Having a Laugh....

That’s what I’ve been thinking about winter – the snow gods are having some big bad practical joke. It’s December 7^th and the only snow of any consequence came

for Halloween which now seems more trick than treat. Though Plattekill opened for a day (check out the picture by Bri George) and I went snowshoeing…

But now that winter is kicking in today, tonight, with some 7-10 for the Western Catskills. So, WITC is officially in action. This season we will be talking about how to make your own ice skating pond, ice fishing – and following my quest for cocoa. The search is a bit like Lord Of The Rings but less dangerous and unfortunately come with no Viggo Mortensen (though none too shabby Alan Cumming does ski Platty). My search is also more tasty than LOTR. Last year it took me to Alta where I had great cocoa and saw a sundog (a feat of nature worthy of Lord of the Rings).

This year Platty, which is redesigning its menus focusing on local homemade food in the cafeteria and bistro/bar upstairs is also adding a cappuccino machine, has promised me fancy cocoa. Nagging sometimes pays off. Belgian chocolate, here I come.

I recently asked Macker what he was doing to get ready for opening day. His answer? "Drinking a lot of beer." And not the craft ale you find in the bar. He's a Bud and Marlborough man through and through. I've also seen his long lists of things to do, pipes to lay and pumps to move, but there will be more on this in my next post as Platty builds the Grand Canyon of the Catskills.

With snow expected tonight I assume everyone will be out this weekend. Except, um, me. I will be celebrating my mom’s b-day. Mom WITC does not live near a ski hill – perhaps why I was a late-adopter. Also this year for WITC I will learn to snowmobile, but that is in part for the pursuit of fiction. There are a number of snowmobiles in the start of the novel I’m working on. Better I learn to snowmobile than how to kill someone which is also at the start of the book. Welcome to WITC 2011-2012.

Me snowshoeing on Halloween Weekend. Note the bright colors. I am not small game...

The In Crowd

This weekend Platte was happening. There was even a lift line. I’m talking three deep here, six at the most. The kind of thing that puts other mountains in perspective. Certainly it did when someone on the chair said he’d gone to another hill and had to leave because it was a zoo. Platte was not a zoo but filled with characters – including the owner Laszlo Vajtay working the lift, loading kids too short to hop on the chair alone and sporting a yellow “Courtesy Team” jacket and matching yellow safety glasses. Platte is truly a place with horizontal management – the owners do everything.

Skiing this weekend were art world insiders and the director of Wild Style who has a fondness for my fave little hill – calling it the secret Catskill powder stash (he first came a couple years back when there was great snow and no crowds). Seen at the bar après-ing to the band was even my favorite character from The Good Wife. That would be Eli Gold. AKA Alan Cumming… (The pic is one for reference. I didn’t take it at the bar… he was wearing a beard, but no suit..)