Date(s) Skied: Friday February 26, 2010
Ski Area: Ski Plattekill – Roxbury, NY
Conditions: UBER DEEP Virgin Powder
Trip Report:
Yesterday after all was said and done, was one of those ski days that got immediately deposited into the memory vault. From all aspects it was just a simply amazing day spent deep in the Catskill Mountains.
Headed out of CT around 5:45 and started to encounter some signs of snow as soon as I crossed into NY State on I-84. Within the course of the next 15 miles the snow banks on the side of the road just simply exploded, craziest thing I’ve ever seen in this neck of the woods. None the less was making good time until I hit the “wall”. Without warning the traffic on the highway just simply stopped dead and not knowing what to expect just parked the car for 20 minutes or so to see if anything would happen. Well nothing did and growing more and more frustrated by the second decided to use option “B”. Luckily where I was stopped was only a few hundred yards to an emergency turn around (and ironically in view of the lost Storm Mountain Ski Area) regardless, headed back East on the interstate and exited at the first exit on to the local roads. Not sure how the next part of the trip managed to unfold without a map but somehow managed make my way via local roads around the highway disaster and back onto my intended route without skipping a beat. Got a call from Greg and crew during this re-route regarding their dilemma and tried to help the boys out to the best of my knowledge but no dice. Regardless, the areas I drove through in and around the Fishkill, NY area where in complete Hezbollah. The heavy wet snow sent multiple trees down across the roads, literally snapped telephone poles in half and in general put a hurt on the area for a few days to come.
The rest of the trip was smooth and eventless! None the less the delays on the roadways had me feeling a little depressed figuring that I had missed the opening bell at Plattekill, but to my surprise as I rounded the last corner up the access road neither of the two chairs was spinning and there were no more than 50 cars in the parking lot! Sweet!!
Being as this was first time skiing at Plattekill I had really no idea what to expect, none the less I grabbed my gear and headed to the lodge to boot up. Upon walking into the lodge I immediately fell in love with this place. Wood stoves everywhere, dogs running around and cool folks just chomping at the bit to get at all the powder snow. I find a nice place to sit around the fire……
Get booted up and head downstairs to wait for the ticket window to open. By this time it’s probably around 10am and there’s only around 50 folks waiting to plop down $30 for a ticket to ski the deepest snow the Catskills have seen in recent history, unbelievable! After 10 or so minutes the ticket window opens and folks start moving their way towards the hill. Once outside, we waited another 20 or so minutes for the Lifts to get dug out. The triple which was the first lift open followed by the double.
Here are a few pictures of how the hill looked prior to first run.
The snow was uber frickin deep! So deep that my first few runs where literally straight lined on my 96 under foot Mantras. The skiing actually got better as the snow got cut up a bit regardless was out on the hill for the duration yesterday and pretty much used every last bit of leg strength I had to give. So glad I rode those extra miles on the MTB last summer as they really came in handy!
In summary managed to log around 18,000 feet of descent yesterday in the deepest snow the Catskills has ever seen at a place to ski that is simply amazing. Can’t wait to get back to that pocket of heaven in Roxbury, NY.
Here’s some more pics..
Enjoy!
Ski Area: Ski Plattekill – Roxbury, NY
Conditions: UBER DEEP Virgin Powder
Trip Report:
Yesterday after all was said and done, was one of those ski days that got immediately deposited into the memory vault. From all aspects it was just a simply amazing day spent deep in the Catskill Mountains.
Headed out of CT around 5:45 and started to encounter some signs of snow as soon as I crossed into NY State on I-84. Within the course of the next 15 miles the snow banks on the side of the road just simply exploded, craziest thing I’ve ever seen in this neck of the woods. None the less was making good time until I hit the “wall”. Without warning the traffic on the highway just simply stopped dead and not knowing what to expect just parked the car for 20 minutes or so to see if anything would happen. Well nothing did and growing more and more frustrated by the second decided to use option “B”. Luckily where I was stopped was only a few hundred yards to an emergency turn around (and ironically in view of the lost Storm Mountain Ski Area) regardless, headed back East on the interstate and exited at the first exit on to the local roads. Not sure how the next part of the trip managed to unfold without a map but somehow managed make my way via local roads around the highway disaster and back onto my intended route without skipping a beat. Got a call from Greg and crew during this re-route regarding their dilemma and tried to help the boys out to the best of my knowledge but no dice. Regardless, the areas I drove through in and around the Fishkill, NY area where in complete Hezbollah. The heavy wet snow sent multiple trees down across the roads, literally snapped telephone poles in half and in general put a hurt on the area for a few days to come.
The rest of the trip was smooth and eventless! None the less the delays on the roadways had me feeling a little depressed figuring that I had missed the opening bell at Plattekill, but to my surprise as I rounded the last corner up the access road neither of the two chairs was spinning and there were no more than 50 cars in the parking lot! Sweet!!
Being as this was first time skiing at Plattekill I had really no idea what to expect, none the less I grabbed my gear and headed to the lodge to boot up. Upon walking into the lodge I immediately fell in love with this place. Wood stoves everywhere, dogs running around and cool folks just chomping at the bit to get at all the powder snow. I find a nice place to sit around the fire……
Get booted up and head downstairs to wait for the ticket window to open. By this time it’s probably around 10am and there’s only around 50 folks waiting to plop down $30 for a ticket to ski the deepest snow the Catskills have seen in recent history, unbelievable! After 10 or so minutes the ticket window opens and folks start moving their way towards the hill. Once outside, we waited another 20 or so minutes for the Lifts to get dug out. The triple which was the first lift open followed by the double.
Here are a few pictures of how the hill looked prior to first run.
The snow was uber frickin deep! So deep that my first few runs where literally straight lined on my 96 under foot Mantras. The skiing actually got better as the snow got cut up a bit regardless was out on the hill for the duration yesterday and pretty much used every last bit of leg strength I had to give. So glad I rode those extra miles on the MTB last summer as they really came in handy!
In summary managed to log around 18,000 feet of descent yesterday in the deepest snow the Catskills has ever seen at a place to ski that is simply amazing. Can’t wait to get back to that pocket of heaven in Roxbury, NY.
Here’s some more pics..
Enjoy!
