Windham, NY 2/8/2009 sucked

[thinnmann]

Windham sucked.

Went there because my daughter was racing. They set up a J4 & 5 race on black diamond trail "Why Not", which sucked. It was too steep and icy for that skill level. Coaches were shaking their heads.

The rest of the mountain sucked - it was not snow. It was all granular ice on top of ice. Lots of bare spots. A couple of warm days is going to shut lots of trails down. No stockpiled snow anywhere. Pebbles and other small rock scree in the snow where it was only inches thick.

They groom that place to death. Nothing really resembling moguls or more natural conditions that I could find. The groomers there suck.

Lines at the bottom of the mountain sucked. 5-10 minute wait. Every cycle the loaders would clear the lessons line 100%, letting about 40 people load, even if there were several groups and even if there was obviously no instructor with some people, then go back to one group of 4 from each line for the next cycle.

I can't believe I paid $40 for the parent of racer lift ticket. I wouldn't go back there if I had a freebie.

 

[ALLSKIING]

So i guess it sucked?

 

[dmc]

Could it be it was just a bad day... Or is you mind made up?

 

[thinnmann]

Could it be it was just a bad day... Or is you mind made up?

I suppose it could have been a bad day - one of the gate keepers alleged that Saturday's conditions were better than Jackson Hole, where he had just returned from. But if I was going to drive that far from NJ to ski, I would hit a better mountain - maybe one that didn't play pretentious classical music in the lower lodge. Hmmm. Maybe even Hunter. I guess my mind is made up.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

I suppose it could have been a bad day - one of the gate keepers alleged that Saturday's conditions were better than Jackson Hole, where he had just returned from. But if I was going to drive that far from NJ to ski, I would hit a better mountain - maybe one that didn't play pretentious classical music in the lower lodge. Hmmm. Maybe even Hunter. I guess my mind is made up.

better than Jackson Hole..I call bullshit..

 

[Greg]

I suspect yesterday was rough at a lot of places.

 

[deadheadskier]

I think you 'suck' for for the title of your thread personally. Bad ski days happen. Considering the weather that occurred Saturday night into Sunday morning, no where in the Northeast was going to be all that good on 2/8. I think if you read all the Trip Reports, including mine from Pico, Loafer's from Burke and a few others, conditions were pretty weak everywhere on Sunday. ..and if a 5-10 minute wait in a lift line sucks for you on a Sunday in February? Than I think your expectations are a bit out of line with reality for 90% of resorts in the east in terms of lift waits on weekends.

chill out, at least you weren't working and by most standards, $40 is pretty darn cheap. Kmart was charging $65 for WROD opening weekend.

 

[dmc]

I suppose it could have been a bad day - one of the gate keepers alleged that Saturday's conditions were better than Jackson Hole, where he had just returned from. But if I was going to drive that far from NJ to ski, I would hit a better mountain - maybe one that didn't play pretentious classical music in the lower lodge. Hmmm. Maybe even Hunter. I guess my mind is made up.

You would've hated Hunter yesterday as well... yesterday was setup the day before was glorious!
Glad you didn't go and post it sucked in your title...

 

[dmc]

I suspect yesterday was rough at a lot of places.

yeah... Like I said... Saturday was just a glorious day!!! Things got mushy and setup.. That night I had to drive my car on the slopes to unload my drums from the lodge.. And could tell it was going to be a sugary kinda day Sunday.. Got told by the snowcat guy that i didn't need to drive that far up the hill... I told him i could resist...
Then the temps dropped and the sun really didn't come out... Sunday wasn't nearly as nice...

 

[hardline]

shit was going off in nj. on sat and sunday. this whole week is going to great. soft spring conditions. i am diggin the warm up.

 

[thinnmann]

I think you 'suck' for for the title of your thread personally. Bad ski days happen. Considering the weather that occurred Saturday night into Sunday morning, no where in the Northeast was going to be all that good on 2/8. I think if you read all the Trip Reports, including mine from Pico, Loafer's from Burke and a few others, conditions were pretty weak everywhere on Sunday. ..and if a 5-10 minute wait in a lift line sucks for you on a Sunday in February? Than I think your expectations are a bit out of line with reality for 90% of resorts in the east in terms of lift waits on weekends.

chill out, at least you weren't working and by most standards, $40 is pretty darn cheap. Kmart was charging $65 for WROD opening weekend.

True. I am spoiled by the short to non-existent lift lines so far this winter, the pricing, the snow and grooming quality at my usual mountain.

I can honestly say that the conditions at Windham yesterday were the worst I have skied in years. So maybe I am venting a bit. But I do believe the general lack of base there added to the badness of their bad day.

Hey, I thought long about hitting the post button after I added that word to the title. I even wondered if it would be booted for its raw sentiment or obvious troll for hits. I tried to justify it by working it into the overall prose style to make it sound kinda Holden Caufieldesque....

Alas, regular members can't edit titles on this board.

 

[RootDKJ]

Blue was damn fine on Saturday

 

[gmcunni]

it was awesome where i was skiing on Sunday.

 

[loafer89]

I voted good considering the weather, but I was nosebleed north at Burke and we did get 1-2" of snow. Dixieland Glade was awesome.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Blue was damn fine on Saturday

But less than stellar yesterday morning until things softened up..

 

[4aprice]

I thought the conditions were great this weekend. Skied Elk on Saturday and Camelback Sunday. Saturday afternoon was great as the snow softened just enough but Sunday was the Creme de la Creme at Camelback with wonderful bumps on Lower Cleopatra and particularly, The Asp. Skied Sunday afternoon in a sweatshirt and it felt great. I love spring conditions and while I hope winter returns big time in Late Feb and early March, look forward to those warm spring days with deep base in Late March/early april.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

 

[dmc]

So maybe I am venting a bit. But I do believe the general lack of base there added to the badness of their bad day.

Their day?? Sounds like you had a bad day...

Times are tough.. Snowmaking costs $..

 

[drewfidelic]

I skied at Windham on Saturday and it was as good of a day as I've ever had there. It's not my favorite mountain in the Catskills, but I think that they've done a better job in making the most of what they have for a mountain than they have in the past. It's never going to be anything but a ridgeline with a long runout, making it good for intermediates and boring for experts. They don't have anywhere near the snowmaking capacity of their closest neighbor (Hunter), but I didn't notice any issues with a thin base. Everything was open and soft (albeit nicely groomed out.) Sunday may have sucked, but Saturday was a good day. (Better than Jackson Hole? HAH! ) Of course, a warm and sunny day, I'm going to be in a better mood about the skiing than a windy and cloudy morning.

Like many other areas, on a busy day, the main summit chair needs to be avoided. But with no liftlines on the double chair, there was decent skiing with little waiting in line to be had on Saturday.
________
Cs-80

 

[kingslug]

At least you didn't spend almost 12 hours roundtrip on a bus...Killington was pretty icy but a hairy snowstorm blew in and covered it up for a while.....

 

[denvervega]

Wait, wait let me get this right. Windham grooms the !#%*& out of the mountain and had a 5-10 min. liftline. No bumps or "natural" snow? Your spoiled by the short or non-existent lift lines at your home mountain? I do believe from your numerous posts that Belleayre is your home mountain. Belleayre,that has people parking on Rt. 28 and shuttling them up. Belleayre, the mtn. (hill) that has a xeroxed copy of each trail one next to the other? Forgive me, but I'm a bit confused.