Belleayre Conditions

[marcski]

I hear you, but unfortunately all things aren’t equal. We always get thaw/freeze cycles and Belleayre is better equipped to recover from them faster. The new pump house should help with that even more.

The season is typically longer at the Belle both at the beginning and end. Great spring bumps too.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Platty when the woods are in it’s just that unfortunately that isn’t often enough. Especially when it’s 20 minutes farther and the pass price is only $10 less than an orda ski3 pass and they’re closed mid week. For me, I want to ski 50+ days and the orda pass checks more boxes but I’ll continue to enjoy and support Platty when conditions are good.

I don't necessarily agree with you on all points. While yes, Belle opens earlier, I believe their closing dates have been pretty much the same the last few years. Also, as far as freeze/thaw cycles, I'll say given Belle's higher skier traffic, weekend conditions on the snowmaking trails tend to be better at Platty and far less skied off. But, yes, Platty is not open M-Th and the season pass is on the expensive side when doing the math as far as total number of open days. For me, it's worth every penny.

 

[TheGreatAbyss]

What are the old Highmount trails like? Are they just low angle run-out like most of Belle below the headwall or do any of them have some decent continuous steepness? I could probably answer my own question by looking at some topo maps but curious what people who have actually skied there think?

 

[jamesdeluxe]

What are the old Highmount trails like? Are they just low angle run-out like most of Belle below the headwall or do any of them have some decent continuous steepness? I could probably answer my own question by looking at some topo maps but curious what people who have actually skied there think?

I'm guessing only 800 vertical feet, however, better continuous steepness than Belle/see here and here for a few pix. Current regulars can confirm but I suspect that the trails have grown in pretty seriously with brambles by now. You see in the 2007 pix that they were relatively clear back then.

 

[Ripitz]

I’ve been told Highmount (when it was open) has a good pitch all the way to the lodge. I’ve heard most of the trails are bushed in. More often the old woods yield more navigable lines than unmaintained trails. They should have connected to Tom’s tow and gone all the way to Fleischmans. A crew with lopers and a shuttle bus is a helluva lot cheaper than a mega expansion.

 

[Bandit]

Pretty much consistent vertical all the way to the lodges. Ski tracks says 1235 from the top of lift 8 to the bottom of Highmount.

Yes it’s overgrown, have to know where to go.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

Hah, the pic of the guy walking back past the old surface lift. That's what I always tried to avoid -- I preferred to slog through the forest and as mentioned in the 2007 report, an employee yelled at me/said you're not supposed to ski through that property separating Belle and Highmount.

 

[Ripitz]

employee yelled at me

(Jealous)
“OK sorry, I didn’t know, I won’t do that again... today”.

Highmount is private property and the old lodges are posted.

The property in between is NY State land.

Technically the only access to Belleayre ski center is through the base area. The only exit is through the base as well. Hiking trails coming in from the Eastern end of the ridge cloud the issue. You can be on one side of the rope or the other but you should never cross it, that’s a no no.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

You have to admire the sheer lack of detail in this trail map, allegedly from 1985. With the help of the pic above, you can see that the wide trail along the Poma, looker's left, is completely grown in with trees. The other trails are now covered with big bushes for the most part.

Based on this pic and my personal feeling, I suspect that the vertical drop is well below the 1,200 feet mentioned above; however, I'm happy to believe otherwise:

 

[Bandit]

The 1235 is from the top of lift 8 at Belle, so maybe approximately 900 for highmount? About the same as a run off lift 7 at Belle.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

The 1235 is from the top of lift 8 at Belle, so maybe approximately 900 for highmount? About the same as a run off lift 7 at Belle.

Makes sense. Thanks for that clip from the past winter!