Harvey
Administrator
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2020
On Wednesday when Accuweather started to hype the storm, I started thinking about Plattekill.
I called ml242 on my walk home from work on Thursday, and asked him what he was doing on Sunday. He said "Skiing Plattekill." That was the "A" answer and we agreed to meet.
I cut a deal with Zelda. I trade all day "on duty" with Neve on Saturday, in exchange for the day off on Sunday. It's not often that the whims of Mother Nature (or Old Man Winter) line up in such a way. The plan was looking good.
But then, during the day on Saturday, the snow storm got in the way. Or I should say, the SLUDGE storm. Here in the downtown flatlands, the trees are still covered with leaves and branches started coming down. The lights were flickering and I cranked the heat (above my normally miserly levels) plugged in all the phones, and camera batteries and tried to convince Neve to come down with me into my ski shop, to help me cut my skins which I'd need in the morning. No way I wanted to try to do that for the first time, in the dark.
The lights went out at about 2:30pm. I brought the skis upstairs to use natural light to finish the job. I think I done ok:
The sun went down before I was able to start sorting gear. My only hope was for the power to return before my planned departure time of 5:00 am. We ate by candle light, bundled up, and went to bed.
It's an odd sensation: being woken in the middle of the night by all the lights and the TV and heat all going on at ONCE, being scared $hitless and being TOTALLY pysched about it. Zelda and I woke up wide eyed, at 2:40 am, and said YESS! She more because the heat was running, and me because my day at Plattekill was back on with the power.
I sorted my gear, took a shower and headed out before my planned time of 5 am.
On I-287 I got stuck behind an accident for nearly an hour. The roads were pretty clear, but the bridges were black ice and somebody had spun out.
I called ml242 and told him I was going to be late. Both ml and his buddy NJFreeSkier agree to wait for me and we all got up to Platty at 9:20. We figured we might as well wait for the lift to start spinning at 10 - if we skinned, we'd probably get beaten to the goods.
Surprisingly, as usual, the place was deserted. The three of us and tBatt, were the first skiers to ride the lift and nobody was behind us in line. First tracks were everywhere.
First run on Plunge
If you look closely in every pic of @tBatt, he's smiling.
ml242 ripper
Air Fuje - the money shot. (photo courtesy ML242)
Bonus Points: Gore Regulars travel south
Laz is upgrading his snowmaking pond
He's got some big toys
Under the Face Lift
NJFreeSkier
Today you needed your grass skis
After the Schralping
I called ml242 on my walk home from work on Thursday, and asked him what he was doing on Sunday. He said "Skiing Plattekill." That was the "A" answer and we agreed to meet.
I cut a deal with Zelda. I trade all day "on duty" with Neve on Saturday, in exchange for the day off on Sunday. It's not often that the whims of Mother Nature (or Old Man Winter) line up in such a way. The plan was looking good.
But then, during the day on Saturday, the snow storm got in the way. Or I should say, the SLUDGE storm. Here in the downtown flatlands, the trees are still covered with leaves and branches started coming down. The lights were flickering and I cranked the heat (above my normally miserly levels) plugged in all the phones, and camera batteries and tried to convince Neve to come down with me into my ski shop, to help me cut my skins which I'd need in the morning. No way I wanted to try to do that for the first time, in the dark.
The lights went out at about 2:30pm. I brought the skis upstairs to use natural light to finish the job. I think I done ok:
The sun went down before I was able to start sorting gear. My only hope was for the power to return before my planned departure time of 5:00 am. We ate by candle light, bundled up, and went to bed.
It's an odd sensation: being woken in the middle of the night by all the lights and the TV and heat all going on at ONCE, being scared $hitless and being TOTALLY pysched about it. Zelda and I woke up wide eyed, at 2:40 am, and said YESS! She more because the heat was running, and me because my day at Plattekill was back on with the power.
I sorted my gear, took a shower and headed out before my planned time of 5 am.
On I-287 I got stuck behind an accident for nearly an hour. The roads were pretty clear, but the bridges were black ice and somebody had spun out.
I called ml242 and told him I was going to be late. Both ml and his buddy NJFreeSkier agree to wait for me and we all got up to Platty at 9:20. We figured we might as well wait for the lift to start spinning at 10 - if we skinned, we'd probably get beaten to the goods.
Surprisingly, as usual, the place was deserted. The three of us and tBatt, were the first skiers to ride the lift and nobody was behind us in line. First tracks were everywhere.
First run on Plunge
If you look closely in every pic of @tBatt, he's smiling.
ml242 ripper
Air Fuje - the money shot. (photo courtesy ML242)
Bonus Points: Gore Regulars travel south
Laz is upgrading his snowmaking pond
He's got some big toys
Under the Face Lift
NJFreeSkier
Today you needed your grass skis
After the Schralping
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