Belleayre, NY 02/20/14

jamesdeluxe

Administrator
Earlier this week, I realized that none of my 18 ski days this season had been in NYS, so I joined Jason for a run up to Belleayre, which is currently leading the lift-served mountains in the Catskills and Adirondacks with 130 inches YTD. It's thus on target for at least an average year natural snow year. We figured that it'd be smart to get out before today's forecasted rain. Yeah, yeah... I know. The East: great one day; gone the next.

Even though this is a quasi-vacation week (with some schools on break and some not), lifts were ski-on and Belle did its usual excellent job of spreading people out on the trails.

Marketing manager Joe McCracken joined us for a good portion of the day. Joe and many of the on-mountain employees are wearing ORDA coats with the Whiteface logo on the back: good product placement for the Ski3 Pass, which he mentioned has been selling well, especially amongst Belle's downstate clientele, who can use it to ski Gore and Whiteface in the Adirondacks and vice-versa.

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Upper Peekamoose


The standard rap on Belle is that it's ridge-line skiing with a steep upper pitch followed by blue-square runouts back to the lift, which is accurate, but those runouts, with their soft snow and gentle curves, are really fun and always lead me into a soothing Zen mindset. Plattekill's "Ridge Run" and Windham's "Wiseacres" have the same effect on me.

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Lower Peekamoose


It was virtually impossible to find a lousy line yesterday. Groomers and off-piste alike were skiing beautifully. It was as soft as it looks.

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Tomahawk Glade [pic: Joe McCracken]


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Belleayre Glade [pic: Joe McCracken]


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Belleayre Glade [pic: Joe McCracken]


Note to self: when taking a pair of veteran skis out for the first time this season, don't leave the DINs at 1.

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Belleayre Glade [pic: Joe McCracken]


By the early afternoon, clouds had rolled in, which flattened the light quite a bit. Around 2 pm, Jason and I headed over to Cathedral Glen: a ten-minute skate/walk. The "thin cover" sign really isn't necessary at this point.

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Conditions over there were excellent as well. With temps continuing to climb, we hit it just before the mashed-potatoes stage.

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A very pleasant, relaxing day at Belleayre and a reminder that spring skiing and BBQ/beerz in the sun on the Overlook Lodge deck aren't far away.

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