legalskier
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Only having been to Killington and Belleayre this year I was considering going a large ski area in the Catskills that has maximum snow making capacity, but a friend warned that it was mobbed with holiday crowds when he went this week. I’ll take less terrain with smaller attendance over more terrain with crowds any day of the week; I really don’t care for this feeling-
I’ll hit that place another time, hopefully mid-week. Next I checked Plattekill’s site but it indicated there wasn’t much terrain open at all, what with it being so dependent on natural snow. So process of elimination said head for Belleayre. And with all the bad publicity it’s received here lately I thought it might be less crowded, like buying stocks when the market is down and everyone is scared. Well, the big crowds over at the larger areas worked to our benefit at Belleayre- we didn’t wait on any line for two solid days. Not only that, but they’ve opened up more terrain since my last visit. Riding up the triple chair Saturday morning we were greeted by a double rainbow, a good omen of the terrific day that lay ahead-
There was a temperature inversion going on (I had noticed the temp on my car thermometer rising as I drove up the access road) so the snow wasn’t hard at all Saturday morning. Eventually the sun came out and it began to feel like bona fide spring skiing. Sweet. Soft bumps were forming on upper Onteora. We stopped for lunch, soaking up some rays relaxing on the Overlook deck. Put on some sun block and headed out for more. Just when I started worrying that it was getting too warm, the clouds came along and cooled things down nicely- good for preserving the base. Being that there weren’t any lines, we got in our fill of skiing/riding, and then some. Originally I expected Friday to be less crowded than Saturday, but the opposite turned out to be true- and I’d give Saturday the nod for better conditions too. Not that Friday was bad- it was fine- but Saturday was special.
On the upper mountain the Superchief and the triple chairs were spinning, serving Onteora, Wanatuska, Mohawk, Onondaga, Horseshoe Pass, Area 51, Ridge trail and lower Askokan, as well as a connector trail going from Onondaga to Wanatuska for the benefit of intermediate skiers who don’t want to ski the black diamonds off the top. On the lower mountain there were two trails open with one chairlift, not counting the kids/ski school terrain. The upper and lower mountains are joined because they laid down snow making between the Overlook deck and the lower chairlift, so you can ski from the top of the mountain all the way down to Discovery lodge if you want. Temps are expected to drop tonight and stay cold right through the week, providing snow making conditions to expand the trail count even further.
We headed home to celebrate New Years, satisfied with two days of excellent- and uncrowded- skiing.
I’ll hit that place another time, hopefully mid-week. Next I checked Plattekill’s site but it indicated there wasn’t much terrain open at all, what with it being so dependent on natural snow. So process of elimination said head for Belleayre. And with all the bad publicity it’s received here lately I thought it might be less crowded, like buying stocks when the market is down and everyone is scared. Well, the big crowds over at the larger areas worked to our benefit at Belleayre- we didn’t wait on any line for two solid days. Not only that, but they’ve opened up more terrain since my last visit. Riding up the triple chair Saturday morning we were greeted by a double rainbow, a good omen of the terrific day that lay ahead-
There was a temperature inversion going on (I had noticed the temp on my car thermometer rising as I drove up the access road) so the snow wasn’t hard at all Saturday morning. Eventually the sun came out and it began to feel like bona fide spring skiing. Sweet. Soft bumps were forming on upper Onteora. We stopped for lunch, soaking up some rays relaxing on the Overlook deck. Put on some sun block and headed out for more. Just when I started worrying that it was getting too warm, the clouds came along and cooled things down nicely- good for preserving the base. Being that there weren’t any lines, we got in our fill of skiing/riding, and then some. Originally I expected Friday to be less crowded than Saturday, but the opposite turned out to be true- and I’d give Saturday the nod for better conditions too. Not that Friday was bad- it was fine- but Saturday was special.
On the upper mountain the Superchief and the triple chairs were spinning, serving Onteora, Wanatuska, Mohawk, Onondaga, Horseshoe Pass, Area 51, Ridge trail and lower Askokan, as well as a connector trail going from Onondaga to Wanatuska for the benefit of intermediate skiers who don’t want to ski the black diamonds off the top. On the lower mountain there were two trails open with one chairlift, not counting the kids/ski school terrain. The upper and lower mountains are joined because they laid down snow making between the Overlook deck and the lower chairlift, so you can ski from the top of the mountain all the way down to Discovery lodge if you want. Temps are expected to drop tonight and stay cold right through the week, providing snow making conditions to expand the trail count even further.
We headed home to celebrate New Years, satisfied with two days of excellent- and uncrowded- skiing.
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