Hardpack ScrapeOff: Platty vs Belle, Hunter.

[cerv1]

This is an incredible post. Reading it made me very happy with my decision to buy a limited season pass at Belle for $360 yesterday. (I had researched the Hunter + Epic option momentarily.)
Belle will be my day trip mountain — and will save the overnight trips for Platte, Gore or Vermont. FWIW, the Roxbury Motel is nice for a couple night stays and has a lovely hot tub / sauna room, which this year because of Covid you could reserve for 90 minutes by yourself.
And there was also pizza to be had in Roxbury town, though as someone who spends a lot of time in pizza forums, I must warn that it was no substitute for NY pizza

 

[G.ski]

With 500,000 annual skier visits, generalizations about Hunter skiers are directed at a lot of people, including:

@Harvey
@Scottski63
@Low Angle Life
@180
@rfreeman
@SayvilleSteve
@marcski
@x10003q
@Petronio
@Jersey Skier
@greymoose
@Kingslug
@Benny Profane
@professor
@Kevin
@DMC_Hunter

I skied Hunter for 30 years up until a few years ago. Have not skied there since Fail took over.

 

[Harvey]

Sorry? if I left anyone out who cares. It wasn't intended to be an exhaustive list.

The point is going to Hunter and then talking smack about the people who go to Hunter, seems odd to me. Unless maybe you have self esteem issues.

pizza forums

This haha. Makes sense there'd be a forum for everything. I checked it out for about 20 seconds, most seem to be about pizza making. Are there any that rate local pizzerias?

 

[raisingarizona]

Lovin the Rogue hoes. They make em from old plow discs

Rogue Hoe Distributing, LLC | "When only the toughest hoe will do!"

roguehoe.com

They make some really nice looking stuff. One of our trail faeries crew guys has one of their three in one tools. It’s great if you only want to carry one tool but I don’t think any of the 3 in one tools are nearly as good as the single, specific tools. My go to is the plain ole pick mattock. I love email much I’ve been planning to get a tattoo of one.

 

[gorgonzola]

Hunter would be my last choice of the four Catskills mountains unless I already had a Vail pass.

Que dmc in... 4...3.. 2...

 

[Ripitz]

It’s great if you only want to carry one tool but I don’t think any of the 3 in one tools are nearly as good as the single, specific tools

I agree. Their No Break Rake is our favorite of their tools. I ran over it by accident with an excavator and it held up to its name. Try that with a rake from True Value

I skied Hunter yesterday on a mid week hardpack day and quite liked it

That’s the key for Hunter happiness. No weekends. Mid-week screamers only

 

[raisingarizona]

I agree. Their No Break Rake is our favorite of their tools. I ran over it by accident with an excavator and it held up to its name. Try that with a rake from True Value

That’s the key for Hunter happiness. No weekends. Mid-week screamers only

That’s some strong stuff then! They do look and feel like durable quality.

I got brand new Vulcan pick mattock last spring for my volunteer days. I love that thing.

 

[Brownski]

Sadly we didn’t include Joe’s, though I’ve enjoyed many slices there. We were mainly going after full pie, Neapolitan style pizzas. Winner ended up being in Brooklyn actually

Results

West Brooklyn Here are the summarized scores from the West Brooklyn group. We also created a ranking of the different individual components. If a component had the same score, then we used standard…

nycpizzabracket.wordpress.com

The true test is to order a single slice. And not including the Bronx invalidates the entire thing. You’re gonna have to go back and start over.

 

[marcski]

Maybe it's a teleskiers choose their days wisely thing?

Clearly if you choose to ski hardpack alpine equipment is better suited to the conditions. The NTN gear lays down a pretty good P-turn and if I get into something shiny, I'm paralleling.

The day after I had two great days in the trees at Gore, my plan was to ski new snow on the third day. It rained for a short while and everything was coated in ice.

I was in the parking lot a the ski bowl, with my boots on, 150 feet from the lift, and I chose to drive home vs ski. That's just who I've become I guess. Sure with some super sharp skinny skis it would have been easier to ski that day, but in my estimation still wouldn't be fun.

Every day, every minute I ski, I am away from my family. I want those days to be good or great. Or at least decent.

Tele, Alpine - doesn't make a difference. (First, I've said it before and I'll say it again, its not the skis, its the skier). But more importantly:

I bought a pair of Masters Race Skis, so basically a slightly detuned World Cup Race Ski. Maybe 70mm underfoot. Stiff as a freakin' 2x4. Mounted with Outlaw X's. Other than on powder and deep soft days, these skis have been the most fun I've had on snow in years. They carve like crazy, just as well as when making alpine turns. (no ski brakes because they would get caught up and hit the snow when carving). I only ski them on good snow (= no rocks) when it is firm outside. They have about 25+ days on them, still sharp as a knife. Other than a couple of coats of wax, I haven't touched them. In fact, the original edges just sliced through a metal leash when I took a good digger this past weekend and released.

For years, I was a fatter ski = better guy. (Which is still true in the right conditions) but for out here in the east, skis have been getting too fat lately. But, if you get the chance, in the right conditions, get on a race ski. Just wow! Set the edge, and feel the G-forces on those turns and its an entire different game.

 

[Brownski]

Amen Marcski. Traditional camber has its place too