The Catskills Blog

The Re-Opening Belle

Posted on by Harvey

Something is in the water this year, up in Lake Placid, at ORDA.  Maybe it’s Snowmax. At all three mountains, the snow was deeper than any time in recent memory, and maybe deeper than ever.

Route 28

This season, the three state-run hills were the last to operate in NY, and it wasn’t even close. Belleayre closed for the last time on April 23, while Gore and Whiteface are still shooting for Sunday May 1.  This year a new closing date record is being set at Gore.

Most years there’s at least a chance that a private area will rival Whiteface for latest closing.

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Tagged: Belleayre, Catskills8 Comments

Catskill Skiing: A Photo Essay

Posted on by Steve Aaron

I’ve been skiing the Catskills my entire skiing life, starting in the 1970s. The Catskills are my home mountains for outdoor recreation. Over the past few seasons, I’ve taken up landscape photography while skiing. My hope is to share the beauty of Catskill skiing through these images.

Hunter snowmaking

Over the past 15 years, Hunter became my home mountain, hands down. Once known as the “Snowmaking Capital of the World”, Hunter still knows how to cover the mountain with good man-made snow. This early morning shot captures a typical winter scene at Hunter with the low sun trying to peek through the clouds, and the early-season guns blasting.

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Tagged: Catskills25 Comments

Belleayre Run

Posted on by Harvey

Confession time, but I doubt any of the NYSB authors will be surprised; I’ve got a bit of an OCD thing going on. I obsess about numbers, among other things. With just a few exceptions, the only truly legitimate numbers are even, and some even numbers are better than others. The best numbers are divisible by other even numbers like 12, 16, 24 or 36.

Route 28

It effects me at work, slowing me down when I have to set column widths in a spreadsheet. It’s also effects my ski day count and maybe even my skiing. Last week looking at the weather ahead, I was sitting at 21 ski days and the weekend looked wet. Friday, on the other hand, was forecast to be sunny and very warm, at the end of a warm week. Skiing Friday felt right.

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Tagged: Belleayre, Catskills12 Comments