I remember a thread back when the thaw started about how the first eastern winter was great, and we'd just have to wait for the second. Well, I missed the first eastern winter due to work and travel obligations, so with the second winter coming I decided to use up some Warren Miller vouchers for Windham with my wife who had the day off. I guess you could call it "early 2nd season skiing."
Windham reported around 3 or 4 inches from the storm on Monday and seemed like they were blowing a lot of snow on quite a few of their trails based on their reports, so we decided to go for it. Drive took longer than expected due to bad weather (about 3 hours) and we ended up getting to Windham around 9:30 AM.
Conditions were actually surprisingly decent on what they had open. Most open trails had been resurfaced with a combination of the natural snow and machine made, and very little of the base from before the thaw was coming through, especially not until the afternoon. We did about 8 laps off the HSQ from the main summit. Best overall conditions were on Wedel, one of Windham's double black trails (and probably one of the only double blacks they have that deserves its designation). They were blowing a lot of snow on it, and consistency was buttery and not very sticky. It requires a big traverse up top to get to it, so it keeps a lot of people (especially suicidal snow boarders who frequent Windham) away. Upper Wolverine (another of their double blacks) also had a ton of snow on it, but the water mixture seemed to be turned up really high and it was quite sticky (I assumed to try to build up moguls again).
We also did a run up the secondary summit and took Wanderer, Windham's only continuous green run that goes from the top of either of the summits. Normally I love skiing over on this side of the mountain when they have their 3 black trails open (HSQ ride over here is only about 3.5 minutes I think and there are never that many people there). Wanderer is indeed a nice cruising trail for novice skiers, but we just ended up cold and bored on it. This side will need a lot of work as the blacks had almost no snow on them and their blue trail "Wedgie" (which was fortunately closed) from the summit had some of the most impressive 18 to 24 inch thick bulletproof crap on it I've ever seen. I don't even know how they are ever going to get snow to stick to that stuff the rest of the season.
Overall, not a bad day. We would have stayed longer if more terrain was open. Had nothing to lose though when we weren't paying for our lift tickets.
I will say though, the Catskills are going to be an ugly place for the MLK weekend between the small amount of open terrain and the lack of snow at this point. A quick 6 to 12 inch sort of storm would really help things out. I was contemplating a run at Belleayre's $15 tickets this Friday, but unless this next storm tomorrow really surprises I think I'll be staying home.
-Craig
Windham reported around 3 or 4 inches from the storm on Monday and seemed like they were blowing a lot of snow on quite a few of their trails based on their reports, so we decided to go for it. Drive took longer than expected due to bad weather (about 3 hours) and we ended up getting to Windham around 9:30 AM.
Conditions were actually surprisingly decent on what they had open. Most open trails had been resurfaced with a combination of the natural snow and machine made, and very little of the base from before the thaw was coming through, especially not until the afternoon. We did about 8 laps off the HSQ from the main summit. Best overall conditions were on Wedel, one of Windham's double black trails (and probably one of the only double blacks they have that deserves its designation). They were blowing a lot of snow on it, and consistency was buttery and not very sticky. It requires a big traverse up top to get to it, so it keeps a lot of people (especially suicidal snow boarders who frequent Windham) away. Upper Wolverine (another of their double blacks) also had a ton of snow on it, but the water mixture seemed to be turned up really high and it was quite sticky (I assumed to try to build up moguls again).
We also did a run up the secondary summit and took Wanderer, Windham's only continuous green run that goes from the top of either of the summits. Normally I love skiing over on this side of the mountain when they have their 3 black trails open (HSQ ride over here is only about 3.5 minutes I think and there are never that many people there). Wanderer is indeed a nice cruising trail for novice skiers, but we just ended up cold and bored on it. This side will need a lot of work as the blacks had almost no snow on them and their blue trail "Wedgie" (which was fortunately closed) from the summit had some of the most impressive 18 to 24 inch thick bulletproof crap on it I've ever seen. I don't even know how they are ever going to get snow to stick to that stuff the rest of the season.
Overall, not a bad day. We would have stayed longer if more terrain was open. Had nothing to lose though when we weren't paying for our lift tickets.
I will say though, the Catskills are going to be an ugly place for the MLK weekend between the small amount of open terrain and the lack of snow at this point. A quick 6 to 12 inch sort of storm would really help things out. I was contemplating a run at Belleayre's $15 tickets this Friday, but unless this next storm tomorrow really surprises I think I'll be staying home.
-Craig
