Windham Conditions

snoloco wrote

How can they open only their upper trails?

I think they said making snow. No mention of opening.

Harvey wrote

snoloco wrote

I don't get all the Windham hate on this site.

I don't get these generalizations. You've got 600 members, granted maybe half or less active, but how many said they don't like Windham?

This is only my generalization, too, but from what I see, there are many more negative posts about Windham here than positive.  I don't really feel one way or the other about Windham, but my observation is that folks on the blog don't have much love for the place.

I've only been to Windham in the Summer for the World Cup races, I want to check the place out in the winter.  It's a nice spot!

I'm seriously considering going there to MTB next week... Would be a complete mud fest..

DomB wrote

Harvey wrote

snoloco wrote

I don't get all the Windham hate on this site.

I don't get these generalizations. You've got 600 members, granted maybe half or less active, but how many said they don't like Windham?

This is only my generalization, too, but from what I see, there are many more negative posts about Windham here than positive.  I don't really feel one way or the other about Windham, but my observation is that folks on the blog don't have much love for the place.

Hello, my name is Marcski and I think Windham sucks.  :).   No sustained steeps, generally pretty flat except for the short headwall, overgroomed, pretty crowded (with people that I have no interest being near).  With that said, they have a fabulous race program.  

  I ski Windham on occasion, reminds me of my home mt Elk. A lot of grooming a lot uptight bastards skiing . While I will ski all Catskill resorts on occasion  I love Plattekill   the snow the food the bar ,best the Cats!

From this afternoon. Not looking pretty. I heard they were open yesterday. Closed today and I dont think they will open again until after the next snowmaking opportunity.

I would appreciate a quick tips on skiing Windam to avoid the crowd this weekend. I have not been there in 12 years.

We are visiting for races and want to check out the mountain as well, hoping Nastar will be open.

These guys have fan and tower guns going all over the mountain. Should have a lot more open by Christmas

what a difference a year makes! Denis, I feel like your best bet is to ride on the left side or traverse out as much as possible on the right. If you get there early hopefully it won't be too bad. Good luck.

ML: Good advice but you're 11 mos too late.  D'Oh!

Brownski: Good work getting the crew out 3 weeks in a row.

Was working in Albany area on Tuesday and skied at Windham today.  3"-4" of new snow made it a worthwhile outing although by 1:30pm things were starting to get scraped down to the man made base.  Had my powder skis (Q98s) with me - worked fine for the morning but not so good later in the day...carving skis stayed at home as they need some TLC.  Hit a few nice patches of powder which was fun while it lasted.  Not fair to Windham but I kept thinking about my last day of skiing in 2016 at Powder Mtn. Utah where I did lap after lap of untouched 14" of powder.

They had 90% of the trails open which is impressive given the scarcity of snow this year.  Fun mountain but obviously geared to the NYC crowd; powder gets groomed and glades, well, there are none.  Staff and operations are top notch and ticket price was reasonable ($60 at my hotel).  Strangest part of experience was at the summit you can see Hunter Mtn. - seems smaller in comparison.

My boys and I are trying to make a call on doing a snow bus run next Saturday (12/23) to either Gore or Windham. Gore is our unofficial "home" (at least our favorite) so thinking there, but WIndham is also an option. Anyone skied it yet? I know a lot can change in 7 days but curious the early season conditions.

Last Sunday there wasn't much open but what they had was covered well

Had not been to Windham in a while but with the Max pass and needing to ski half a day we went to Windham, it was interesting to say the least. We got there early and as expected there was a large crowd given that it was Saturday of New Years weekend and compared to some of the other days we have had windless and a little less cold. The skiing was somewhat disappointing, definitely the slickest day we have skied this year, surprising given the consistent cold weather. Lots of trails were open with good variety some had ok snow, the easiest way down Wrap Around was a zoo but the other trails were not too crowded. At about 11:00am we took the singles line since the other lines had grown long on to the high speed quad from the bottom. By the time we skied back to the lift at the bottom the lift was closed and we quickly got on the triple next to it. As we road up they started evacuating the high speed quad via roping people down, must have been a catastrophic failure given the speed they started evacuating people from.  The ski patrol did a great job of evacuating the lift, probably had everyone off in under an hour. We took a couple of runs on the east high speed quad but it had two runs open masses of people and snow guns creating fog that made it tough to see anything so it was time to call it a day. On the plus side management told everyone to keep there lift tickets which are good for any other day this year, smart move.

WOW.  Any pics of the evac?

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2017/12/30/windham-mountain-chairlift-trouble/

Here's a video

It was a blown gearbox which means a rope evac almost always.

Thanks sno.

A hour would be pretty scary in those temps.

Did that lift go back online?

No it didn't and they are running the slow triple right next to it instead.  The ride is not the best, but it still gets you up the mountain.

The lift that was evac'd is a 1993 Garaventa CTEC detachable quad.  All Garaventa CTEC lifts are currently under Doppelmayr support in terms of maintenance.  They have to ship a part in from their base in Salt Lake City so it will be down for about a week is my guess

snoloco wrote

No it didn't and they are running the slow triple right next to it instead.  The ride is not the best, but it still gets you up the mountain.

The lift that was evac'd is a 1993 Garaventa CTEC detachable quad.  All Garaventa CTEC lifts are currently under Doppelmayr support in terms of maintenance.  They have to ship a part in from their base in Salt Lake City so it will be down for about a week is my guess

That’s probably correct. A gear box is a pretty big deal I think

Newer lifts sometimes have what's called a hydrostatic evac drive which allows the lift to move with a blown gearbox.  Belleayre's new gondola has this feature, but I guess it wasn't offered in 1993, or Windham simply choose not to purchase it.