jimme
New member
My first time at the mountain so this is long. The lodge has a rustic feeling harkening to the ambiance of a lodge in the sixties. A wood stove on on side and open fire place on the other. Food was good, the selection varied and served with smiles. A general feeling of laid back friendliness seemed to be the norm. All through the day from time to time I'd hear "excuse me", "oh, I'm sorry" when it was warranted. What a seemingly good bunch of people.
Weather was weird. The upper half was in a cloud almost all day. Almost seemed to be snowing, but not quite. Did not affect visibility on the trails. Temp was "warm" enough that I was sweating on the decents.
I skied the left side (on the map) most of the day. Sign at lift read "Experts Only. Natural cover ungroomed trails. Thin cover in areas". The experts only was pushing it, but the trails are true blues where rated and Look Out rated green is only 10 - 15' wide for all of the upper half. Sorry, I kept forgetting to notice the manuf. but it was a fast moving double chair.
The "right" side of the mountain had Sundown, The Face and Powder Puff open. Acessed by a triple chair that was running a little slower than the double. Ascents to the summit were not long, probably just about right so as not to deposit too many skiers at one time.
The snow was great! They received about 1 - 2" overnight. The sides of all the trails had some powder although it was a bit on the heavy side. The only downside was that while they listed 30 open trails, basically the middle of the mountain was closed. (Almost all the trails in between the chair lifts if you check out the map.) Near the end of the day many of us started poaching and they were in great shape due to all the powder left over from the 2 previous storms. I poached Freefall late in the day and it was great! I'm not sure it has earned double-black status because 1. I skied it, and 2. I was not that nervous. It, however is a solid black diamond trail.
The trails are tight, twisty and ungroomed! I managed to find myself on what I think is a bike route in the summer. It was about 3 - 6' wide at the most. I had my Rossi's on that dive in powder making this run a little less fun than it could have been. I saw The Cliffs sign and was surprised that it was named so due to the small cliffs one could jump off. The sign hand-scribbled sign for "Organ Grinder" marked the entrance to this unmapped trail into the woods. Being alone, I did not take it although I'll bet it was sweet as I saw only two sets of tracks. I "appears" that boundry to boundry skiing is OK since bike trails are left open and unmapped trails have signs.
Speaking of Ogran Grinder. . .I was taking a breather at the top of Lower Twister off Cat Track when I heard from above the unmistakable sound of skis scrapping ice and as I looked up I just caught glimpse of a skier skidding into the woods. Whumph!, then an eerie silence. No one else was around. My heart started pumping as I decided to acess the skier's situation and by that time I could tell another skier to get Patrol. I was basically crapping my pants because this person had hit hard. I saw a helmet move. Good sign. I got to the woods, called down that someone was here to try and help. By that time he rolled over on his back. No blood, face in tact. Arms moving. Good signs. He moved his legs. Whew! Another good sign. I asked his name, and he replied. A call from a skier above asking if all is OK. "No it isn't, he's hurt pretty bad, please get ski patrol." I replied because I had no idea if there were any internal injuries and this kid could not stand up. He said he thought he broke his back. He said he had a hard time breathing so maybe there were some broken ribs too. I stayed with him until a Patroller arrived on the scene. My guess is the response time was under 15 minutes which I think is excellent. I think the first Patroller at the accident was named Bim. He almost seemed annoyed that I had to ask three times before I accepted Bim for a name. He should talk to his parents. ha-ha As nerve racking as it was, I'm glad I was there to help the kid out. When I heard that sound of body hitting tree I knew I couldn't ski away. I wasn't sure what I would find when I got to him, but felt as a fellow skier I must help out. That kid is very, very lucky. He had to be moving at least 15mph when he hit. Minimum. One, maye even two trees. The worst fall I've ever witnessed.
During one chair ride a long time skier of the area said that it was the most crowded he had ever seen the place in twenty years. I never waited more than thee sets deep on the double and maybe four to six sets of skiers on the triple. the triple's line got about 20 sets or so deep by, say about 2 - 3:00. (I don't think they even have the ropes to corral at either lift.) But, it was MLK weekend so I guess that's what they call crowded.
If you like a place like MRG or Magic Mountain you'll like Plattekill. It has some serious terrain, is not crowded and has a good feel about the place.
Jimme
Weather was weird. The upper half was in a cloud almost all day. Almost seemed to be snowing, but not quite. Did not affect visibility on the trails. Temp was "warm" enough that I was sweating on the decents.
I skied the left side (on the map) most of the day. Sign at lift read "Experts Only. Natural cover ungroomed trails. Thin cover in areas". The experts only was pushing it, but the trails are true blues where rated and Look Out rated green is only 10 - 15' wide for all of the upper half. Sorry, I kept forgetting to notice the manuf. but it was a fast moving double chair.
The "right" side of the mountain had Sundown, The Face and Powder Puff open. Acessed by a triple chair that was running a little slower than the double. Ascents to the summit were not long, probably just about right so as not to deposit too many skiers at one time.
The snow was great! They received about 1 - 2" overnight. The sides of all the trails had some powder although it was a bit on the heavy side. The only downside was that while they listed 30 open trails, basically the middle of the mountain was closed. (Almost all the trails in between the chair lifts if you check out the map.) Near the end of the day many of us started poaching and they were in great shape due to all the powder left over from the 2 previous storms. I poached Freefall late in the day and it was great! I'm not sure it has earned double-black status because 1. I skied it, and 2. I was not that nervous. It, however is a solid black diamond trail.
The trails are tight, twisty and ungroomed! I managed to find myself on what I think is a bike route in the summer. It was about 3 - 6' wide at the most. I had my Rossi's on that dive in powder making this run a little less fun than it could have been. I saw The Cliffs sign and was surprised that it was named so due to the small cliffs one could jump off. The sign hand-scribbled sign for "Organ Grinder" marked the entrance to this unmapped trail into the woods. Being alone, I did not take it although I'll bet it was sweet as I saw only two sets of tracks. I "appears" that boundry to boundry skiing is OK since bike trails are left open and unmapped trails have signs.
Speaking of Ogran Grinder. . .I was taking a breather at the top of Lower Twister off Cat Track when I heard from above the unmistakable sound of skis scrapping ice and as I looked up I just caught glimpse of a skier skidding into the woods. Whumph!, then an eerie silence. No one else was around. My heart started pumping as I decided to acess the skier's situation and by that time I could tell another skier to get Patrol. I was basically crapping my pants because this person had hit hard. I saw a helmet move. Good sign. I got to the woods, called down that someone was here to try and help. By that time he rolled over on his back. No blood, face in tact. Arms moving. Good signs. He moved his legs. Whew! Another good sign. I asked his name, and he replied. A call from a skier above asking if all is OK. "No it isn't, he's hurt pretty bad, please get ski patrol." I replied because I had no idea if there were any internal injuries and this kid could not stand up. He said he thought he broke his back. He said he had a hard time breathing so maybe there were some broken ribs too. I stayed with him until a Patroller arrived on the scene. My guess is the response time was under 15 minutes which I think is excellent. I think the first Patroller at the accident was named Bim. He almost seemed annoyed that I had to ask three times before I accepted Bim for a name. He should talk to his parents. ha-ha As nerve racking as it was, I'm glad I was there to help the kid out. When I heard that sound of body hitting tree I knew I couldn't ski away. I wasn't sure what I would find when I got to him, but felt as a fellow skier I must help out. That kid is very, very lucky. He had to be moving at least 15mph when he hit. Minimum. One, maye even two trees. The worst fall I've ever witnessed.
During one chair ride a long time skier of the area said that it was the most crowded he had ever seen the place in twenty years. I never waited more than thee sets deep on the double and maybe four to six sets of skiers on the triple. the triple's line got about 20 sets or so deep by, say about 2 - 3:00. (I don't think they even have the ropes to corral at either lift.) But, it was MLK weekend so I guess that's what they call crowded.
If you like a place like MRG or Magic Mountain you'll like Plattekill. It has some serious terrain, is not crowded and has a good feel about the place.
Jimme
