Catskill Getaway Belleayre 1/10/13 Plattekill 1/11/13

Thanks to I Ski NY we were able to visit two places that we don’t normally ski. A bunch of us from Central NY descended on the Catskills. Some went to Hunter and we went to Belleayre on Thursday and Plattekill Friday.

Belleayre, NY: 1/10/13

It was sunny and cool at Belleayre. Pammy and I met up with Rochester Mark, Aaron, Hartman and Snow Monkey.



It was my first time at Belleayre and same for the guys in our crew and we were plenty entertained. We enjoyed the lack of lift lines and the mellow and comfortable lodge. The groomed trails with manmade snow were hard and fast. Bumps of manmade snow sported glare ice in the troughs. The best skiing was on natural snow. Thin cover in places, but the most fun. The glades were skiable but tricky. Belleayre has a lot of potential for off piste skiing and glade development. My favorite trails were Upper Yahoo and Liftline. The locals don't want word to get out about this crowdless gem. Shhhhhhhhhhhhh

The Rochester guys, Pammy and I had a satisfying meal at La Cabana in Fleischmanns,  and then spent the night on Main St in Margaretville.

Plattekill, NY: 1/11/13

Short drive to Plattekill the next morning where we met forum member BRN2SKIFAST. A warm front was still a few hours away and afforded us a very pleasant day of exploring the mountain. We found very nice conditions and enjoyed the consistent and well-used vertical. Recent snowmaking on Northface was groomed and skied so sweetly. We arced non-stop high-speed GS turns top to bottom. We loved the natural snow on Plunge and did a number of laps. We explored the woods and found a nice line off Cat Track. Clearly the tree skiing has huge additional potential. Maybe we will come out for a glade work day and MTB ride next Fall. Very cool place with great terrain and a lot of soul.

Rochester Mark, The Kid, Hatman, Powderqueen, Pammy


Pammy shreads Plunge



Five hours of decent overcast weather with rising temps kept the snow soft. The eastern views hid the incoming warm front until it was upon us.



We called it a day as the rain came in around 2pm. We were quite satisfied.

The $10 NY ski area promotion was a great opportunity to get us to the Catskills. We were surprised that more didn’t take advantage of it. Maybe people we scared off by the forecast. They were dead wrong because the skiing was quite good and the weather didn’t suck until after 2pm.  It’s never a mistake to get out and ski!

Nice!

PDQ what is drive time to Plattekill for Greek Peak locals?

2 1/2 hours to Plattekill from Ithaca/Cortland...easy drive, we were home for dinner

Thanks for the report. I like Belleayre, but for me it is always worth the extra 20 minutes to get to Plattekill.

I agree, and plattekill is a quicker drive for me

PDQ, how does platty ski compared to GP??

x10003q wrote

 I like Belleayre, but for me it is always worth the extra 20 minutes to get to Plattekill.

I like driving past the long line of cars waiting to enter Bellayre on Saturday mornings on my way to Plattekill.

I'd say Belleayre is more like Greek Peak, with less interesting terrain.

Plattekill is way better than Greek Peak because the vertical drop is fully utilized. GP has long run-outs. Plattekill is consistently steep top to bottom with uninterrupted fall line skiing. Plattekill doesn't have the wide-open glades that GP has, just a few shots through the trees, but there is a lot of potential for more.

Greek Peak is more spread out and we usually ride 3-4 lifts on a normal day. At Plattekill we only rode 2 lifts...Belleayre we rode 3 lifts.

If I live an hour from Greek Peak and 1 3/4 hours from Plattekill...I would go to Plattekill. So anyone living in the So Tier  to Oneonta should be skiing at Plattekill. It is  sweet little place that skis big.

Yea we are going to mobilize when the next best mountain under 1100 vert thing comes along.

"If I live an hour from Greek Peak and 1 3/4 hours from Plattekill...I would go to Plattekill. So anyone living in the So Tier  to Oneonta should be skiing at Plattekill. It is  sweet little place that skis big."

I live in the So Tier - Binghamton.
Greek is 35 miles = 40 mins.
Elk Mountain - 1,000 ft vertical is 50 mins.
Plattekill is just under 2 hours.

With the price of gas if Greek crashes and burns, I would end up skiing at Elk the most.

Powderqueen wrote

I'd say Belleayre is more like Greek Peak, with less interesting terrain.

Plattekill is way better than Greek Peak because the vertical drop is fully utilized. GP has long run-outs. Plattekill is consistently steep top to bottom with uninterrupted fall line skiing. Plattekill doesn't have the wide-open glades that GP has, just a few shots through the trees, but there is a lot of potential for more.

Greek Peak is more spread out and we usually ride 3-4 lifts on a normal day. At Plattekill we only rode 2 lifts...Belleayre we rode 3 lifts.

If I live an hour from Greek Peak and 1 3/4 hours from Plattekill...I would go to Plattekill. So anyone living in the So Tier  to Oneonta should be skiing at Plattekill. It is  sweet little place that skis big.

Nice, that supports what I've gathered from reading about the place. One thing I  like about GP is that it is spread out....on those crowded days it seems you can always find a spot to ski and have it to yourself.

Gonna have to try and hit platty one of these days.

Big D wrote

"If I live an hour from Greek Peak and 1 3/4 hours from Plattekill...I would go to Plattekill. So anyone living in the So Tier  to Oneonta should be skiing at Plattekill. It is  sweet little place that skis big."

I live in the So Tier - Binghamton.
Greek is 35 miles = 40 mins.
Elk Mountain - 1,000 ft vertical is 50 mins.
Plattekill is just under 2 hours.

With the price of gas if Greek crashes and burns, I would end up skiing at Elk the most.

 
Come on D, you know you can make it there from Binghamton quicker than that...and that's taking the scenic route.

Camp, you should give Platty a shot, easy day trip, can be skied cheaply, easily, deals abound, pays for gas.

Powderqueen wrote

 Plattekill doesn't have the wide-open glades that GP has, just a few shots through the trees, but there is a lot of potential for more.

I dunno. You may have not looked hard enough, but I've always had more snow than your recent trip. Skied in the trees for 2 days straight before and that time we didn't plan on being there for the 2nd day. There was so much left over we just grabbed a room and stayed

yeah Skimore...you had a lot more snow...definitely more options w more snow...but even so, we did poke around (but didn't really know where to go). We didn't find too many open shots. Some people attempted to get down in places, but it didn't look ideal. Since the snow wasn't fresh, we were relying on finding places where people had already been. Also, there are no marked glades on the trail map...as GP has a few, and so does Belleayre. All glade skiing is mostly a bushwhack at Plattekill...which is fine, but limited when the snow isn't deep.