Skiing on The Last Day of 2007

Happy New Year!

The snow was deep and soft. I liked it! Almost everything was open, but there was grass coming through on some just-opened runs like Belleayre Run and Utsayantha. There were a couple of lift lines, but no more than a minute. If you missed today, you REALLY missed a genuine eastern powder day!

Once the snow got cruddy, the skiing was difficult for some people; my wife was not having a good time. Grooming should smooth out things out for tomorrow, but there is more snow on the way!

Belleayre Run open again!

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We got the stuff back. It was a local skier and family who accidentally took my son's bag yesterday. But we didn't get the call until after we left the mountain today. Cost me some dough in rental helmet & boots ($20). The kid needed new goggles anyway ($55).

Since we checked lost and found over and over again today and it didn't show up, I decided to buy a pair of new Nordica SFT 80 boots anyway, a season old model, for $99. Wouldn't you know we got the call from Belleayre lost & found (guest services) on the way back to our local place. The boots were molded to my son's feet, so we won't be returning them. He says they feel much better than the leased boots, so that is a good thing. Do I get a refund on a partial season lease I wonder? Hope he gets a couple seasons out of these boots. I hope they are really men's boots, because as I look them up on the Internet and eBay to make sure I got a good price (I did), there are about a 10 to 1 incidence of this model being a woman's boot over a men's boot. Maybe it really doesn't matter, being mondo sized at 28. And maybe a softer narrower boot is perfect for a 120 pound 14 year old.

I am kinda angry that they couldn't have brought the bag back to Belleayre earlier or phoned in yesterday. Did it take that long to empty the ski stuff out of the car? I'm glad we got the stuff back, but if I had seen the person, I would have said how stupid could you be when loading the car and maybe you owe me for the rentals it cost me today.

Yin & Yang of Skiing Belleayre

Yesterday and today were the yin and yang of skiing Belleayre. In my report from yesterday, I mentioned how good the snow was. Today the conditions were really bad. Yesterday's buttery soft snow hardened into semi-skiable hard stuff with piles of soft ice shavings that were trying to masquerade as powder. Most of my runs felt like I was only 80% in control, managing the risk of knowing that sometimes it would be impossible to turn or stop on this stuff. Some of that feeling may be because yesterday I skied my SL racing Rossi Oversize VS, and today I was on Volant Power mid-fats. I should have skied that equipment the other way around.

The bumps on Yahoo were for real.

Again, no lift lines worth mentioning. Either right on or less than a minute.

But no worries, yesterday's snow advisory has been upgraded to a HEAVY SNOW WARNING!!!!! Eight to 10 inches overnight!

Yep - this is Yahoo - so put the caution sign at the top, not on the side facing away 50 yards into it...

My son's bag was stolen or accidentally loaded into someone else's car today. He is 14, and we finally have him managing his own ski stuff. So he brought his skis, poles & bag to the racks by the loading zone near the Overlook Lodge parking lot at Belleayre. He left his skis leaning on the rack, and the bag was under his skis. He went back in for about 2 minutes to catch up with the rest of the fam. We get out there and the only thing on the rack were his skis and poles. The parking attendants were clueless, "There have been so many people loading up here it is tough to tell..." My son says there were other bags there when he left his there, now all bags are gone.

So we lost a pair of leased size 27.5 Technica ski boots, an old Red helmet, goggles, new ski socks and gloves, and a neck warmer. Not to mention the Potter Brothers ski bag. And that might have been the problem - lots of people have those. My wife left our info with guest services, because we are hoping someone goes home and unpacks the car and discovers stuff that isn't theirs and has enough decency to call the mountain or bring it back there. We are supposed to ski tomorrow. Guess I am buying some new stuff at Jimmy's Belleayre Ski Shop on the way to the mountain tomorrow. Mostly, I am hoping that next September the place we leased the boots from won't notice that I am returning a different set of boots than we leased.

What a Day!

Poor Belleayre, lucky us. For a Saturday on a holiday week after Christmas, Belleayre was eerily uncrowded. We dodged a bullet because last night's drizzle stopped before dawn, kept the crowds away, and the snow conditions were just buttah... Upper Yahoo was finally groomed and open. It skied wonderfully all day. Moguls started to build by noon. I didn't even break for lunch and did at least 8 laps of Yahoo/Lift 7, bouncing off bumps and trying to zipper. But there were few people to try to show off for, because the lift was so empty. I literally skied right up to the lift-load stop line every run from 11:30-1 PM, and just hopped off on top, carved a hard left and hit it again.

I encountered no ice, because it was fairly warm, maybe a high of 38 today, and the traffic was light. Wanatuska, Mohawk, Onteora, Seneca, Dot Nebel were all an awesome ride. Lower Yahoo was a carving dream, and in the AM you could even ski the slalom brushes that were set up if the racers were on the lift. I stay away from the dangerous green runs and Boring Brook, so I can't say what was happening there.

Note to Ski Patrol: Here is a sign I would like to see at the top of Yahoo: "No snowboarders that can't carve a turn on steep terrain!" 75% of the snowboarders hitting Yahoo today were sideslipping or falling and sliding on their butt, and ruining the development of the bump run. But, hey, at least they were entertaining on that slow Lift 7 ride.

Upper Yahoo finally open

Impending Doom

The weekend crowds have arrived. No lift lines until about noon, when they went to be about a minute or two and there was an explosion of rental equipment evident on the hill. Watched some noob boarders try to poach still-inexplicably-closed upper yahoo and fall to their death-by-embarrassment.

Conditions remain shaved-icy. Best "snow" was on Mohawk & Seneca, maybe on the sides of Dot Nebel (which was closed in the AM for GS training).

The lifts opened about 10 minutes early for the general public and we started skiing at 8:55. Got lots of runs in before the weekenders hit.

Praying for no rain tomorrow. Actually, a little rain might keep the crowds at bay... hmmm...

Briefly sunny Belleayre - Wanatuska view @ 9 AM

Lies Lies Everywhere There's Lies

According to an article on the Daily Freeman,

CROSSROADS Ventures, the developer of the proposed 700-acre Belleayre Resort at Catskill Park, admits that an illustration of the project it has provided does not provide a true depiction of the surrounding mountainscape and therefore does not accurately show its visual impact.

The article goes on to detail the difference of opinion between Paul Rakov, Crossroads Venture's spokesperson, and Dennis Orloff, a local resident and illustrator who produced his own image of the proposed resort. Images depicting the kind of impact the resort will have are on the Save The Mountain web site.

Like Three Days in One (Video added 1/3/08)

"Day 1" - The morning was miserable, with mist, drizzle & rain. My wife, son & I put some old plastic ponchos on to make believe we weren't getting soaked. It was fun to listen to the noise they made and watch people checkin' out our cool stylin'....

Not a lift line to be seen all day, unless you hit a lift when a race camp group happened to be there. The snow was actually nice and consistent - no ice, better skiing than yesterday from the ankles, down.

"Day 2" - The rain turned to snow at 11:30. It was heavy at times and probably made up for any losses from the rain.

"Day 3" - The rain stopped about 2 PM, when it got very foggy and visibility was sometimes downright dangerous.

Seneca was open top to bottom. Some bumps were starting to develop on Seneca and Onteora. Otherwise, everything remains wide open groomers. In this damp consistent snow you couldn't lay a bad turn today if you tried.

Too warm to blow anything today.

Drove home from Peekamoose restaurant to Halcott over the Rt 28 high point near Belleayre about an hour ago and the van's outside thermometer was reading 37 degrees.

Foggy Seneca views from Tomahawk quad

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The Rain Killed It (video from the day added 1/2/08)

The snow was hard and fast just about everywhere. Perfect for sharp SL, GS or other carving skis. You could find some snow "shavings", sometimes with a few inches deep on some edges. Everything was groomed to death, flat as a pancake, with no bumps or ripples unless you looked really hard on the sides of trails for some leftover hops from when the snow was good (i.e. last Saturday and before).

No lift lines to speak of. Mostly skied right up to the chair. Started cold, but warmed after lunchtime. The lodge was not crowded at lunch.

They were blowing snow until about 1 PM on upper Yahoo and lower Seneca. Hopefully they will be open tomorrow. I didn't spend any time on the lower mountain so I don't know what the greens were like.

Race camp in full swing doing SL training in the PM - that took lots of real estate from Dot Nebel. But that is OK, because my kid is in it.

Tomahawk's noob lifties still making mistakes at load and slowing things up, checking lift tickets even though they saw you 3 times already....

I am pissed that they reduced the number of cubbies in Overlook Lodge in favor of a photographer booth. They gave about 15 cubbies to three guys who take pictures.

Wanatuska view - weird fog down below

Currently dead terrain park

Holiday Vacation Begins ~ Merry Christmas!

I am here at our little rental ski house in Halcott, Catskills, New York. The family and I took an easy ride up, never over 70 MPH. It was nice not being an early morning, trying to make it to Belleayre before 9 AM, or a Friday night. Christmas Day traffic was low and we had the time. Plus I was trying to save on gas mileage, after reading this thread on Alpinezone.com. (Great mileage enhancement suggestions here.) The Yakima rack was on for the first time this season and we were carrying a lot of weight, sure mileage killers. According to fueleconomy.gov, every 100 pounds of weight reduces fuel economy 2%, and every 5 MPH over 65 does too.

There was definitely twice as much snow on the ground down near Kingston than there is up here near Belleayre. I would agree with this post by MarkC, the storm on Sunday and the warm temps took 18 inches of snow since that great day.

So we are hanging out tonight. Wife and kids are watching Pirates of the Carribean on my son's laptop. I have some of my favorite ski porn on with the sound turned off, Ski Movie. We carbed up on a pasta dinner, so we will be well rested and psyched for a full ski day tomorrow. My wife's first day this season, son's second, daughter's third, and my 8th!

Lots of Interesting Tidbits about Belleayre

An article in The Daily Freeman summarizes the good December conditions this year. It also has some interesting stuff about Belleayre and its relationship with its neighbors, competitors, and the state of NY.

BUT WHILE the weather has been favorable so far this season, operators of private skiing facilities still complain that they're at a competitive disadvantage with the state-owned Belleayre Mountain Ski Center in Highmount, Ulster County. They say Belleayre does not have to pay its own workers' compensation, insurance and advertising costs and can offer cheaper tickets as a result.

Tim Woods, general manager and president of Windham Mountain, said his resort pays more than $2 million more in expenses each year than Belleayre. He said Belleayre, thanks to state assistance, prices its product so low that it's difficult for private ski sites to compete. Windham probably is charging 30 percent more for skiing, he said.

"What we're really looking for is for Belleayre to be a little bit more fair with their pricing," Woods said.

Other resort owners agree.

"We can't compete with the state when they subsidize," said Don Edwards, co-owner of Catamount Ski Area in Hillsdale, Columbia County.

IN LATE June, the Greene County Legislature adopted a resolution calling on the state to show Belleayre was operating on a break-even basis without using surpluses from state accounts.

The resolution also called on the state to adopt a moratorium on all state-owned ski area expansions until an independent analysis could be done to determine the harm the projects could have on the state's private ski resorts and surrounding communities.

LORI O'Connell, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Conservation, which runs Belleayre, said the ski center, though state-owned, must operate "in a manner that assures revenues at least match operating costs."

"Unlike many private ski centers with condominiums, nighttime activities and a wide variety of retail outlets, Belleayre's revenue sources are limited to lift tickets, lessons and other daytime activities," O'Connell said via e-mail.

Even so, O'Connell said Belleayre is sensitive to the needs of other ski resorts throughout the Catskills and has made several marketing changes in recent years to minimize direct competition, including dropping radio promotions, removing billboard advertising on roads leading to northern Greene County and changing its customer appreciation day to midweek.

But O'Connell also noted that Belleayre plays a vital role in the local economy. For every dollar spent at the ski center, she said, another $7 are spent in the local community.

TONY Lanza, the superintendent of Belleayre Mountain, said that while the ski center is owned by the state, it still feels the effects of the weather. Despite a record-breaking February, March and April last winter, he said, skier visits were down about 9 percent overall from the previous winter.

But this winter is a different story so far, Lanza said. Belleayre opened the second weekend in November, and 1,700 skiers were on the mountain on Friday, Dec. 14, he said.

Lanza said he expects the resort to have all of its terrain open by Christmas, giving visitors access to 47 trails, glades and parks.

Lanza said a lot of people believe Belleayre's business comes from outside the area, but he said the ski center serves the local community as well. He said Belleayre has partnered with Ulster County Area Transit to offer free transportation from Kingston for area youths. Also, he said, after a day of skiing, visitors look for things to do in the local area and are drawn to places like Kingston.

Too bad the warm-up and rain happened yesterday. A big "almost" to having all terrain open by Christmas. What a gift that would have been!

Newsday Article

Good article in Newsday about the opposition to the resort.

I especially like this paraphrase attributed to Sandy Zarcone, a Belleayre employee:

Zarcone jokes that things are so dead in the nearby town of Fleischmanns there may as well be tumbleweeds rolling down the street.

Now that the Mexican restaurant has reopened, the tumbleweeds would fit the theme.

It is interesting to note the media coverage of the resort has recently shifted to the coverage of the opposition to the resort.

What Development?

According to Times Herald Record Online:

The deadline for written public comment on the proposed development of the state-run Belleayre Mountain Ski Center has been extended for one week, until Jan. 14, 2008.

It is good to hear that people could comment via written statements for such a long time. I am going to have to put one together. The problem is, the article doesn't exactly state what development they are talking about. Is it development because of the resort, or some other development?

Super Day at Belleayre!

Drove up to stay over at Andy's ski house rental on Friday night.

The skiing on Sunday was probably the best ever for December before Christmas. Almost the whole place was open! The snow on Utsayantha was better than I had ever seen it! I didn't wait in one line all day. We skied virtually right up to the chair every time. O, there were some noob lifties at Tomahawk that actually slowed things down for maybe one or two loads during early PM. Gosh, all you gotta do is count to 4... and if you are gonna yell at somebody (not me) for being in the wrong line, at least make them go to the back or hold them up longer or something, don't just pair them up and let 'em load - either that, or just don't waste time saying anything.

Here are the pics from the day.

But it RAINED ALL DAY AND GOT WARM! IT could be the end of a great beginning up there....

And I just called Janis in Margaretville... She said it was like 45 degrees and raining. Hope I didn't jinx the whole holiday week by doing something last week I have not done in a bunch of years: buying snow tires.

As a matter of fact, as I was riding Superchief with my buddy, thinking of the pic below from MLK weekend 2007, I said, "This is great - remember what this looked like last year?"

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Here are the three videos of the day -

First one here is Skiing 101 on Shaped Skis with "Instructor" Andy... it is a little funny...




The second one here is my kid - I wanted to try to get some good vid of her skiing, but she just challenges me to keep up with her and takes off!




The third vid here is my continued attempt to get some shots of my kid, but it turns out to be mostly my friend's kid! Love the quotes, "You're lookin' pretty hot - let's see what 'cha got!"

From Cow Farm the Golf Course?

I learned some interesting information about events in Halcott that are happening because of the Belleayre Resort. I rent a ski house in Halcott on a road that is variously labeled Lake Road, County RT 37, Old Halcott Road, and County #3. The women who I rent the house from told me that the dairy farm we pass on the way to the house may be purchased by a friend of Dean Glitter for the purpose of turning it into a golf course. She said the town of Halcott has no zoning, so there is presently nothing to stop a person from doing this. According to her, Halcott is proud of their "Republican" attitude, and is wrestling with the thought of imposing zoning to restrict such development.

Last of Three Videos from December 15, 2007 at Belleayre

End of the day heading down to Discovery Lodge, just fooling around.

Second of Three Videos from December 15, 2007 at Belleayre

Trying to catch the kid flying down Mohawk to Lift 7 at Belleayre.

First of Three Videos from December 15, 2007 at Belleayre

Trying to catch the kid flying down Onteora to Lift 7 at Belleayre.

Ski Day #6 ~ Race Program Started

Introduction: This was my 6th ski day this season, 2nd at Belleayre. It was the first day of Junior Race Program. Drove up at 6 AM and made it in 2:15 from Central New Jersey. Race Program meeting was in Discovery Lodge. Haven't hit that beginner hell since my kid was 4. Luckily there were not too many people there. Mostly just the Race Program people.

Photos: here.

Weapon of Choice: Rossi Oversize VS ti 158 & Rossi race stock boots.
Chose the race equipment because the grooming report was showing everything as being groomed to death.

Conditions: All the officially open trails were groomed to death and had good coverage, but lower Belleayre Run and one lower green trail were lacking base with grass poking through. Didn't ski Roaring Brook. Mohawk, Onteora & Wanatuska were in great shape. Dot Nebel was fantastic, top to bottom. Friend & I poached closed lower Yahoo, and it was sweet, with all the folks on the lift staring at us thinking bad stuff about our actions.

Weather: Cold and mostly cloudy.

Lifts: No lines at Seven. Short 1 minute waits at SuperChief mid-morning and sometimes at Tomahawk in the early afternoon.

Video of Spitzer Announcing the Belleayre Resort Project Accord

When Glitter gets up and suggests changing Route 28 into the "Catskill Parkway", Spitzer butts in and says, "We've had enough for one day. Don't get greedy." What an ironic statement!

Off to Vail

Awesome pic of the day at the Belleayre Web Site. Looks great up there, despite the report about the last storm freezing things up a little too much. Same storm dumped a lot at Vail, so I can't complain! It is snowing a little now, so I hope my flight is not delayed. Next reports from Vail in a couple of days.

Trip Report: First Ski Day 2007-08 Season, December 2nd

Introduction: Drove up 6-9:15 AM from NJ. Slow on I-287 because of new snow that had not been plowed yet. Drive up took half hour longer than usual. At least no breakdowns this time!

Weapons of Choice: Atomic 9.22s 170. First time I skied them. Got them used, eBay, $51. Needed some work. I remounted the toe-piece of the bindings, filled p-tex, flat-filed, sharpened w/bevel, waxed. They were sweet and fast. Longer turning radius than I like at Bell, but good in the bumps as a result. Held an edge on everything until it got hard icy late. Skied the morning in my new Rossi Power 9.2 race stock boots. They gave me wicked control, but were not too comfortable. I didn't really realize they were not comfortable until I switched to my older Rossi Race 1 boots after lunch. The Race 1's forward flex felt too soft after sking the race stock boots, so I switched their setting from "soft" to "hard". I was thinking that it wouldn't make that much of a difference; but it really did. Rather than suffer through 4 days of wearing race stock boots at Vail this week, I will bring the Race 1's. Wearing them set on "hard" is a perfect compromise. I would have never tried them that way if I had not switched midday from the race boots and felt them as being too soft, and the control I lost as a result.

(If you have not noticed, I am following adamti91's trip report format....)

Conditions: Onteora, Wanatuska from the top, and Mohawk in the middle. Top to mid was bumped up irregularly. The snow was very skiable until about 2 PM, when it got icy on the steeper faces and in high traffic areas. Some chunky snow early, and some interesting features around the edges, as usual.

Weather: Cold, windy, spits of snow all day on and off. Never enough to need goggles.

Lifts: No wait ever. Mostly skied right into the chair. Only shared the chair once, on Superchief. Lift 7 stopped 1 or 2 times on every ride. Patrol was down-loading a lot of beginners because they got stuck on top with nothing but bumped up runs from the top.

Skiing: Did 10 runs 9:30-12:15, and 10 more 12:45-3:15. The place was relatively uncrowded, except for some groups of instructors and snowboarders. Was able to practice bumps on top, and GS some fast lines mid to bottom. Good workout and equipment check-out before I head to Vail on Wednesday.

Notes: As adamti said yesterday, "Belleayre is blowing snow of some lower mountain trails and Roaring Brook." There were groomers active on Tongora, I think! Also looked like they were blowing to connect Canyon to Discovery Way (that is the split to the left on your way down to Superchief.

Photos:
http://public.fotki.com/thinnmann/sk...ent-check-out/

Checkout the bumps on Onteora!

First Afternoon - Sunday December 2, 2007

First Morning, Sunday December 2, 2007