jamesdeluxe
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2020
With no new snow since the recent storm, it didn't make sense to be booted up at opening bell, so I arrived at Platte around 10:15. While -7 on my car thermometer was cold enough, it was comfy compared to temps further north (my uncle near Virgil called to say that it was -18 there).
Pulling into the ticket booth, the weather seemed pleasant enough: blue skies, zero wind, and not as frigid as the valleys:
Given how preposterously little natural snow has fallen so far this year (24 inches according to the Platte website), I'd argue that conditions were surprisingly good. Most of the groomed trails at the top were snowmaking scrapefests; however, once you got past the initial pitches, there was enough loose snow to put a nice edge into. Throughout the day, the Northface double was more or less ski-on while the triple was 3-5 minutes unless you were a single.
As always, my favorite trail is short but sweet Ridge Run (I fixed the crooked sign on the left after this pic). Odd, I could've sworn that RR was always a blue square -- when did it change? With a thin layer of snow from the recent storm, it still felt nice and I only hit a few loose rocks during the eight times I skied it.
After getting past the bony entry to Blockbuster, the left side was nice and "carvy," as Harv would say.
I ran into this boarder a few times and later watched him do a decent (and courageous) run through the low-tide trees.
Master of ceremonies Laszlo must've been happy with yesterday's turnout. Here he is serving beer at the end of the day:
Heading back through Arkville, which had a couple of these:
I timed it perfectly to hit the Peekamoose at the 4 pm opening -- my first time there in four or five years:
I was the first customer inside; however, within ten minutes the room filled up with the Belleayre après-ski crowd and even a wedding party. It's still gorgeous; however, I was bummed that they took out the bar (due to COVID, I guess) along with the pub food, so now it's only a high-end dinner menu -- a nice place to go on a date. Being solo, I grabbed soup and a beer, then headed home.
All in all, a pleasant low-key day -- I'm still a Catskills fan even though I don't get up there as much as I would like.
Pulling into the ticket booth, the weather seemed pleasant enough: blue skies, zero wind, and not as frigid as the valleys:
Given how preposterously little natural snow has fallen so far this year (24 inches according to the Platte website), I'd argue that conditions were surprisingly good. Most of the groomed trails at the top were snowmaking scrapefests; however, once you got past the initial pitches, there was enough loose snow to put a nice edge into. Throughout the day, the Northface double was more or less ski-on while the triple was 3-5 minutes unless you were a single.
As always, my favorite trail is short but sweet Ridge Run (I fixed the crooked sign on the left after this pic). Odd, I could've sworn that RR was always a blue square -- when did it change? With a thin layer of snow from the recent storm, it still felt nice and I only hit a few loose rocks during the eight times I skied it.
After getting past the bony entry to Blockbuster, the left side was nice and "carvy," as Harv would say.
I ran into this boarder a few times and later watched him do a decent (and courageous) run through the low-tide trees.
Master of ceremonies Laszlo must've been happy with yesterday's turnout. Here he is serving beer at the end of the day:
Heading back through Arkville, which had a couple of these:
I timed it perfectly to hit the Peekamoose at the 4 pm opening -- my first time there in four or five years:
I was the first customer inside; however, within ten minutes the room filled up with the Belleayre après-ski crowd and even a wedding party. It's still gorgeous; however, I was bummed that they took out the bar (due to COVID, I guess) along with the pub food, so now it's only a high-end dinner menu -- a nice place to go on a date. Being solo, I grabbed soup and a beer, then headed home.
All in all, a pleasant low-key day -- I'm still a Catskills fan even though I don't get up there as much as I would like.
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