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Darryl K. Lewis
from Jamaica, New York
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Feb 14, 2008 |
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Overall Rating: 4.0   |
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SkiTown Review
Ski resort reviews can be helpful only if you know the skill level and skiing perspective of the person authoring the review. I am a middle age advanced skier with no interest in jumping off cornices or cliffs. I will often at high speeds hit a small lip in the terrain and get a little air, but thats about the extent of it. I venture in and out of moderate mogul fields in an attempt to become a better all-around skier, but I tend not to spend a majority of my ski day dealing with the bumps. Three of my ski buddies and I got together to ski locally (we are from the New York City metropolitan area) in preparation for our upcoming Sugarloaf Mountain, Maine trip. That week, Belleayre Mountain was practically giving away lift tickets at $10 a shot. With todays prices for lift tickets, choosing Belleayre was a no-brainer . With that said, here are my impressions of Belleayre.
Terrain Rated 4.0:
One of my ski buddies had never been to or heard of Belleayre, and had an attitude the entire drive up because he pictured himself on the typical 800 foot vertical drop Pocono-type mountain. What a surprise for him when he encountered 1,400 plus vertical feet with an extremely wide summit ridge, and 14 black and/or double black diamond trails descending from this ridge for a distance of anywhere from 200 to 300 feet down the face of the mountain. Now I dont intend to mislead you into believing that these trails were death-defying steeps. Remember, these are the Catskill Mountains and not the Rockies, but they were still a lot of fun and were pretty steep cruisers. But when bumped-up, they do present a challenge to all but the expert of experts. This was the case with Upper Seneca on the right of the ridge when facing the mountain, and Utsayantha, which is smack-dad in the middle of the summit ridge. Needless to say, we decided to leave those two alone.
The 1,400 Vertical feet is somewhat of a cheater statistic, due to the fact that Belleayre is divided into two distinct sections. The bottom third is serviced by the Discovery Lodge and represents approximately 400 to 500 vertical feet of about eight pure beginner trails. The more advanced terrain is at the upper two thirds of the mountain and serviced by the Overlook Lodge. This establishes a natural geographical barrier between the novice/beginner skiers, and the more advanced skiers (great idea). There is probably only one trail, Cathedral Brook, which will allow you to ski the entire 1,400 vertical from top to bottom. Advanced and expert skiers are the only ones who can take advantage of this because it starts out at the summit as a double-black diamond, and ends as a beginner trail call Discovery Way. It completes its journey just adjacent to the bottom base Discovery Lodge. Most of the intermediate trails have some character , twists, turns, and dips here and there; and are therefore fun to ski.
Service Rated 3.0:
Belleayre is a little old-school , which I appreciate, when it comes to servicing the skiers as they ride the lifts. In this era of the high speed lifts, it is rare to find mid-station disembarking points where skiers can get off the lift prior to reaching the summit. Well, Belleayre has several of these lifts which allow skiers to change their minds about their destinations prior to reaching the summit. Belleayre also does quite well with regard to their snowmaking. There were some early winter snowfalls, but of late nothing of significance has fallen. When we arrived, nearly 80% of the mountain was open. There were some icy spots, but they were quite manageable. Otherwise, the overall service was on par with most ski resorts. There was a sour-pussed cafeteria employee dispensing the chili, but she did her job efficiently, so I really cant complain. The chili was a little too tomatoey which negated the southwestern flavor that it should have had. But it did have chunks of beef and an overall satisfactory flavor. Not bad!
Crowds Rating 5.0:
It was very unusual. Ten dollar lift tickets, a sunshiny Thursday winter day with temperatures in the high twenties, no lift lines, no crowded slopes, and at 12:45 pm we readily got seating for four in the Discovery Lodge cafeteria area (admittedly so, the upper Overlook Lodge was somewhat crowded). Where was everybody. Was it because it was mid-week?
Activities Rating 3.0:
I saw no terrain parks or half-pipes, nor did I see any tubing. We were there exclusively to ski, but the Catskill area is reputed to have a lot of things to do, see, and sample.
Value: - Rating 5.0:
Belleayre hosts a great deal of discount days and promotions during the season. There is one Skier Appreciation Day per month, where lift tickets are $15. We were there during the last week in January when they annually sell all lift tickets for $10. Even on non-promotional weekends and holidays, their adult all-day lift tickets dont reach the $50 range.
In summary: I manage to get to Bellearye maybe once every other year. It seems like each time I visit Belleayre, I appreciate it just a little bit more. Its really a is quite a decent day-trip mountain and can satisfy a wide range of skiing abilities.
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nate
from cold spring
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Jan 7, 2008 |
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| Overall Rating: 4.0 |
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Let me start with my caveat.....I love the skier appreciation week and appreciation days. The terrain is predominately blue, but the layout is great and the people here are much nicer than those at Hunter.
On an average weekend day, maybe not my favorite, but I've never had a bad day at Belleayre
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Ryan
from Belleayre, NY
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Aug 13, 2007 |
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| Overall Rating: 5.0 |
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i am a junior instructor at belleayre, to me this mountain is a great mountain for begginer skiers and riders. i have spent 5 years and about 30 days each year of my life snowboarding at belleayre and i think it is a great mountain. It has very challenging trails and terrain and rail park. My friends and i love to ride at belleayre mountain
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charlie
from NY
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Feb 24, 2007 |
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| Overall Rating: 4.4 |
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I think this is a great mountain. There's a new high speed quad so the previous review may have been based on a trip before this lift. The other lifts are kind of slow but hardly any lift lines make up for it. I'd rather spend time on a lift then in a line any day. Conditions were great this past Friday (2/23/07) thanks to over 6" of pow pow (while NYC was getting rain). The main lodge is nice....it may be older but it's a classic looking lodge. The mountain also has a lower lodge serving the beginner area which helps to ease crowds and parking. I'm looking forward to going back in March.
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Rick
from Everywhere
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Dec 7, 2006 |
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| Overall Rating: 2.8 |
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I have been skiing fifteen years now and I
think this mountain is the second worst I have
ever been too. It is an old and dirty resort.
The lifts are the slowest ones I have ever been
on and they stopped all the time. I like highspeed lifts, and I didn't understand
how a skier wouldn't. I like to spend as much time on the mountain as possible. I skied less then half of the runs in day that I would have at Hunter. Sure I would have paid more money at Hunter but I would have skied twice as much. This place was also very crowded when I went (a Saturday in March).
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Richard Stanley
from Suncheon, South Korea
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Nov 23, 2006 |
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| Overall Rating: 3.2 |
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I am not a fan of this place. I decided to go to
Belleayre instead of hunter on one snowy weekend day in March. Big mistake for me.
I don't have kids and have been skiing for a long time. This place was made for begineers and familys. The trails are very easy and children were everywhere.
On the plus side; The service was good and the prices were also very reasonable.
Ok, The bad points; lifts, wow they were so slow. You will pay 25% more to ski Hunter but you will get to ski 50% more because the lifts are so much faster than this place. They also looked as if they would just break they were so old and rusted. The Terrain was easy and there were times were you would have to ski uphill to get to some trails.
The place looked like the state of New York had not put a dime into it in 30 or more years.
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Steve G
from New York
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Mar 28, 2006 |
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| Overall Rating: 4.6 |
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I liked this place a lot. I like to ski the black diamonds, and while most of the steep runs here are short, they're not bad at all. Dot Nebel is a great run when the snow is right. If you are learning or like the greens and blues, there are even more options here that you will enjoy. Given how close to NYC it is, and the short (or nonexistent) lift lines, i think it's a great choice. This is a more civilized mountain than some of its neighbors, and I'd say the staff are friendlier than average. I also give them credit for good snowmaking and keeping the mountain open late in the season. I hope to make it back one more time before the mid-april closing.
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Mike G
from Red Bank, NJ
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Nov 3, 2005 |
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| Overall Rating: 4.6 |
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We have been going to Belleayre for many years and appreciate the Winter Festival's 10.00 mid-week lift tickets. Take the kids out of school and ski several days by yourself. No matter what the weather you do not feel bad sitting down for a while. Skier appreciation is also great and you should log onto their website to see whats cooking the day(s) you are going.
We take a group of about 40 or so and stay in town at what used to be the Pine Hill hostel which I beleive is closing or changing somehow. Not sure. Anyway, there are other places to stay and several to eat in Pine Hill and you are about 5 min. from the mountain. Lifts open at 8:30 or 9:00. Plenty of time to eat and get to the mountain without killing yourself. No reason to rush since the ticket is reasonable and lift lines are light anyway.
As everyone else has said, the expert skier might get bored. We are not so, it works for us. I much rather cruise along an intermediate then exhaust myself running the expert trails.
A must is the sunset lodge at the top of the mountain. Hot beverages and burgers and a fire in the fire place. A large deck sits at the edge of the back side of the mountain and is breath taking. You could spend all day there.
Lastly, do not let the scoring, or all these nice things I have written, fool you, its a great place but I do not want you to go there. (wink, wink)
