Jeff wrote:
bdubya wrote:

On 10 Mar 2005 09:07:25 -0800, "Jeff" wrote:

As you describe it, though, I'm pretty sure I'd find the black run
easier to ski well.

I think that devil sun plays havoc on the Pharoah. The other trails
serviced by that lift - one double-black and one double-green - have
far better snow. The Pharoah sits on a ledge that was dynamited out of
the side of the mountain. It gets direct sunlight early and sits in
shade the rest of the day. The Hump is surrounded by trees. It doesn't
get a lot of sun....

The Pharoah is made more trecherous by the fact that I'm a sucker for
ess turns. I love to take them fast ... Sh!t this is the hill with all
the boilerplate! Gets me every time. The Hump, on the other hand, makes
me pucker at the top. I'm ready for it when I drop in.

I guess I don't necessarily view the Hump "easier." I just think I'm
more likely to get killed on the Pharoah....

My $.02:

I've skied Camelback exactly once, and it was during my larval phase
several years ago, so my recollections are a bit hazy. The HSQ that
serviced The Pharoah was down that day, and I wasn't in the mood to
hike, so I didn't ski it. I recall looking over the Hump and it didn't
look all that bad, but I opted to ski easier stuff. I remember that Big
Pocono or maybe The Dromedary was totally covered with death cookies -
it was the first time I had encountered the phenemonon, but I had read
about it here in RSA.

Mostly I remember the crowds, no doubt exacerbated by the broken lift.

Anyway, you thesis is more or less right that black runs can be easier
to ski than the blue ones, especially at crowded resorts. Heck, the
last time I skied at Blue Mt. Penn. I spent most of the day on the
Challenge and the Razor's edge (rated double black, undeservedly so)
because it was just too damn hard avoiding the gomers on the other runs.
I'll take an empty steep hill over a crowded, scraped-off cruiser any day.


BTW, for those puzzling over Camelback's esoteric trail rating system, a
double blue is a bit harder than a regular blue. A double green is a
bit harder than a single green. I've seen other places where double
green means easier than a single green - that's the great thing about
standards - we get to have so many of them.

--
//-Walt
//
// There is no Völkl Conspiracy