I ventured up to Blue Knob on Sunday to take advantage of the huge amounts of snow and was not disappointed. Yes it was very windy at the top. All of the blue runs were groomed. Only a few spots of ice were found where the wind blew off all of the snow.

My only complaint was that only one advanced slope was groomed (lower high hopes). Every other advanced or expert slope was left bumpy. I know they can't groom the glades. And they should leave tough slopes ungroomed for the mogul lovers out there. I rode up with an instructor on the chair one time and he said the slopes are too steep to groom. If Whitetail can groom Bold Decision (which is pretty steep), then surely Blue Knob could one or two more of the advanced slopes.

Lower Extrovert is groomed on occasion and so is Stembogen but I personally prefer they not groom them until they are totally unskiable and all the soft western like bumps were very skiable. Extrovert from the trail intersections up is just too steep to groom. Bold Decision can not compared to any of the expert trails at the Knob. About the only comparison would be Deer Run which was groomed and I think that run sports a blue square.

Hey now, the steep part of Bold has more pitch than Deer Run and more than any of the single blacks at BK, too. It's often easier to ski than Deer Run because it always has snow on it, while Deer Run is usually a sheet of ice.

Stembogen would be a blue anywhere else. So there, Blue Knob snob!

OP, If you are looking for easy skiing steeps, most are in the western half of the country. I believe Bold Decision fits that description better than anything in our region. I agree that nothing at BK compares to Bold Decision.

Well, it has been more than a decade since I last skied Whitetail so I'll take your word for it. As for Stem being a blue well, that would be true if they kept it groomed and the Bowl from the first drop in is steep by any measure.

I'm not a Blue Knob snob, I'm a Laurel Mountain snob and I need a buddy with a touring outfit to ski it with me real soon....hint, hint.

When Laurel does reopen Lower Wildcat would be the type of groomed diamond IDM is looking for, much to my dismay. It is just a touch less steep then Ex and was routinely groomed. Lower use to be much like Extrovert and The Drop prior to the '99 resurrection, seldom groomed with huge snowmaking whales.

Frankly,I prefer my moguls on moderate grades and if I only cared about bumps I'd rather be on Exhibition at Whitetail than anything at BK.

My feet didn't hurt much at all yesterday, until after I took the boots off(??). But when I was writing "Who needs adventure?" in response to another of your posts and reflecting on the possibilty that BK could go under due to lack of interest, I thought of Laurel and that maybe my feet could handle it.

We'll need skins or at least waxless skis. The waxless heavy duty touring skis I have would be fine for easier terrain but might not be up to Wildcat. We should have done it last week, but I only started to think my feet could take it yesterday.

I've got skins thanks to a generous soul here. If you're serious we'll plan the assault this weekend.

Two complete backcountry noobs. What could go wrong? Let's find out!

Elk has more than a handful of steep groomers--best place I've been in the region if that is what you are looking for.