Unexpected Powder

Today we had possibly the best conditions for skiing at Belleayre this entire season. It must have snowed about six inches on Saturday night. When my son and I hit our first run after skipping out early from the BMRA breakfast, upper Winnisook was covered with enough light Rocky-Mountain-like powder to bury my skis and boots up to their cuffs! Sunday's conditions eclpsed Saturday's. The Belleayre groomers did a fine job grooming a bit more than half the place, and leaving enough trails natural, as usual. They have the balance just about perfect.

My wife had a great ski day. She and Debbie actually did Utsiantha and upper Yahoo. I traded poles with my wife on Saturday for a run, realizing that her ancient heavy poles with 1970's wrap-around grips might be contributing to her forever ongoing dropping of her right hand behind her hip. My wife is never really interested in upgrading her equipment in order to improve her experience. I have always forced her into the upgrades by just buying them and moving her into new stuff. That is how I got her into overlap boots, shaped skis, shorter shaped skis. It is a very positive indication that she told me on Sunday that she wanted new poles. I actually have a pair of extra composite poles already that Ken E gave to me, but they are too long. If I can figure out how to get the handles off, I might be able to shorten them instead of buying.

Plus, we had just about everybody skiing from our extended Belleayre ski family (except Bo), plus a couple guests of Janis. It was a big group, the kids had tons of fun, and we were actually able to stay together for almost the entire day.

The worst thing about the day is the mid-afternoon lift lines built up because Superchief was closed for technical difficulties. I hated to quit at 3:20, because the sun had come out at the end of the day, the lifts were open until 4 PM, and the lines disappeared.

The photos are here.

...And It Was Awesome

This was no inflated marketing blurb - there really was at least 27" of new snow at Belleayre on Saturday.

Belleayre Mountain reported 27 inches of new snow in the Catskill Mountains of New York, postponing the Cardboard Classic race until March 31.

Unfortunately we missed first tracks, getting to the mountain about 9:30 and hitting first run about 9:45. The drive-up took a lot of energy out of us, and we all got to bed later than usual, so the little bit of sleeping in was necessary.

The snow wasn't exactly light powder. It was deep but a bit heavy. The skiing on piste was not easy once it was tracked up; my wife wasn't exactly enjoying its unpredictable variability. It got to the point where everything was bumped up with small bumps by the afternoon. However, it was heavenly in the glades. Bo, all the children and I occasionally experienced the giddy elation of powder-float in the untracked glade routes. We found a little stream in lower Winnisook Glade to ski across. With others of our extended Belleayre "ski family", my son and I hiked out to the top of Cathedral Brook, which was a sweaty slog in the ungroomed. The day was a great adventure for little ol' Belleayre. I wish I had some photos, but when I tried to turn my camera on it said, "Replace the batteries."

Traction Control, ABS, Cooper Tires & Selfless Snowplow Drivers

I have nothing but praise for traction control, anti-lock brakes, and Cooper tires. Our old Chrysler Town & Country minivan has over 105K miles on it, but it can go in snow just as well as the SUV's. The drive up to our rental house was a real bear, but it is going to be worth it when we have two feet of fresh powder and few others on the lifts at Belleayre tomorrow morning!

I had been sweating the weather forecast all week, watching the rain forecast midweek, running in shorts on Monday, barefoot on Tuesday, thinking how much snow Belleayre was losing before this weekend, which could be our last at Belleayre this winter, but not our last ski outing, since we are going to Stowe on spring break. My son refused to believe that there was snow in the forecast. He says I am too optimistic about snow forecasts and doesn't believe that "thinking snow" adds to the snow totals. But it does; I am sure of it. Anyway, we didn't think this weekend was going to be anything special. I was even pulling out my old Volant Power to relegate to being my rock skis since I sold my Rossi Rebels. Then this St. Patrick's Day Storm brewed, and instead I was sharpening my fat Atomic m:EX's again!

We got out of the house and started driving about 3:30 after an early dismissal at school. I think we averaged about 35 MPH on the Interstates 287 in NJ and 87 NYS Thruway. That is half the average speed I usually drive them, so it logically took twice as long. The snow was wet in NJ and felt more slippery to drive on than the snow in New York. The farther north, the dryer the snow. The snow was coming down pretty thick, and it caused variably questionable visibility. Lots of melting and freezing occurred on the windshield and wipers. That was a pain.

Stopped at 7:30 at Picnic Pizza right off the Thruway in Kingston. That's the third time this winter stopping there. They have great pizza and fast service. The snow was fairly deep on Route 28. It was also very dark. I never noticed this before: Route 28 has no reflectors outlining the roadway. Luckily there was a line of cars to follow, because besides that, it was two hours of nothing but pitch blackness outside the whiteness of my headlights.

So I get to the house and use my moving momentum to get partially up the unplowed driveway. But I didn't like the placement and figured I could get in farther with a second try. But I got stuck backing out. I thought it would be no problem backing out because it is downhill. But my front wheels got stuck in the little drainage divot. Luck was with me tonight, because a snowplow guy came along and offered help. He pushed me out, solo, like Superman, then he plowed the driveway. I tried to give him pizza and cookies, but he would not take them. Sherri tried to give him a $20 - but he refused that too. What a great guy. He collected a lot of good Karma tonight!

Soft & Hard in One Weekend

This weekend was a study in contrasts, and it shows how fast conditions can change in the mountains.

The snow was soft and springlike on Saturday, about 40 degrees. I loved it. The bumps were soft, slow and forgiving. The snow was getting heavier as the day progressed. I loved it. It was so great to lay my Rossi VS Oversize skis on edge and carve speedy short arcs. I was taking a little air at the apex of each turn to kill the developing crud. After skiing all winter, I love this snow because I am in good skiing shape to kill it all day. When it warms up everything works better too: The boots flex better and the body works better when it is warmer. Warmer days bring the people out, so the lines got a little long during the afternoon.

On Saturday night it rained. The rain froze. Sunday's weather remained overcast and below freezing on the mountain, despite the forecast for another 40 degree day. Result: the snow froze. It was hard everywhere. The groomed runs had ice chunks. The bumps were like fields of Galapagos Turtle shells. The skiing was so loud, it gave Debbie a headache. I couldn't even hear what my son was saying to me when he was just a little uphill from me on Onteora and Yahoo. The vibrations from the hard snow beat my legs up. The titanium in my stiff Atomic Metron m:EX skis perfectly transferred the vibrations from the snow, to my Rossi race boots, to my leg bones and muscles. I was wishing for some less stiff skis; but they probably would not have held as well on the afternoon boilerplate nor killed the morning ice chunks half as well.

But there were no lines - so it was fun~!

Cold Week and Then...

Glad I am not skiing midweek this week. It looks like it is going to be really cold. That is good for me, because it will preserve the snow for the weekend. But that is another story. Looks like a warmup and possibly some rain, if you believe weather.com. Fortunately WeatherUnderground.com is showing snow showers for Saturday.

Missed Some Good Stuff

Debbie and Andy skied Sunday. Via email, this is Debbie's conditions report from Sunday:

The skiing was great!!! It snowed on and off all day and everything was open. I haven't seen that since last year - oh yeah Utsyantha was not open. We didn't want to go home.... but commitments were calling.

Commitments suck sometimes.....

Revenge of the Glades

The storm that brought NJ enough rain to cause some minor flooding hit Belleayre with too much trail debris. From DailyFreeman.com:

THE BELLEAYRE Mountain Ski Center in the Ulster County town of Shandaken was forced to close Friday because branches and limbs had fallen on trails, creating a safety hazard, according to Belleayre spokeswoman Heather Vanbenschoten.

"This is very unusual," Vanbenschoten said. "I've been here five years, and it's never happened since I've been working here. Not that it never happens, but it's very rare.

"We really got hammered with the ice, and especially the wind," Vanbenschoten added. "There was a lot of debris from the ice on the trees and from the windy conditions."

Vanbenschoten said crews spent all day Friday cleaning up the trails and that Belleayre expects to open on schedule at 9 a.m. today.

No skiing for my family and me this weekend, after skiing seven days out of last month's 28. I think I skied more days than I ran! Too much to do at home that has been left undone. Lots of holes to repair on the bottom of the skis from skiing the glades last weekend. We will be back for two consecutive weekends on March 10-11 & 17-18. I might do the Pine Hill Arms Triathlon on March 24. I have managed to avoid doing it for years, though. I think we have tickets for a show in NYC on that day, so we shall see.