Belleayre Conditions

[DomB]

Belleayre was an absolute dream today.

I've been skiing Belle for three years and I don't think I've ever seen Cathedral Brook open. Unlike the rest of the mountain, they don't groom it at all. So there are weeds sticking up, blown down trees, and whatever snow happens to have fallen. At several points I had to jump (or wade) across streams intersecting the trail. It was glorious.

Cathedral is my favorite trail at Belle. Thanks for posting this. I am heading up on Thursday (and maybe Wednesday night if I will be the only one at my favorite low frills ski club) to take a day off to ski near my bday.

There is another all-natural trail called Utsayantha that is only open on natural snow that might be the steepest at Belle (groomed or ungroomed). And while folks make fun of the short steeps at Belle, where it is steep, it can be pretty steep. It looks like it may not be open, but that is a fun one when there is enough snow.

JTG - Belle used to be very good at opening a fair amount of trails with bumps or natural conditions. That changed initially after the Gondi went in but seems to be making a come back. There was a year or two where they groomed out all bumps everywhere, which was a bummer. Good on Belle for bringing bumps backed. Looks like they are bumped/ungroomed on 3 or 4 trails right now.

I love Gore, but I was surprised by the lack of bump runs when I have been there. May be the answers is that they open a lot of glades. I haven't been there too many days when the glades were skiable, but when they were they were great.

 

[billyb3]

Cathedral has never been open while I have been either. How long is it out to the top if you are skating at a decent speed?

 

[billyb3]

There is another all-natural trail called Utsayantha that is only open on natural snow that might be the steepest at Belle (groomed or ungroomed). And while folks make fun of the short steeps at Belle, where it is steep, it can be pretty steep. It looks like it may not be open, but that is a fun one when there is enough snow.

Latest snow report shows it open with bumps! https://www.belleayre.com/mountain/snow-report/

 

[jasonwx]

Cathedral has never been open while I have been either. How long is it out to the top if you are skating at a decent speed?

15 mins +-

 

[Duckbutter]

Cathedral has never been open while I have been either. How long is it out to the top if you are skating at a decent speed?

Only a few minutes. There is a low angle traverse on the way out too but enough of a pitch that you can just sit back and check out the woods. The lean-to is perfect for blazing before you drop in

 

[Duckbutter]

15 mins +-

If you're on a monoski

 

[Ripitz]

I heard once they had prisoners thin out the woods in the glen past the hirschland lean-to for tree skiing. I thought that was a good use of their time if it’s true. I remember possibly that it was on old trail maps too. Maybe back when they had the cat skiing shuttle? Kinda thwacky over there, could use some “maintenance”

 

[jamesdeluxe]

Harv and I at Cathedral Brook, MLK weekend 2010:

Belleayre Mtn, NY: 1/16/10

Jamesdeluxe and I were invited to attend the MLK day press event at Belleayre, in Highmount, NY. I’d never been to Belle and definitely wanted to ski New York’s mountain in the Catskills. We were hosted by the gregarious and energetic Tony Lanza, Belleayre’s Mountain Superintendent, the top guy...

nyskiblog.com

 

[Duckbutter]

Kinda thwacky over there, could use some “maintenance”

Sign me up. While on the subject maybe there is a way to get a few brush hog passes on the Highmount Trails.

The Beast! Hahaha. They retired that thing? Good

 

[Ripitz]

First appeared in 2000 Disappeared from the maps in 2015