abc
Well-known member
Date(s) Skied: Thursday 3/24/11
Resort or Ski Area: Windham, NY
Conditions: PDR, PP, FG, LG. Sunny, low 30s
Trip Report:
This is only my 3rd visit to Windham. It's just far enough away that I had to find a good reason to visit. The first visit was too long ago and I didn't remember anything special. The second one was last season, on a weekend mid-season blue bird day. Seems like the entire Hudson Valley was skiing at Windham. All I remembered was the lift corral!
I thought I should give it at least a second chance to see what it has to offer.
After seeing the snow keep falling outside my window, I expect a few inch of them to be on the mountain. And I have a free voucher for Windham left. Seems to be the perfect occasion to use it.
Getting up early was never my strong suit, nor going to be one. From the west side of Westchester, I had a long'ish drive to Windham (~2 hr) so I didn't make first chair. Far from it, I got there well after 10 and by the time I booted up and got on the lift, it was closer to 11 than 10.
There's a thick coat of fresh snow on the parking lot. Looking promising!
The HSQ wisk skiers up to the top of the mountain fast enough so I did a warm up on one of the blues. It's pretty skied off and showing the hard base. Not a great start of the day...
On my second ride up on the chair, I noticed the trail off to the right was roped off at the top but open on the lower half. Spotted a path to get into it, I promptly dropped in. Fresh un-tracked powder! I lapped it a few times. By then, a lot of other people had followed (it's clearly visible from the chair). So I searched and spotted another entrance further up and got another extra 20-30 yards of freshies (have to dodge grass in that section though). By the time I did another couple runs, the trail was trashed by all the people following suit. So I moved on.
The left side of the mountain (skier left, right side on the trail map) were all marked double black. So I figure maybe there're fewer people on it and perhaps still some fresh snow left. The Wall was a very short section of steep'ish slope that's got skied down to the secondary surface, though still edgable. On the side of the trail, there were a good 5 foot wide of un-touched powder! What's the matter with people? I trashed that and moved on. ;-) Then I tried Upper Wolverine. It's got mogul on one side and smooth on the other. There were lot of snow on the moguls but the trough were showing blue ice! Found a line at the border between the groomed and the un-groomed, where the snow hadn't been scraped off entirely... Towards the lower part of the trail, it became obvious all the snow from the upper part got pushed down there and it was actually quite deep and fun! Decide to take advantage of the condition and did Wheelchair as well.
Time to break for lunch.
Then, the sun came out!
Now the sun was out, I decide to try the other high speed quad servicing the west facing slopes. But it was too cold so the surface wasn't soften much. Though with all the new snow, it was perfectly edgable. So I did a few runs there and decided I wanted to check out the rest of the double black which I found had the most snow stil on them.
Chatted up the guy who shared my chair. He was heading over to the double blacks too. So we teamed up. He taught there so I defer to him to find the best condition. We first head over to Way Out, which was REALLY way out there. Getting there was quite a bit of skating work, especially in the soft snow. But the work was worth it. The moguls were still fully covered with thick layer of soft snow and one can almost ignore the bumps and just cruise.
5 minute to 4, we looked at each other and simutaneously head for the chair for one last run. Head over to Wedel(?), I think. Cruisy trail with no bumps. Nice ending to a fabulous day!
While not on the top of the list for me, Windham does have enough to offer, when condition is good and the crowd is not, it can be perfectly enjoyable place to spend a day!
Resort or Ski Area: Windham, NY
Conditions: PDR, PP, FG, LG. Sunny, low 30s
Trip Report:
This is only my 3rd visit to Windham. It's just far enough away that I had to find a good reason to visit. The first visit was too long ago and I didn't remember anything special. The second one was last season, on a weekend mid-season blue bird day. Seems like the entire Hudson Valley was skiing at Windham. All I remembered was the lift corral!
I thought I should give it at least a second chance to see what it has to offer.
After seeing the snow keep falling outside my window, I expect a few inch of them to be on the mountain. And I have a free voucher for Windham left. Seems to be the perfect occasion to use it.
Getting up early was never my strong suit, nor going to be one. From the west side of Westchester, I had a long'ish drive to Windham (~2 hr) so I didn't make first chair. Far from it, I got there well after 10 and by the time I booted up and got on the lift, it was closer to 11 than 10.
There's a thick coat of fresh snow on the parking lot. Looking promising!
The HSQ wisk skiers up to the top of the mountain fast enough so I did a warm up on one of the blues. It's pretty skied off and showing the hard base. Not a great start of the day...
On my second ride up on the chair, I noticed the trail off to the right was roped off at the top but open on the lower half. Spotted a path to get into it, I promptly dropped in. Fresh un-tracked powder! I lapped it a few times. By then, a lot of other people had followed (it's clearly visible from the chair). So I searched and spotted another entrance further up and got another extra 20-30 yards of freshies (have to dodge grass in that section though). By the time I did another couple runs, the trail was trashed by all the people following suit. So I moved on.
The left side of the mountain (skier left, right side on the trail map) were all marked double black. So I figure maybe there're fewer people on it and perhaps still some fresh snow left. The Wall was a very short section of steep'ish slope that's got skied down to the secondary surface, though still edgable. On the side of the trail, there were a good 5 foot wide of un-touched powder! What's the matter with people? I trashed that and moved on. ;-) Then I tried Upper Wolverine. It's got mogul on one side and smooth on the other. There were lot of snow on the moguls but the trough were showing blue ice!
Found a line at the border between the groomed and the un-groomed, where the snow hadn't been scraped off entirely... Towards the lower part of the trail, it became obvious all the snow from the upper part got pushed down there and it was actually quite deep and fun! Decide to take advantage of the condition and did Wheelchair as well.Time to break for lunch.
Then, the sun came out!
Now the sun was out, I decide to try the other high speed quad servicing the west facing slopes. But it was too cold so the surface wasn't soften much. Though with all the new snow, it was perfectly edgable. So I did a few runs there and decided I wanted to check out the rest of the double black which I found had the most snow stil on them.
Chatted up the guy who shared my chair. He was heading over to the double blacks too. So we teamed up. He taught there so I defer to him to find the best condition. We first head over to Way Out, which was REALLY way out there. Getting there was quite a bit of skating work, especially in the soft snow. But the work was worth it. The moguls were still fully covered with thick layer of soft snow and one can almost ignore the bumps and just cruise.
5 minute to 4, we looked at each other and simutaneously head for the chair for one last run. Head over to Wedel(?), I think. Cruisy trail with no bumps. Nice ending to a fabulous day!
While not on the top of the list for me, Windham does have enough to offer, when condition is good and the crowd is not, it can be perfectly enjoyable place to spend a day!
