Plattekill: The Pull

As ski season moves into spring, I have to admit, I get weary of the driving. I worry I’ll sleep through the alarm, because secretly I want to sleep in. Ultimately, I answer the call because, as tired as I am, I know I’ll be jazzed, when I arrive at the mountain.

the road to Plattekill

Spring presents me with another related challenge. In the same way migratory birds are compelled to take predetermined routes at predetermined times, I can’t escape my drive to be on the first chair. Even in the spring, when it might not make any sense, I can’t seem to help it.

My plan is to arrive an hour before lifts spin. This gives me extra time to get stuck in a little traffic, or slow down if conditions are snowy.

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Hunter Mountain First Melt

Spring skiing is something you can count on. Or at least it feels that way. As the inexorable warming that starts in March continues to build, all that snow has to melt. When that happens the skiing has got to be good, right?

NY Thruway

The odds of scoring perfect corn snow may or may not be higher than the odds of scoring powder. I have seven pow days this year, and if I get seven corn days, I’ll be ecstatic. Still, I believe there’s a perception among skiers that good spring skiing is somewhat inevitable.

But the last two years haven’t worked out that way for me. Like many of us, last year I missed spring completely. I didn’t ski any kind of melt before my last day, on March 8.

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Gore Mountain: Packed Out Trees

This season, the new normal rewards weekday skiing even more than usual, at least for me. It’s not ticket availability or crowd issues; this year my family needs me more on the weekends.

The result is I’ve had fewer total ski days, with more day trips to Plattekill and reduced overnights at Gore. The skiing has been great this season, so it’s all good.

First tracks on 46er
First on 46er

Still, before this trip I had only five days on my SKI3 Pass, four at Gore and one at Belleayre. With a chance of snow forecast for Tuesday of President’s Week, I planned to ski Gore on Sunday and Monday and Gore or Whiteface on Tuesday.

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