Longer days and warmer temperatures of March turn the snow on ski mountains into a pebbly consistency that makes spring the optimal time of the year for skiing or snowboarding.
\nSpring is also when resorts slide into the silly season and schedule carnival and festival events. Whether it’s pond skimming or shorts and bikini tops as outerwear, spring is a time like no other at ski areas.\n<\/p>\n
Longer days and warmer temperatures of March turn the snow on ski mountains into a pebbly consistency that makes spring the optimal time of the year for skiing or snowboarding.
\nSpring is also when resorts slide into the silly season and schedule carnival and festival events. Whether it’s pond skimming or shorts and bikini tops as outerwear, spring is a time like no other at ski areas.
\nA little more than an hour south of Albany in the heart of the Catskill Mountain high peaks, Hunter Mountain Ski Bowl, Windham Mountain, Plattekill Mountain and Belleayre Mountain offer some of the best spring skiing in the east.
\nHunter is the granddaddy of Catskill Mountain skiing. It was the first ski area in the world that had 100 percent top to bottom snowmaking. From the 1960s to the decade of the ’80s, legions of metropolitan New York skiers learned and spent most of their skiing time at Hunter.
\nAnd rightly so. A huge learning area, top-notch ski school, challenging terrain with 40 percent of trails in the blue to black range, and three hours from Manhattan made Hunter the first stop for generations of New Yorkers looking for the big mountain experience.
\nHunter’s stats tell the story: a vertical drop of 1,600 feet; 240 acres of skiable terrain; 11 lifts; 55 trails two terrain parks; and a nine-lane snow tubing park.
\nThe Learning Center at Hunter is streamlined and made easy for families and beginning skiers. The process from ticket sales to equipment rentals to the lifts of Hunter One, with its 14 trails designed for beginners, is seamless. Kids can participate in a number of programs geared for their age and abilities while adults will find first-class lessons and instruction.
\nOnce off the slopes, there is a wide array of eateries at Hunter proper, from an extensive food court and deli in the base lodge to a summit lodge to Van Winkles restaurant at the Kaatskill Mountain Club. In the town of Hunter and adjacent Tannersville there are dozens of places to eat.
\nIf you decide to stay at Hunter there are condos and hotel rooms available at the mountain in the Kaatskill Mountain Club and the Pinnacle. There are also plenty of lodging opportunities in the towns of Hunter and Tannersville.
\nHunter is staging a number of camps and workshops in March including a Burton Snowboard Women’s Learn to Ride Camp; a mogul’s workshop; and a park and pipe workshop. Details and registration information are available on Hunter’s website at www.huntermtn.com. Hunter will have its St. Patty’s Day party on March 14 and the Spring Fling and pond skimming on April 4.
\nOnly 60 miles from Albany, Windham Mountain reigns over the town of the same name. Windham (www.windhammountain) is an intermediate skier’s paradise with 45 percent of the trails marked with blue squares. Wooly Bear is the perfect slope for beginners to practice stops and turns. Intermediates looking for a challenge head to Lower Wolverine or Upper Wiseacres. More advanced skiers and riders will get their fill on Upper Wheelchair.
\nWindham has built a reputation as being a family-friendly resort, and justifiably so. Everything from skier drop-off to food service to how the trails are situated on the mountain underscores the fact that Windham was planned with the skiing family in mind.
\nWindham boasts 46 trails with seven lighted for night skiing. There are 267 skiable acres, or 16.75 miles of trails, serviced by 10 lifts. There’s even a 10-lane snow tubing park.
\nThe food court and restaurants at Windham are all first rate, but for a real culinary treat try some of the excellent restaurants that are shoulder to shoulder with B&Bs and lodging establishments throughout the village of Windham.
\nWindham is off of Route 23 west, 25 miles from New York State Thruway Exit 21.
\nSpring comes late to Plattekill, nestled in the Catskills in Roxbury. Historically, Plattekill’s dry, fluffy snow clings to the mountain through mid-March making it a haven for spring skiing. About 60 miles southwest of Albany, Plattekill (www.plattekill.com) sits on the western slopes of the Catskills and benefits from storms blowing off the Great Lakes.
\nPlattekill has 35 trails including the 2-mile Powder Puff beginner trail. For advanced skiers, Plattekill’s black double diamond runs offer 1,100 feet of continuous vertical with no run out at the bottom producing some of the gnarliest steeps in the region. Despite its big mountain terrain, Plattekill exudes small mountain charm and a friendly, welcoming atmosphere, just what you’d expect from a family-run ski area. March means spring at Plattekill and all lift tickets are $30 for the month.
\nThe best way to get to Plattekill is to take I-90 west to I-88 west to Exit 23 Schoharie. Follow route 30 south to Roxbury.
\nWith 47 trails, parks and glades and eight lifts, including a high-speed quad chairlift, Belleayre Mountain has a lot to offer Albany-area skiers.
\nBelleayre (www.belleayre.com) is owned and operated by the State of New York Department of Environmental Conservation and is situated in the Catskill Mountains Forest Preserve on “forever wild” land. The high peaks lack any hint of commercialization and the trails run through silent, pristine woodlands.
\nBelleayre’s big event for March is its season-ending Reggae Fest and Beach Party March 28. Belleayre is about a 90-minute drive from the Albany area. Take the Thruway to Exit 19, Kingston, then Route 28 west 37 miles to Highmount. Belleayre is on the left after the village of Pine Hill.
\nBill Clapper is a snow sports journalist who learned to ski while growing up in New York’s Catskill Mountains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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