Brits in the Catskills & ADKs

One of the reporters from the British publication Where to Ski and Snowboard Worldwide (a great resource for the Alps) is on a tour of the Catskill ski areas, starting off with a blog entry about Plattekill and Belleayre, which includes a pic of a smiling Laszlo. Most of them ski in the mammoth Alps resorts (especially France) or fly directly to the western U.S. and Canada, so it's nice that they're giving our comparatively tiny New York State hills a bit of attention.

Always interesting to note cultural differences and if you've ever been at a ski area with UK skiers, they love to complain en masse about slow chairs and this blogger follows suit. It drives them absolutely nuts, crackers, mad, bonkers -- even wondering why there aren't brand new detachables at smaller places like Plattekill, which truly don't need a high-speed lift. They're also accustomed to the incredible restaurant infrastructure at European ski regions, so the U.S. custom of just-the-basics food offerings compared to across the pond is probably a bit shocking.

We vacationed twice in Europe with a Brit couple that are friends of ours.  While they complain about the food they only seemed happy eating fish and chips

Interesting that the writer seems to think Belleayre has the NY State's only high speed lift. I actually have a book they published from the early 1990s.

Whenever I have skied with Brits, their biggest concern was the location of the next wine glass on the map (indicating food and alcohol).

I used to love international travel for work..

After a couple days I'd start blasting each and every stereotype people could toss at me...
In every country I worked in..

Good find James.

Laszlo mentioned this I think... something about a UK Press Conference.  He was pretty pumped about it.

Some things are odd about the article... the writer likes the two Platty green trails the best of all but says the blacks aren't steep enough?

This much I agree with:

"The real charm of this place is its owners, Danielle and Laszlo Vajtay."

dmc_hunter wrote

I used to love international travel for work..

After a couple days I'd start blasting each and every stereotype people could toss at me...
In every country I worked in..

You are a righteous dude

Harvey wrote

Some things are odd about the article... the writer likes the two Platty green trails the best of all but says the blacks aren't steep enough?

Yeah, she gets a couple major facts wrong and says that Belle's best trail is Deer Run -- maybe for the views of Bearpen in the distance?

I've read her stuff before and reckon that she's writing on behalf of the majority of Brit vacationers, who go on a winter holiday for the whole package in which skiing is a component, but far from the only thing. As an example, in her recent article about the Portes du Soleil, where I was a month ago, there's a pic of a guy with a thermos of, LOL, Bailey's and hot chocolate. Can you imagine an American skier voluntarily drinking something like that on a ski hill (or anywhere else for that matter)? Not casting aspersions, just a different culture.


Her line about blacks at Plattekill is probably in comparison to blacks in the Alps.

"Laszlo Vajtay: the charismatic owner of Plattekill Mountain" -- I've heard somewhere that Laszlo has language in his contract rider that he'll only host ski writers on the condition that they use the word "charismatic" to describe him.

And here are her reports from Hunter/Windham and Gore/Whiteface.

As mentioned up top, the recurring complaint throughout all three articles is how dreary U.S. base lodges are, which is true.

I could easily imagine a Bailey's and coffee at times on the hill.

They are a big presence at Killington. Big. They used to show up en masse right after President's week, but arrived on President's weekend this year, which just added to my head scratching puzzlement. I always want to ask them, like, what the bloody 'el they're doing in Vermont with the Alps a train ride away or cheap flight.

The Brit kids are very well mannered compared to the American Bro brah brats.

This might be one of the reasons why they aren't going into the Alps... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/snowandski/skiing-news/9882344/British-ski-hosts-banned-in-France.html

My wife has a friend with a rather prominent travel blog/books.  She did an entire trip out west that was comped by different mountains.  Out of all of her reviews she mentioned the skiing twice... and mostly spent time talking about hotel rooms/restaurants/spas.  People loved it... and my wife flipped out on her for it.  Never really figured that whole thing out...  must be why I like Gore so much.  

There are a lot of people who ski who don't ski.

Jamesdeluxe wrote

As mentioned up top, the recurring complaint throughout all three articles is how dreary U.S. base lodges are, which is true.

This would be worth a thread on its on. Lodges in most NY "resorts" to me are best described as human barns (and I'm no Brit). It is closely entangled with the culture of families bringing up their boots and other equipments in family-sized duffel bags and leave them on the barn floor, or on the barn table tops where sometimes they and others feed too later on.

Is it a North East culture ?, because in other parts of the world (West, Europe) people including kids, can fr'king boot up in the parking lot, and walk or take the shuttle. While it is certainly a choice, it always appeared to me weird to carry the family sized duffel bag and turn the lodge to a human barn (which is, btw, built precisely to suit that function, nothing more; it's a good match).

Isn't it a much more pleasant scene to see people drinking at the bar in ski boots long after skiing than looking at the fr'king bags on the barn floor all day. Bar-scene vs. barn scene. Anyway, NY mountains are truly awesome, but I cannot come to terms with their barn standards.