The Home Mountain

i live in albany which allows me day access to plenty of mountains. most of the time i choose to ski either gore, magic or plattekill. it all depends on conditions and fresh snow as to where i go. these mountains all have great terrain, a good vibe  and chairs that spin no matter what the conditions. plus i can usually find a friendly face in lift line to ski with.  would love to have a home mountain 15 minutes down the road but that will never happen.  i consider myself lucky when i read how far some of you travel to ski. i admire your dedication.

Brownski wrote

To me, it’s the place where you learned or spent the most time during your developmental phase as a skier, rather then just a spot where you happen to have a season pass. So for me it’s Jiminy Peak. I’ll always have a warm spot in my heart for that place, even though it has changed a great deal since I regularly skied there.

In that case it would be Greek Peak for me. Greek Peak is where I fell in love with the sport. That's where I learned how to point my skis downhill, and fly to the bottom in a semi-controlled fashion. I will always have a warm place in my heart for Greek as well.

Plattekill is where I learned how to be a good skier. It's where I learned to ski bumps, trees, and sustained vertical.

Marcski wrote

I grew up skiing smaller, independent ski areas.  Berkshire East and Magic.  Perhaps that is what attracts me to Plattekill. Those three mountains all happen to have some really good skiing too.  Other than the 2 holiday weekends, I probably know either by name or face, more people in the Platty lodge than I don't. It's a good feeling to find both great skiing and a "home" in the same ski area.

Z, wasn't WF State owned when you moved there?  I'm sure that has always brought problems, even back then.  Maybe not the Joey's but you can't have upgrades without the State (or any owner) trying to recap some of those expenditures. And, unfortunately, the Joey's are the ones with money to spend.

WF has been state open since before I was born
The difference is pataki was the gov and a skier not a dictator
Jay Rand was the GM of WF and he was awesome.  Go back and look at posts from back then. gore folks complained a lot about Pratt but Rand was loved up north

Sig
For all it’s faults, Albany is a fine place to be a skier. You listed 3 great hills but if your skiing preferences were different you could get to Hunter, Windham, Snow, Stratton, West... and with just a little more driving, K, Pico, Sugarbush, WF, MRG, Okemo....now that I think of it, you’re making me want to move back there myself.

Ethan,
Right on. You get what I’m saying. I’m not familiar enough with Greek to know the exact timeline of the Waterpark/timeshare project. Did you learn before all that went in? If so, that’s almost exactly the same as my Jiminy experience. It wasn’t exactly Plattekill when I learned there but they’ve built it out and added so many beds and shops (not to mention two quads and a detachable six pack) that it has totally changed.

New to the forum as I just moved back east. My home mountain was a ski hill in Pennsylvania - Bear Creek (formerly Doe Mtn). I left PA for NY (Clifton Park) and skied all over the place but Magic stole my heart from the get go. Three years later I found myself in Colorado skiing anything and everything since I was just SW of Denver. Turns out I7O will make a diehard skier not really want to ski so the only logical thing was to move to the mountains - Gunnison, CO to be exact. Nothing like skinning up Crested Butte before work. That mountain and the town had such as cool vibe. Thing is Vail swooped in and time will only tell what that does to the things I loved about CB... To go full circle this season I nearly got a pass at my original home mountain, but they would only allow uphill skinning during daylight. That doesn’t work with that job thing so I went with the smaller more local hill 15 minutes from my house (Spring Mtn). I loved the uphill workout in CB so that aspect was a must. Turns out Spring Mtn has a cool vibe that in a way reminds me of Magic. Yeah the skiing is not comparable, but that feeling is... The home mountain can be a lot of places to me, but they need to give me that feeling. Really pumped to check out Plattekill. Was up at 3am last Saturday ready to do the 3:45 drive but that mixed bag trashed my mood. Might head up Saturday just to check things out since the wife already has plans.

For multiple reasons I've taken some time off from skiing. That said Greek Peak is and always will be my home hill. Yeah it's changed, some like it, some don't, but it's full of great people and has a great vibe.
#weareGP!

Brownski wrote

Sig
For all it’s faults, Albany is a fine place to be a skier. You listed 3 great hills but if your skiing preferences were different you could get to Hunter, Windham, Snow, Stratton, West... and with just a little more driving, K, Pico, Sugarbush, WF, MRG, Okemo....now that I think of it, you’re making me want to move back there myself.

I really like hunter, its the closest big mnt,  but the vibe does not work for me.
glens falls would be a great place to raise young skiers. they could be making turns everyday after school at west mnt and on the weekends you are under an hour to gore, close to wf and big k. I learned to ski at maple 25 min down the road. very small but perfect for little ones.

JMC
Feel free to tap me on the shoulder if you make it up to Plattekill. The place doesn’t require a whole lot of “showing around” you’ll have a good time either way.

 
I know I'm the outlier here, I really like Hunter..I even dig the weekday vibe, it's always a cool older crowd. Yes the weekends sucks..
Living by the TZ it's the closest big  mtn. If i speed and catch the access road just right , I make in 1.5hrs..

I wish Platt was closer, I really enjoy skiing there..

Camp, I hope I wasn’t badmouthing Greek before. Not my intention. I’ve only been there once on a subpar day but I can see why you guys love the place. I just meant that my perception was that it was probably even better before. Any chance you’ll get on skis this year?

sig wrote

. I learned to ski at maple 25 min down the road. very small but perfect for little ones.

Me too!

Pratt kicked butt down at Gore from everything I witnessed. Just saying

Brownski wrote

Camp, I hope I wasn’t badmouthing Greek before. Not my intention. I’ve only been there once on a subpar day but I can see why you guys love the place.  

Hell no! I didn't take anything you said as badmouthing, nope.

There are pros and cons to the changes (hotel, waterpark etc etc) and I'm conflicted as to what out weighs the other.

Brownski wrote

 Any chance you’ll get on skis this year?

Slim --- it would have to be a POW day w/chair 2 running.

That said it's hard for me to pass up a POW day on my sled. It would be 4 runs down Ronnies then on the sled.

jmc5040 wrote

 Turns out Spring Mtn has a cool vibe that in a way reminds me of Magic.

I learned to ski and caught the bug at Spring Mountain. I live about 20 minutes away and try to get back there at least once a season for night skiing.
Check out Elk and Montage if you haven't been yet. They don't have high speed lifts but are not nearly as crowded as the Pocono areas on weekends. Elk is worth the extra drive.

tjf1967 wrote

Pratt kicked butt down at Gore from everything I witnessed. Just saying

Lol.

•Stagnant skier visits (I think?)
•Bad employee morale
•Terrible bar renovation that had to be redone 3 years later.
•Complete ball drop on snowmaking
•Bad planning for future (why is the gondy breaking down so much? Where is the Dark side Chair replacement? And why did they move the exit of the dark side chair to the top of Lies?)

I guess I could go on, but why? I was happy to leave.

Z, I believe the problem lies in the fact that the State shouldn't own and operate ski areas.  There is no incentive for management.  They will get the same pay and the same State pension down the road, whether the ski area puts out a good product and does well or doesn't.  As a pro-business conservative, don't you agree that the profit motive works and adds incentive?  The same lies true in owning and operating ski areas.

Marcski wrote

Z, I believe the problem lies in the fact that the State shouldn't own and operate ski areas.  There is no incentive for management.  They will get the same pay and the same State pension down the road, whether the ski area puts out a good product and does well or doesn't.  As a pro-business conservative, don't you agree that the profit motive works and adds incentive?  The same lies true in owning and operating ski areas.

on the surface you could not be more correct. the state does not do a good job and makes it difficult for private mnt to compete. the state can lose money year after year, plattekill cannot. parking, spending 20 minutes outside buying a lift ticket infuriates me to no end. but once I'm in the glades there is no better place to be. the thought of gore being lined with condos and high speed quads bumps me out. wasting our tax dollars on gore is fine with me

My "home" mountain died many years ago.  We called it Deer Run.

http://cnynews.com/how-many-remember-scotch-valley-ski-resort-in-delaware-county/   

 

I remember Deer Run

I believe the original owners of Greek Peak bought that place at one point.

sig wrote

the thought of gore being lined with condos and high speed quads bumps me out. wasting our tax dollars on gore is fine with me

Man - I couldn't agree more.  The thought of that anywhere in the Adks hurts my heart.