Poll: What Catskill Ski Area is Most Different from the Other 3?

[x10003q]

From a purely physical viewpoint - Windham and Plattekill are very similar. They are both built inside a bowl. Windham looks like a larger version of Platty when you are standing at the bottom. The main face of Hunter is also built into the lower section of a bowl, so I would say these three are the most similar vs Belleayre's long ridgeline with descending slopes.

Belleayre is also the only area with parking lots in the middle of the vertical leading to ski bridges.

I would say Belleayre is the most different from a physical standpoint vs the other three.

 

[gregmarx]

I guess I should have expected this. Was looking for opinions on difference, not preference.

My bad, a poorly conceived idea for a discussion starter.

The last thing I wanted to do was encourage a Hunter hate session.

I liked the idea! But I haven't voted bc what stands out to me is that they are all really different from each other in a variety of ways -- I've skied them all for my first time over the last two winters and what really stood out was how none is like any of the others. So to choose a "most different" you kind of have to decide what the criteria are.

In terms of terrain, I would agree with @Ripitz that Hunter is prob most different. Like it or hate it, it looks different and skis different from other mountains. I grew up in the NJ suburbs as a non-skier and heard people talking about skiing Hunter my whole life and assumed ski mountains were all pretty similar. Finally got into skiing and started exploring myself.... Hunter's unusual.

At Belleayre the terrain is pretty straightforward (though like @x10003q says it's the only one in the region with a long summit ridgeline). But it's a 1400-foot mountain (of which maybe 850 feet is interesting) with a gondola and a mid-mountain parking lot that you ski over. That's pretty different.

Plattekill is smallish and scrappy and fun and vibey and undercapitalized. It's got great terrain on a "normal" setup. I feel like that basic description prob applies to a bunch of other mountains (though less than it used to) but it's different from anything else in the Catskills.

Windham to me is the most "ordinary." It doesn't have the oddness/quirkiness of Hunter or Belle and it doesn't have the vibes of Plattekill. It stands out from the others by being normal while they are all in some way distinctive.

 

[tirolski]

Plattekill’s the only mountain of the four outside of the Hudson River watershed, so there’s that.

 

[TomCat]

I vote belleayre since most of the trails are the same. I like belleayre but there isn’t much variety.

Tom

 

[MC2]

I judge on vibe.

Hunter, Belleayre, & Windham have vibes that feel similar to me. Some have more rich people, some have slopeside houses, some have newer lodges & facilities, but they feel pretty close to each other.

Plattekill’s vibe is completely different (in the best way possible).

 

[Brownski]

Plattekill’s vibe is completely different (in the best way possible).

I agree. I figure people are tired of hearing me say so but it’s true.

 

[rfreeman]

Voted Plattekill on account of old school lifts, ample tree skiing, lots left ungroomed, no lines.

But really they are 4 very different areas. Hunter dynamited and mobbed, Belleayre bifurcated and then gondolad, Windham increasingly elite.

Also hard to say which 2 are most similar. I guess H&W.

 

[TheGreatAbyss]

I judge on vibe.

Hunter, Belleayre, & Windham have vibes that feel similar to me.

I'm not sure I agree with that.

Hunter still retains some of that "Belmar North" stereotype of young guys skiing drunk and out of control.
Haven't been to Windham in years, but I grew up skiing there because my dad liked the family atmosphere of it (as opposed to Hunter specifically).
Today Belle is probably taking that middle-class day trip family vibe from Windham as W goes after the Hamptons in the Catskills types.