Plattekill

[moe ghoul]

Booked one nite at the T-Bar Saloon, dog walker is secured, so I'm headin up early tomorrow for a PM session and skiing Thurs/Friday. T-Bar Saloon owner told me they got over 6" already with another ~10-15"by tomorrow.

[moe ghoul]

hell yeah..have fun..your reports are some of the best..T-Bar Saloon sounds pretty authentic..you'll probably meet a more colorful cast of characters than a Hampton Inn.

 

Moetelling Wednesday nite, the place is closed tomorrow. $50 + tax for the nite. Sounds like a plastic tarp topsheet and my sleeping bag kinda place, lulz.

[Johnny Law]

The dude that owns plattekill is cool with sleeping in the lot and touring before the lifts turn.

[Ride Delaware ?]

Write it up detailed for us... Thats another place I'd really like to hit on a powder day... Please include some tree reports for us...

[moe ghoul]

The dude that owns plattekill is cool with sleeping in the lot and touring before the lifts turn.

 

Outstanding.

Write it up detailed for us... Thats another place I'd really like to hit on a powder day... Please include some tree reports for us...

 

Yeah, since I had to ramp back my season, I figured I'd try and hit new territory if it gets snow. I'll post up pics when I get back, haven't figured out how to post them off the iphone.

[trackbiker]

Plattekill is the best place to be on a powder day or any day they're 100% open.

Website says they are opening Wednesday for a Powder Day. Wish I could be there.

From the Plattekill website:

 

Its official:

 

"POWDER DAIZE" OPENING -- 2 days, Wednesday AND Thursday this week!!! 6" of NEW SNOW as of 12pm and 1-2 FEET is expected by storm end Wednesday night......stay tuned! FORECAST

 

Have fun and take lots of pictures.

[moe ghoul]

Got up here around 3, looks like a legit 12" , paid 10 to boot up the hill for 2 runs, otherwise 44 for an hour of skiing. Snows a bit wet on top, sugar, pow, mank variable. Staying at the Hannah mountain resort, got a decent deal for 2 nights. Sitting at the bar drinkin. I may split the days between Bell and platts. I get a 20$ tix for bell from this place. Otherwise, it's $50 for Platts powder daize. I'll decide tomorrow AM. Currently snowing hard the past half hour. Fairly dry and gropply mix.

[moe ghoul]

Hit Bell today, very nice, ankle/boot deep. Lite snow all AM, ended around 11, sun peeped out and had some nice sun in the PM. Some runs had morning crust that softened up and produced some nice pow once crushed thru. Skied 2 glades there, untracked areas had about 4" fresh on crust, tracked areas skied soft and creamy. Did some shoulder damage halfway down Chipewa? glades, binding popped into tour mode and sent me sailin. Think it'll be OK, popped a coupla percs and swithced gear, had a release on the same binding about 4 runs previous, so I'll have to look at it tomorrow. heading up to VT, last minute decision, hopefully some more snow moves in Saturday/Sun. Destination unknown.

[snorovr]

Hit Bell today, very nice, ankle/boot deep. Lite snow all AM, ended around 11, sun peeped out and had some nice sun in the PM. Some runs had morning crust that softened up and produced some nice pow once crushed thru. Skied 2 glades there, untracked areas had about 4" fresh on crust, tracked areas skied soft and creamy. Did some shoulder damage halfway down Chipewa? glades, binding popped into tour mode and sent me sailin. Think it'll be OK, popped a coupla percs and swithced gear, had a release on the same binding about 4 runs previous, so I'll have to look at it tomorrow. heading up to VT, last minute decision, hopefully some more snow moves in Saturday/Sun. Destination unknown.

 

Jealous...

[Johnny Law]

What AT binding ? Duke ? Was it the over camber release ?

 

Heal up and have fun in VT

[snoskier]

Moe were you up Wednesday morning? We must have seen each other as there were only a handful of people there.

 

I was up at Plattekill on Wednesday and conditions were almost great. Platte had avoided the freezing rain/crap for almost all of the storm, but at the last minute a little band of freezing rain came in and made about 1/8-1/4 inch of ice on the top of the snow. It was ACL wrecking Creme Brulee. Crust on the top, but deep and creamy underneath. The layer was so hard that it was unbuckling my boots. I ski on lange's which are notoriously tough to unbuckle and it was popping them without problem. So i'm not surprised that Moe had some issues. Only took 3 runs before they shut down to run the groomers and break it up a little. We were coming in anyway because it was dangerous and asking to get hurt. Some really nice turns could be had once the crust was broken up, but we didn't want to stick around to be those guinea pigs. I'm certain that once it was groomed out it would be great packed powder. But we didn't stick around to find out because we made the total ski bum decision to head north and hit Mad River. We were not disappointed... awesome conditions.

 

Crossing my finger Platte has another powder day this season so I can head back up.

[Ride Delaware ?]

Where did you head Moe? Looks like SoVT is going to be in the sweet spot tomorrow... Up to 10 inches expected at Magic... I heard it is skiing great...

[moe ghoul]

What AT binding ? Duke ? Was it the over camber release ?

 

Heal up and have fun in VT

 

Freerides, unknown reason, I'll look at it this week.

 

Moe were you up Wednesday morning? We must have seen each other as there were only a handful of people there.

I was up at Plattekill on Wednesday and conditions were almost great. Platte had avoided the freezing rain/crap for almost all of the storm, but at the last minute a little band of freezing rain came in and made about 1/8-1/4 inch of ice on the top of the snow. It was ACL wrecking Creme Brulee. Crust on the top, but deep and creamy underneath. The layer was so hard that it was unbuckling my boots. I ski on lange's which are notoriously tough to unbuckle and it was popping them without problem. So i'm not surprised that Moe had some issues. Only took 3 runs before they shut down to run the groomers and break it up a little. We were coming in anyway because it was dangerous and asking to get hurt. Some really nice turns could be had once the crust was broken up, but we didn't want to stick around to be those guinea pigs. I'm certain that once it was groomed out it would be great packed powder. But we didn't stick around to find out because we made the total ski bum decision to head north and hit Mad River. We were not disappointed... awesome conditions.

 

Crossing my finger Platte has another powder day this season so I can head back up.

 

I got a late start on wednesday due to icy roads in my hood, I pulled into Platts around 3 and booted up the hill for 2 runs for $10. Otherwise I woulda gotten nailed for $44 for a 1/2 day. Kinda bogus, but they have to pay the bills.

 

Where did you head Moe? Looks like SoVT is going to be in the sweet spot tomorrow... Up to 10 inches expected at Magic... I heard it is skiing great...

 

I ended up skiing Bell on Thursday with a discounted ticket ($20) from Hanah's resort. Props to this place, really nice facility, and friendly peeps. Considering the amenities (Gym, sauna, indoor pool, outdoor jacuzzi0 and reasonable prices for beer and chow (.25 wings wed/thurs, $2 drafts including Blue Moon, Sam's winter Ale and a few other good micro choices for happy hour, $75/nite was a fair price for one peep. Got to Bell around 8AM on Thursday after getting about 4-5" of fairly dry snow overnite and hit a few groomers to warm up. Several runs were bumped up so I did a few sessions to warm up the legs/knees and basically toured the open trails to get a feel of the hill. Despite some of its short comings like vert and less pitch, all in all, its' a fun hill to ski and I'm having no regrets about checking out the smaller resorts. I already mentioned the shoulder injury in the trees and a second pre release that really jammed up the right shoulder, so I only got 3 runs thru the glades up there. Nice mix of steeper and tighter and mellower pitch and wider trees for all abilities. There were some wider glades along Bellayre run that I played in later in the day as the snow softened up. Finished the day around 3PM and went into Margaretville to pick up some advil and provisions at the local grocery store. Headed back to Hanah's to soak and ice the shoulder, popped some pharmaceuticals and had a nice steak dinner at the bar. Lites out by 9PM.

 

Friday: Woke up around 4AM due to serious shoulder stiffness/pain,popped some pills, packed up, had some oatmeal and coffee in the room, checked out and got to Platts around 7:30AM. Another feww inches fell overnite, and temps were hovering around 3 degrees. Platts is pure old school which I love, no pretensions, just ski stoke. Apparently, they do little grooming there, but this Friday they groomed out most of the trails for base building. Woods were crusty with a few inches on top. First time at Platts, so I toured most of the trails, and eventually met up with a few TGR peeps and skied the day with them. Crust started to soften up by 1PM, so we headed into the woods. I immediately caught an edge and dropped.......on the right shoulder. Make things worse, my tips were buriedand the left ski was trapped in a sapling. Hilarity followed as I finally released the binding and got back up. I pretty much lost my interest in playing in the trees and exited onto Cliffs for some small air off the humps and finished the day out sticking to the trails. Finished the day with a few beers at the bar with the others and was invited to stay at the house near Magic. We headed up around 5PM and got there around 9 after stopping off for some chow at Madison Brewery. Good beer and food, I had a Scoth Ale that was superb. Got to the house, safety sessions ensued, ski porn was on the big screen, and a feww other peeps were trickling in late. I crashed around 1AM.

[moe ghoul]

Saturday: Up early, slept on the right shoulder which had me seeing stars when I stood up and tried to stretch. One of the guys is a PT and he checked out my ROM, thought it might be rotator cuff related. Anyhoo, we got to Magic around 8:30AM to super nice conditions, lotsa ungroomed gnar and tons of wooded areas for a range of abilities. Again, I can't emphasize enough how much some of these smaller hills can offer compared to the marquee names. Platts, Magic, MRG. Very similar in vibe and terrain, from smaller to bigger. Despite only having one double slowski lift and a rope tow, the lift line was not bad, maybe 5-6 minute wait all day. Apparently, they're waiting for a part to get the black lift running. The upside is the trails were uncrowded, really good steeps, and tons of fluffy bumps to play in. Groomers had great coverage and I checked them out as well. The Mags immediately headed out into the woods, so I spent most of the day solo skiing along Gulf of Hans, Magician, Black line, Red line, Broomstick and Witch. Coverage was good, with some rocks and veg exposure, but easily avoided or skiable. At the end of the day, I couldn't resist taking a few runs thru some glades off Talisman and Heart of the Magician. Basically, I waited for a group to join in or made sure there were others in there already. Took it slow and steady and there was tons of untracked soft pow/cream cheese mix all over the place. I called it quits around 3:30, met up with folks I met at Ullrfest and the gang from the house. It started snowing late afternoon, switching to sleet, rain, and back to a few inches of snow by Sunday AM. We ended up hanging at the house and watching ski porn, partying and chillin. Dinner was trailmix and chips. Roads were too sketch to travel for dinner. I ended up getting up around 6AM and decided it made sense to stay off the skis, despite the fact that the conditions did not get degraded overnite, it was 26 degrees when we got up, and the little crust that developed was soft and breakable with a light cover of fresh snow. I packed up and hit the road after some coffee and goodbyes. All in all, a fun trip, met a bunch of very solid individuals, and encourage everyone to give some love to the smaller hills. They've got the goods and they can use the business. I'll post up of few pics later.

Edited February 7, 2011 by moeghoul

[Ride Delaware ?]

Went to Magic last year and only got one run in before my friend hurt his knee and had to go to the hospital... However, I really loved the vibe and the mountain and can't wait to get back... Glad to hear that you scored some good accommodations at a good price near Magic

[Johnny Law]

Apparently, they're waiting for a part to get the black lift running.

 

Lulz, I am a magic share holder, well 100th of a share through TGR, I love magic but that shit isn't ever going to run. This mystery part has been holding up the black lift for like 10 years now. lulz

 

Love the small mtn stoke ............best places to ride.

[moe ghoul]

Lulz, I am a magic share holder, well 100th of a share through TGR, I love magic but that shit isn't ever going to run. This mystery part has been holding up the black lift for like 10 years now. lulz

 

Love the small mtn stoke ............best places to ride.

 

Yeah, I was talking to DoWork about it, I had this picture in my head of some old Austrian clockmaker handmaking some exotic pieces which only he could make...and then he died. Hope they get it running.

[moe ghoul]

A mediocre edit of the 3 hills. I played around with the zoom feature on the iphone, and that seemed to produce distortion on a few shots. Due to shoulder, I didn't do too much pic taking, since a use the right arm and keep the iphone in the right pocket. Had to add Murphy the Puggle for some doggie stoke.

 

[Ride Delaware ?]

They post occasional updates in the Magic thread on Alpine Zone, and other updates on their facebook page... I know that they have been aiming for President's Day to open the Black Chair since the beginning of the season... I realize they have been pushing it back more and more all the time, but that is the next date, and they haven't missed that one yet... So, maybe there is hope... I think all of the other routine maintenance is done and that it will be good to go as soon as the "mystery part" arrives...

[trackbiker]

I skied Magic MLK weekend. Conditons were a little thin on the nonsnowmaking trails (which is most of them) but had a blast on the soft natural snow. Banged up the skis a bit but it was worth it. At 1700 vertical I wouldn't necessarily call Magic a small mountain.

They've been making steady improvements including patching up the snowmaking system all last summer. I believe them when they say they are working on the Black Chair, but even if they don't get it running by Presidents Day Weekend, they don't really need it yet. But the crowds are growing. I was there on a Monday after a big dump last year and my son, nephew, and I felt like we had our own private ski area. Didn't see another skier until we were half way up the Red Chair.

Sorry to hear about your shoulder, Moe. You'll have to hit Plattekill again sometime. Great steeps with no flat runout, lots of old school narrow winding trails, and you can ski the woods on the whole mountain. Thanks for the reports.