Impressions of Catskill Skiing

[Tin Woodsman]

After looking up the stats, Plattekill averages 245" a year and Hunter averages 125" a year. Looks like the lake effect that Plattekill receives essentially doubles Hunter's average.

What stats are those? Do you have independently verifiable snowfall stats for Plattekill?

 

[highpeaksdrifter]

What stats are those? Do you have independently verifiable snowfall stats for Plattekill?

So what if he doesn't, will it be the end of the world as we know it? Sounds wack to me too, but I don't know and since I don't ski there don't really care.

 

[rjc1976]

What stats are those? Do you have independently verifiable snowfall stats for Plattekill?

I was going by what was published on skitown.com.

http://www.skitown.com/resortguide/stats.cfm/ny34/PlattekillMountain

 

[rjc1976]

This is somewhat strange...a few sites I just checked show Plattekill as having 245 inches on average, however Plattekill's website advertises 240. I wonder why they advertise less on their site.

http://skiing.about.com/od/newyorkskiresorts/p/plattekillmtn.htm
http://www.usskiing.com/overview.cfm/ny34/PlattekillMountain
http://www.skitown.com/resortguide/stats.cfm/ny34/PlattekillMountain

http://www.plattekill.com/winter/about.html

 

[dmc]

Here's a nice shot of the difference...

Plattekill cam

Widham cam

 

[highpeaksdrifter]

Does Plattekill have the highest elevation in the Catskills?

 

[Joshua]

what are there trees like? i am sure it has been discussed in this thread but please refresh my memory so i dont have to read through 6 pages

 

[dmc]

Does Plattekill have the highest elevation in the Catskills?

You don't ski there... What do you care


Peak Name Alt. Feet Alt. Meters Comments
Slide Mountain 4180 + 1274
Hunter Mountain 4040 + 1231
Black Dome 3980 + 1213
Thomas Cole 3940 + 1201 named after painter Thomas Cole.
Blackhead 3940 + 1201
West Kill 3880 + 1183
Graham Mountain 3868 1179
Doubletop Mountain 3860 + 1177
Cornell Mountain 3860 + 1177
Table Mountain 3847 1173
Peekamoose Mountain 3843 1171
Plateau Mountain 3840 + 1170
Sugarloaf Mountain 3800 + 1158
Wittenberg Mountain 3780 + 1152
"Southwest Hunter" 3740 + 1140 unofficial name [1]
Balsam Lake 3723 1135
Lone Mountain 3721 1134
Panther Mountain 3720 + 1134
Big Indian Mountain 3700 + 1128
Friday Mountain 3694 1126
Rusk Mountain 3680 + 1127
Kaaterskill High Peak 3655 1114
Twin Mountain 3640 + 1109
Balsam Cap 3623 1104
Fir Mountain 3620 + 1103
North Dome 3610 1100
Eagle Mountain 3600 + 1097
Balsam Mountain 3600 + 1097
Bearpen Mountain 3600 + 1097 shared name [2]
Indian Head 3573 1089
Sherrill Mountain 3540 + 1079
Halcott Mountain 3537 1078
Vly Mountain 3529 1076
Windham High Peak 3524 1074
Rocky Mountain 3508 1069

 

[ajl50]

A shorter answer -
Plattekill top elev. 3500, base elev. 2400
Belleayre top elev 3400, base 2025
Hunter top elev. 3200, base 1600
Windham top elev. 3100, base 1500

So while plattekill is higher it's not that much more than the other resorts. The reason it gets more snow is that the ridge that Plattekill is on is a north to south facing ridge on the far west end of the catskill region. This ridge is the first thing that eastward moving lake effect clouds reach and therefore extracts a great deal more snow from them then any other ridge in the region. The other resorts are on east-west facing ridges and don't catch as much snow. Plus they are from 10 to 20 miles further east and that means less lake effect reaches them.

 

[Tin Woodsman]

A shorter answer -
Plattekill top elev. 3500, base elev. 2400
Belleayre top elev 3400, base 2025
Hunter top elev. 3200, base 1600
Windham top elev. 3100, base 1500

So while plattekill is higher it's not that much more than the other resorts. The reason it gets more snow is that the ridge that Plattekill is on is a north to south facing ridge on the far west end of the catskill region. This ridge is the first thing that eastward moving lake effect clouds reach and therefore extracts a great deal more snow from them then any other ridge in the region. The other resorts are on east-west facing ridges and don't catch as much snow. Plus they are from 10 to 20 miles further east and that means less lake effect reaches them.

That sounds completely reasonable, but man that 240-250" figure is a real surprise. I always wondered why there weren't areas on the west side fo the Castskills and Dacks that got pounded by the lake effect. Guess I'm wrong.

One thing to point out though regarding ski area statistics - Platekill is taking liberties with their summit elevation - the topo map indicates that it's at 3,340' at most - so let's just take some of this stuff with a grain of salt.

 

[Joshua]

a ski resort taking liberties? No way, it must be an innocent mistake, hahaha.

How about Killington and their vertical....

They start at the base of the Sky Ship Gondola and go to the top of Killington Peak, hmmmmmm

I suppose they are O.K. because they dont say continuous vertical, but still

 

[Tin Woodsman]

Huh? I'm not K-Mart fan, but their 3000' vert is legit according to the topo. And I've done top to bottom laps from the peak to the base of the Skyeship many time. Most of it is a lot of fun. Some is rather flat, but it's most definitely continuous.

 

[ajl50]

I think that 240-250 is pretty high. That's a huge amount more than any other NY area resort but anything is possible. For example last march I was in lake placid at the harbor condo's which are just across lake placid from whiteface- like two miles at most. Outside the condo was at least eight inches of new snow while at the mountain there was maybe 2 inches.

 

[dmc]

We notice a difference in snow depths from one aspect to another at Hunter as well.. Locals know where the snow goes...

 

[RIDEr]

Plattekill video

I was searching First Tracks Online and found a great video for this post. It shows the Powder Daze at Plattekill. The snowboarder in the video needs to learn how to ride the powder a little more, but the terrain shows that the Catskills get great powder days.

http://www.firsttracksonline.com/in...://www.skimovies.com/ftovids/powderdaize.html

 

[JimG.]

I was searching First Tracks Online and found a great video for this post. It shows the Powder Daze at Plattekill. The snowboarder in the video needs to learn how to ride the powder a little more, but the terrain shows that the Catskills get great powder days.

http://www.firsttracksonline.com/in...://www.skimovies.com/ftovids/powderdaize.html

WooooHooooooooooo!

I'm the tall guy in the red TNF jacket in that video.

That was a typical mid-winter pow day at Plattekill. Good stuff!

 

[ALLSKIING]

That vid gets my blood going!!!

 

[JimG.]

That vid gets my blood going!!!

I just watched it again, first time since last ski season.

Now I'm so stoked they're going to need a ladder to get me down off the ceiling.

 

[Greg]

I just watched it again, first time since last ski season.

Now I'm so stoked they're going to need a ladder to get me down off the ceiling.

I've seen that before but rewatched it as well as "A December to Remember" (Berkshire East and Jiminy Peak). Good stuff. Looking solid out there Jim!

 

[Brettski]

Big Lift Card before 11/1: Free unrestricted lift ticket, $25.00 lift on Tuesday, Hunta
Car load Days, can't remeber, but cheap, Plat
Skiier appreactiuion Fridays, $15.00, Winter carnival week, $10.00, Belleayre
Windham, sometime ski and stay specila at the windham arms...or whatever it's called now, lift and lodging..cheap..have seen that in awhile though, SkiWindham

What's to know?