Plattekill: Family, Skiing and Community

I’m skiing my way through all of the lift served ski areas in New York over the next three seasons. That’s my goal. I believe it should be requirement for the editor-in-chief of the New York Ski Blog. Now, newly retired, I’m going to level up and make it happen.

Since I began skiing, I’ve found joy at every family-owned mountain I’ve visited. That may be corny, but it’s real for me. It’s why I continue to ski and support the independents.

My NY family ski area resume includes: Titus, Dry Hill, Snow Ridge, Woods Valley, Royal Mountain, Hickory, Greek Peak, Holiday Mountain, Mount Peter, and of course Plattekill. I want to ski all the rest, by the end of the 2028 season.

Last Friday I skied Victor Constant, another first for me. It’s a fairly short drive for me, about two hours from my house. The next day, Saturday morning, I headed north again, for Plattekill. I left almost an hour later then usual, but still somehow, made first chair.

This season mid-winter had been cold and awesome, but now the snow was going fast. I was hopeful that temps on the mountain had dropped below freezing overnight to aid the proper development of corn snow. It was 47 at my house in NJ when I left, and 33 degrees in Meeker Hollow at 8:15 as I drove up Plattekill Mountain Road.

I was optimistic, but it was not to be, with a bit of an inversion, the overnight low was 38 degrees up on the mountain. Matt and the crew groomed when it was coldest, right before opening. In the end, it hardly mattered as everything softened up quickly.

In mid-winter I tend to favor the double chair, but at 40 degrees, I wanted to be on the triple, in the sun.

I saw Tom Blackwell, he’s Number 2 on Patrol.  I asked him if the blues — aka Ridge and Twist — were done for the season. He confirmed they were. I stayed where I was on the triple/sunny side.

Roman, Director of Ski School at Plattekill, is excellent skier and game partner. He’s often busy with the school, we’ll generally set a time to meet. “Ski school at ten after.”  Invariably one of us ends up at the double, and the other drops down from triple to join up.

This day was a bit different, Ro saw me in line for the triple, and we rode up together. We skied Face and then Blockbuster. Roman’s first lineup was at 10am, and he jumped after those first runs on the sunny side. We made our plans to meet up, ten minutes after the lineup.

Later in the morning I found the Brownskis and reconnected with Roman. Ro had skied Ridge and Twist and was recommending the experience. We dropped down to the double and rode up. As we made our way over to skiers right, we came across five, count ’em five patrol across the trail. I don’t ever in my ski career remember coming up with a plan that was rejected so emphatically at the start. Or so I thought.

In reality, Patrol was there to drop the rope on all the natural terrain off the east side of the double chair. Full disclosure: I posted some shots that make it look pretty fat. There were also sections with narrow strips of gray and white snow, that were soft and supportive enough to make the required, extremely tight turns. It was fun as hell, if not the most photogenic.

A few times I looked back up at what I just skied, and wondered “How could that be that good?” If that’s an east coast thing, it’s alive and well at Plattekill. While the upper elevations were truly legit, the bottom of both trails was a thin continuous ribbon on skiers right, that got you back to Northface and the lift. It was bouncy, top-to-bottom patch skiing.

No question we were having fun. We skied those trails in every variation all afternoon long.

The only defined bump line was on Plunge, maybe two bumps wide. Of course I was drawn to it, skiing it several times. I’m currently grappling with a bit of reality regarding 66 year old knees. If I really want to ski 100 days in a season, I’m going to need a lower impact approach, that will likely include more nordic/backcountry.

Riley jumped in to the Cat Track Trees — now officially renamed the Quinn Memorial — and we followed. I think we were all surprised that on a day when Ridge and Twist were closed at opening, we skied the trees. It was fun for several laps midday. As the afternoon waned, it got punky, and we stuck to Twist.

At one point Brownski became somewhat insistent that we ski Freefall. While I do resist Freefall at times — in favor or Ridge and Twist — I never regret skiing it. It’s all natural, generally grassy and inherently more fun to ski, even when wet. It did not disappoint.

I kept threatening to quit, but I skied to last chair. With the double side in shadows, I went back to the triple and found Laszlo and Nick ripping down The Face. I mean there it is, the third component of the trifecta, with the owners loving it on their own hill. I explain below.

On my drive home, I was thinking about why I love family-owned mountains.

I like a relaxing and uncrowded venue. I can make eye contact and say hello, all day long, without getting exhausted. You really never wait in line. You can always find a place to sit.  People wave to you. New skiers are discovering Plattekill, but is still an intimate setting.

I like the fact that if you have an idea or a question, you can find the owners and talk to them. On a ski day they are visible in the lodge and on the hill. I love that fact that the owners are skiers, and that, part of the reason they operate a ski hill, is because they love skiing.

I’ve got a lot of ski days at Plattekill. Probably second only to Gore, where we live. Something else that I’ve experienced; Plattekill skiers come back year after year.

Skiers who feel bound to a single mountain, over time, form bonds that can look a lot like community. Laszlo and Danielle and Matt and Nick support those bonds in every way they can. Think about rituals to honor Penny and Foster, two members of the community that were known and loved, who passed unexpectedly.

The Vajtays have built a place where life happens. I love being part of it.