Guest Opinion: Belleayre Ski Center Expansion

Plattekill Mountain logoI understand the support the Belleayre mountain expansion project has been receiving and I acknowledge the positive economic impact it could have for the local communities. But there are some real negative effects it could have as well on the local businesses it will compete against. My ski area, Plattekill Mountain, is one of those businesses.

I have reservations about the magnitude of Belleayre Resort, but I don’t have a problem with the project itself. It’s private money that’s being put at risk.  Route 28 is in desperate need of more quality lodging properties. If that’s what they want to build, and they’re willing to see it through, let them do it. That’s capitalism.

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The Ski Season in Photos #4

Skiers want snow. We want it now, we want it tomorrow, we want it next week and next year. Let it snow anytime, all the time.

Christmas-Storm-2012

Ski resorts on the other hand, well they’re a little more particular. They want snow. But they want it on Wednesdays or Thursdays or Saturday afternoon.

The last thing they want is any kind of weather that prevents the hordes and hungry masses from gettin’ on the highway and headin’ to the mountains.

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The Ski Season in Photos #3

Hardcore skiers have an usual relationship with spring skiing. It’s a blast to ski when temperatures are warm and snow is soft and carvy. But in the back of a skier’s mind there’s the understanding that the base beneath us — and sport we love — is inevitably slipping away into summer.

Spring skiing at Hunter in December.

Warm days in mid-winter can leave us feeling even more conflicted. In December of the 2012/13 ski season mother nature served up several days of spring skiing in New York and across the Northeast.

Temperatures warmed up well beyond seasonal levels and several mountains reported excellent spring conditions. We loved it, even if we knew that our thin early season bases were being eroded.

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