oakapple
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Date(s) Skied: 2/21/2010
Resort or Ski Area: Camelback
The old joke about Camelback is that it has "great horizontal." Its 800-foot vertical won't put the fear of God in anybody, but its 160 acres are spread out across a wide area, making it feel like a bigger mountain than it is. There seem to be fewer crossing routes here than at resorts of comparable size, so at least you can have a smooth, uninterrupted run on whatever trail you choose. The only annoyance is that some of the green runs at the top of the hill have long straightaways before they begin their downhill sections.
Some online reviews have complained that the spread-out nature of the mountain is not a feature, but a bug. It was fine with me, but it does mean that you might have to take a few trips up and down to move from one edge of the resort to the other.
I am probably not the guy to ask, as I stick to green and blue trails, but it appears there is little here to attract the expert skier, as there is only one run coded double-black and no gladed runs. However, the terrain parks (not my thing) look terrific. The largest of them has basically a chairlift to itself (the Glen chair).
Many of the trails and a few of the chairlifts have names based on an Egyptian theme ("Cambelback"...get it?), like King Tut, The Sphinx, Cleopatra, Marc Antony, and The Pharaoh. But then others abandon the theme entirely: the two high-speed quads are called the Stevenson Express and the Sullivan Express.
The mogul skier would find plenty to enjoy here, as many of the black runs had heavy bumps. Even one of the green runs, Lower Cleopatra, was left ungroomed (with an appropriate warning sign posted), and I enjoyed skiing that. Most of the greens and blues are groomed, of course. I believe I skied every blue or green run at least 2 or 3 times. Even the hardest of the blues didn't strike me as being that hard, compared to other mountains in the region.
Conditions were probably the best I've seen in half-a-dozen days out this year. Most of the runs remained in decent shape even in the late afternoon. The sky was blue all day, with temps starting in the high 20s and rising to the high 30s. The only drawback was a bit more wind than usual in these parts.
Given what I've read about crowds on Saturday at other resorts in the region, I am glad I waited till Sunday. At the two high-speed quads, the wait in the singles line averaged around 15 minutes, but as always, waits in the fixed-grip chairs were usually shorter. The Marc Antony chair never had a line, and from it one can access a good percentage of the mountain. The Stevenson high-speed quad at the far left edge of the resort had the worst lines of all.
Both lift tickets and rentals can be purchased online. If you purchase your rental online, you enter your specs into the website, and when you arrive boots and skis are waiting for you, with your name on them. This saves a few minutes at the beginning of your day. I don't recall seeing that option at any other mountain within driving distance of NYC.
Resort or Ski Area: Camelback
The old joke about Camelback is that it has "great horizontal." Its 800-foot vertical won't put the fear of God in anybody, but its 160 acres are spread out across a wide area, making it feel like a bigger mountain than it is. There seem to be fewer crossing routes here than at resorts of comparable size, so at least you can have a smooth, uninterrupted run on whatever trail you choose. The only annoyance is that some of the green runs at the top of the hill have long straightaways before they begin their downhill sections.
Some online reviews have complained that the spread-out nature of the mountain is not a feature, but a bug. It was fine with me, but it does mean that you might have to take a few trips up and down to move from one edge of the resort to the other.
I am probably not the guy to ask, as I stick to green and blue trails, but it appears there is little here to attract the expert skier, as there is only one run coded double-black and no gladed runs. However, the terrain parks (not my thing) look terrific. The largest of them has basically a chairlift to itself (the Glen chair).
Many of the trails and a few of the chairlifts have names based on an Egyptian theme ("Cambelback"...get it?), like King Tut, The Sphinx, Cleopatra, Marc Antony, and The Pharaoh. But then others abandon the theme entirely: the two high-speed quads are called the Stevenson Express and the Sullivan Express.
The mogul skier would find plenty to enjoy here, as many of the black runs had heavy bumps. Even one of the green runs, Lower Cleopatra, was left ungroomed (with an appropriate warning sign posted), and I enjoyed skiing that. Most of the greens and blues are groomed, of course. I believe I skied every blue or green run at least 2 or 3 times. Even the hardest of the blues didn't strike me as being that hard, compared to other mountains in the region.
Conditions were probably the best I've seen in half-a-dozen days out this year. Most of the runs remained in decent shape even in the late afternoon. The sky was blue all day, with temps starting in the high 20s and rising to the high 30s. The only drawback was a bit more wind than usual in these parts.
Given what I've read about crowds on Saturday at other resorts in the region, I am glad I waited till Sunday. At the two high-speed quads, the wait in the singles line averaged around 15 minutes, but as always, waits in the fixed-grip chairs were usually shorter. The Marc Antony chair never had a line, and from it one can access a good percentage of the mountain. The Stevenson high-speed quad at the far left edge of the resort had the worst lines of all.
Both lift tickets and rentals can be purchased online. If you purchase your rental online, you enter your specs into the website, and when you arrive boots and skis are waiting for you, with your name on them. This saves a few minutes at the beginning of your day. I don't recall seeing that option at any other mountain within driving distance of NYC.
