Windham Cutting a New Trail

They are adding trail capacity for the second year in a row.  I may need to consider switching my pass back to Windham at some point as they have been adding new trails and improving a lot recently.  Hunter has been relatively stagnant in trail improvements, but the conditions are better, and it is less expensive.  Windham will probably eclipse Whiteface in acreage next season.  They are at 278 acres and a new trail will probably add more than the 5 acres needed.

I really like Windham when I have skied it mostly at psia events.  Much better than Hunter IMO

Anyone that skied both would not think Windham is any where as near as big as WF.  You can not believe what ski area marketing departments say about stats.  Windham is likely overstating and WF understates as it's an issues with how the APA counts acreage to the state mandated size limit for WF.

I wonder if they will leave the stumps like they did on the last new trail.

  I skied Windham late last season and loved their new trail.  Windham is my daughters choice when skiing the Cats , lots of cruising fun. Fast lifts and mid week skiing ,you can really turn out the laps. This place is tailored for the average infrequent skier ,rider of the 21st century.

Not a fan of Windham.  300' headwall and a 1300' runout.  Plus, they groom too much.  Platty and Hunter have far better terrain.  But I will try to check out the new trail, I should be in that area within the next few weeks.  

Coach Z wrote

  Windham is likely overstating and WF understates as it's an issues with how the APA counts acreage to the state mandated size limit for WF.

That could very well be the case.

My dad and I have been at Windham a lot in past years.  It was some of the first regular skiing I did in the Catskills when we got the Sunday Passes a while ago.  In 2010/2011 we decided to upgrade to full season passes.  The next year we got the SANY Gold Pass so we could ski Windham and Hunter.  We ended up mostly at Hunter because they had far better conditions that horrible season.  The next year we got the Gold Pass again and went mostly to Hunter again, but the two days we went to Windham were awesome.  This past year we decided to get full Hunter passes and we already got them for next year, so that is where we will be.  My dad and I both like Windham's trail layout better than Hunter's as there are less bottlenecks.  However, their crappy summit lifts need an upgrade.  I would like to see a 6-pack replace the painfully long and slow F-Lift, and the HSQ be kept and take second fiddle.  Conditions also weren't as good as at Hunter and they blow snow on open trails which Hunter tries to avoid.  Hunter's season pass is also a lot cheaper, so we decided to get passes there since they have better conditions.  We have already decided to go one day next year to see what it is like now and that will be when we decide to either stick with Hunter, or go back to Windham.

I've always found Windham's grooming and snowmaking to exceed my expectations of the day in terms of snow quality. They've especially done a very good job the past few years and opened earlier than almost anyone. The mountain skis kind of similarly to Okemo and caters to the same crowd. I would have liked to try the new glade while it was open, but the trail they cut was actually pretty fun. This one looks like it will be a bit easier, but anything to disperse the crowds is fine by me, especially on easier stuff where people are learning. The extra few feet can really help a beginners confidence, too.

New trail name confirmed from trail map is Wolf's Prey.  

I am definitely going to need to check it out this year.  Should mean less congestion on Wraparound.  They do have a new glade as well called Whataride glades near Windfall.  I think that they are going to add more between East and West Peak as they have named that area Wilderness Bowl.  The only thing they need now is a 6-pack to replace the painfully slow F-Lift triple.  Adding trail capacity 2 years in a row and hinting at more means that a new lift is definitely on the horizon.

Also, Windham is now advertising 284 acres so they are claiming to be bigger than Whiteface (though certainly not better).

Acreage is one of the craziest stats out there as it's measured in a bunch of different ways.  The only way to compare would be actual trail acreage or wall-to-wall boundary acreage.  Gore could legitimately use a w2w number as eventually the entire mountain(s) will be probably be gladed.

Regardless...no way is Windham close to the size of Whiteface. I don't care how you measure it.