The Plattekill Blog

Snowfarmers by Adam Carboni and Tansy Michaud

Posted on by NYSkiBlog

In September of 2013 we received an email from filmmaker Adam Carboni. He wanted to do a short film on lift maintenance, featuring a mountain in the Catskills.

NYSkiBlog provided contact information for operations and marketing people at each of the four mountains. After some further back and forth by email we didn’t hear more about it until this spring.

Recently Adam reached out again, providing us a Vimeo link to the results of his effort entitled Snowfarmers. What follows is an interview with Adam and Tansy Michaud, the husband and wife team who worked on film together.

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Tagged: Catskills, Interviews, Plattekill16 Comments

Another Plattekill Surprise

Posted on by Harvey

Surprise was a constant theme this season at Plattekill. At this point, I can’t remember much before the beginning of March, but since that time I can recount several unexpected and pleasant events.

plattekill groomer
Matt at work

First of course was Riley. Sure snowfall was predicted — anywhere from zero to 40 inches — but I’ll rely on the little known 40-Inch Rule, to postulate that any such storm is automatically awarded surprise status.

On the last day of March — a beautiful sunny day — the Cats served up some great corn, a rarity this spring. Then, last weekend, in the complete surprise category, was the 15-inch Saturday night POW event, featuring first tracks on Sunday that some called the best of the season.

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Tagged: Catskills, Plattekill20 Comments

I’m Done Skiing Alone

Posted on by Harvey

When I was a little kid living on a farm, I’d play by myself in a big tractor tire that served as a sandbox. I developed a reputation for playing alone. “Harvey doesn’t need playmates, he’s happy all by himself!” It wasn’t true, down inside I didn’t like it, but I didn’t know myself well enough to push back.

“Trust me, this opens up down below.”

As I got older, I got more proactive. In high school, I joined the cross country team and made best friends for life. Twenty five years after that, I discovered skiing, and it took me another two decades to learn the lesson all over again, in a new setting. A single life-changing event twenty years ago — a solo backcountry ski tour — delayed my embrace of this lesson.

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Tagged: Catskills, Magic, Plattekill, Powder, Ski Life, VT20 Comments