Plattekill NY, January 3 2015 - Afternoon Freshies

JP and I headed up to the Catskills yesterday for a day trip from NYC

We didn't really have a concrete plan, we figured we'd check out the weather on the drive up and make a game time decision between Plattekill, Belleayre, and Hunter.  Based on man-made snow and trail count Belleayre or Hunter would have been an obvious choice, but then again Plattekill never disappoints.  

I've skied and snowboarded pretty much all of the major east coast resorts, it is what it is; major corporations catering to the masses.  Wide boring trails, man-made snow, ice, lines, fast high capacity lifts, crowded trails, ropes, and too many rules; No thanks.  I like open space, I enjoy exploring, getting off the beaten path, I value individualism.  These are the reasons why I go to the mountains.

With afternoon snow on the way we pulled the trigger on Plattekill; we knew we'd have a great day even though they were only reporting 9 open trails and 1 lift.  

When we arrived we pulled into a fairly empty parking lot, a rare sight for a Saturday during the New Years weekend.  They were blowing snow on a few trails in the morning, the conditions were decent, we took a hand full of runs before an early lunch.  The lodge and bar are great at Plattekill, plenty of seats and space to warm up, its like being at your favorite neighborhood bar.  The food is good and it's made fresh, they also have a great tap selection of locally brewed beers.  As we were eating it started snowing hard outside.    


The afternoon was great, conditions were improving every run, there looked to be about 2" on the ground by 1:30 PM.  We had the pleasure of taking a few runs with John the musician from the lounge, nice guy and a great skier.  Upper and lower face were holding some good snow on skiers right;


The fresh snow drifting up along the man-made snow whales made for some fun turns;


By 2:30 PM some of the flatter mountain biking trails were holding enough snow to get into the woods, there were some rocks and sticks but I could care less;


At 3:15 PM we decided to pull the trigger on our last run, with 4"+ of fresh snow we hiked the ridge to the Northside double where they had also been making snow for the past few days.  


The top of the Northface trail had great coverage; a mix of natural and man-made.


We dropped in and finished the day on untracked powder.  The man-made snow whales were piled up 10 feet high and were catching a bulk of the natural snow drifts.  These piles set up for some steep banked turns, slashes, and powder face shots.



As I stated earlier; Plattekill never disappoints. We never saw a lift line, never got cut off by other skiers, and were never questioned or harassed by ski patrol.

To cap off the nostalgia we stopped at Mexicali Blue in New Platz for some burritos; its only a few minutes off I-87, highly recommended.  


All in all it was a great day.

Looks like you made the right choice. I've often been in the same spot. Usually do the same as you. Never disappoints

Sweet report!

I'm headed to Platty on Friday.  As is tradition I'll buy a beer for anyone with ticket from the day.

Great report. I was there yesterday, too. I saw a bunch of people hiking over to North Face side, and was tempted to follow along; wish I had! A bit sketchy heading home on 28, eh?

The last few days were great at Platty before the mixed precip last night. But, I think there was still a net gain out of this storm.

Blue jacket is from Friday, I think. Red jacket is from Saturday.

Borgy wrote

people hiking

I follow FTW!