Indy Pass Tour 2019 - 2020

I should have started this a week ago.

This thread is gonna be where I keep all my Indy Pass visits that Harv doesn’t put on the front page.

First day of the tour, at Catamount, was December 1. I was sold on the Indy Pass as soon as I scanned the list of mountains included. Of the included hills included, Catamount is the one where I have spent the most time. I liked Greek Peak the one time I skied there. Magic Mountain is a new favorite too. Those tickets will get used. Bolton Valley and Suicide Six have been on my radar for a while so maybe having the Indy passes will finally give me the impetus to follow through on my curiosity. Berkshire East and Shawnee offer new opportunities for exploration too.



But Catamount is like an old friend. My kids and I have history there and still love it.



And since Catamount’s so convenient, only two hours from my house, it was only logical that it would be the first Indy Pass hill we visited. NYSB’s first Catamount post titled titled “In the Sweet Spot”, we meant to express Catamount’s many good qualities, chief among them its  location. If you’re coming from Brooklyn, Queens or Long Island, it’s almost thirty minutes closer then the Catskills resorts.




I got the boys up and on the road by 7 AM. The forecast called for a ton of snow later in the day but the morning weather was clear. We made such good time up the Taconic Parkway that we had time to stop for waffles, eggs and more coffee at the Martindale Diner, one of those classic unchanging establishments that you find all over upstate New York. It really hit the spot.






We were at the hill by 9:30; the lifts were scheduled to start loading at 10. Right away, we could see how much work has gone into improving the resort’s physical infrastructure over the last year.

 



The new lodge isn’t quite done but it already looks great and  the improvements to the old one made a huge difference. Catamount had a decent amount of terrain open for their second day of operation; three chairs and a carpet were running for probably five different ways down.





A few fast laps on the double chair helped loosen up our dormant leg muscles. We then spent the day moving around the hill, sampling each open trail.  There was enough open to make for a fun day. We even rode the magic carpet once to avoid a flat traverse to the triple chair.



In spite of a late breakfast, my kids were ready for a lunch break by noon. Some times it seems like they never stop eating.



When we got back on the lift, Junior spotted a little jump that some kids had built on the side of the trail so that was our entertainment for the afternoon.



It being their first day of the season, my boys didn’t quite have the reserves to make it to last chair. We quit right about the same time the snow started coming down hard, which was fine. As much as I would have liked to enjoys the refills, I knew hanging around would make the drive home that much worse. It was a white knuckle event as it was, totally different from the relaxed trip of the morning. We made it home just fine though. Overall, I was pretty satisfied with the first stop on our Indy Pass tour. Full steam ahead.

Great report. Nice to see Catamount getting a makeover much like West Mountain is.  

Nice report, looking forward to the rest of the tour

Is it weird that my favorite photos are the ones of the diner?

Thanks for taking me back brownski! I miss tri state diners.

raisingarizona wrote

Is it weird that my favorite photos are the ones of the diner?

+1

Thacheronix wrote

raisingarizona wrote

Is it weird that my favorite photos are the ones of the diner?

+1

Gotta be the waffles

I love me some waffles but more of the nostalgia.

this thread sparked a memory of the Red Apple Rest along 17. It sort of served as a marker for me or a gateway of sorts to adventures north. Good memories.

Yeah, that place is a time capsule. The omelette was pretty good too.

This is cool. I love that diner too.

What's next on the Indy hit list?

The bathroom..holy lots of food.  I do like the report though

campgottagopee wrote

What's next on the Indy hit list?

I’m gonna be pretty busy with work through the end of the year but Greek is coming soon I think. Bolton maybe. I’m actually kind of excited to check out Suicide Six.

tjf1967 wrote

The bathroom..holy lots of food.  I do like the report though

Ha!

Nice!

It's good your busy for awhile because we need snow. Last time you were at Greek it sucked, no need for 2 sucky days.

Looking forward to this thread this year  Good for you and Harv for giving the smaller places some internet love

You sure could do one heck of a fun road trip through Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon with that Pass Brownski.

raisingarizona wrote

You sure could do one heck of a fun road trip through Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon with that Pass Brownski.

We need spancers!

Harvey wrote

raisingarizona wrote

You sure could do one heck of a fun road trip through Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon with that Pass Brownski.

We need spancers!

Make it happen!

raisingarizona wrote

You sure could do one heck of a fun road trip through Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon with that Pass Brownski.

For sure. I probably don’t have time to get out West. Funny thing is Junior has a brain worm for Ober Gatlinburg which looks pretty lame. Maybe a long weekend together with the one in western PA

Made it to Shawnee with the boys today. Considering it’s size and the recent weather, we had low expectations.



To say the least



As I was getting the Indy Pass tickets, this lady came out to offer warm chocolate cookies to arriving skiers. The boys were already inside the lodge but I grabbed a couple to bring them.



There was only one lift going to the top most of the morning but this young lady made sure that groups were matched up with singles. Every chair was full and the line remained manageable. That was good because the only way to enjoy Shawnee today was to follow a hot laps strategy. It’s a nice place, almost too big to call it a feeder hill but not quite- leans toward the family/learn-to-ski segment. I would like to get back when they’re fully open and have some fresh snow though.







Conditions today were packed powder with intermittent leaves



Lunch was normal ski lodge fare. There were some chips under this pile of cheese.



Here’s something Plattekill could learn from these guys. Video games for the kids probably increases the apres gross



They started up a double around lunch time. We rode it.



I found this a little odd- don’t think I ever saw that before. It says “slope Security “ on the back of her parka.







All in all a nice little place. It is extremely close to the homestead, less then an hour and a half, and compared to the strictly feeder sized hills around here, offers more skiing, variety etc... Back in the day I tried out nearby Camelback as a spot to get the boys lessons before settling on Mount Peter and Catamount but Shawnee probably would have fit the bill nicely. Being so close, I’ll probably get back some time this winter to use my second ticket.

Back to Catamount today. You know you’re at the hill early when there’s still a groomer working on the base area.



The forecast was for it to be cold. It was 11 F when we got there so we bundled up. The boys got breakfast sandwiches in the lodge before heading out.




Catamount recovered from the big thaw pretty well. It was evident that they’d been making lots of snow the past couple days.



Fresh morning  cord




It was a good day. The boys took several warming breaks but we got a lot of runs in. I skied everything that was open, including some of the newly cut trails. Run of the day for me was Upper Glade. I kept going back to that one. They kept just enough guns running to keep refreshing the high traffic areas. Cold temps meant lots of exceptionally dry gunpow.



The new lodge is open for seating.



It is MLK weekend of course. The boys were hungry right at 1 PM- prime meal time- so we had to improvise a little. We found chairs but not a table so the Blue Cooler filled in ably.



Very good da6 over all. Can’t wait to get back of course. Hopefully all the badness is behind us so we can get back when they’re 100% open.