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Plattekill mountain

820 views 11 replies 9 participants last post by  nycfreerider 
thought about Mountain Creek?

SOFTBUTT said:
I was hoping to find some thing within a 6 or 8 hour drive with a ski lift. ...
within 6-8 hours of... where?

SOFTBUTT said:
Plattekill seems like the most logical place but I do want them to have a good time. From what I've read it seems as if they are mostly geared towards the downhill/freeride type of riding and is VERY technical.

Again all of them are fairly newbies, but they did ok at Snowshoe in West Virgina a couple of years ago...I just don't know what the trail system is like compared to West Virgina.

any information you have will be greatly appriecated...
I raced at Plattekill and Snowshoe in June. I rode Mountain Creek (Vernon, NJ) as well. If I had two days, I'd go to Mountain Creek. If I had five days... I think I might still go to Mountain Creek, because I think I'd learn more there and be able to relax and enjoy myself.

I am also a fairly new rider. I've been mtn biking for a little over a year and racing downhill since April.

Plattekill was so huge, I had a hard time relaxing and having fun. I was just trying to get through it without serious bodily injury. It's really steep in a lot of places, with loose shale that moves underneath you when you roll over it and tight turns through trees and over steep rocky patches. A blast if you're a really good rider, which I'm not. I was so bruised up by the time I finished racing Plattekill, it looked like someone took me out back and beat me with a stick. On the plus side, the scenery is amazing, Betty in the gift shop is great to visit with, and the little nearby towns offer plenty of places to stay.

In comparing Snowshoe to Plattekill, I can only compare my race course (sport) and the Super D course to the sport course and few trails I rode at Plattekill. Snowshoe had all the tight technical sections, the roots and rocks and mud that Plattekill did. BUT it was not so steep that I was overwhelmed by it. The Suped D course at Snowshoe took us over a flat 75-yd stretch of rock garden with stream running across. I loved that part (had it been on a 10% grade, though, I would not be so enamored of it). Snowshoe was fun for me. Plattekill was just scary.

At Mountain Creek (Diablo Freeride Park) I was not racing, so I could do any trail I wanted. Perhaps that's why I liked the riding there the best- I saw more of the mountain than the other two places, where I was concentrating on the race courses. It's rocky and technical, but not so steep as Plattekill. Unlike Snowshoe, there's more rock bed to deal with and a lot less mud. They have black and double black diamond trails as well as blue trails. When coached, I could get through the blacks, but on my own, I had fun and was challenged on the blues. I didn't attempt the double blacks. MC has a really fast lift too. :) For more info, see http://mcecom.intrawest.com/mountain_biking.html

There's also Spring Mountain, PA, but I've never been there.

I'm sure there are lots of guys who have ridden all these places. Ask for a comparison in the Freeride/DH forum. My perspective is that of a novice freerider. Good luck!
-sunny :cool:
 
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