Jack Frost

Sunday (1/15), after skiing, I was off to Jack Frost in the Poconos for a Monday - Tuesday PSIA education workshop. As the weather started to warm late in the day, there was a forecast of freezing rain which, obviously, had the potential of turning a pretty easy 150 mile drive into something not so fun. As much as I tried to hurry, I did not leave until almost 5:00 PM but I lucked out. I ran into some rain about half-way there but drove out of it within 10 or 15 minutes of getting into it. Whew!

I woke up Monday morning to a car covered with ice. The temperature was near 32 so it was relatively easy to melt it off. The short drive from the Hotel to the ski area was easy and not slippery. If it were not for the PSIA event, the area would have been closed. Between the icy roads and the pouring rain, there was little potential for business at the mountain that day. The good part was that we had the place to ourselves, the snow was good (it usually is in a rainstorm) and the group was full of troupers that seemed to not care about getting wet. The bad part was that it did rain heavily and we all got soaked. My rain gear is good and I wear a helmet so with the exception of hands and face, I was pretty good. My goggles were useless and my fleece gloves weighed a few pounds a piece. The rain calmed down late morning and the afternoon turned out to be okay, just really overcast.

Jack Frost is a lodge on top area; kind of unusual. There is a lower lift that has a short but really nice steep pitch. It runs down to, what I think, is the Tobyhanna Creek although many in the group called it the Lehigh River. There are also some reasonable glades but again relatively short. The area points snow guns straight up and lets the snow drift into the woods to make the skiing really good in the glades.

After skiing on Monday, I went up to the upstairs bar at the mountain and had a very expensive but delicious local, semi hand crafted, dark beer. As I was trying to make my exit, one of the group members asked me to go over to Big Boulder, the sister ski area a few miles away from Jack Frost. Not really having any reason not to go, I agreed. The road between the two areas is essentially a gated community. There is a guard shack at both ends and there is a toll to get through. Anyway, Big Boulder was dead as a result of the dreadful, rainy weather. There were some snowboarders jumping off stuff but other than that, nothing going on and a really empty lodge. I learned that Jack Frost does not allow snowboards. The snowboarders have to go the Big Boulder. Again, pretty unusual..these days.

After one more beer and a detailed description of a new skiing iphone app being developed by my group companion and a couple of his buddies I was able to exit and find my way back to the hotel (thank goodness for my GPS). It was not too late but I was tired and since there were no other PSIA staff staying at the hotel, I found some take out Chinese and had a reasonable sesame chicken diner which helped get me back to my self imposed eating budget after spending a lot on 2 beers.

The next day was drier but still overcast. Skiing was pretty good and we went up and down or rather down and up a lot. As I drove up the Northeast Extension of the PA Turnpike, I was thinking I want to return to Jack Frost and ski there when the weather is better.

One small note: I realize it has been months since I last posted. I do have some things to report about the winter that has all but finished and will do so in the coming weeks. Thanks for reading!