Windham 1/30/11

[SKIQUATTRO]

Windham Mtn
Sunday Jan 30 2011
Snowing: 20's
hardpack, ice, some edgeable
Crowds: Circus, Zoo, Mayhem

We have vouchers for the girls (free), a free cabin to stay at 5 miles from the hill and i got 2 discounted tix....will all that in place we drove up Friday night, arrived to the cabin around 11pm...had a nice sleep in, breakfast and chilled....their driveway was perfect for sledding so we did that for about 2 hrs then decided to take a drive into Windham for some supplies and grab a burger, pint and watch the Villanova/G'town game.

not seeing pub/resturant in town that we thought would have the game, we drove to the mountain lodge...luckily got a parking spot in row 2, but cars were as far as the eye could see...made our way up stairs to the bar/restaurant (why did they have to make it look like the cafeteria?) again, lucked out and got a table right up front next to the tv's but the sea of people made it hard to see....the waitress said they had 19 bus trips that day, and the crowds were suffocating in the lodge, the lifts looked nuts.

Sunday, got to the mtn at 815am, made a few laps with the girls, G lift wasnt open to we went the the far right of the mountain and took a lap over there and had a crash with a racer flying down, everyone was ok, but there was a slew of racers skiing way too fast in that beginner area and not one patroller/saftey got to be found (and some of the coaches were leading the pack), my wife was shaken, went in and filed a formal complaint.

the bottom lift going to mid lodge was a 10 min and the one and only time we took the G lift we waited 30 min...

the disparity between skiiers in the south vs north is night and day...the extra few hours in the car is well worth it...what amazed us (apart from the sea of humanity) was the rudness, cluesness of the majority of the people there....

Wont be back.

 

[tekweezle]

was there on sunday as well. all i can say is Singles line is the way to go.

I've avoided 1 day trips to the catskills because of the shear volume of people that hit it but if I do it, it;s usually a sunday hoping crowds thin down by 1:00. not the case this time.

made the most of it by hitting the slow double and triple chairs.

other than that, high traffic causing skied off conditions all over. had to have sharp edges.

 

[tekweezle]

http://www.mountaindynamics.com/en/sdmap.php?tid=14593&ref=nf

http://phresheez.com/site/showmap.php?mode=mapdate&buddy=tekweezle&name=20110130&play=1&ref=nf#

see if anyone can open either of these. don;t know if the sharing permission is right.

 

[gladerider]

windham has changed. it used to be a nice and cozy mountain with a very family atmosphere. can't say any of those things nowadays, IMHO.

 

[dmc]

I haven't been there in a long time. Since before it became the Aspen of the Catskills..

I do make it over for entertainment every once and a while...

 

[tekweezle]

with their 68$ tickets, they are chasing the high end of the spectrum. however, its not hard to ski there on the cheap. lots of buses take you there for the cost of a lift ticket. then again for 10$ more you could go to Mt Snow in VT.

they want to be the stratton/vail of NYS and provide a good experience that keeps people coming back-that is until you graduate to bigger and better mountains. still a good cruising mountain, good to take learning beginners and intermediates. nothing too challenging for those looking for thrills.

 

[oakapple]

with their 68$ tickets, they are chasing the high end of the spectrum. however, its not hard to ski there on the cheap. lots of buses take you there for the cost of a lift ticket. then again for 10$ more you could go to Mt Snow in VT.

they want to be the stratton/vail of NYS and provide a good experience that keeps people coming back-that is until you graduate to bigger and better mountains. still a good cruising mountain, good to take learning beginners and intermediates. nothing too challenging for those looking for thrills.

I haven't really seen the evidence that Windham is a transitional mountain that people look to "graduate from." Proximity has a lot to do with it: the closest Vermont mountains are about double the distance from NYC.

 

[dmc]

I haven't really seen the evidence that Windham is a transitional mountain that people look to "graduate from." Proximity has a lot to do with it: the closest Vermont mountains are about double the distance from NYC.

People that ski Windham go for the product... The package...

I meet kids from Windham skiing Hunter a lot.. Parents stay there.. Kids come to Hunter for different terrain...

 

[SKIQUATTRO]

singles line wasnt an option as i was with the family...i stopped a patroller and told him about the situation as racers were skiing in flocks way too fast in the beginner area (one crashed into me as i was blocking for my kids skiing in front of me) my wife filed a formal complaint....if we didnt have the free cabin and fee vouchers for the kids, we would have never ventured to windham...would rather spend the extra time in the car and drive far north...

 

[dmc]

singles line wasnt an option as i was with the family...i stopped a patroller and told him about the situation as racers were skiing in flocks way too fast in the beginner area (one crashed into me as i was blocking for my kids skiing in front of me) my wife filed a formal complaint....if we didnt have the free cabin and fee vouchers for the kids, we would have never ventured to windham...would rather spend the extra time in the car and drive far north...

Why not ski one of the other areas in the Skillz?

 

[tekweezle]

I haven't really seen the evidence that Windham is a transitional mountain that people look to "graduate from." Proximity has a lot to do with it: the closest Vermont mountains are about double the distance from NYC.

just my opinion but Windham is more of a "feeder hill" than "destination resort". of course they are trying to change that perception with all the polish, upscale amenities and condos. good for them. they;ve got a loyal clientele who likes the fact that they are not Hunter. Hunter and Belleayre come across as being a little edgier and rough around the edges.

not trying to bad mouth them-i learned to ski there. it;s the place i take people who are not totally committed to the extra effort to get to a bigger mountain. but lets not fool ourselves-Windham is a small mountain and if you don't get bored of the same cruising runs over and over, the crowds at the lifts will drive you bonkers.

 

[dmc]

Hunter and Belleayre come across as being a little edgier and rough around the edges.

and we like it that way...

Windham is great for the people that like it!

 

[tekweezle]

singles line wasnt an option as i was with the family...i stopped a patroller and told him about the situation as racers were skiing in flocks way too fast in the beginner area (one crashed into me as i was blocking for my kids skiing in front of me) my wife filed a formal complaint....if we didnt have the free cabin and fee vouchers for the kids, we would have never ventured to windham...would rather spend the extra time in the car and drive far north...

just my opinion but riding on the lifts together is overrated on short lifts. in cases like this, use the singles line and meet at the top of the lift and congregate there.

crowds were a combo of cheap tickets and races taking half of a couple of prime trails. also the G lift was running half speed due to mechanical failure. on top of that, most of the upper trails were skied off from the high traffic.

if you go back there on a sunday in march-i think you will see a whole different scene.

i wasn;t thrilled by the crowds this past sunday but I made the most of it. might try Plattekill to see if it can make up in enjoyment what it lacks in vertical.

 

[tekweezle]

and we like it that way...

Windham is great for the people that like it!

I agree!

funniest thing that happened to me-only place I ever got grease stains on my ski clothes was Belleayre and Magic. makes me look grungier!

 

[SKIQUATTRO]

considering my girls are 8 and 5, singles line isnt appropriate...we actually like spending time together and talk on the chairlift...something that seems to be a rarity in todays world...

 

[SKIQUATTRO]

we normally dont ski the c'zkills but free lodging and free tix we tried it out...

 

[dmc]

we normally dont ski the c'zkills but free lodging and free tix we tried it out...

Just don't base the Catskill experience on your Windham experience..

 

[SKIQUATTRO]

i'm not generalizing the Catskills based on our Windham trip, its just not an area we gravitate towards when we want to ski...no rhime or reason

 

[ScottySkis]

Plattekill vertical has no runout its heaven for nyc metro skiiers

 

[krisskis]

was there on sunday as well. all i can say is Singles line is the way to go.

I've avoided 1 day trips to the catskills because of the shear volume of people that hit it but if I do it, it;s usually a sunday hoping crowds thin down by 1:00. not the case this time.

made the most of it by hitting the slow double and triple chairs.

other than that, high traffic causing skied off conditions all over. had to have sharp edges.

I was there as well with my 17 yr old son. Potter bros flex tickets was the the only reason i went there...all i can say is...never again!! Jam packed and we did do the singles line....35 minute wait on the 1 and only time on G lift. So much ice you practically needed ice skates. My son and i found 2 all natural trails over on the right side of the mountain...Way Out and Upper Wipeout and took the mid mountain B lift to it. No line on that lift and the conditions were very nice but thin. Lapped that for about 3 hours and then got the hell outta there. May give in and try it out again during springtime...less gapers and softer snow