Belleayre Swan Song

If having condescending thoughts like “youth is wasted on the young” makes you a grownup, then I think I might be more mature than Matthew McConaughey’s seminal character in Dazed and Confused. Maybe the 90s movie reference makes me even older.

Belleayre-View

Regardless, more than a lack of money or energy, what I miss most about that golden era is the amount of free time I used to have. It seems everyone I know is always busy. I’m not the only one who didn’t get 50 ski days this year.

After watching the last month slip away without adding one ski day to my 2013-2014 ski season, the weather and my life finally aligned for me to enjoy the world away from the cold glow of my computer screen.

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Decisions, Decisions: Skiing Spring Snow

Among the many things skiers like to rhapsodize about from “back in the old days” is that winters were far colder and stuck around longer than they do today.

Windham-Summit-View

Growing up in Central New York in the early/mid-1970s, I still remember traipsing through shoulder-deep snow to deliver the Syracuse Post-Standard at 5 am every morning while walking backwards for most of my route to avoid getting blasted in the face by sub-zero wind gusts.

While 2013-14 hasn’t been a record breaker for snow, it’s been noticeably colder than recent seasons and has delayed the arrival of spring skiing.

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Belleayre, Well Done.

My seasonal ski resume always seems to have a hole in it until I can check off a box next to each Catskill resort, and I finally made it around the horn with a trip to Belleayre this past weekend.

Belleayre-Summit-View

I wasn’t sure what to expect, as we haven’t been hit by a storm in weeks. The outlook seemed good based on the snow report showing 90 percent of the mountain open.

I wondered, with the transition to the new ORDA team, could I expect an Olympic performance from a humble Catskills ski hill?

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