# Windham or Belleayre ??



## skicone (Jan 28, 2010)

Our ski club ( 20 skiers ) is trying to decide between Windham or Belleayre. We typically ski on blacks and blues. A few of us desire bumps. We're coming next Tuesday and since I have not skied either mountain I am looking for some advice regarding terrain and conditions. Thanks.


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## catskills (Jan 28, 2010)

Belleayre will have better snow conditions especially on the mogul trails.  Belleayre is very good at making a few inches of snow on mogul trails. Personally I think grooming is better at  Belleayre.  I think I am biased though.  

Windham has longer sustained black diamond trails compared to Belleayre black diamonds that run out to  blue trails.    

Neither will have long lift lines.  

Tough choice.


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## RichT (Jan 28, 2010)

catskills said:


> Belleayre will have better snow conditions especially on the mogul trails.  Belleayre is very good at making a few inches of snow on mogul trails. Personally I think grooming is better at  Belleayre.  I think I am biased though.
> 
> Windham has longer sustained black diamond trails compared to Belleayre black diamonds that run out to  blue trails.
> 
> ...



HUNTER!


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## dmc (Jan 28, 2010)

RichT said:


> HUNTER!



Hunter is not accommodating his group...  He needs to go elsewhere...


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## skidbump (Jan 29, 2010)

belleayre blew all the bump runs after the melt on monday...couldnt tell it rained until you hit the groomers..They blew wanatuska for 2 days and prob a few more groomers for weekend traffic...

And are more than happy to accomadate a group of 20


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## catskills (Jan 29, 2010)

If you have intermediate skiers in the group consider this:

Percent of Intermediate Trails:

60 percent - Belleayre
40-45 percent - Windham
30 Percent - Hunter

For the mogul fans in the group, its safe to say that Belleayre will have more bumped up moguls than Hunter or Windham.  On top of that Belleayre will put an inch or two of man made powder on those mogul trails at various times throughout the season.  

If you want to learn to ski moguls go to Belleayre.  If Windham gets the snow guns out, Windham also has some bumps on easy blues for learning.  Hunter moguls are too steep to learn on.  If Hunter has an easy blue trail with moguls to learn on,  I have never seen it. Then again I haven't look recently. 

When it comes to single black diamond groomed expert runs, Hunter is the place to be. Hunter has a lot of groomed expert single black diamond terrain.  

When it comes to double black diamond steep mogul runs, when Clare's and lower K27  is in good shape, Hunter is the place to be.   Windham's Wheelchair is also excellent "when its in good shape" and Windham Mgmt. hasn't decided to groom flat Wheelchair.


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## skicone (Jan 29, 2010)

Thank you for all the input. We have decided to go to Belleayre.


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## dmc (Jan 29, 2010)

skicone said:


> Thank you for all the input. We have decided to go to Belleayre.



Good choice... Enjoy the "Skillz" !!


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## Rambo (Jan 29, 2010)

Belleayre has great skiing at affordable pricing! They do a fantastic job with their snowmaking and grooming! Their late season spring skiing, totally rocks!


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## bch224 (Jan 29, 2010)

this photo from today?  think trail report said upper yahoo closed... hope its from today...


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## Rambo (Jan 29, 2010)

bch224 said:


> this photo from today?  think trail report said upper yahoo closed... hope its from today...



Sorry, no idea when that photo was taken. I pulled it off of Belleayre's web site to show a little of their terrain. The original properties of the photo had a date of 2010_1_24. So i imagine that photo may have been taken on 1/24 2010 or shortly before, maybe.


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## goldsbar (Jan 30, 2010)

Outside of Plattekill, Belleayre seems to be the only Catskill area that gets the message that customers don't want every trail groomed.  They do a very good job of letting some easy intermediate trails bump up so people can learn.  My experience of Wyndham is very limited and very dated, but they seemed to have a grooming fixation.  Hunter is better but only on certain - generally harder - trails.


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## jamesdeluxe (Jan 30, 2010)

If anyone skied Belleayre today (Saturday), I'd like to hear how much damage from Monday is still apparent.


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## skidbump (Jan 30, 2010)

No real damage..all bump runs were blown during week and are being blown as we speak...wanatuska was blown for 3 days  and groomed to perfection..mohawk is now 3 giant swales..belleayre was perfect top to bottom.


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## catskills (Jan 30, 2010)

skidbump said:


> No real damage..all bump runs were blown during week and are being blown as we speak...wanatuska was blown for 3 days  and groomed to perfection..mohawk is now 3 giant swales..belleayre was perfect top to bottom.


What he ^^^^^ said. Saturday 1/30/2010 had  fresh man made POW all around.  Belleayre snow makers did another awesome job.


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## Shredder of Gnar (Jan 30, 2010)

goldsbar said:


> Outside of Plattekill, Belleayre seems to be the only Catskill area that gets the message that customers don't want every trail groomed.  They do a very good job of letting some easy intermediate trails bump up so people can learn.  My experience of Wyndham is very limited and very dated, but they seemed to have a grooming fixation.  Hunter is better but only on certain - generally harder - trails.



Yes!  Belleayre definitely has the best bumps in the Catskills on a consistent basis -- Hunter has gone groom-happy, which, since it has without question, better terrain, is quite sad...


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## catskills (Jan 31, 2010)

Another awesome day of great snow conditions at Belleayre on Sunday 1/31/2010

Toni Lanza (Belleayre Superintendent) makem good snow.   

Actually its the snowmakers that deserve the credit.  

They even made snow on  Utsayantha. They never make snow on Utsi.  They draged extra lengths of hose through the woods from Yahoo.  Belleayre snow makers are the best.  :smile:


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## Harvey (Jan 31, 2010)

*Belleayre Mtn, NY: 1/31/10*

Jamesdeluxe and I hit Belleayre today.

Input in this thread was spot on. Bumps were the place to be. Thanks AZ.

Tony & Co were pounding Tongora, Upper Winnesook and Lower Wanatuska. And after we'd handled our various obligations, we lapped those suckers until we couldn't ski anymore.  

Actually James was fine at days end, but I was hanging by a thread.  After a close encounter with a hemlock on skiers right of Upper Winnesook, I knew I was done. Of course that didn't stop us from taking one last run. :roll:

The trails were decent enough all things considered. Belleayre Run had some decent bumps on skiers left. Cover was a little thin, but what was there was soft.

A few pics here, on Harvey Road:

http://harvey44.blogspot.com/2010/01/belleayre-mtn-ny-13110.html

Thanks again for the input. We were glad we went.


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## catskills (Feb 1, 2010)

DMC's report on Hunter sounded similar to Belleayre's conditions.   Snow guns were blasting in the Catskills.   Good to hear Hunter made some snow and bumps on blue intermediate trails.  Great place to learn to ski bumps without injury.  

Anyone know what the snow conditions were like at Windham this weekend?


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## Harvey (Feb 1, 2010)

This thread seems to be evolving. Maybe skicone could retitle to something like The Catskill Thread or Catskill Conditions. If there is a thread with a similar name or purpose, sorry I missed it.

Also would like to know if it makes the Mods (or anyone) cranky - posting a pseudo TR in the general forum.  I've skied so much manmade and hardpack this year that I'm having a problem putting up a separate TR.

If (WHEN!) it dumps 30 inches, or even 12, I'll definitely get real with a true TR.


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## skicone (Feb 1, 2010)

Again, thanks for all the input regarding Belleayre. Our ski club will be visiting tomorrow and I'll report on Wednesday.


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