The Catskills 3-17-17; good old fashioned trees
Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2017 4:42 am
Brutal season guys and gals, esp. for someone bitten by the tree skiing bug. Last weeks storm I hoped would finally allow me into the glades in the Canaan Valley area but Wednesday morning they were short of the necessary mark, so I kept going north to the Catskills, first time I've skied in New York at all.
I have scoped that area out on-line before because I like clusters of small affordable mountains and while pretty far away, a 10 hour drive is a lot better than 15 to the big time regions of the north east.
All I knew was that if I got into the eastern part of the Catskills I would have 4 mountains to choose from within a 10 to 40 minute drive from base camp. So I went for Margarateville, NY and in the end only skiied two days and two resorts; but they were wonderful, uncrowded , unbelievably friendly with fiercely loyal regulars and base lodges with rows of named mugs in the bar, and walls of cubby holes where you stow your gear and don't worry about thieves who are busy at flashier places.
I broke my rule of only spending the same or greater time skiing than was made driving, in this case I spent 22 hours driving for about 14 hours skiing, but I found two new kindred mountains and some really, REALLY, great trees.
Belleayre and Plattekill were my choices, based on conversations with people I met along the way. They were awesome. Small but mighty with the solid wooden heart of skiing. I spotted an Ent when I was lost in the woods at Plattekill. They each had received 36+ inches in the two days prior to my arrival, although the local powderhounds had done their work on it.
Pictures or it didn't happen
Lodge at Belleayre
I got there Thursday, no lines on their high speed, the terrain and forest is really similar to WV and PA
There are oddball runs I'd find like this raised path in the trees that you could also ski on each side.
Still new stuff to play in late in the day and well after the storm
The mountain has about 1400 foot vertical; small, though technically bigger than Plattekill. But whatever the numbers, I could have spent two more days with this snow depth examining the trees and weird pockets just surrounding the main runs.
From the top of Belleayre was a vista of my next destination:
Plattekill Mountain was my second destination. The view helped, I know it's not quite like seeing Brighton from Solitude, Mt Washington from the top of Stowe or any of the Summit county resorts staring jealously at each other over their Rocky ramparts. But, it seemed a pleasing destination.
And I made inquiries, the consensus was no mountain was as good as their mountain (as I say loyalties were fierce) except perhaps Plattekill, particularly for trees, then Plattekill. Hunter Mountain was universally disdained, and one woman of seventy something years and a forty year pass holder, put it succinctly, "I understand that some people like it." Who am I to argue with someone who has skied that long and still has two working knees?
So Day 2 in the Catskills was at Plattekill, a place I knew I'd like when the parking lot wrangler told me "pull up over there but make sure your bumper is hitting the snow bank." As I was getting my gear together we talked about places to find new snow in the trees and the truck next door was playing Robert Earle Keen "Feels so good to feel so good again."
And I found trees aplenty and pushed the edge too far one run. The boundary is amorphous when you want to ignore it and the trees just keep going on; and so did I. A little too far is no big deal but I'm always amazed at what an obstacle deep snow can be. I worked my way back to what turned out to be the closed tubing run, and I thought I'd just climb the twenty odd feet up. I took off my skis, sank very deep and was now looking up at my pole buried to the handle a foot away. Disconcerting and humbling after so much futile effort, better to just stay on your sticks, head down to the road and take a walk back up. I relish these learning experiences, which is lucky as they seem to occur so often.
Trees, and moguls and ski patrol in kilts (it was St Paddy's afterall) Pretty amazing trip and so much more to explore there the next big snow. Good to have a new option.
I have scoped that area out on-line before because I like clusters of small affordable mountains and while pretty far away, a 10 hour drive is a lot better than 15 to the big time regions of the north east.
All I knew was that if I got into the eastern part of the Catskills I would have 4 mountains to choose from within a 10 to 40 minute drive from base camp. So I went for Margarateville, NY and in the end only skiied two days and two resorts; but they were wonderful, uncrowded , unbelievably friendly with fiercely loyal regulars and base lodges with rows of named mugs in the bar, and walls of cubby holes where you stow your gear and don't worry about thieves who are busy at flashier places.
I broke my rule of only spending the same or greater time skiing than was made driving, in this case I spent 22 hours driving for about 14 hours skiing, but I found two new kindred mountains and some really, REALLY, great trees.
Belleayre and Plattekill were my choices, based on conversations with people I met along the way. They were awesome. Small but mighty with the solid wooden heart of skiing. I spotted an Ent when I was lost in the woods at Plattekill. They each had received 36+ inches in the two days prior to my arrival, although the local powderhounds had done their work on it.
Pictures or it didn't happen
Lodge at Belleayre
I got there Thursday, no lines on their high speed, the terrain and forest is really similar to WV and PA
There are oddball runs I'd find like this raised path in the trees that you could also ski on each side.
Still new stuff to play in late in the day and well after the storm
The mountain has about 1400 foot vertical; small, though technically bigger than Plattekill. But whatever the numbers, I could have spent two more days with this snow depth examining the trees and weird pockets just surrounding the main runs.
From the top of Belleayre was a vista of my next destination:
Plattekill Mountain was my second destination. The view helped, I know it's not quite like seeing Brighton from Solitude, Mt Washington from the top of Stowe or any of the Summit county resorts staring jealously at each other over their Rocky ramparts. But, it seemed a pleasing destination.
And I made inquiries, the consensus was no mountain was as good as their mountain (as I say loyalties were fierce) except perhaps Plattekill, particularly for trees, then Plattekill. Hunter Mountain was universally disdained, and one woman of seventy something years and a forty year pass holder, put it succinctly, "I understand that some people like it." Who am I to argue with someone who has skied that long and still has two working knees?
So Day 2 in the Catskills was at Plattekill, a place I knew I'd like when the parking lot wrangler told me "pull up over there but make sure your bumper is hitting the snow bank." As I was getting my gear together we talked about places to find new snow in the trees and the truck next door was playing Robert Earle Keen "Feels so good to feel so good again."
And I found trees aplenty and pushed the edge too far one run. The boundary is amorphous when you want to ignore it and the trees just keep going on; and so did I. A little too far is no big deal but I'm always amazed at what an obstacle deep snow can be. I worked my way back to what turned out to be the closed tubing run, and I thought I'd just climb the twenty odd feet up. I took off my skis, sank very deep and was now looking up at my pole buried to the handle a foot away. Disconcerting and humbling after so much futile effort, better to just stay on your sticks, head down to the road and take a walk back up. I relish these learning experiences, which is lucky as they seem to occur so often.
Trees, and moguls and ski patrol in kilts (it was St Paddy's afterall) Pretty amazing trip and so much more to explore there the next big snow. Good to have a new option.