Fun & Fitness over 50

It was the perfect storm. A Saturday set aside for skiing, new snow on Thursday, below freezing temps and 2 free tix for Plattekill Mountain in the Catskills!
The common cold attempted to thwart my plan but I would not be denied and it backed down.
Made the trip with friend Perry. We got there well before opening and got the first chair on the Sunshine Triple!
Conditions were powder and packed powder. Fantastic mid-winter conditions for an early spring day! It was a mite nippy. 11° when we got there. It only warmed up to 31 by the time we left at 3PM.
I was really psyched about this trip. I had never skied the northface of the mountain. The first time Mrs. MTBMan1 and I went several years ago, the conditions were fantastic but I didn't have the confidence to venture beyond the 1 green trail "Powder Puff" on the other face.
The 2nd time, it had rained furiously a few days before and then gone into a deep freeze so a lot of the mountain was not open and what was open was icy. I did not attempt the north side which was mostly expert trails.
The 3rd time we went was last year at the "bitter end" of the season. I swear it was almost 80° and again, not a lot was open.
So this time, with a stellar winter behind us, still almost 100% of the mountain was open; 31 out of 35 trails!
With my newfound "skills" I felt confident enough to tackle the 1 green and several intermediates on the north side. The green trail is "Overlook" which is long, about 2 miles but narrow with dropoffs on either side. Manageable but a little hairy for beginners, I would think. The snow was great at the top but a bit hard and bumpy near the end.





Similarly, the intermediate trail "Ridge Run" was narrow but steeper. Still, the snow conditions and grooming were great. Most of the blue side trails off of Ridge Run were not groomed so I didn't attempt those.
It was great having Perry along. In addition to conversation and companionship, Perry is a better skier than me and he challenged me to try a couple of the black diamonds thinking the snow might be even better and the trails wider. He was right on both counts and I enjoyed several runs on "The Plunge" and










"The Face" but they were tiring for me, mainly, I think because I'm trying to keep my speed too slow for those pitches. Fighting harder against stronger gravity naturally expends more strength. On my first 2 runs on the black diamonds, I didn't do that great. I seemed to ski better on shallower pitches so I stopped to analyze what I might be doing wrong. Because of the fear factor of the steeper pitch, I tended to lean into the hill rather than commit to the fall line for the initiation of the next turn. Once I started doing that, it went much better. I was able to carve my turns again and get a good rhythm going.
I put in a good 4-1/2 hours of skiing and my quads are cooked but it's a good feeling! Oh, and my cold is making me pay but it was worth it! You can't take my day away from me! Bwah-hah-hah-hah-ha!

Veni, vidi, vici! (almost) ;-)

Here are some pix:
This is a view from "Shredded Mozzarella"















Looking back up Shredded Mozz














View of the North Face from Powder Puff














Another view from "Powder Puff"














'Nother view looking up Shredded Mozz, Sundowner and The Face














'Nother shot down Shredded Mozz














Here's a GPS track of a run I did down Powder Puff. I forgot to stop it until halfway up the lift so the run is only 1.3 miles. Note my blinding top speed of 24mph! Not Olympic material. hey, so it's not that steep!

Powder Puff - Plattekill Mtn. Roxbury,NY at EveryTrail
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