Belleayre 12/5/15

What Belle lacked in quantity today, they made up for in quality.  Belle concentrated on opening one trail, Onteora, serviced by the #7 triple chair with the option to ski from mid-station for intermediates or from the top for experts.  We pulled into the Overlook lodge parking lot around 8:30 with the temp on the car's dashboard showing a deceptive 27 degrees.  The Sun was up and with no clouds in sight, it was warming up fast.  By the time we geared up and walked the short distance to the left we were getting hot.  



We jumped off at mid point for the first few runs and loose granular conditions and sparse crowd made for a great start to our season.  By late morning the trail got a bit more congested, but it was ski on to the lift all day.  We did go up top for a few runs.  The coverage was sketchy on the upper steep and my daughter complained that what little snow was up there was skied off revealing an unforgiving ice face.  As the temps climbed into the low fifties and with skiers struggling to get an edge, ski patrol put up the caution signs on top.

We broke for lunch around 11:30 and basked in the Sun on the Overlook deck, it felt more like early April than December.  The warm weather was nice, but I still hate it.  When we got back on the trail after lunch, the lower portion was starting to form delicious soft moguls.  With the rising temps & an uptick in skiers it seemed that every lap was offering up a different terrain.  We lapped Onteora until 2:30, my legs started to wear down and conditions got a tad choppy.  

This was a great job by Belle to get a very decent trail open given the moderate temps.  The forecast looks lousy for the Cats next week and unless something breaks soon, even this small victory that Belle pulled off for the weekend may be lost.

(Photo rotated, H)

good for them to get a trail open, and for you to get after it!

May only be one trail but I'm jealous. The best I could do this weekend would be "Trip Report: Breakfast with Santa"

Sorry about the sideways pic, anyone know how to fix this?  I'm using a MS Surface Pro 3.

Great trip report! I thought about going but realized my skis were still in the shop for their tune up.  I was wondering how it was-glad you got to enjoy it.  Crossing fingers that the weather gets colder soon!