New Member Intro
- Thread starter NYSkiBlog
- Start date
SlowPokePete
Well-known member
- Joined
- Feb 21, 2024
rip van stinkle
New member
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2024
Hi folks. Checking in here to introduce myself.
I have been lurking here and mostly on TGR for the past many years. I used to post a lot in local motocross forums in western NY and this place feels closer to home now.
So just a brief snowboard/ ski history then:
2001-2005: I grew up snowboarding a ride kink with a spiky stomp pad at Bristol Mountain in the upstates. Mostly it was under the lights after school and in the park that I think used to exist under the morning star lift. Lots of call outs for sure and oh yeah; we “dropped-in” to everything.
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2009-2013: After four years off for college I picked up and moved to the downstates and also picked riding back up with a new crew in VT. They had a slope side condo at Stratton and that was rad. I followed around my skier friends and tried to keep up with them but mostly the bar and the hangs were way more chill. Also “dropping-in” to the trees.
Then out of the blue, my friends mom bought me a plane ticket and invited me to stay with them in Banff for my first trip west. Then again to Jackson the following year. My interest piqued and I am forever grateful for those memories.
2014-2017: I began to take planning matters into my own hands and at some point got in touch with a new girlfriend who reeled me in with stories of traveling North America to ski and spend time with others. We named a “Powder Stash” group text with two other couples and regularly rode the west together. Not usually stopping at the same place twice.
2018-2020: Since things were going well enough in the downstates but I really much rather enjoyed the scenery out West, me and my girlfriend decided to chart a course to California and ended up living in Hermosa Beach outside of LA. These were special times and difficult times. We were lucky enough to use work to travel and ski/ ride out west but then it came to a halt in 2020 and we left South Lake Tahoe that March after a trip with the “Powder Stash” and drove home to an empty city and without any clear future. We hunkered down, mostly chilling with our neighbors in the back alley, but also took the time to put some energy into surfing and other pursuits.
2021-2022: At some point, maybe right before 2020 we were on a trip the the upstates and begrudgingly agreed to meet some friends at Hunter. I was so distraught about trying to have fun there that I rented a pair of skis to try for the first time and headed to the very welcoming and separate beginner area there for the day. Post-covid has become the post-snowboarding era for me and I have put as many days and hours as possible in to learning how to ski. The process completely reinvigorated my love for snow in the mountains (and not falling down in the mountains) and has allowed me to reach new places. Like Alta (haha). Skis are obviously the more utilitarian tool. I got married in 2022, in the upstates, and soon after our baby boy was on the way.
2023-2024: Three months later with our pregnancy now viable we took a last minute trip to Sun Valley; in honor of our baby boy and the life we were thankfully about to share together. On the first lift up there we happened to sit across from a fantastic man who let us in to his life and then asked us to follow him. And as he was showing us through his powder stash off Seattle ridge I saw the name on his backpack and realized he was a TGR regular and that I had been reading his advice all along. I guess my epiphany then was that life and skiing are about more than life and skiing. They are perhaps more about the people you share those experiences with. It was the most beautiful day.
So we decided to move back to the downstates from California to be with family and soon after our baby was born. He is nothing short of special. As the realities of being back to the grind of NYC set in we could not ignore that we were missing out on people and life and skiing.
In deciding it was time for change but not knowing how, we naturally put ours careers down and we bought a place to stay within quick reach of both Bellayre and Plattekill. Unfortunately I had to find a job and go back to work a few months later but we are spending time at our new place and other time with our family in my wife’s childhood home downstate. I have lucked in to some good neighbors and have quickly fallen in love with the relaxing and romantic history of the Catskills region. Maybe we are finally at home back upstate. We just had a bbq with the "Powder Stash" this past weekend.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
So then I ask:
Who is skiing Plattekill this year and do you want to spin some laps? I have a feeling next year the kiddo will be learning to slide and another new chapter will begin. And so this season may be 1-of-1. Or maybe they all are.
Thanks for welcoming me into your community and for keeping the vibe right upstate while I was away.
Peace.
I have been lurking here and mostly on TGR for the past many years. I used to post a lot in local motocross forums in western NY and this place feels closer to home now.
So just a brief snowboard/ ski history then:
2001-2005: I grew up snowboarding a ride kink with a spiky stomp pad at Bristol Mountain in the upstates. Mostly it was under the lights after school and in the park that I think used to exist under the morning star lift. Lots of call outs for sure and oh yeah; we “dropped-in” to everything.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
2009-2013: After four years off for college I picked up and moved to the downstates and also picked riding back up with a new crew in VT. They had a slope side condo at Stratton and that was rad. I followed around my skier friends and tried to keep up with them but mostly the bar and the hangs were way more chill. Also “dropping-in” to the trees.
Then out of the blue, my friends mom bought me a plane ticket and invited me to stay with them in Banff for my first trip west. Then again to Jackson the following year. My interest piqued and I am forever grateful for those memories.
2014-2017: I began to take planning matters into my own hands and at some point got in touch with a new girlfriend who reeled me in with stories of traveling North America to ski and spend time with others. We named a “Powder Stash” group text with two other couples and regularly rode the west together. Not usually stopping at the same place twice.
2018-2020: Since things were going well enough in the downstates but I really much rather enjoyed the scenery out West, me and my girlfriend decided to chart a course to California and ended up living in Hermosa Beach outside of LA. These were special times and difficult times. We were lucky enough to use work to travel and ski/ ride out west but then it came to a halt in 2020 and we left South Lake Tahoe that March after a trip with the “Powder Stash” and drove home to an empty city and without any clear future. We hunkered down, mostly chilling with our neighbors in the back alley, but also took the time to put some energy into surfing and other pursuits.
2021-2022: At some point, maybe right before 2020 we were on a trip the the upstates and begrudgingly agreed to meet some friends at Hunter. I was so distraught about trying to have fun there that I rented a pair of skis to try for the first time and headed to the very welcoming and separate beginner area there for the day. Post-covid has become the post-snowboarding era for me and I have put as many days and hours as possible in to learning how to ski. The process completely reinvigorated my love for snow in the mountains (and not falling down in the mountains) and has allowed me to reach new places. Like Alta (haha). Skis are obviously the more utilitarian tool. I got married in 2022, in the upstates, and soon after our baby boy was on the way.
2023-2024: Three months later with our pregnancy now viable we took a last minute trip to Sun Valley; in honor of our baby boy and the life we were thankfully about to share together. On the first lift up there we happened to sit across from a fantastic man who let us in to his life and then asked us to follow him. And as he was showing us through his powder stash off Seattle ridge I saw the name on his backpack and realized he was a TGR regular and that I had been reading his advice all along. I guess my epiphany then was that life and skiing are about more than life and skiing. They are perhaps more about the people you share those experiences with. It was the most beautiful day.
So we decided to move back to the downstates from California to be with family and soon after our baby was born. He is nothing short of special. As the realities of being back to the grind of NYC set in we could not ignore that we were missing out on people and life and skiing.
In deciding it was time for change but not knowing how, we naturally put ours careers down and we bought a place to stay within quick reach of both Bellayre and Plattekill. Unfortunately I had to find a job and go back to work a few months later but we are spending time at our new place and other time with our family in my wife’s childhood home downstate. I have lucked in to some good neighbors and have quickly fallen in love with the relaxing and romantic history of the Catskills region. Maybe we are finally at home back upstate. We just had a bbq with the "Powder Stash" this past weekend.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
So then I ask:
Who is skiing Plattekill this year and do you want to spin some laps? I have a feeling next year the kiddo will be learning to slide and another new chapter will begin. And so this season may be 1-of-1. Or maybe they all are.
Thanks for welcoming me into your community and for keeping the vibe right upstate while I was away.
Peace.
Last edited:
Harvey
Administrator
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2020
Peter Minde
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2020
Harvey
Administrator
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2020
Stink... if you have pics and interest, DM me.
Green light
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2020
Do you think the latest member of the forum, Highpeaksdrifter may be our old HPD?
Campgottagopee
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 20, 2020
