Low Angle Life
Well-known member
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2021
I made a mistake, I skipped Mondays storm in favor of extra sleep and the avoidance of white knuckle driving conditions. The concession I made to myself was that I would get out later in the week. I had a loose plan to head to Belleayre today, when I woke up this morning at 6:30 and peaked out the window it raining. The roads can't be too bad I thought to myself, and all the weather reports indicated that precipitation would lighten up north of New Paltz. I headed out after coffee and a smoothie and within minutes of crossing the NY boarder the rain switched to heavy wet snow. Accumulation was building on the roadway, north of Newburgh a Ram pickup towing a gooseneck trailer was spun off in the grass, the trailer having looped around and wrecked into the truck. Shortly after I got stuck in a 10mph slog behind heavy truck traffic, so much for avoiding bad driving conditions earlier in the week.
The snow did indeed clear north of New Paltz and I hammered on up the thruway eventually arriving at the overlook parking lot around 10, it was 28 degrees and some stray flurries were flying. I rode lift 7 to Yahoo for my fist lap, the snow was cold, grippy, and firm, I tried blasting off a little lip towards the bottom of the headwall and tomahawked into a pillow upon landing. I brushed myself off and continued onto lower Yahoo for some wide arching carves. Back up lift 7 for round two and I noticed my toe strap on my rear binding had partially ripped, I proceeded down Yahoo a bit more cautiously and eventually to the base to sort out a repair.
At the rental shop I was greeted by two of the least helpful bros I've ever had the pleasure of interacting with. I asked if they had any replacement straps, with out even moving or looking at my board he informed me he had no replacement straps. Then I asked for duct tape only to be met with the exact same response. "Zipties?" "No, and that wouldn't even work anyway". I moved on proceeding to ask every Belleayre employee I passed where I could find some duct tape, every one of them advised me to check with the rental shop. I gave up quick and figured I would head to the beach for a few laps on my pow surfer before making the drive home. On the way I stopped at the Pine Hill smoke shop, gas station, deli and was able to get a roll of gorilla tape, and a lighter I had forgotten, my day was saved.
I drove back up to the mountain, repaired my binding and rode until 1. I tried spreading things out across Onondaga, Belleayre Run, and Wanatuska, the snow on the head walls had really firmed up but the run outs remained super grippy and held an edge really well. Eventually I worked my way back over to lift 7 and took two more laps on Yahoo this time opting to work the ungroomed portion of the trail. The tide was low but the coverage was enough to turn and soft enough to pad landing when airing out of lips and moguls. The few bits of untracked snow seemed to get progressively softer as the day went on, maybe it was the moisture leaving the snow as the temperatures dropped throughout the day. After my two runs working the edges of Yahoo I headed back to the truck and on my way home. Nearing the Harriman exit the snow from the morning storm looked deep enough that I decided to make a brief detour to Silvermine.
The snow conditions at Silvermine were rough, think a 3" base of frozen solid slush covered in a 1" layer of powder that collapsed under your weight. It made turning tricky but also slowed things down and made tackling some steeper section a bit more manageable. I didn't have much energy but managed to earn a few turns and tried some portions of the hill I didn't get to during the last storm. Today was a great lesson in perseverance, I could have turned around when it started snowing on the drive up and I also could have given up when the rental shop turned me away. I don't know what it was that kept me going today because the conditions were not exactly inspiring, regardless I'm glad I kept going, sliding sideways is always better than not.
The snow did indeed clear north of New Paltz and I hammered on up the thruway eventually arriving at the overlook parking lot around 10, it was 28 degrees and some stray flurries were flying. I rode lift 7 to Yahoo for my fist lap, the snow was cold, grippy, and firm, I tried blasting off a little lip towards the bottom of the headwall and tomahawked into a pillow upon landing. I brushed myself off and continued onto lower Yahoo for some wide arching carves. Back up lift 7 for round two and I noticed my toe strap on my rear binding had partially ripped, I proceeded down Yahoo a bit more cautiously and eventually to the base to sort out a repair.
At the rental shop I was greeted by two of the least helpful bros I've ever had the pleasure of interacting with. I asked if they had any replacement straps, with out even moving or looking at my board he informed me he had no replacement straps. Then I asked for duct tape only to be met with the exact same response. "Zipties?" "No, and that wouldn't even work anyway". I moved on proceeding to ask every Belleayre employee I passed where I could find some duct tape, every one of them advised me to check with the rental shop. I gave up quick and figured I would head to the beach for a few laps on my pow surfer before making the drive home. On the way I stopped at the Pine Hill smoke shop, gas station, deli and was able to get a roll of gorilla tape, and a lighter I had forgotten, my day was saved.
I drove back up to the mountain, repaired my binding and rode until 1. I tried spreading things out across Onondaga, Belleayre Run, and Wanatuska, the snow on the head walls had really firmed up but the run outs remained super grippy and held an edge really well. Eventually I worked my way back over to lift 7 and took two more laps on Yahoo this time opting to work the ungroomed portion of the trail. The tide was low but the coverage was enough to turn and soft enough to pad landing when airing out of lips and moguls. The few bits of untracked snow seemed to get progressively softer as the day went on, maybe it was the moisture leaving the snow as the temperatures dropped throughout the day. After my two runs working the edges of Yahoo I headed back to the truck and on my way home. Nearing the Harriman exit the snow from the morning storm looked deep enough that I decided to make a brief detour to Silvermine.
The snow conditions at Silvermine were rough, think a 3" base of frozen solid slush covered in a 1" layer of powder that collapsed under your weight. It made turning tricky but also slowed things down and made tackling some steeper section a bit more manageable. I didn't have much energy but managed to earn a few turns and tried some portions of the hill I didn't get to during the last storm. Today was a great lesson in perseverance, I could have turned around when it started snowing on the drive up and I also could have given up when the rental shop turned me away. I don't know what it was that kept me going today because the conditions were not exactly inspiring, regardless I'm glad I kept going, sliding sideways is always better than not.
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