Plattekill NY, January 4/5 2014 - First Experience

Long time follower, first time poster.

Saturday was my first Plattekill experience... I am hooked.

We left NYC early Saturday morning, the car packed up with my wife and a few friends.  We made it to the mountain after a 2:45 drive and a brief breakfast stop at the Phoenicia diner.
 

Amazing Breakfast

Crowded by local standards we found the mountain to be wide open.
 
I was pumped on the first chairlift ride; looking up at the front 4, trails empty, the summit trees caked with snow and rhyme ice.  I knew it would be good.  


(View From Double Lift Midday)
 
We warmed up on powderpuff, cruising some mellow lines, dipping in and out of the trees along the enchanted forest.

After a few runs we moved on, sampling the rest of the mountain.  I found the goods on the north side, with ~18"  of soft snow in the woods and plenty of fresh tracks along the sides of the trails.  The network of mountain bike paths were a blast, nice chutes with banked turns, perfect for riding.  



Ski Patrol was great too, they were very helpful on directing us towards the best lines.  My wife's two sisters made it up for the afternoon, enjoying some snow tubing and apres ski activities.  The bar in the lodge was fun; crowded but full of energy, good beer selection too.


 
That night we all stayed at the Roxbury Motel, great place, very cool rooms.  



On Sunday my wife and her sisters went to the spa, the rest of us got back to the mountain, taking advantage of free ski and stay Sunday tickets. Great value!  Sunday morning was almost as good as Saturday, warmer and less crowded with packed powder conditions. The woods were still good, but the snow got heavier later in the day.

All in all it was a great experience.  The excellent conditions along with a cool mountain culture delivered a perfect first impression.  I'll be back for sure.


Carolyn and I


Kate and Chris


Happy Wife Happy Life


Chris in the Forest


Carolyn on PowderPuff


North Face


Kate Cruising


One of my Favorites

Welcome Sandeeling.

That's a great report. Really fun for me to read it.

I'll send a link to the mountain, they'll appreciate it.

If you are riding those MTB trails that's some good riding man.

i wish they would cut a few glades. it is really tight in the woods.
lots of potential at that mountain.

sig wrote

i wish they would cut a few glades. it is really tight in the woods.
lots of potential at that mountain.

We are working on it:

http://nyskiblog.com/plattekill-work-day-112011/

http://nyskiblog.com/plattekill-tree-skiing-work-day/

http://nyskiblog.com/plattekill-glades-work-day-2013/

These efforts have been led by ml242, member of this forum and writer for the blog.

Over three years two lines have been completed.

This glade was finished this year. It's called Lucian's Line:



Maybe next year you can lend a hand.

Nice pics, Sandeeling.

sig wrote

i wish they would cut a few glades. it is really tight in the woods.
lots of potential at that mountain.

Not by any means for east coast standards. There's nice tree skiing all over that place

Not the best filming subjects........but

and before any of those snipping outings Harv referred to

Nice skimore.

Work days have been primarily focused on the most obvious stuff, areas between the front four.

BTW dig the pic of the Roxbury.

Great report and pics Sandeeling and WELCOME to Harv's show

Welcome...to NYSkiblog and to Platty.  You picked a great weekend.  Saturday was about as crowded as Platty ever gets...(I have seen crowds parked lower on the roadway but if the shuttle is running, it's a good day). The mountain was also skiing at the top of its' game.   When the natural snow trails are in play at Platty, there are few, if any, places I'd rather be skiing.

Thanks for the warm welcoming.

Harvey you run a great site here.  It's a great resource on the lesser known mountains and weather patterns.

I thought Plattekill was great, in my opinion it's the best terrain South of Gore/Southern VT.  I've spent a lot of time at the other catskill mountains and this was a nice change of pace.



I found the mountain biking trails to be very cool and unique.  I'm going to study this map, it looks like a good resource for my next trip.

http://plattekill.com/biking/mountain-biking-trail-map

Now we just need some snow.