November Snow in the Catskills

This has been a year of transition for my family. Our daughter is in her first year of college. My wife and I are building a house in New York, and planning to move in the first half of next year. And after forty years of employment with one company, I’m retiring. I’ll be honest, it hasn’t been easy keeping it all together.

Galli Curci Road

Finishing our house and managing my exit from the company are taking priority. The season snuck up on me, even more so than usual, and I definitely don’t have my act together. Last weekend I skied Gore with a cotton teeshirt under my fleece. This weekend, I couldn’t even find my real camera.

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Plattekill Tree Skiing Work Day 2024

The Roster is FULL. 50 lopper hounds, we are at our max. Thanks everyone!


Plattekill Mountain and NYSkiBlog are stoked to present the 14th annual Plattekill Tree Skiing Work Day at the ski area in Roxbury NY on Sunday October 27th, 2024. There is no rain date at this time.

Plattekill fall aerial photo

The tradition — imagined in the mind of dedicated NY skier— lives on. We’re recruiting a motivated, smiling crew of lopper wielding powder hounds to continue our maintenance and expansion of some of the Catskills’ best tree skiing.

Our longterm goal is to clear as much terrain as possible under the legendary double chair. As Plattekill regulars know, the mountain is committed to helping skiers pursue their passion and find great lines all over the mountain.

free tree lines

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Belleayre and Plattekill

I had one day to ski last weekend and for me, this year, that means the Catskills. I wanted to ski those intermediate pitched bumps underneath the Belleayre Express. I also yearned to be back with my people, at Plattekill, on what was likely closing day.

race course

Early in the week, Plattekill was promoting St Platty’s Day without specifically mentioning skiing. Believe me I get it, Saturday was a long ways off. I decided I’d ski Belle in the morning and head over in the afternoon for Plattekill’s most excellent corn beef and cabbage dinner special.

I arrived at Belle an hour before first chair. There were already hundreds of cars in the lot at Overlook.

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