Jamesdeluxe and I arranged a pre-dawn departure from NJ to take part in the maiden voyage of Hunter’s Kaatskill Flyer: New York’s first six-passenger detachable lift.
The Flyer is a beauty: comfortable, fast, and smooth. Things ran well today, with the spanking new lift designed by Leitner-Poma covering 1,477 vertical feet in a brisk five minutes. There were very few stoppages, and little confusion on the loading and unloading platforms.
As we get ready to kick off the 2010-11 season, Jamesdeluxe takes us to Vermont’s gorgeous Northeast Kingdom for yet another ski area that I’ve read about for years, but never had the chance to visit: Burke Mountain.
Often described as “criminally underrated,” Burke looks like a perfect stop on the way north to the Eastern Townships or Jay Peak.
In this issue of NY Ski Magazine:
At 10:20 on Sunday, Gore Mountain dropped the rope on Topridge, the first expert terrain of the season. There were some water bars to manage, and a few other irregularities.
The temperature/humidity was right on the borderline for snowmaking, so surfaces weren’t silk you get when you make snow at 5 degrees. But it was the right kind of snow to be laying down as a base. No one was complaining and it was a blast skiing it. Pitch, swales and a very carvable surface.
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