Plattekill 2/21/2011

Weather: Nice, Guesstimate: mid 20s, a bit on the cloudy side, no wind.
Conditions: 6" of fresh pow on top of ice

Report:

So looked like we weren't gonna get to go skiing this weekend, but then I win the Plattekill Challenge, thanks Harvey! We were originally planning on heading up Sunday, but woke up Sunday morning to a forecast that called for high winds and 6-10" of fresh snow overnight. We opted to skip Sunday and head up Monday. Woke up Monday morning to 4-6" of snow in Northern NJ. Headed up the Thruway and the further north we got, the less snow we saw, oh oh.. Did we make the right choice? Why yes we did

Rolled into Plattekill just before 10am, traffic was a bit slow with all the snow in NJ. Parking lots although not full, had more cars than I anticipated, figured the snow would have scared everyone away. As we pull in me and wifey agree on one thing, neither of us are in the best of moods for skiing. Both a bit stiff, little more time in car than normal. And both of us feel very much out of it, maybe change in weather who know. I actually even considered, turning back at times, just wasn't into it today, wife felt the same way. But being the good troopers we are, we booted up, got our tix, thanks Harvey  , and went skiing.

First run, as usual, had to be a blue run so that my wife could loosen up, we started with Sundown. Right frome the start, the run was sweet. Yes, there was a bit of the frozen stuff underneath, but on top, nice fresh powder, 6" inches of it. Don't know how many times I've used this description lately, but can't help it, best word to describe what we felt, velvity smooth snow. All the way down, felt real nice. Next we take Buckle Up to Bail out, not quite as good as Sundown, but still nice. Gotta watch out for some rock on this trail just at the point where it gets close to Blockbuster. Not as bad as they were a couple of weeks ago, but still there. Next a run down a nicely groomed Face. I tried to hit the pow on skiers right as I did a few weeks ago. That was a quick 5 seconds as it was a bit on the crusty side which made it hard to turn. Then we headed over to the other lift, North Face.

Here we did Ridge Run, excellent conditions. Northface, wife loved it, her love of the blues went away . Plunge was next one up, Nice pow on top of a bit o ice, not bad. Wife hates ice, just seeing what looks like ice has her panicky, Here she had no problem, loved the run. From there we went to one of my fave, the Bumps. When we got to Blockbuster, my wife took Bail Out, I took Blockbuster. Blockbuster was probably worst run of the day, plenty of pow, however with it's steepness, there was also plenty of ice coming through all the way down. Didn't bother with it the rest of the day and made wifey happy by telling her she made the right decision. A few more runs here, a few more runs there and we decied on three more runs and we're going home. One run down Northface, another down Bailout, last one down Bumps to Bailout and to the car, not.   All of the sudden, wifey is having fun and doesn't want to leave. By now snow has softened up quite a bit in areas where it had been crusty earlier and we were having fun. Didn't stretch it out too much as I had to work the next day. But did do another 3-4 runs and off we went. Another great day at Plattekill, didn't take many pic, but what would a report be without a pic of the legendary Plattekill lift lines

Nice report on Plattekill! I was thinking the Catskills would have more snow from that storm. Good call.

We got 4" or so at Greek Peak. Two 4 inch storms saved the skiing this holiday weekend.

Thanks, wasn't an epic powder day, but was nice.