Pure Bliss

I spent the weekend at my in-laws house, located in a small town called Big Indian, NY, right smack in the middle of the Catskills. Belleayre Mountain is right down the road. My in-laws are very active at the mountain, fundraising etc, since it is a public mountain and gets funding from the state of NY or from what they generate themselves.

The mountain is pretty small as far as ski mountains go, and is a family mountain, no bells or whistles here. The top is short and steep and gives way to some nice intermediate and beginner trails.

Rob spent both Saturday and Sunday working with Max on his skiing. Max is 4.5 yrs old, and this is his 3rd "season" skiing.

On Sunday I went snowshoeing, by myself, at the cross-country area, located all the way at the bottom of the mountain. It was awesome. I had Umphrey's cranking in my ears and I was totally alone, in the crisp air, with a light snow falling, temperature in the mid 20s.

I picked an intermediate trail, which for the life of me, I have no idea how anyone could cross-country ski - on the picture below, it is marked as "HH". I entered it on the bottom right, from the X-country parking lot.

The first 20 minutes I considered my warm-up - a long, relatively flat portion, with just the slightest rise. Then, BOOM, the next 20 minutes was pure vertical! I loved it, it was great. But I had snow shoes on. I couldn't imagine attempting that terrain with skis on.
The snow was deep, probably 3 ft base. I used my ski poles to negotiate the walk. The trail eventually led into a trail marked "H", which led me back to the parking lot. The entire walk took 45 minutes. It was pure bliss.

I then had the task of getting myself up to the lodge where everyone was, the Overlook lodge, at 2541 ft elevation. The cross-country area is below the beginner area (which is at 2025 ft elevation). I'd say the cross-country area is most likely around a 1900 ft elevation, so I had quite a walk ahead of me. I took the snowshoes off and got walking. It took 45 minutes just to walk up to the Overlook lodge. At one point, a shuttle driver stopped me and asked if I wanted a ride and I kindly declined. It was a super workout and I felt totally empowered.