Catskills Top 2 - Ski Region Ranking Game - Part deux

[ScottySkis]

From a perspective where I need the whole family to have fun:

1. Belleayre - good kids program, fun bumps/woods and friendly vibe on the days when they're not giving out free tickets to seemingly everyone but me.
2. Plattekill - awesome place, but #2 because it really needs good snow years and it's a further drive.

Platty has greatly expanded their snow making guns and lake( mini ocean).

 

[dmc]

Can't wait for Hunter to open...
Staring at the West Side now... It's too brown...

 

[4aprice]

Can't wait for Hunter to open...
Staring at the West Side now... It's too brown...

I see bumps on Clair's and Westway (in my mind because I want to):-D


Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

 

[JimG.]

Can't wait for Hunter to open...
Staring at the West Side now... It's too brown...

Soon...very soon!

Love to hear they started blowing...usually means I'll be skiing 36-48 hours later.

 

[skiersleft]

1. Hunter
2. Windham

Regarding Hunter, it has the best terrain in the Catskills. The West Side is awesome. Clair's rivals the best bump runs in the East. Regarding crowds, yes, it's crowded. But, frankly, so is Windham. Is it considerably more crowded than Platty and Belle? Yes. But it also has considerably better terrain. And, as many have stated here, if you know the mountain you can get around it. And the west side with the "new" (recycled) high speed quad is a hoot to ski now. You can rack up the vertical there faster than you can at most hills in the east. And you can also avoid the crowds if you're there, as the intermediates won't touch that area with a ten foot pole.

Windham is a good hill. The biggest in the Catskills and has the most "horizontal", so it skis much bigger than the rest of the Catskill hills. Good lift system, nice cruisers, good modern lodge. It's fine.

Belleayre is good and cheap. Tree runs are a plus. Nice spring bumps as well. But it lacks in vertical, since the bottom third of the mountain is a big bunny hill, so it's useless for anyone who is not a beginner.

Plattekill is fine and good after a good dump. But (I'm going to get a lot of heat for saying this) it's overrated IMHO. It's small and since it doesn't have good snowmaking, many trails are full of rocks and other natural objects that beat the crap out of your skis. Trails do have character and the double blacks are relatively steep, but it's not out of this world either. The lodge sucks and lifts are ridiculously slow. Tree skiing can obviously be very good, but that's not enough to make up for its deficiencies. It's good, don't get me wrong. But it's not awesome to me. Evidently the many hardcore platty supporters here disagree.

I know many here claim Platty is the Mad River Glen or Magic Mountain of the Catskills. But - really - who cares? If Plattekill is the MRG of the Catskills, Hunter is the Sugarloaf and Windham is the Stowe. All three comparisons are meaningless.

 

[dmc]

I know many here claim Platty is the Mad River Glen or Magic Mountain of the Catskills. But - really - who cares? If Plattekill is the MRG of the Catskills, Hunter is the Sugarloaf and Windham is the Stowe. All three comparisons are meaningless.

I personally don't see the comparison either...
To me - the ravine at Hunter is the MRG of the Catskills... But you gotta hike to it...

hope it's good this winter... I need me some Catskill slack country... badly...

 

[dmc]

I see bumps on Clair's and Westway (in my mind because I want to):-D

Clairs is gong to be even better now with the lift towers are gone...