universole

yah by the end of the day deer run was definately a little too slow for me, but i got a lot out of that trail the 3 times i went down it. getting there from the west side of the mountain was fun too. that tomahawk trail that cuts across was fun as hell. has the most ice patches tho.

if im gonna take a stab at my first black this weekend up there which one do you suggest to cut my teeth on?

cifex

i don't know the trails their well enough to say. i wouldn't worry about doing your first black though. once you get over the initial vertigo you'll be fine. worst thing that happens is it's too steep and you have to boardslide down. even the pros do it sometimes.

joeydzzle

saturday sucked! quad lift 6 was down for half of the day. WHACKNESS! not really feeling those steep as hell drops gettin off the chair lift.

Anyone here about them expanding? I heard they are taking over the resort next to them and expanding the opposite way as well. does that mean lift tickets are gunna be $$$$$$$ now? does it mean that belleayre's gunna be crowded as hell now? i really hope not.

universole

cifex where you at belleayre on sat? i heard this pre-teen skiier bit it HARD ambulance came to rush her to the hospital.

junglecat1971

Try Dot Nebel. I think that's more like a blue at most resorts. There are a few others you can sorta walk up to and take a look down and judge yourself but that one is a lil more manageable.

junglecat1971

When, like when Jeremy Jones is doin an initial drop into 55 degree wind blown, rock exposed couloir?

nerve

I've been riding many of the larger mountains (Mt Snow, Okemo, Killington, Stratton) for over 10 years and a few times a year I hit the smaller mountains (Windham, Hunter and Mountain Creek). This year was the first time I decided to try Belleayre..

My opinion is as follows:

I thought the mountain was rather small, not tiny, but still small. It may have felt larger than Hunter if you rode the one trail from one side all the way down two the lower base. Getting up to the top is a pain. a VERY large pain as getting to the lifts are all over the second base of the mountain. They all run across and its not easy for most snowboarders to just unstrap and peddle all the way across. I wasn't happy with the amount of peddling I had to do. The mountain has some nice trails and most of the east side (right side on the trailmap) ones aren't crowded with people, but you are limited. I took a friend of mine who started boarding at a bunch of smaller ones (Camelbak, Creek and Belleayre) to something like Okemo and Mt Snow and he was simply amazed by the size and quality difference in the mountains. I feel once a ride has gotten to a certain plateau they will need to move up to a larger mountain to increase their ability to ride dynamic trails.

In reality. I wasn't all that pleased with Belleayre. I think its better than most of the PA mountains but definitely not better than Windham. All I can say is as an experienced rider I wouldn't go back there unless they gave me my free birthday lift ticket or unless i was taking some new riders to learn.

Stay off the lower half of the mountain as its SUPER crowded. Also the lifts are shitty as hell as they come at 20MPH around the corner to try and sweep you with limited padding. The day I went I saw atleast 4-5 people fall off the lifts. One woman was carried like 4-5ft off the floor and she had to let go and fell on ice. Granted its mostly her fault but I will say that the lifts come in a bit too fast. As for getting off them the newbie snowboarders will be rolling off those things if they haven't learned to ride one footed/stomp pad.