Belleayre 2-20-12 (pics)

Conditions: manmade freshies, crud & pp, cord, groomed gran
Temp: 21 (arrival), 31 (departure)
Bluebird skies all day

Belle picked up about half a foot of pow since last weekend and blew some freshies to boot. Conditions ranged from sweet manmade on Wanatuska & Onteora, to crud on the sides of Area 51, Seneca and Winisook, to groomed on everything else, no ice anywhere. Sparse attendance for a President's Day (thank you, God!). I lapped Wanatuska & Onteora while the guns were on & until my legs started to give, then moved on to enjoy ripping the cruisers and finding stashes of crud. To paraphrase Jerry Lee Lewis, there was a whole lotta poachin' goin' on. Poachers had hit every "officially closed" trail, like Upper Yahoo, Tongora, Lower Winisook & Peekamoose. All the lifts were running fine too. Took some pics with my cell:

Guns on Onteora:


Wanatuska:


Crud on Area 51 skier's right:


Upper Seneca crud:


Poacher tracks on Upper Yahoo:


Deserted Dot Nebel:


Random kicker in the trees off Algonquin:


Superchief at 11:15:


Deer Run looking towards Roxbury:


Tracks on Peekamoose:


Onteora from mid-station:

Pics look good, that's a ton of man made snow.

Did you have a miniature mode on your camera turned on? It looks like tilt-shift images

Nick said:

Pics look good, that's a ton of man made snow.

Did you have a miniature mode on your camera turned on? It looks like tilt-shift images

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Miniature mode? Tilt shift? No idea, I just have an old Samsung point and shoot cell phone inherited from my daughter after she went android. I text the image to my email, upload to Picassa which cleans up the fuzziness and color ("auto-sharpen," or something), then post. It's a pain, but hey you guys are worth it. Should I be doing it differently?

Note to self: next time bring camera.

that does look like a tilt shift!

the reason there were no crowds is because their customers have fled due to the unpredictibility of workers calling in "sick" again and the lifts not runinning.

Those employees certaiinly are "ill", mentally ill.

catskillman said:

the reason there were no crowds is because their customers have fled due to the unpredictibility of workers calling in "sick" again and the lifts not runinning.

Those employees certaiinly are "ill", mentally ill.

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I was thinking that the people that left the mountain on that fateful Saturday probably didn't get skiing at Hunter or Plattekill until after most of the lifts at Belleayre got opened. They paid a higher price, and probably waited in more lines and got in fewer runs.

It is horrible for the economics of the mountain and the area businesses, but us non-runners were the beneficiaries of Belleayre's commitment to its loyal skiers through the entire holiday weekend.

I can't believe how great the conditions look!
It's a shame that it's so hard to get to the Catskills from the Hartford Area.

skidmarks said:

I can't believe how great the conditions look!
It's a shame that it's so hard to get to the Catskills from the Hartford Area.

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Yup the shortest route is 124 miles but it takes 3 Hours :roll:

legalskier said:

Crud on Area 51 skier's right:

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That was about 3 inches of untouched powder on Sunday morning. I made first tracks in that :grin: