Plattekill alert (no Powderdaize, for Friday)

[Dexter Rutecki]

3.23.05--------

Greetings from Plattekill Mountain...we hope you haven't counted winter over
yet...

A SURPRISE storm is hitting our area hard. As of 9pm, we have received 3" of new
snow and it is currently snowing heavily!
9-12" is expected in our area. Get ready for an AWESOME day on the slopes
starting this Friday when we open with all 35 trails -100% in operation!!!

We'll be open this Friday, Saturday and Sunday 8:45-4:15 for the holiday
weekend...great conditions abound and reduced spring rates will be in effect of
only $20 for all skiers/riders.

Hope to see you here!

~Your friends at
Plattekill Mountain
www.plattekill.com
info@plattekill.com
(607) 326-3500

[CUBUCK]

you offering to drive?

[Dexter Rutecki]

As always...

[TBone]

ah, plattekill. still remember the day we showed up on a friday at ten pm and got first and second tracks off the tbar. the only other tracks going up were from the liftie at the top. best snow in the northeast... unfortunately haven't been since h.s.

[Vinman]

I'll be there on Saturday, save me some......

[Benny Profane]

hmmmm...today was the day, was probably real nice up there, but, of course, I'm here typing on a computer and getting ready for my only work day this week. 6" here, but it's melting fast.

Forecast looks, um, variable 'til Monday. Kmart was in super shape on bluebird Tues.. Should be good 'til the middle of April if.......

[Vinman]

they aren't open today, only Fri-Sun

[Plakespear]

T-Bone- where are you from?

[ski4life]

3.23.05--------

Greetings from Plattekill Mountain...we hope you haven't counted winter over
yet...

A SURPRISE storm is hitting our area hard. As of 9pm, we have received 3" of new
snow and it is currently snowing heavily!
9-12" is expected in our area. Get ready for an AWESOME day on the slopes
starting this Friday when we open with all 35 trails -100% in operation!!!

We'll be open this Friday, Saturday and Sunday 8:45-4:15 for the holiday
weekend...great conditions abound and reduced spring rates will be in effect of
only $20 for all skiers/riders.

Hope to see you here!

~Your friends at
Plattekill Mountain
www.plattekill.com
info@plattekill.com
(607) 326-3500

Never skied Plattekill, only mountain biked there, how is the glade skiing, it's short but looks like it has some steep shots....

[TBone]

T-Bone- where are you from?

I'm originally from Suffern, NY. It's about a two hour slog up to the platte but, as you probably know, is well worth it. especially on days when hunter would be looking more like midtown manhattan

[jerseyrob]

Had one of my best days this year at Platekill in early Feb. after about 18" of surprisingly light snow. It was my first time there and we were still finding fresh snow a day after the storm. Definately a nice little hidden gem. Wish I found out about the place sooner.

[Benny Profane]

Well? Any report from today? Dex?

[Benny Profane]

[tapping fingers on desk, leafing through latest Rolling Stone, dum de dum]

[Dexter Rutecki]

Sorry, got busy at home when I got back, had to endure punishment for skipping out on my home duties...

So it was a fun day. Snorkeldeep couldn't go, so CUBuck and I headed up. Plattekill claimed 10" on Thursday, and they probably got that in places. In other places it was scoured wind crust, as hard as blue ice. In other places it was snowmaking whales, nicely edgeable on top, hard ice on the back and sides (CUBuck discovered this by accidentally skiing down one of them). And then, of course, there were dirt/grass/rock combos at the top of many trails. Oh, and the holes in the snow from last week's snowmobile races.
We made a bunch of laps, mostly on the double, and found the softest stuff was in the trees, where coverage was actually good enough that I did no significant damage to the half-original pair of revitalized XXX's. Got to watch snowboarders meticulously build a kicker that would launch them directly into brush and tree stumps, and then watch them hit it and wonder what went wrong. Bonus for the boarder wearing the cowboy hat who did a 180 off of it, landed wrong, and bounced onto his head (literally) before doing a sort of back-handspring to lying down.
Didn't get too warm today, so the snow stayed fairly good, it was extremely grabby and crusty below the halfway point of all trails, but actually got a bit better once it was cut up (provided you had speed).
In all, a big thumbs-up to Plattekill for a fun, (mostly) soft snow, late March day.

Shout-out to our lurker friend we met today who gave himself away by commenting on CU's Bro's, and was forced into admitting his lurkerness (and possible NYC residency).

We need at least one more EC storm. Someone do something about that.

[Benny Profane]

I'll take my snow tires off.

[Anxious Mo-Fo]

Thursday morning, I woke up to four inches of cement in my NJ driveway, so I quickly got on the road, assuming Plattekill would be open for a Powder Daize. When I got off the Thruway, I called and got the no dice verdict.


So I headed to Belleayre where tix were only $18. You're probably laughing, because Belleayre ain't exactly the home of EC gnar, but it was great... all those trees that you normally can't touch (because there's rarely enough cover) were filled with almost a foot of soft pow and it didn't turn to cement as the day went on, right through to the final bell. I even made two sweet runs down Highmount (under that old Mueller double chair).

My pix suck (difficult to get any in-action woods shots because no one was there), but just to give you an idea:

[xen master]

I'm the lurker that Dexter mentioned. Plattekill was in good shape, especially so for easter weekend in the catskills. Got there at 9 am and the place was almost empty. I took a lap on the triple (bad, refrozen snow), and then spent the rest of the day on the double (less sun, better snow, steeper trails). There was good snow all over the double side, and no nasty coverage surprises (snowmaking whales don't count). The best snow was next to and in the trees on the double chair side. I saw the snowboarders build the kicker right under the double and then watched as one of them hit it, pulled off a backflip, failed to stick the landing, and tumbled into some small trees. After lunch, I ran into CUBuck and Dexter and blew my lurker cover by commenting on CUBuck's Bros. I definitely give plattekill a thumbs up: it's worth going anytime there is snow-- no crowds, more snow than huntah or windham, cheap lift tix ($20 this weekend, $39 most of the time).

There are rumors of an even less crowded hill (one t-bar, that's it) in the same area. It's called Ski Bobcat. Anybody been there?

[Plakespear]

Yeah, I've skied at Bobcat a bunch of times. I'm not sure what the status of the place is these days, haven't been there in almost a decade. When it snows (they have no snowmaking at all) the place is great- excellent glades.

BTW- I'll be skiing somewhere in the Catskills on Tuesday if anyone wants to hook up for some turns.

[xen master]

One of the old timers at plattekill had a bobcat ticket on his jacket from last week. So it's definitely still open.

[Plakespear]

One of the old timers at plattekill had a bobcat ticket on his jacket from last week. So it's definitely still open.

sweet!!!!!!

That place makes MRG seem like Beaver Creek.

[Vinman]

Hit p-kill on Saturday. What a great day. Back in the day this was my home mountain as I lived very close by but I have not skied there since moving to VT 5 years ago. I got to ski with my brothers and their kids. We had such a good day. The sun was out the snow was soft and the company was great. Mrs V. was stoked when she rode Blockbuster from the top on the board. She's only been on her board about 9 times now and she killed it (kind of).