Plattekill Lifts

That was nice of you. I have always thought more people would stick with the sport if they learned early on how to get back up without taking their skis off.

Ethan Snow wrote

 I kind of want to use this:
"One can't call themself an all out Plattekill supporter if they root against their success"

But I'm afraid I'll get flamed for it. Anyone opposed?

Looks like the Ayes have it kid,,, tad long tho.

Freefall is one of my favorite trails at Platty. Natural snow trails with a ateady fall line are hard to come by!

I love double fall lines and natural snow. If it's that bad then just keep going to Hunter. Hunter has manipulated the mountain so much it's probably more your style Ethan. Personally I can't stand that sort of skiing experience but each their own eh?

Hey!  I love a lot of what you say a lot of the time, but blasting on Platty for the sake of changing a trail sounds kind of wrong to me . . . .

The double fall line lasts for about 100 feet. Hardly worth all the words in the complaint.

No better combination than a double fall line covered by natural snow IMHO.  

DomB wrote

 blasting on Platty for the sake of changing a trail sounds kind of wrong to me . . . .

I wasn't blasting on them, just saying I didn't like one out of 38 (37 good) trails at Platty.  I wouldn't be surprised if Laz fixes the fall line problem when he installs snowmaking on it in a few years. But then again maybe not. I don't think Laz actually likes Freefall much either.
I think the only reason people like Freefall, is because it's not open very often, so it seems extra special when it is open.

x10003q wrote

The double fall line lasts for about 100 feet. Hardly worth all the words in the complaint.

More like the top 2/3rds.
I'm not complaining about snowmaking, slow lifts, or lack of grooming. I love natural snow.  I would just personally rather ski the woods than a wide open yet slope with cruddy snow on a weird fall line and a scraped off headwall. Don't get me wrong, I love natural trails, Empire at WF is my top favorite. It is narrower, steep, and actually follows the fall line. Feels more satisfying. Freefall just looks like someone was trying to clone Northface, and fucked up. they should have cut it narrower, and made it wander more.

I guess if you guys like it, I can understrand. It is a good challenge. But there are other challenges that I enjoy more. Notice there is one snowgun at the top of Freefall that was supposed to fill in the crappy headwall. But, whoever installed it forgot to install an air hydrant so it's unusable until they finish running snowmaking on Just Do It.

Back to the original topic. What do you guys think about running a quad up the skiers right of Northface? That would allow the double to stay in it's original location, and they could run both lifts on busy days. Kind of like 1 and 1A at Greek peak.

Seems excessive .

I prefer simplicity. If you want a quad then take out the double and replace it. There's no need to muck up the side of the mountain with more ugly human constructed junk imo.

raisingarizona wrote

Seems excessive .I prefer simplicity. If you want a quad then take out the double and replace it. There's no need to muck up the side of the mountain with more ugly human constructed junk imo.

I agree. My endorsement of a quad is predicated on one of the current lifts needing replacement

Less is often so much more.

Ever ski at Mountain Creek Ethan?

It's a shit show of man made junk scattered all about. Defunct Water slides, mountain coasters, power lines, towers, lights and the list goes on and on. It's definitely the ugliest place that I have ever skied at. I guess I can't speak for everyone but I don't like that and I won't go to places like that. the same with Hunter. If you were to turn Plattekill into something more like Hunter you would lose the very thing that makes a that place so special.

<quote author="raisingarizona">

Ever ski at Mountain Creek Ethan?

It's a shit show of man made junk scattered all about. Defunct Water slides, mountain coasters, power lines, towers, lights and the list goes on and on. It's definitely the ugliest place that I have ever skied at. I guess I can't speak for everyone but I don't like that and I won't go to places like that. the same with Hunter.


I've never skied MC, but I have Mountain Biked there. (fun place for mountain biking BTW) I don't feel the need to ski at MC. I know what you mean tho. It is an ugly place. But it's also NJ. I would never compare Hunter to Mountain Creek. Yes, Hunter is a more manufactured experience than a lot of mountains,  but It's still much easier on the eyes than MC, partially because it is actually in the Catskills. (Plattekill is not)

I'm not suggesting that Plattekill gets turned into something like Hunter, but I do admire Hunter for different reasons. I love how every slope is different and has so many switchbacks. You get that at Plattekill too, but not on a black diamond level. With the exception of Westway, (which is never open) there is not one slope on that mountain that you can draw a straight line down the entire thing, and I love that about it.  Annapurna is the best example. It's steep, Narrow, and makes a continuous  turn so you're not constantly looking at the bottom of the trail. That is definitely my favorite trail in the Catskills.  North face, Plunge, Freefall, Blockbuster, and Face all make straight lines down the mountain which is boring. When I ski an entire day at Plattekill, I come home, feeling normal, a day at Hunter, I come home exhausted. his is because of more vertical (longer runs) and short lift rides which = more skiing, and a bit more difficult at that.

raisingarizona wrote

If you were to turn Plattekill into something more like Hunter you would lose the very thing that makes a that place so special.

You live in near the Arizona snowball. WTF do you think is so special about Plattekill?

You know what we've been here before. We're just going to have to agree to disagree here. I like both mountains.

One thing's for sure, you can't do this at Hunter. This was Wednesday.


And if old school skiing is what makes you hard, this was today.

 

Ethan Snow wrote

 

And if old school skiing is what makes you hard,  

Big day again

Too bad I was working today. Glad I came out on Wednesday.

Ethan Snow wrote

Too bad I was working today. Glad I came out on Wednesday.

I though I saw you coming into the lodge behind me; turned out to be your brother.

Cool. I may be there tomorrow, not sure yet. Gotta go to bed soon anyhow.

I must be honest abut something. When I origionally brought up the idea of a quad replacing the double at Plattekill, I was really just being facetious. I knew I would get a reaction out of a bunch of these guys. To my surprise, you, Brownski, were in favor of my idea, but you as well as many others admitted that snowmaking comes before replacing the lift, and I would have to agree. I was not planning on this getting turned into it's own thread, but Harvey wanted to, and it made sense to remove it from the original thread that it was in so here we are. Again, it was supposed to be a lighthearted, and funny comment about something that is totally impractical at this point in time.

After having so many of you guys take the bait, this kind of had me in a trolling mood. That's when I went off on the Freefall rant. Although Freefall is on the bottom of my list when it comes to ski slopes, I don't have any hard feelings toward anyone who enjoys skiing it.

Take the North Quad