Belleayre 2/9/2008

[thinnmann]

It wasn't bad and it wasn't great today. There was enough snow on almost every trail. The upper bumps were soft, and so was the lower run-out from Onteora. Yahoo looked icy but skied well. Dot Nebel, Seneca, Peekamoose were all sweet. Wanatuska, Mohawk, Belleayre run were their usual groomed selves. Some connector trails and late-day lower Onteora had some real boilerplate gray frozen-pond ice. I slid on my chest through some mud when I didn't see a bare spot on Belleayre Run! My son loved that - yea, it was marked uphill from where I approached it - I was coming across the fall line pretty fast, focused on taking a crossover to Wanatuska and it jumped outa nowhere!

Lower Yahoo closed almost all day for racing. Snow from about 11-4 added about 4 inches. When Yahoo opened, there was some great powder freshies (yeah, 4 whole inches) that felt great in contrast from the rest of day on the hard stuff.

Weather service canceled the snow advisory. Here in Halcott near Belleayre It isn't snowing outside anymore, and at 34 degrees it is warmer than it was at 5 PM.

[ta&idaho]

Here's my take on the day at Belleayre yesterday (originally posted in response to the Catskills getting Zip thread but moved over here):

We ended up at Belleayre as well. Conditions aren't bad, all things considered. They blew a ton of snow on the top of Onteora, presumably to resurface the bumps for the two day clinic they were having, and it made for a decent little run. The other ungroomed terrain started out as impenetrable ice, but these runs (Upper Yahoo, Winisook, etc.) were actually skiable by the end of the day. The mountain deserves some props for resisting the temptation to bulldoze those runs. The groomed terrain was pretty good, especially over on the Tomahawk side. Surprisingly fun day...

Thinnman's description of Onteora as "soft" and the coating on Yahoo as "powder freshies" might qualify him as a write-in candidate in the "homer" balloting , but overall it was a pretty fair assessment. Clearly not amazing conditions, but still plenty of fun.

[thinnmann]

am kinda a homer.... But if you read my blog over time, I do point out what sucks and when at Bell too....

But, in homer fashion, I gotta say that today was one of the top 5 days of the season so far ab Belleayre! Trip report and pics soon!