at Loveland, my new favorite ski area other than Vail.


aaron

If Laurel opens I'll spend most of my time there. I'll hit Blue Knob when it looks good and Seven Springs if I have to. I should get down to T-Line. It's been more than a decade since last I skied there. I'll probably ski Hidden Valley. I still haven't tried the newer terrain at Wisp and skied there only once 2 decades ago, low priority.

I hope Laurel opens with 100% coverage including under the double chair. That would keep me interested for years to come. A good snow year would be the best thing for local skiing.

Planning on the usual for local trips. A bunch of three day weekends to the Poconos, mainly Elk. Maybe try a trip somewhere else.

Then I'm planning two 1 week trips out west. First one to Fernie in BC. Second will probably be Alta/Snowbird, but that's not for sure yet.

Also hoping for a couple days at Bristol Mountain in NY around Christmas since the wife's family is near there.

Yikes! Thanks for the reminder, in less than 30 days my rental agent at Snowshoe will want to get my winter plans for personal use.

Last year I missed my Whistler trip to go to Stowe, and then work difficulties made it impossible. I'm on to Stowe again this year. I may end up in CO depending on the outcome of the elections too. Probably will be a busy winter with the transition.

Other than that, a month at Snowshoe in Feb/Mar 09

I'll probably work a few days at T-slime and then go out west for a few months. Just listed my house for sale so I can swing another epic winter out West...riding pow everyday for a few months...ahhhhhhh pow...

Just tryin to save you some money JohnL. Hope i'll ski Laurel, will get to 7 springs, blue knob, snowshoe, 20 days or so at timberline, haven't been to canaan or wisp for a while might be nice to get one or both of them this season......

The PA deal was 750.00 for a book of 24 all day vouchers. Some times i have extra but if someone's interested contact PSAA, skipa.com. call them up & see if you can get on the list last time i heard they had a wait list.

I signed up to go into ski patrol training at my local hill ("hill" being used in the same way westerners condescendingly refer to the Appalachians as "mountains"). Anyway, still waiting to hear back from them. If they write back, hopefully by the end of the winter I'll be a Level I ski patrol.

I hope to make it out west once next year (probably Colorado), and will want to check out Whitetail's new trail and enhancements.

Great question, JohnL! Talking about gas prices is depressing.

Now that I've bought my first pair of new skis since c. 1970(thanks to many DCSkiers who offered advice), I'm planning to take Whitetail's weekday-morning-lessons-for-geezers this coming seasons. Skis and I have both changed shape since 1970, so I have plenty to learn.

Figure my first turns will again be at Wisp or Wintergreen, since they can sure crank out the snow once the temps get cold enough. In addition to the three Ws, I'd like to make day trips to several other areas within 1-3 hrs of the Shenandoah Valley including T-line, the Nut, Liberty and maybe 7S and BK. Hoping for a first-ever visit to Snowshoe as well.

When my family heads north for Christmas-New Year's, we're trying for some time in the North Conway, NH area. If not, then we'll make day trips to Bousquet or Berkshire East in Massachusetts and an area in southern VT that my son will choose.

Thinking snow (but enjoying the late spring, too),
Woody

Skiing domesticaly this year but hoping to ski abroad next year.....Iran....stay tuned!

June 5th 24 Hours New 8"

[img]http://www.snowbird.com/snowcam.html[/img]

May plan to do a bit more ski-trip carpooling next season, but I almost never travel alone on ski outings already. Will try to spread the love around locally. Hope to get to New England for late season skiing again, this past spring will be hard to top for that. Probably won't take family west unless the $139 rdtrp fares to Denver return, although a visit to my cousin at Kirkwood is always on the back of my mind.
Tough to schedule ambitious ski plans when I am consumed by education costs right now; two kids attending or just graduated from out-of-state colleges, two more likely going to private colleges in the next couple years. High gas prices are the least of my worries.

Probably 2 - 3 trips to Wintergreen, maybe 1 to T Line, a week at Sunday River & Sugarloaf and of course a day with the boys at the Global Warming charity event at Blue Knob!

WG, wildlife refuge, dolly sods, blackwater falls, etc etc

Jeez, I almost forgot about that. That young blond you guys met at Blue Knob likes the expensive private schools too. Since Dad spent most of the college savings on ski trips, I might be skiing Boyce Park and their towering 124 feet of vertical next season.

Don't sweat it Rob, JimK i can tell you that my experience with puttin the kids through is the more it costs the more they'll let you borrow.

So much for retiring before I die.

Living and working less than an hour from WT makes getting a NCC a no brainer for me for the coming year. LMs status will effect the number of trips up into PA for me. A Dixiesap party convention will be a must, however, if LM does open.

Awesome to hear Roger Z signed up to be a patroller at his local "hill". Do Peak Resorts proud!

As a geo bachelor in W-Burg now I hope to hit WG with regularity. Hypermiling to get there.

Xmas trip to Granite Peak could provide some fun and foder. Possible Western Spring Break trip as well if the house sells!!

Who's planning ski trips this early in the off season? Bit OCD don't you think. But did you know the MLK weekend is a four day weekend for most of the schools in NOVA, due to the inauguration of the new Pres? But who's checking.

I may put may tax stimulus check towards a ski vacation for the family in CO. I've got some family & friends I need to ski with.

Weather permitting, the family & I will be skiing a bunch of days at Tline. Plus a few trips to VT. May hit 7 Springs this year.

If things work out, I'll get a bunch of days in Tahoe this winter.

Very, very OCD. Nonetheless... Who knows ? I figure you can only 'plan' on skiing below the MD line about two weeks in advance.

The last few years we would go to Wintergreen more than anywhere else, but since they were so bad last year we went locally only to the equidistant Appalachian (5), which had great snow, Winterplace (1), and Snowshoe (2). I did not 'plan' on going to any of those places. The worst part was I did not ski with any of my DC ski friends last year.

Next season, a terrible thing happens: the local spring break is April 20-24. This is too late for a big trip, so we either have to bite the bullet and spend the entire ski budget for one trip at holiday prices, or try for several local weekends hoping that tline has some really good snow. And of course, I would like to get in on that blue knob global cooling fest!

You know, if Skybus had stuck it out, I would have considered North Conway local So much potential, so little reality.

The Mrs and I are going to do the ski school thing only at at t-line next year. As far as trips, it's too early to tell. Depends on what the season offers. I might spend more time doing a mid atlintic smorgasboard in January/February and hope we get back to our March dumps in the Alpps like we used to have. Maybe a group trip to Europe or the West.

Getting back to the fact that Fairfax Schools will have a 4 day weekend over MLK Day due to the inaguration. I remember on year when my kids were still home that the two winter teacher work days were about the same time creating a 7 day "long weekend" at Inaguration time. Might want to check this out and see if same true this year.
The Colonel

Mmmmm... Just watching CNN's $139 a barrell and the 400 pt drop in NY. I think that in the long run, more folks will be staying home and traveling locally. And with the airlines becoming less friendly than Greyhound, as well as the increased security that will likely accompany next ski season's proximity to the elections, air travel may become quite cumbersome. Other than Stowe, I may stay home.

I'm personally waiting when the big recession/depression comes and the bubble bursts devastating not only the economy, but dropping oil and gas prices back down to a reasonable level. While alternative energy sources are always good and should be used where needed, oil isn't going to go out of our long term energy futures. The big thing, just break the Arab ties to importing and relying more on our own drilling off the coasts, the artic, and oil shale mining which is proving HIGHLY effective. Lets get gas back down to $1.50 gallon, I wanna have a better reason to buy that F150.

Break ties with the Arabs....Yes

Spend (waste) more and more money drilling in new places (especially the Artic)...Terrible idea. We not only need to break ties with the Arabs, we need to break ties with oil all together. NO MATTER WHERE you set up shop and drill for oil you are going to eventually run out. Yeah, in the mean time gas may drop to $1.50 a gallon but once ANWR runs out what do you have then? A RUINED wilderness area & and still a necessity for oil. We need to be investing our money into a long-lasting/renewable form of energy. Not wasting it on a NON-renewable energy source. If gas ever goes back to $1.50 (maybe if they find oil on the moon) then our problems will just be put on the back burner for a while. We need to solve this problem now. Not put it off.....

Sorry for the rant. Just had to speak my mind.

Yesterday could've had $202 airfares from Wash to San Fran (for Tahoe skiing) on Travelocity for early Mar '09, but it's just too far ahead to commit.

Apart from ski patrol (if they call), will probably do a long weekend trip to Park City and a March long weekend trip to Monarch. That's it this year- I've got El Salvadoran travel plans still consuming most of my vacation time. NEXT winter, me and the missus will be doing our first weeklong ski trip as a happily (?) married couple! We'll see if our marriage can survive a powder dump.

Oh, I also almost bought a Loveland season pass this year. At $329, it would take six trips to make it pay. And the pass included three free days of skiing at Monarch. So with the Monarch trip already planned, I was very, very close to pulling the trigger. If the family trip hadn't already been set for Park City, I probably would have done it. But Loveland is a great place to learn so maybe Sandra and I will get the pass next year, we'll see!

Oil is one of those things that I can pretty assuredly say without a doubt that we'll never ween ourselves off of. That doesn't mean we can't continue to use and invest in technologies like nuclear, solar, hydro power for electricity. In fact I think even in the automobile world of focusing on hydrogen power, or anything that may be feasible is always good and will have a niche.

But oil is something that was put here on earth for humans to use on a mass scale to survive off of and too grow as a human civilization with. I believe someone else here in this forum about a year ago that said the amount of energy derived from a gallon of gasoline vs the expense put into it will continue to exceed that of any other potential fuel out there. So why not go ahead and use those very resources that our nation is sitting on all the while breaking ties with the Arabs.

It wouldn't be surprising if the commentary rumors turn out to be true, that Islamic controlled OPEC wants to create a worldwide recession via the skyrocketing price of oil thus paving the way for islamic worldwide take over. heh True or not, if America has her own oil resources with new technology allowing for us to drill and get it, I say do so.

I just find it so annoying that big oil has been vilified as the criminal against humanity which seems to drive the perception that live without oil will make us live in some harmonious world. Seeing politicians like Nancy Pelosi and others scream for the heads of oil execs on a silver platter for reaping big profits and decrying they aren't being taxed enough seems to counter America's capitalistic heritage. Sure, I hate high gas prices, I have to alter my driving habits, spend less to make up for more on gas. I'd much rather pay more out the wallet than live in a nation with forced socialism upon it.

Yet I'm not blaming the oil industry, I'm first and foremost blaming past politicians getting us hooked on foreign oil rather than bucking the tree hugging, owl loving environmentalists who think if you squash a bug in the process of drilling for oil you are evil. In fact I realize that big American oil companies contribute to this economy only in the way a company like Microsoft can with it's ability to supply workers with solid well paying jobs and benefits that provide for the American working family.

I get the feeling if every person on capitol hill who has been screaming for more tax dollars from the oil companies on a silver platter, they could take those profits for re-investment in more efficient ways for drilling for oil, building more inland refineries, and breaking our ties with the Arabs, the old fashioned way. Through investment of profits and good ole capitalism.

YO David, bawalker

u guys gonna ski locally next season or WUT ???? take this price of gas sucks and OOOOH don't drill for oil drivel somewhere else, just sayin.........

Thank you..thank you..You got my vote Bawalker!...David, you got to stop worrying about messing up anwar..it can be done right.Folks were bent out of shape about the Alaskan pipeline at 1st..everything is cool up there now isn't it? We need to drill off of Florida before the Chinese & Cubans suck it all down! Give us one more chance(More time) to get other means of energy developed by drilling more US oil ...We need a little more time. This will be our last chance to save our economy & I think most folks know that we have been wasting time while sucking down the Arabs supply...Get-R-Done!

PS..Sorry Jimmi But this thread was Hijacked awhile ago with folks posting about sking out west & up north & way over Yonder...Local means the Mid Atlantic Brotha!

Waiting to find a new pair of ski boots first. Those skis just don't hold very well with duct tape.

Uh-oh, is Jimmy gonna lose another star for that?

Didn't we just have a discussion a while back about this whole star thing, and then Jimmy, Mr. 5 Star himself, gets clobbered. Somethin' t'ain't right, ya know.

Also, isn't there a rule against posting on Saturday nights? If not, there should be, I feel a stupid post coming on (oops too late)...

Locally...mostly Wintergreen as that is closest to us. Want to do a couple of weekend trips to somewhere I have not been in Mid-Atlantic yet...like Wisp probably. Hoping to work in Seven Springs on the way to Pittsburgh as I travel there on business quite often. Maybe Holiday Valley as well as we have a factory in that area (no one hardly ever mentions Holiday Valley here) but I will stretch the definition of local to fit that one in.

Sorry Jimmy. Caught me at the wrong time. Also, all I read was Bawalker's comment and thought I was in the gas thread...Please Forgive Me!!

Heck yeah I am going to be skiing locally next season. I am graduating on Dec 20th (you are all invited) so that means that the rest of the winter will be spent skiing somewhere. Probably all locally though....

David, well it was getting quiet in here in the forums as summer rolls around, so I had to make it seem like you were reading another thread when reading this one. I figure someone would just blame that on a bad batch of moonshine.