oakapple
New member
Date(s) Skied: Feb. 7, 2010
Resort or Ski Area: Belleayre Mountain
Unlike practically everyone else who posts here, I am an intermediate skier who never ventures on the black diamond or double-diamond trails; therefore, I am coming to this report from a different perspective.
Conditions, by my reckoning, were terrific. Although the Catskills have seen less snow this year than normal, it has been colder than normal, so the manmade snow puts a nice coating on the mountain, and Belleayre has close to 100 percent coverage. I started right at 9:00 a.m., and by 3:00 p.m. the trails still seemed to be in good shape.
Perhaps because it was Super Bowl Sunday, or perhaps due to the cold, the mountain didn't seem crowded at all. Three of the four major lifts had practically no lines all day, and the Superchief High-Speed Quad had only minimal lines.
My car thermometer was showing about 12 degrees when I arrived at around 8:30 a.m., which means it was probably near zero at the summit. Temperatures got a bit warmer in the afternoon, but the morning was about the coldest I could tolerate.
Belleayre has long, well-spaced trails. You can ski for hours and still feel that you have not seen everything. All of the green trails are on the bottom half of the mountain, serviced by two adjoining fixed-grip double chairlifts. These trails have very little pitch, but they are scenic and spacious. A novice could spend an entire day on this part of the mountain and not get bored.
The summit is served by three chairlifts, but they are rather far apart, and getting from one to the other is initially a bit confusing. Roaring Brook and Deer Run, at the eastern and western edge respectively, are the easiest routes down from the summit. Both are coded blue, but I think many resorts would code them green. The trail map as now designed gives the impression that there are no greens on the upper half of the mountain, but the blues encompass a pretty wide range of difficulty.
Belleayre Mountain's layout is a bit strange. There are two lodges, but they appear to have been built in the 1950s, when the mountain opened for skiing. The trail system has expanded over the years, but the lodges haven't. One of the employees told me that the mountain can easily accommodate 5,000 skiers, but the lodges can't. The Overlook Lodge, serving the upper half of the mountain, is more crowded, because that's where all the blue, black, and double-black trails are. But the Discovery Lodge, serving the lower half of the mountain, has the better cafeteria.
The lift shown on the map as Lift 7 (I think it has been renamed the Eagle Lift) is the only one located right at the Overlook Lodge, but you can't just leave the lodge and get in the lift line; you have to climb up a hill to reach it. It is as if the lift and the lodge were built by two different people who never spoke to one another.
There are also a number of trails that are almost completely flat for a while. I was particularly irritated to find myself on Catawba Pass, a transverse trail that is completely flat, and perhaps even a shade uphill. (It is labeled green, though no green skier could get there without skiing a blue first.)
The only real drawback of Belleayre, is that three of the four main lifts are of the old, fixed-grip style, and are therefore quite slow for the amount of distance they cover. There don't seem to be any immediate plans to upgrade them.
It took me 2 hours and 15 minutes to reach Belleayre from the George Washington Bridge. There is a bus service from the Port Authority, but the times are not practical for a day trip (it arrives at the mountain too late and leaves too early).
There are plans to expand Belleayre to the west, incorporating a now-defunct adjoining resort called Highmount. Some members of the community are aghast at this, as the project will also include condos and hotels. But I think that Belleayre, which is already a very good resort, can only get better, especially if the lodges get a long-overdue makeover.
Resort or Ski Area: Belleayre Mountain
Unlike practically everyone else who posts here, I am an intermediate skier who never ventures on the black diamond or double-diamond trails; therefore, I am coming to this report from a different perspective.
Conditions, by my reckoning, were terrific. Although the Catskills have seen less snow this year than normal, it has been colder than normal, so the manmade snow puts a nice coating on the mountain, and Belleayre has close to 100 percent coverage. I started right at 9:00 a.m., and by 3:00 p.m. the trails still seemed to be in good shape.
Perhaps because it was Super Bowl Sunday, or perhaps due to the cold, the mountain didn't seem crowded at all. Three of the four major lifts had practically no lines all day, and the Superchief High-Speed Quad had only minimal lines.
My car thermometer was showing about 12 degrees when I arrived at around 8:30 a.m., which means it was probably near zero at the summit. Temperatures got a bit warmer in the afternoon, but the morning was about the coldest I could tolerate.
Belleayre has long, well-spaced trails. You can ski for hours and still feel that you have not seen everything. All of the green trails are on the bottom half of the mountain, serviced by two adjoining fixed-grip double chairlifts. These trails have very little pitch, but they are scenic and spacious. A novice could spend an entire day on this part of the mountain and not get bored.
The summit is served by three chairlifts, but they are rather far apart, and getting from one to the other is initially a bit confusing. Roaring Brook and Deer Run, at the eastern and western edge respectively, are the easiest routes down from the summit. Both are coded blue, but I think many resorts would code them green. The trail map as now designed gives the impression that there are no greens on the upper half of the mountain, but the blues encompass a pretty wide range of difficulty.
Belleayre Mountain's layout is a bit strange. There are two lodges, but they appear to have been built in the 1950s, when the mountain opened for skiing. The trail system has expanded over the years, but the lodges haven't. One of the employees told me that the mountain can easily accommodate 5,000 skiers, but the lodges can't. The Overlook Lodge, serving the upper half of the mountain, is more crowded, because that's where all the blue, black, and double-black trails are. But the Discovery Lodge, serving the lower half of the mountain, has the better cafeteria.
The lift shown on the map as Lift 7 (I think it has been renamed the Eagle Lift) is the only one located right at the Overlook Lodge, but you can't just leave the lodge and get in the lift line; you have to climb up a hill to reach it. It is as if the lift and the lodge were built by two different people who never spoke to one another.
There are also a number of trails that are almost completely flat for a while. I was particularly irritated to find myself on Catawba Pass, a transverse trail that is completely flat, and perhaps even a shade uphill. (It is labeled green, though no green skier could get there without skiing a blue first.)
The only real drawback of Belleayre, is that three of the four main lifts are of the old, fixed-grip style, and are therefore quite slow for the amount of distance they cover. There don't seem to be any immediate plans to upgrade them.
It took me 2 hours and 15 minutes to reach Belleayre from the George Washington Bridge. There is a bus service from the Port Authority, but the times are not practical for a day trip (it arrives at the mountain too late and leaves too early).
There are plans to expand Belleayre to the west, incorporating a now-defunct adjoining resort called Highmount. Some members of the community are aghast at this, as the project will also include condos and hotels. But I think that Belleayre, which is already a very good resort, can only get better, especially if the lodges get a long-overdue makeover.
