by Albert Neubert
I’m beginning to sound like a broken record but then again Mother Nature keeps repeating herself. Last Saturday turned out to be a gorgeous spring-like day with temps rising into the 40s and even 50s at ski areas throughout the Northeast. A light freeze on Friday night kept the slopes firm for a while but by noon, conditions started to get heavier on any trail facing into the sun.
I skied at Plattekill, one of my favorite ski areas in the Northeast, on Saturday. Plattekill is located near the village of Roxbury on the western side of the Catskill Mountains. The ski area got from 10-12 inches of snow from the previous Monday storm and much of it was still there when I pulled into the parking lot at 8:30 AM. Early morning temperatures ranged from the low 30s at my house in Woodstock to the low 40s in the Route 28 corridor until you got to the crest at Belleayre where readings were in the low 30s and right up to the Plattekill parking lot.
Saturday was opening day for the season at Plattekill and the area had a good amount of terrain open on the triple chair side of the resort including the upper and lower Face run under the triple. There was also Sundown and Shredded Mozzarella, both intermediate runs and upper Powder Puff over to Crossover. While Powder Puff is a wonderful novice run from the summit, by not having the lower portion of the trail open, it was limited to intermediate level skiers and snowboarders over the weekend.
The Learning Area was also open and served by its own conveyor lift and it was very busy the entire time I was there. There was a very good turnout but, as is so typical at Plattekill, I never waited more than a minute for a chair ride and I rode the chair by myself each time. I managed 12 runs before noon and my legs started to get tired from working the increasingly softer snow as the sun started to beat down on the south facing terrain. I left feeling like I had a great workout and improved my skills on Plattekill’s consistent pitch and fall line slopes.
Windham, in the northern Catskill’s, opened its new Italian themed restaurant, called “Cin Cin,” in what used to be a cafeteria style mid-mountain lodge. I’ve already heard good things about the menu and ambience, and also found out that it is not limited to skiers and snowboarders. Anyone can access the restaurant using the Whiteway express quad chairlift that drops you off right next to the restaurant. Reservations are required and you can make them by going to the Windham Mountain Club website at www.windhammountainclub.com
Every season I cover some aspect of gear or apparel that are essential to an enjoyable and rewarding experience on the slopes. I’ve reviewed things like skis, ski poles and helmets but I haven’t delved into gloves. Let’s face it, skiing and snowboarding takes place in the winter and sometimes it gets downright cold, even frigid or worse, arctic-like, as in way below zero without the wind chill. Often, the best snow conditions coincide with the coldest temperatures. The two places that you can lose the most body heat are through your head and through your fingers and hands.
On an extremely cold day, there’s nothing as bad as getting cold fingers and worse, having them get numb from the start of frostbite setting in. Then again, having toasty fingers is great until you start sweating and then you suffer from cold fingers and hands again. The ideal situation is to be comfortably cool and most of all, dry. Good ski gloves are meant to keep your hands warm and dry on the inside and have a water proof membrane to keep external moisture from getting inside. I might add that this can include mittens which snowboarders tend to prefer because they don’t have to grip poles like skiers.
Typical ski gloves feature either a synthetic or down insulation material. There are even heated gloves that have built-in heating elements to help keep your fingers extra warm on those brutally cold days. Some gloves have a leather palm for extra pole grip and may have wrist leashes so they won’t fall off. There could be nothing worse than having a glove fall off a chair lift to a place where it can’t be retrieved.
How do you choose the right gloves given there seems to be an infinite variety available? Clearly, quality insulation and waterproofing are critical but you also need to consider the ability of the gloves to wick away moisture so you don’t wind up with wet fingers and hands. Another consideration is dexterity. The gloves should fit comfortably and not too tight where your fingers could become numb in extremely cold weather. Being able grip your ski poles tightly is critical. Much of the time, you can get away with reasonably priced gloves that will meet most of the needs I described. However, I find in the extreme cold I often wind up getting numb fingers even with some pricey gloves that I’ve purchased.
Just before the season, I was contacted by a representative of a relatively new ski glove manufacturer called “Baist.” I was intrigued because they were bragging about how their gloves were used by climbers of Mount Everest. Obviously, if you can keep your fingers and hands warm on Mount Everest, I’m sure you could in the Catskills or mountains of New England. In fact, their slogan is “Born in Vermont, built for Everest.” I’m very partial to gear and apparel engineered and made by folks in our own neck of the woods and that experience the same conditions we find ourselves in on the local slopes. I’ve skied in temps as low as minus 30, without the wind chill and I want to come away from those temps without getting frostbite.
I got a set of Baist Classic Gloves and I have to admit, they are definitely the best gloves I’ve ever had. Using an auto analogy, they are the Rolls Royce of gloves and come fully loaded. The outer shell is made of waterproof goat leather and impervious Cordura. The Cordura shell has extreme durability and flexibility and is both water and wind proof. They have double reinforced leather in high wear areas. The knuckle areas are reinforced. They come with removable liners that are breathable to wick away moisture, a result of a combination of “Thinsulate” and “Thermolite” materials.
You get an anti-fog cloth for your goggles and it’s stowed inside one of the gloves. Each glove has a leash so you don’t have to worry about losing them. You also get a snow lock pull cord at the base of the mitt that ensures a weather tight seal. And, that one little extra that I love is the nose wipe material on the back of the thumb. I don’t know about you but when it gets really, really cold, my nose runs a lot. Baist gloves are not inexpensive, just like other top notch gloves but they will last much longer than typical gloves and are well worth it by keeping your hands and fingers safe and comfortable in extreme conditions.
I was able to get out and take a bunch of runs at Hunter on Tuesday, a day after the four inch monsoon hit the Catskills. Hunter survived with much of their terrain intact albeit with a few weak areas and washouts, but nothing that caused any issues on those slopes. Temperatures were below freezing and the snow guns were blasting away to recover the bases and surface conditions. I skied mostly frozen granular and hard pack but it was actually amazingly good considering what happened less than 24 hours earlier.
Enough of the rain and Happy Holidays, and happy skiing and riding! You can contact me at asneubert@aol.com or you can visit my Instagram page at asneubert
