Belleayre Conditions

After skiing at Belle Friday, I've been thinking about it.

For some the rap on Belle has always been... a short steep pitch followed by a long blue trail.

Maybe I'm old, but I thrived on Belleayre Run on Friday.

That top pitch was just a bit too steep for me to tele more than a few turns. But that blue section below was tele nirvana.

belleayre-run-bumps.jpg


 
Belle has really grown on me over the past couple of years. They've been absolutely crushing it on snowmaking, they had more blacks open in December then Gore or Platty, it's open all week, and for me at least they are just within day trip range.

It's not a terribly challenging mountain though and I wish it had the consistent pitch of platty, but I love that they have been letting things bump up it which makes it much more interesting.

If they replaced tomahawk with a high speed that would be huge for me. I could maximize my time on the steepest parts of the hill on Seneca and Dot.
 
TheGreatAbyss said:
Belle has really grown on me over the past couple of years. They've been absolutely crushing it on snowmaking, they had more blacks open in December then Gore or Platty, it's open all week, and for me at least they are just within day trip range.

It's not a terribly challenging mountain though and I wish it had the consistent pitch of platty, but I love that they have been letting things bump up it which makes it much more interesting.

If they replaced tomahawk with a high speed that would be huge for me. I could maximize my time on the steepest parts of the hill on Seneca and Dot.
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Bell was prime when tony ran the place. The place had a tremendous vibe, great snowmaking and if you can see it you can ski it policy.
Now it’s a yawn
 
jasonwx said:
Bell was prime when tony ran the place. The place had a tremendous vibe, great snowmaking and if you can see it you can ski it policy.
Now it’s a yawn
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I never skied it back then but there's no way the snow making was better. They invested huge in this HKD system that has both tremendous output and a skiable consistency right out of the gun.

As to vibe I can't speak to it. The ski it if you can see it policy cuts both ways, yeah I enjoy the freedom, but I also like knowing someone's gonna find me if I slam into a tree.

I kinda like having Belle and Platty be my Yin and Yang of the Cats
 
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The vibe is fine, especially if you avoid the base area, Overlook and the big deck are still a nice hang out, plenty of tele skiers and lots of people there for the bumps, I think the regulars are a good crowd. As for the terrain policy, they've had Cathedral Brook open every opportunity they have been able to and even Dreamcatcher got opened up this season despite the lack of coverage. I would say they are doing their best balancing between modernizing and keeping a bit of what it was. And as for the pitch, Seneca and Dot got plenty top to bottom, Bellearye Run ain't too bad either.

Double Gondola all the way across the sky?
 
Low Angle Life said:
I would say they are doing their best balancing between modernizing and keeping a bit of what it was.
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Even though it wasn't really necessary (the skate over to Cathedral only takes a few minutes), many would argue that Belle's vibe never recovered from the scrapping of The BEAST.
:cautious:

For a walk down memory lane: my TR and Harv's blog

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