Plattekill 3/7/15

Conditions: machine groomed/crust

Went to platty for the first time yesterday. Was hoping to get some runs in the woods but that was not to be. A guy on the lift said apparently they had to basically groom the whole mountain as there was a crust of ice on top of everything. The groomed trails actually skied really nice with no real scratchy spots except on blockbuster about mid day and some other trails later in the afternoon. Really liked the mountain, very cozy feel and I can see how the terrain would be amazing on a powder day. Only real bumps on the mountain were on the right side of plunge. I ventured into the woods a couple times (one of the mountain bike trails off overlook and another area in the woods to the right of the triple) where I could see more than one track from people venturing in before me but it was super tough to check speed and I gave up pretty quick. Still had a fun day but kinda wish I had gone up to vermont, sounds like they didn't have the icing problem. I don't know if it rained there or just got warm and refroze.


Bumps on plunge

What is this giant crater at the top of the mountain?

rocks860 said:

What is this giant crater at the top of the mountain?

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Lake Scotty, made for future snow making, I think.

Was there as well. I believe it was a minor ice event followed by a thaw on Wednesday. I was hoping it has missed them. Was great on trail but I couldn't hack through the crust in the woods. Seemed snowboarders were having better luck.

Question to anyone who was there: we're the lifts moving extra slow?

I don't know if they were slower than usual but the seats on the double are the most uncomfortable things ever

Lifts seemed like normal speed at least until ~1:00pm when I left. There's hardly a line so you get plenty of runs. If you want to see a slow lift, try the Tomahawk Quad at Belleayre. That thing is slow. Plattekill is typical old school lift speed without the old school lines.

They did go a little crazy with the groomer. I understand why as there was a crust, but the remaining bumps were good after a little skier traffic. First it was 50% of Blockbuster, then 75%, now 90%. Just because you have a winch cat doesn't mean you have to use it on everything. 50/50 would have been fine. I'll give them some credit - groomers were in top shape. Didn't even attempt the woods - been there, done that - crust is no fun.

Cornhead said:

Lake Scotty, made for future snow making, I think.

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Ocean snowmaking pond to be I believe the hurricane a few years ago start ed that and they carved out some for future snowmaking.

It'll never be a pond. It doesn't hold water and never will unless they make a big investment in sealing it.

zyk said:

Was there as well. I believe it was a minor ice event followed by a thaw on Wednesday. I was hoping it has missed them. Was great on trail but I couldn't hack through the crust in the woods. Seemed snowboarders were having better luck.

Question to anyone who was there: we're the lifts moving extra slow?

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I still won't drop into untouched crust. If you get an edge sucked under the crust you're in for a bad time. It'll snag you up bad.

Rowsdower said:

I still won't drop into untouched crust. If you get an edge sucked under the crust you're in for a bad time. It'll snag you up bad.

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There's certainly an abundance of untouched crust there

rocks860 said:

There's certainly an abundance of untouched crust there

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Sucks you didn't have a better time. If they get another good snow and you want to try again, hit me up and we can carpool. What route did you end up taking? I'm interested to see if going out 44 was any faster. It took me a little over 3 hours from Enfield, but that was with a couple stops for pee breaks, food, and picking up Scotty.

C-Rex said:

Sucks you didn't have a better time. If they get another good snow and you want to try again, hit me up and we can carpool. What route did you end up taking? I'm interested to see if going out 44 was any faster. It took me a little over 3 hours from Enfield, but that was with a couple stops for pee breaks, food, and picking up Scotty.

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I took 44 on the way there. Left at like 615 and got there by like 930 ish I think. Took 84 on the way back but got stuck in a hellish traffic jam on 91 right before my exit so didn't get back until about 8. I still had fun, just sucked looking at all that snow in the woods and not being able to ski it. I think if I can get out again it won't be until the end of the month and I'll probably try and make a trip up to sugarbush.