Belleayre: 2/10/2007

[adamti91]

Belleayre Mountain, February 10, 2007:

Introduction: Mountain Dew Vertical Challenge day up at Belleayre today, so it was pretty crowded. I got up at around 9:30. They must have gotten an inch or two since everything had a nice sparkling coat of snow on it. My first day up after adjusting my binding stance, what a difference, turns are so much easier now! I didn't bother with the Vertical Challenge (which ironically is a race, nothing to do with the park), but a bunch of my friends got medals.

Weapon of Choice: Option Supercap 149

Conditions: First run was on Wannatuska, nice coating of snow with hard pack underneath. Small moguls on the side as there usually are. Next few runs were Belleayre Run, again very nice as it was the last few times I went up. As the day went on, Belleayre Run got sort of bumpy and even more mogul-ly toward the end of the day. The left side of lower Belleayre Run had a bunch of whales, and the right side was groomed. One run on Onondaga > Lower Winnisook then back to Wannatuska before lunch I think. Got out and hit up the (closed) Tongora trail via the Chippewa trail (they call it 'Chippewa Glades', but it's really only about 20 feet wide between Belleayre run and Tongora). TONS of powder, probably a foot, and a few sticks and branches. Me and my friends got stuck the first run, but adjusted and the next few runs were pure bliss on the top of Tongora. Lower Tongora was a little weedy and shrubby or whatever but nothing bad. Again, tons of fun. We did maybe 8 laps of some combination of Belleayre Run, Chippewa Glades, Upper Tongora, Lower Tongora... always ending on Lower Tongora though since Lower Belleayre Run was getting slick. The park was set up, bunch of tables, hits, a rail, kink box, battleship, flat box, and I think an up-flat box. Only took a run or two throughout the day, I'm not much for the park. Last two runs were Chippewa Glade > Upper Tongora > Lower Tongora (the latter of which was pretty tracked out of powder because of me and my friends and a few other people who took the closed trails). I didn't get to the West side of the mountain at all since the powder runs we were getting were so good, but I heard it was holding up nicely (less traffic= less snow skied off= less ice).

Weather: Cold, probably in the teens or low 20s. Clear with some clouds most of the day, then gave way to overcast skies, with some dark clouds moved in as I was leaving. Some snow showers throughout the day.

Lifts: Superchief was crowded all day, 20 minute waits up until about 3 when it died down. Lift 7 wasn't bad, maybe 3 minutes max and I didn't get over to Tomahawk at all.

Notes: Surprised we didn't get caught on the closed trails (not that I'm complaining), but it's almost right under the lift and the ski patrol should have seen us or the other people, but I didn't see them talk to or chase after anyone at all.

Rating: 9/10

Conclusion: Wow, best powder in awhile and great conditions, the mountain is just about fully open.

[goldsbar]

As usual, earlier is better. I was getting some near boot out carves in a couple of inches of fresh @ 8:30am. Conditions progressively deteriorated but were at least decent by the time I had to leave at 12:30. I took some short shots in the woods and the base seemed decent but I wasn't willing to risk my skis just yet. Upper Yahoo had some great bumps as did Winnisook(?). Dot Nebel was suprisingly a little slick at the top fairly early but the bottom half was good. Winning run on that side was the upper portion of the trail on the other side of the lift and then over to lower Dot at the midstation..

[thinnmann]

Sunday was an epic day at Belleayre. I wrote about it here, plus photos and a video.

Next weekend is gonna be crowded. Rode up with an instructor that said he was booked starting Friday through the entire week. Lots of people who have been waiting for snow are gonna catch on, especially with some probable snow heading into NJ.