In case you didn’t notice, it snowed last weekend. Across the East snow starved skiers and riders flocked to mountains, especially on Sunday. Disheartening lift line photos were shared on social media, some hundreds of people deep.
To maximize stoke it was important to strategize. For me the decision was easy: take Monday off and get the leftovers. After riding in the NYSB gang at Plattekill on Sunday, I shifted gears to Greek Peak for Monday morning.
Like the weather this winter, Farah and I got a late start getting to Greek. We rolled in at 11 and the parking lot was busier than we expected. Don’t these people have jobs?
The answer is no. There’s a whole class of people who ski for two hours in the morning and then leave. I believe they call them “retired.”
Lucky for us that crowd was making its way out and after quickly redeeming our Indy Passes we hopped on the Visions Express quad. With all the new snow and cold wind blowing, it finally felt like winter.
We took a few laps off the quad to get warmed up. Working our way from the greens, to the blues and finally a quad burner on Iliad. The temperature was hovering just below freezing, and what was packed powder yesterday had started to harden up. You’re not going to hear me complain, it was edgable and could theoretically make a great base, weather permitting.
After warming up we cruised across the mountain to Chair 4, but not before a quick lap through the terrain park. The crew was out cleaning things up, they saw me and egged me on to hit some features. The setup was small but super fun. No doubt those guys have their eyes on getting the park setup again on the upper mountain.
Over at Chair 4 things were a little more o’ natural. There was some grass and dirt showing through on Zeus and Medusa. It was ride at your own risk, but for the courageous there were good turns to be had. Not every resort would have had trails like that open, so props to Greek.
I had taken enough base shots at Plattekill on Sunday, so I decided to stay on the trails with a manmade base. After a few prime laps on Trojan, we heading back over to the main lift area.
It was almost 3pm when we took our final run off the Visions quad, one last rip down Iliad had our legs burning and stomachs growling for a late lunch. Our drive home brings us through Syracuse, which has a lot of great food options.
We often stop at Salt City Market in downtown, a food hall with an awesome variety of ethiopian, burmese, thai, arabic and more along with a coffee shop and bar. To save a little time and switch it up we tried Shawarma Paradise off Erie Boulevard. It hit the spot, and like this last winter storm, it was far better late than never.
Skied GP in the storm Saturday night. Conditions were phenomenal 7-9pm. Freshies and refills. Hero powder. Finished off with Traxburgers in the pub. So good!
We got up early the next morning to get the next round of freshies. It was fabulous until the crowds arrived at 11 and we called it a day. 2 hours at the best powder hours is usually enough for us locals.
Glad people had snow to have fun on. Although it seems like winter is over, it’ll be back!
It’s been a long time since I’ve run on Virgil Mountain. I gotta get back to that so I can stop at Salt City Market. Great story and pix!
As a ‘retiree’ who skied with you at Oak, I appreciate your all-encompassing accounts, Robert. Even your mandatory day’s-end restaurant reviews. (You’ll have to tell me about your Ethiopian culinary experiences, since I lived and taught school in Addis Ababa for 17 years. We’re planning on the Acorn Pub at Oak this Friday, if you’d like to join us!) I skied Gore on Monday and was pleasantly surprised the lines weren’t very long at all, especially with Northwoods Gondola not operating. Rode all the lifts, including taking the traverse from top of North over to High Peaks. Only downside was parking all the way down at Lot E and hoofing it, but no complaints.
Nice report, Robert. I especially like that pic of the GP ski patrol hut.
Now I’m hungry for pow and just plain hungry! keep up the good work.