Belleayre Conditions

Skied Belleayre yesterday with my 9 yr old snowboarding son. Decided to do the day-trip there because Bell wasn't blacked out on the "NY 3rd Graders Ski Free" booklet.  First I've been there in at least 7-8 years. Doesn't appear that a damn thing has changed about the place in those 7-8 years, or possibly the last 20 years. If the snow was just a tad better, the extra 15 min drive to Platty would have been a no-brainer.

Large crowd, not unexpected, though. Snow coverage was decent early in the day, remained acceptable off of Tomahawk lift most of the day, although the lift ran as slow as I've ever seen any lift run anywhere from 1:00 on. Shared a chair with two guys drinking Jack Daniels that had the opportunity to down most of a pint before my son and I disembarked at the mid-station. Other trails were pretty well scraped off  my noon.

For all the complaints about ORDA funding, or lack thereof, for Gore and WF, Belleayre is in desperate need of a makeover. Other than the Superchief chair, which was a clusterfuck all day, the lifts at this place belong in some ski antique shop. I assume that it's typically a pretty high-traffic place, so maybe the old slow lifts serve the purpose of minimizing number of bodies on the trails.

DrSkimeister wrote

Skied Belleayre yesterday with my 9 yr old snowboarding son. Decided to do the day-trip there because Bell wasn't blacked out on the "NY 3rd Graders Ski Free" booklet.  First I've been there in at least 7-8 years. Doesn't appear that a damn thing has changed about the place in those 7-8 years, or possibly the last 20 years. If the snow was just a tad better, the extra 15 min drive to Platty would have been a no-brainer.

Large crowd, not unexpected, though. Snow coverage was decent early in the day, remained acceptable off of Tomahawk lift most of the day, although the lift ran as slow as I've ever seen any lift run anywhere from 1:00 on. Shared a chair with two guys drinking Jack Daniels that had the opportunity to down most of a pint before my son and I disembarked at the mid-station. Other trails were pretty well scraped off  my noon.

For all the complaints about ORDA funding, or lack thereof, for Gore and WF, Belleayre is in desperate need of a makeover. Other than the Superchief chair, which was a clusterfuck all day, the lifts at this place belong in some ski antique shop. I assume that it's typically a pretty high-traffic place, so maybe the old slow lifts serve the purpose of minimizing number of bodies on the trails.

I was at Belleayre today, and the longest I waited was about 30 seconds to get on the Superchief.  Most weekends there are no lines;  you just happened to be there on one of the busiest days of the year.  

The double chair at the bottom definitely needs an upgrade.  The Tomahawk chair is not very old, but it would be nice to have a high speed chair to get some quick laps on the west side.  It's still better than the old T-bar that only went halfway up the mountain.

I would rather see Gore replace the Adk. Express before Belleayre gets a new lift, even though I ride Belleayre more often.  Right now, Belleayre does not have a high enough volume of skiers on a regular basis to demand a new lift.  

I don't think Gore has a lift as crappy as the ADK express, but Tomahawk and the main chair at Overlook are just a little better than Belle's next door neighbor...



Conditions were great today, but Superchief was offline until 10:30, and the other lifts stopped all day, meanwhile I had never seen the place so jumping.

I will forgive your dis of our grand old lady as this photo ROCKS!!

ml242 wrote

And I thought that the Z-Lift at Hunter was bad.  Good thing they replaced it after this happened.

My brother and I called out of work and headed to Belleayre last minute, as it's only 2:45 from where we live.  Horrible roads getting in Wednesday morning, but they picked up a nice 12" or so and it was totally worth it:

Sunday, Feb 9.
Great packed powder conditions all over the mountain. Some of the diamond mogul runs were scratchy in the troughs.
The steep groomed runs had lots of cover. it was sunny until mid afternoon when it got cloudy and started snowing. Lots of cars in the lot and it was ski right on the lifts all day.

Great snow today.  Pretty good coverage in some of the trees and underneath Tomahawk lift.

I had the opportunity to ski Bell today, my first time ever. Except for the 1 HSQ the lifts are slow and old but this place has a lot of potential. First of all, they keep several nice bump runs. Second, they have a huge potential for glade skiing, tons of nice pitch and great lines - just a little trimming required. I sure hope ORDA invests, this place could be great.

My only gripe with Bell would be that it is an intermediate mountain, nothing really challenging - but that's OK. I would keep the bump runs, open the woods and that would give it a real draw.

Today, snow conditions were good, bumps softened up and were quite fun, but not hardly being skied. Bell has a deep base, should be a lot of fun well into the spring. Passed Platty on my way - will have to get by that one as well.

PeeTex wrote

Second, they have a huge potential for glade skiing, tons of nice pitch and great lines - just a little trimming required.

Never noticed.

trim.MOV

Found this on my phone. First turns of the season

Still could top to bottom ski Bellaire mt. Plenty of snow, ( admitting some moves may be needed in a few spots) was just up their today

Belleayre is opening Saturday, Nov 22. Tickets are $25 Sat and Sun this weekend.

http://www.belleayre.com/

They have made a tremendous amount of snow and I don't want to overstate the opening but I *think* there should be a few ways down.

That looks nice thank you!

What are you guys thinking it will be like tomorrow? I am in the Catskill foothills in Sullivan County and we've been getting sleet and rain.  The ski hills are calling for at least 8-12, but I am afraid of heavy wet snow and ice... Should I hit hunter, belleayre or wait until the weekend? hmmmmm

Belleayre was great today. They definitely made out well with the storm, as the snow was not heavy at all. They reported 8", but it seemed like more. I got there at noon, and the place was pretty empty. I was able to poach trails and find untracked snow the entire afternoon. Upper Yahoo, the top of Belleayre Run (deep drifts under the lift!), and the Belleayre Glades were highlights. Hit a few minor rocks on other closed trails, but overall a much better day than anticipated.

Nice. I wish I could get out there today with the family. Kids in school and couldn't call in sick..

looks like the storm is still cranking for the cats, daks, and spine.