Plattekill Conditions (2014-2015)

MJ killin' it.

moguljunkie wrote

Unbelievable day! Fresh tracks in the woods all day. Will post pics later.

Same today (Sat.) First day I've ever skied Plattekill, but quickly found some of the goods. Had to jump back to the trails by 3, since legs were toast, even after a late start. Hoping for a significant refresher tonite.

This place reminds me a lot of my home mountain, Timberline, WV.

Platty was awesome today, tons of snow in the trees, nice soft bumps elsewhere. Ran into Marcski at the bottom towards the end of the day, made it bell to bell, pretty good workout. Nice turnout today, there was even a ,gasp, line at the double for a little while, mostly ski on all day though.

JohnL wrote

This place reminds me a lot of my home mountain, Timberline, WV.

I've been to Timberline WV, I have not skied Platty yet but have driven to the base for a look-see. I am thinking it's like apples & oranges. Timberline does not have Platty's terrain but Timberline is in one of those special places, that valley holds cold air and snow like no place else south of the Mason Dixon line. For those Northerners, South of the Mason Dixon line is where you get grits and a real sausage biscuit for breakfast.

Great to see you again today, Bob. Wish it was earlier in the day so we could have taken a run together. Platty is skiing so well. Can't wait to be out there again tomorrow. I am hopefully getting my new tele setup mounted  this weekend. Yeee Haw!!!  

Marcski wrote

new tele setup

Welcome my son, to the machiiiine.

Ok... it's not really a machine. Not sure what it is. Not exactly a cult.

 From Friday  Platt is skiing so well right now

Just a bit of wind load in spots today, but still tons of untracked lines in the trees. I was teh first one of the mini-ledge in the AM, had to revisit it in the PM. As had plenty of others. Freaking great last two days.

And I just love these signs.

PeeTex wrote

JohnL wrote

This place reminds me a lot of my home mountain, Timberline, WV.

I've been to Timberline WV, I have not skied Platty yet but have driven to the base for a look-see. I am thinking it's like apples & oranges. Timberline does not have Platty's terrain but Timberline is in one of those special places, that valley holds cold air and snow like no place else south of the Mason Dixon line. For those Northerners, South of the Mason Dixon line is where you get grits and a real sausage biscuit for breakfast.

I'll have to respectfully disagree after skiing both. And I hit Platty hard the past two days and I give it two thumbs up. I love the place.

T-Line has just a smidge less terrain than Platty. Platty has a bit more vert (1.1 k to 1.0 k), probably 50-100% more acreage (SWAG, but that means more tree shots), and more sustained vert (T-Line has a bit of a run-out.)

T-Line averages 180-200 inches of snow a year (bad snow year this year.) You are skiing from ~3.2k to 4.2k elevation. At some point in the season (and every month as recently as 2012-13), you can ski from boundary to boundary at T-Line. If you haven't skied the glades adjacents to the double blacks and blacks, you haven't skied T-Line. While shorter in duration, I think Off the Wall and The Drop are tougher than any trails at Plattekill. But Platty has longer sustained pitches. With the exception of one face I found Sunday PM (and there were only 2-3 other sets of tracks there), I think T-Line has some tougher steeper glades.

Platty wins (we all win actually) on more acreage and more mini and full-on ledges.

Guide I wrote I T-Line:
JohnL Epic Ski T-Line Unofficial Guide

Guide I wrote (pictures only) on adjacent Canaan Valley:
JohnL Epic Ski CVR Unofficial Guide

The skiing at Platty right now is....pictures will do a better job:

Yesterday....the day the wind never came.


Saturday:

Jon,

I believe we met at Canaan Valley the last day of my touring around the valley after Sandy, no?



Glad you made it to platty, conditions on Saturday were incredible and it looked like Sunday might have been even better after another 6" refresher.

I didn't get to ski much at Timberline, but really dug the terrain and vibe there. Plattekill is similar to the Canaan Valley in that there is simply no way to experience everything in a day. Not much else you can ask for. LMK if you come by again and have a great rest of the season!

Congratulations to the Hundgen family for converting to the religion of Plattekill on Saturday. Bonus ride up the triple at 4:15, gotta love that.

JohnL wrote

 While shorter in duration, I think Off the Wall and The Drop are tougher than any trails at Plattekill.

The whole left side of Plattekill is as steep or steeper by a few degrees than those 2 short trails

Pretty close to epic!!  The woods were just off the charts. Fresh lines all day.  Lapped them until I was unable.  Can there be a better feeling?

Coming:


And going:

Glad I made it out on Saturday! On piste conditions were excellent, but the glades were where it was at. It wasn't hard to find untouched boot-deep powder all day long. All this despite a packed lodge.

Hats off to the volunteers that have thinned out the woods these past few years. Nice work! I will try and make it a priority to volunteer next fall.

Anyone going to Telefest Friday? Trying to decide if I should take a day off of work and head down...

takeahike46er wrote

Hats off to the volunteers that have thinned out the woods these past few years. Nice work! I will try and make it a priority to volunteer next fall.

Poked around in the trees myself yesterday.  You really get the sense that Platty could have some outstanding and sustained-length tree skiing if they put a greater emphasis on thinning.

Benedict... you volunteering for next year, or god forbid, advocating higher ticket prices?

Boundary-to-boundary baby. Git 'er done.