Belleayre with a Few Friends

In the offseason, when I think about spring skiing, I recall sunny days, skiing soft snow, all day long. I remind myself that spring is wonderful and it’s also generally reliable. The snow has to melt sometime, and you know the skiing is going to be good at the end of the season.

Right? It’s not as simple as it sounds. When it’s actually spring, I find I’m juggling things nearly as much as I do to chase powder.

Will the weekend include a sunny day with temperatures above freezing? Can I get a weekday off? Is the mountain I want to ski still spinning midweek?

Continue reading

Closing Woods Valley in Style

Winter was still hanging on by the tips of its fingers last Sunday in Westernville NY. It would be the last day of the 59th season for Woods Valley and the stage was set with beautiful spring conditions for the annual pond skim. I arrived just at the first chair and met up with the usual suspects.

Woods Valley Ski Area

We took a few laps and before long the firm conditions gave way to perfect corn snow. Coverage was edge-to-edge on all the main trails, with a few rollers and jumps remaining in the terrain park. The boys were getting adventurous jumping dirt gaps and going for grass slides. It’s just that time of the year to ride loose and carefree.

Continue reading

Skiing the Catskill Divide

Steam poured out of the roof of the Frost Valley YMCA sugar house. I could see the sugarman tending the boil through the open door. I wanted to spend all day there hearing stories of sap runs from years gone by. But there was no time for maple lore and syrup as I had other plans.

Biscuit Brook Register
Biscuit Brook

My long time ski bum friend, M.G. Sickman dropped me off at the Biscuit Brook parking area. He was headed off to Belleayre to ski for the day. We had been to Plattekill for their Powderdaize exactly a week before and conditions were now very different. My objective was a point-to-point ski traverse along the Catskill Divide on the 15 mile Pine Hill West Branch Trail ending at Belleayre.

Continue reading