Plattekill - 1/6/2013

[goldsbar]

A mixed bag.

The good - zero lines; actually zero people at opening bell, filled up a little bit by 11:00am. The trails with snowmaking were all in great shape. The trails without snowmaking were sometimes in great shape and really tempting...

The bad - The natural trails really need some more cover (and I pretty much straigthline or feather the steeps knowing those parts will always be bad). If you found the right line, you were golden and the run was great. Hard to do as obstacles were often hidden. I basically hit something on every natural run. Some no damage, one core shot, minor edge damage. No big deal but takes the fun out of it for me. By Noon when I had to leave, there were a few kicked up rocks from where people must have been scraping down some sections.

I don't know the trees like I used to as I haven't been a regular in years. There used to be a nice short glade after a traverse on the top ridge by a 5 ft section of orange fence after a "cliff" drop on a MTB trail. Totally overgrown with prickers like lots of the woods seem to be. I'm sure the lines are there but I don't know them as well anymore. They should really put some glades on the map and maintain them.

 

[bdfreetuna]

That cliff drop on the MTB trail sounds familiar. I've never skied Plattekill but used to ride DH MTB there. There is one cliff/boulder drop that is totally insane there. I never dropped it on a bike.. I would imagine only the most hardcore bikers actually hit that.. everyone else rides around it.

 

[marcski]

These are just some of the woods yesterday afternoon:

I was there solo with my 6 yo all day today...but did manage to take her on one mellow biking trail through the woods. While the upper sections of the double blacks and some steep shots definitely had some "chocolate chips" sticking through some sections, IMHO, I'd much rather be skiing soft , natural snow terrain than groomed man-made snow that gets skied off by 10 am on a weekend.

 

[selski]

I did Plattekill both days this weekend. Had a good time both days. I am coming off of two days at Mad last weekend which is skiing amazing. The cover at Plattekill is thin but the natural snow blows away man made every time. Spent some time in the woods, they were hit and miss but found some great lines that were skiable without too much base damage. I ski with the "you can always buy another pair" philosophy so the scrapes and scratches don't bother me too much. Sunday afternoon when the sun came out the face skied great with a nice top coat of very edgeable snow. Saturday was unusually busy in the lodge. I assumed it was due to the two buses in the lot. Sunday was back to a very comfortable crowd.

 

[legalskier]

"A Tale of Two Mountains"

I was there yesterday as well. Basically it was: east face (i.e. triple chair) snow conditions were terrific, but north face (i.e. double chair) were very sketchy all around except for the trail “Northface.” Skis got scratched- nothing too bad- but my buddy’s took a deep gouge. The snowmaking crew and/or Mother Nature have some work to do on those north face steeps; the good news is it’s still early in the season.
Here are some pics, which my iphone insisted on rotating- so just tilt your head sideways, lol (mods- please feel free to correct them).


East face was in excellent shape


Victims swallowed up in the Chute


Northface had best conditions on north face


But Blockbuster was sketchy


So was Plunge