Belleayre Conditions

professor... thread drift is fine, it's normal human behavior.  If you have an idea that is drift and want to start a thread that is cool too.

Trolling is really creating conflict because you enjoy it. It's not the same as having a strong difference of opinion and voicing it.  

I don't think you have anything to worry about in either regard.

January 15th,

Belleayre skied great today, with temps rising into the mid to upper 30's and light to no wind things softened up nicely.

Felt like a early March day.

January 22nd,

Most of the mountain skied great. The cold temps have kept what natural snow they received earlier in the week in good shape.

They are blowing snow at various points over the mountain and the light winds carried the man made stuff over to nearby trails, giving the mountains a fresh coating.

Belle was great today.  Packed parking lot, but every lift was ski on.  Don't understand why no snow guns were running.  Thruway was like something from "I Am Legend" on the way home.

Belleayre was in great shape today. Its snowed for much of the day until about 3pm and left a few inches of snow giving the mountain a great covering.

Runs of the day were Belleayre Run which was open top to bottom and Seneca on the West Side.

Tomorrow (Saturday) should be great winter day for anyone heading up, and Sunday with temps reaching near 50 should make for an awesome early spring day.

came across this pic today of some patrollers practicing (i think), cover looks really good. apologies for my fb theft, belleayre!

Anyone skied Belleayre last couple days? I may end up there with some co-workers on Friday for a quick day trip since I'm not skiing this weekend to avoid holiday crowd.

Based on the little bit of snow this week and good snowmaking temps I'm thinking it may not be too shabby??

I was just looking at the webcam and it looks to be in pretty good shape....considering.  

http://belleayre.com/the-mountain/webcam-feed

Belleayre skied better than expected today.  Upper Winisook and Onteora were as soft as can be with tons of freshly made snow. Elsewhere, even with my dull-edged skis, I was able to get decent purchase on most trails, as long as I avoided the occasional patches of frozen-pond-like ice. Overall, a nice day and pretty remarkable only a couple of days after the deluge.

Belleayre was really nice today!  Warm, sunny, and soft snow.  Around 1, things were getting pretty slushy.  

Also personally a really fun day - my 5 yo went down Iroquois (a longish beginner run) off a lift, and my 2 yo got onto skis for the first time.  

Instructors were saying that Belle will be open next weekend, but closed during the week.  

DomB wrote

Belleayre was really nice today!  Warm, sunny, and soft snow.  Around 1, things were getting pretty slushy.  

Also personally a really fun day - my 5 yo went down Iroquois (a longish beginner run) off a lift, and my 2 yo got onto skis for the first time.  

Instructors were saying that Belle will be open next weekend, but closed during the week.

Had a great time here too, with the light crowds all the lifts were ski on, we started on the lower mtn then hit a few runs off the SuperChief up top before heading over to Tomahawk after lunch.  We finished up with two runs on Iroquois which was in great shape.  There was a nice springtime vibe all around the Belle today.

I really like the atmosphere of Belle.  It may (or may not) be our home mountain next year, but I think it will be in 2 . . . .

Belleayre is still skiable top to bottom despite closure last week. I have hiked to the very top and skiied all the way down to Discovery Lodge Mon, Tue, Wed and Thu this week, 1300  feet of vertical. Because it is man made snow this year, melt and coverage pattern is different. There is wall to wall coverage on Wanatuska from the top down to Overlook Lodge. All this week and through Yesterday afternoon, I could continue skiing around the back of Overlook Lodge and down Iroquois all the way to Discovery Lodge with taking off my skis. Iroqouis is also still wall to wall coverage though they have been pushing around some snow on it yesterday with a new Piston Bully they seem to be demoing from the looks of it. For the bumps, upper Onteora is still good (skiied that Mon, Tue and Wed), but now you have to clip out at the bottom of the first headwall and walk over to Wanatuska to continue skiing to bottom, which is why I skiied Wanatuska top to bottom yesterday. Snow conditions are good and not dangerous with the warm weather. The service road I hike up the from upper most Tomahawk parking lot is without snow except when crossing over ski trails on way up. Cutting across top of Dot Nebel on hike up is only potentially dangerous area if it was icy and you did not have microspikes, but it is fine to cross on hiking boots in the soft snow. It takes 45 min to 1 hour to hike to top and the 15-20 min ski if go all the ways down to Discovery Lodge, so 1.5 hr round trip with a short break at top before descent. Sat afternoon should be a good ski in the afternoon after the snow softens up from overnight freeze. Ski Hunter in the morning and then do the Belleayre hike at end of day.

I guess closing for the season was a profit driven decision.  I'm surprised that they didn't do one more weekend with the triple open.

Skiied again today from the top of Wanatuska all the way to Discovery Lodge via Iriquois w/o having to take off skis, 1300+ feet of vertical. They have bulldozed a track through ski runs the service road crosses on the up, such as Dot Nebel, Seneca & Algonquin, so that trucks/vehicles will be able to get to the top of the mountain. Wanatuska is untouched by road clearing and maintains wall to wall snow for the entire run down to Overlook Lodge. The transition around the back of Discovery Lodge to Iriquois required walking across bare spots at several ponits but with skis still on. This transition area will become the first impassible area without clipping out. Once on the top of Iriquois, however, it is once again wall to wall snow all the way down to Discovery Lodge. Conditions today at 2 pm were icier/crustier than expected despite the 60+ degree day and being above freezing last night. It will probably take time to thaw/soften tomorrow after tonight's below freezing temps. Skiing it Sat afternoon is probably the best option if the weather stays nice for the day and the snow softens up.

Welcome Frank.

(sweet photo, dropped it in for you)

I was able to ski Belleayre again, top to bottom, on day six after it closed Sun, 3/20. The run is Wanatuska from the top down to and then behind Overlook Lodge, around the top of Lift 1/2 and down to Discovery Lodge on Iriquoise. It is still able to be done without having to clip out. There are only a few bare spots behind Overlook and Lift 1/2 that I had to walk over. There were other skiiers on the mountain today. I saw two and tracks of others. This shot once again shows the snow coverage down Wanatuska to Overlook Lodge and the white ribbon in the bottom lower left is Iriquos. There are definitely at least several more days of skiing left and it is definitely safely skiable if skiied prudently in warm conditions.image233.jpeg

Best snow of the year in the Catskills

Glad someone is getting it!