My plan was to ski Plattekill with James and Jason, and to ski Gore on Sunday and Monday. Work got in the way of Monday and ultimately Sunday too. I was daytripping the Catskills again.
If you think Belleayre is in the middle of nowhere… Plattekill is 20 miles beyond that. The snow was incredibly deep in Delaware County. So deep that with the consistency of the snow, the trees were basically unskiable. Waist deep.
Plattekill is a part-time mountain, only open Friday thru Sunday. It has the most natural snow in the Cats (190″ avg) – and they leave a lot of terrain ungroomed. Hey it’s a vibe… it’s also a smart way to run a mountain. We stuck to the sides of the “groomers” weaving in and out of the untracked and the huge soft bumps.
Skiing was incredibly tiring. Off the groomers, it was basically impossible, at least on my boards. Snowboarders had the advantage – if you followed them in, you could keep moving.
We connected with PDQ’s friend Amy, and her friends Brandy and Brian. Brian is a musician and lined up a performance in the Plattekill bar at 3pm. Amy and Brandy were there to make turns and lend support. Pretty cool twist on dawn patrol… skiing the morning and giggin’ the afternoon.
Cool mountain with a great laid back feel. And we definitely picked the right day. Tons of snow at the only mountain in the Catskills that didn’t lose power on the biggest day of the year.
Another TR to an impressive February on NYSB. I count 11 east-coast reports from this month.
My kids loved Platt yesterday…They want to make it the go to mountain..
Great to hear, but you’d think that kids that age would get impatient with no HSQs and less grooming than most other mountains. What did they like about Plattekill?
They loved the fact that it wasn’t to crowded and the interesting narrow trails.They get bored of bells cookie cutter trails..
This was one of the great days this year. Credit has to go to James for picking the right mountain for the moment. Great to meet Amy, Brian and Brandy too.
I love Plattekill. It has steep terrain and lots of ungroomed trails. I really like that it is family run – no corporate BS. It has a very chill vibe, no frills for sure, but it is the real deal. This is how ski mountains used to be – back in the 40s even thru the 70s, before the “growth-at-all-cost” mentality took over the nation, and it became “The Ski INDUSTRY.” There’s my little anti-corporate rant for the day… ;P
LOL: They get bored of bells cookie cutter trails..
Blast from the past! … and I hope we get a deep base like this soon.