Belleayre Mtn N.Y 3-20-04

[Kevin]

Well I guess that the snow gods were finally smilling for Catskill skiers, as today was on of the best days of my season. I skied Belleayre today for 5 hours straight and the conditions were excellent. I was up on top of the mountain at 9:00am sharp and conditions were 100% groomed packed powder on the cruising terrain. The mogul trails such as Onteora, Upper Yahoo and Seneca had a packed powder surface with some ice in the troughs, but made for alot of fun. The weather was sunny and quite warm until about 1:00pm when the sky became overcast. <BR> <BR><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/3641.jpg" ALT="Kevin Skiing Onteora"> <BR> <BR> <BR>Cathedral Brook is a trail area that is usually served by a snowcat, however the cat was not running so I hiked the short distance uphill to the top of this trail. The snow was nice and soft, and the cover was good considering that this was all natural snow. As of today Belleayre is reporting a season snowfall total of 132", right about average according to their statistics. <BR> <BR><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/3642.jpg" ALT="Upper Cathedral Brook"> <BR> <BR><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/3643.jpg" ALT="Lower Cathedral Brook"> <BR> <BR>The lift ticket price was reduced to the late season rate of $33, not bad for 1,400 vertical and 15 runs in 5 hours time. This place really takes pride in snowmaking and grooming, and the conditions reflect that commitment. Base depths are very deep, and they will have no problem skiing well into April.