Plattekill Opens 2019

The awesome early season storm that dropped 27 inches of snow on Hunter last week, also spread the love to some of our other favorite mountains, including Magic and Plattekill. Both mountains planned to open on Saturday December 7, and both stuck to the plan, taking advantage of cold temps to save the powder for opening day.

Plattekill Opening Day 2019
Belsky and Bro

Putting the financial wisdom of this aside for a moment, it also worked for us desk jockeys, giving us another shot at skiing that great storm.

Brownski and I discussed our assignments. He’s all in on the Indy Pass this year, so he and the boys were off to Magic. More on that later this week. For now let’s just say that for me, it felt right to be heading to Plattekill for opening day.

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Thanksgiving Monday POW at Hunter

Last week, after a major rain event on Tuesday, my hopes for a great weekend of family skiing were tempered. We made the call to sit out our traditional start to the season, at Gore, after Thanksgiving.  We opted to get our Christmas tree and hang out at home.

Hunter bar before first chair

While Winter Storm Ezekiel never made it on to my radar, I was vaguely aware of a chance for redemption late in the weekend.

As the week came to a close, forecast snow amounts grew, and my plan to watch the storm from my desk at work began to evolve. As I walked out of the office Wednesday evening, I called out “see you on Tuesday!” just in case.

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Gore Mountain: Ground Zero for Harper

Sensible people stock up on supplies and wait out winter storms. Skiers and riders load up their equipment, stock up on snacks and charge head first into the storm. It helps to have an AWD vehicle or better yet, an adventurous friend who has one.

Gore Mountain parking lot

Last week I convinced Conor to drive his Subaru through Winter Storm Harper from Central New York to Gore Mountain. By heading up Saturday night we hoped to improve our chances of actually making it to the mountain. The hour long drive to our lodging — the Red Pines B&B in Speculator — took almost twice that much time, so I think we made the right call.

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