2016-17 Snowfall: Belleayre vs. Plattekill

Ethan Snow wrote

An 81" difference is astronomical for two mountains that you can see from each other.

raisingarizona wrote

That's not unusual at all actually.

Of course, the obvious example is the Wasatch Front (LCC/BCC) and Back (Park City/Canyons/Deer Valley), where the difference is often well north of 150 inches per season and they're right next door to each other. As Jason pointed out, Plattekill usually outdoes Belleayre by 10 maybe 15% every winter, so this season would be a serious outlier, if true.

Harvey wrote

The numbers don't affect me personally very much.

Agreed, numbers don't tell the whole story. For example, several times I've skied Sutton after a nice overnight dump while Jay (which often gets a lot more snow) is on wind hold. Sutton's terrain isn't as expansive or technically interesting; however, there's a visual aspect to Sutton's woods that I love.

#keepinitreal

I don't think anyone has mentioned that Belle is open 7 days/week and Platty 3. Whatever snow falls lasts longer at Platty, not to mention that Belle gets much more skier traffic on the open days.

That annual average for the town of Roxbury is something like 90". Margaretville and Shandaken (belleayre is somewhere in between, but technically Shandaken) is slightly lower. Yes, both mountains are at higher elevations so they collect more snow, but I say both reports are exaggerated. Exactly how much is debatable. I think we all agree that Plattekill does, in general, get more snow than Belleayre. But probably not 80" more.

Marcski wrote

I don't think anyone has mentioned that Belle is open 7 days/week and Platty 3. Whatever snow falls lasts longer at Platty, not to mention that Belle gets much more skier traffic on the open days.

I would guess that Belleayre gets 4-6 times the number of skiers Plattekill gets.

Nice new avatar, X!

Marcski wrote

Nice new avatar, X!

Thanks. I lucked into a bunch of powder days this year.