Blue Knob opens tomorrow (Wednesday 11/23/22) with "limited terrain."  I've never been there, but my kids are asking if we can make the trip as they are ready to get on the snow.  It is about 3 hours away.  Any opinion on whether this is worth it?

Doubtful. They typically open up the beginner area and a few piddly runs at the top. If you're lucky, they may have opened Mambo to the triple but I'm doubting that.  If you want to check out BK, I'd wait until tomorrow (or maybe later today) to see what they announce as open, and then come up Friday.

7S is a much better bet. They've already announced what they'll have open, and it's roughly 9-10 runs, with Wagner and Lower Stowe for blues. They'll be open Friday and be open for the rest of the season.

Black Friday opening last time was a bit busy in the morning but had cleared out a lot by lunch. People, mostly pass holders, scratching that itch and then going shopping and such later on. Snow will be better and more reliable with more runs - more than you'd get at BK at this point.

 I don't think that is true. I would be very surprised if Timberline had less than 4 top to bottom runs open.

superguy wrote:

Can't comment on either of those unfortunately from personal experience. I heard on here though that T-line will only be like 2 runs and only up to midstation.  Don't know if that changed - perhaps someone can confirm or clarify.

Baltimore1 wrote:

Thanks.  Sounds like it might be a bad idea to go to Blue Knob on Wednesday, but I will check to see if the post the open terrain later today. Other possibilities for Wednesday (never been to either one) seem to be Bryce (seem like a very small place) or Timberline (farther away and pricey).

 Would you be driving from Baltimore?  May make more sense to go north than west.  Eastern PA got a little head start on cooling off the slopes with natural snow late last week.  I saw snow on grass driving towards Massachusetts last Wednesday.  My sense is that Blue Mountain and Camelback have a lot of snowmaking power.

Bryce is small.  Fun for people driving a couple hours from DC, but not worth driving much longer than that.  Once Timberline is open from the top, far more skiing to be had lapping the high-speed 6-pack.

BK just confirmed that it's only going to be Snowdrop beginner area and a little bit of Mambo.  And they want $35 for a lift ticket.  So not worth it, even if I were a local with a season pass.

Whoever's in charge of making snow there really needs to rethink their strategy as the beginner area isn't going to get butts up to the mountain.  If anything, they should try to get Mambo and either Expressway or Jackrabbit to the triple open.  That would be much more worth coming out for.

But they do this same stupid crap every year. As one person said: only beginners come on opening days? :rolleyes:

So yeah, anyone thinking of going up at all this week should definitely go elsewhere.

superguy wrote:

BK just confirmed that it's only going to be Snowdrop beginner area and a little bit of Mambo.  And they want $35 for a lift ticket.  So not worth it, even if I were a local with a season pass.

Whoever's in charge of making snow there really needs to rethink their strategy as the beginner area isn't going to get butts up to the mountain.  If anything, they should try to get Mambo and either Expressway or Jackrabbit to the triple open.  That would be much more worth coming out for.

But they do this same stupid crap every year. As one person said: only beginners come on opening days? :rolleyes:

So yeah, anyone thinking of going up at all this week should definitely go elsewhere.

 It's a strategy.  Massanutten is opening Thanksgiving weekend with only beginner terrain.  The idea is that families who want to spend a few hours on snow are also likely to spend a little money elsewhere on resort.  Of course, BK and Mnut are not in the same ballpark as "resorts."  For BK, having a little beginner terrain open makes families who have houses/condos happy and might even pull in a few people willing to make last minute decisions.

 Lol you funny! The Timberline gang ain't the old slackers. They got 15 trails out of 22 from top to bottom today. More than Snowshoe!

superguy wrote:

Can't comment on either of those unfortunately from personal experience. I heard on here though that T-line will only be like 2 runs and only up to midstation.  Don't know if that changed - perhaps someone can confirm or clarify.

BK should do what most other places in the northeast do. Early open and late close is generally no beginner terrain. Works for killington, belleayre, hunter, etc. Beginners are not the die hards that are itching to get back onto snow.

danimals wrote:

BK should do what most other places in the northeast do. Early open and late close is generally no beginner terrain. Works for killington, belleayre, hunter, etc. Beginners are not the die hards that are itching to get back onto snow.

I've been watching Epic/Ikon resorts in multiple regions in the last month.  There has been a noticeable shift towards making sure that green and blue groomers are ready before an opening day.  Even if that means pushing back an announced target date.  Adding snowmaking infrastructure for at least one easier groomer top-to-bottom became a priority not only in the northeast, but also in the Rockies.

Massanutten shifted focus for 2022-23 and only blew snow on the lower mountain.  In recent years, they would open with DJ (black, upper mountain), Lower Showtime (easy blue), and Southern Comfort (long green).

That said, BK might do well to work towards attracting intermediates and advanced skiers who are willing to work a bit harder during early season.

I think Mambo and Expressway would be a good start. Much better option than lapping the beginner area for $35. Even in the old days, BK targeted Mambo to the Expressway triple first, which makes a lot more sense than their current strategy/

Opening the beginning area makes more sense at a place like the Highlands resorts as they're all part of areas they open anyway.

Overall, I think they should get runs that can be serviced by Expressway open first then get 66 to Stembogen up.  THEN Runout and beginner area, finish the top, or work it if there's spare capacity while blasting other areas. LHH next to last, then God-willing, make some on Extrovert. People will ski that even in low snow conditions (definitely with rock skis).

JMO.

marzNC wrote:

danimals wrote:

BK should do what most other places in the northeast do. Early open and late close is generally no beginner terrain. Works for killington, belleayre, hunter, etc. Beginners are not the die hards that are itching to get back onto snow.

I've been watching Epic/Ikon resorts in multiple regions in the last month.  There has been a noticeable shift towards making sure that green and blue groomers are ready before an opening day.  Even if that means pushing back an announced target date.  Adding snowmaking infrastructure for at least one easier groomer top-to-bottom became a priority not only in the northeast, but also in the Rockies.

Massanutten shifted focus for 2022-23 and only blew snow on the lower mountain.  In recent years, they would open with DJ (black, upper mountain), Lower Showtime (easy blue), and Southern Comfort (long green).

That said, BK might do well to work towards attracting intermediates and advanced skiers who are willing to work a bit harder during early season.