I’ve been public about my goals for this season, shooting my mouth off about all kinds of things. Ski 100 days. Ski every ski area in New York in three years. Do more backcountry. Tele ’til I’m smelly. Probably some others that I’ve forgotten. But then reality showed up. Now you can watch me backpedal.
One of my big promises was based on my idea that it is Time to Ski New York. As the editor of NYSkiBlog, recently retired and relocated to the mountains, I feel it’s incumbent on me to ski all of New York, to be informed.
It’s become clear to me, that when it’s snowing, I’m more motivated to drive a distance to ski a new area. I want to have the best chance to tell a great story.
Planning beyond the medium range forecast doesn’t really work for me. I’m chasing snow, with one eye on my list of unskied areas. And yea, the three years to ski the whole state is out the window.
Oak Mountain is the closest ski area to home after Gore. It’s crazy that I haven’t skied it yet, as we’ve been coming to the Southern Adk for decades. Speculator NY is in a snowy spot 40 miles from home. Oak is my first new area this season, and it did not disappoint.
This season much of our snow has been lake effect, and while Oak was getting some of that, Snow Ridge and the rest of the usual suspects have been getting more.
On Thursday morning Oak reported 8″ overnight. I asked Robert to show me around, he’s skied the hill many times. All week he’d been saying McCauley was the call for Friday, but the new snow was enough to convince him to make the trip East to ski with me.
I liked Oak as soon as I drove on to the property; I found it very approachable. I was ahead of Robert, and the ski shop looked open, more than an hour before lifts. (Way cool.) Lisa helped my buy a ticket online, I admit I needed help.
Lisa informed me, now that I am 67, I’m a senior at Oak Mountain. It was the first time a ski mountain has classified me as an elder. $10 off, $48 for the day. It turned out to be quite a value.
We made 2nd chair, as the other guy who waited with us, seemed to want to ride alone. Robert was being logical about looking for any untracked on open trails to start, when you are (almost) first. We started by dropping in to TNT Glades, skiing through to Kunjamuk.
It was snowing lightly when I arrived, then sunny just before first chair, and then it started to snow again. It snowed most of the rest of the day, with varying intensity, totaling two inches on the car at 3pm.
Robert was right, there was untracked on the sides of almost everything including Alternate, Skidway, Tag, Oak Mountain Run and The Thing.
We skied TNT and TLP glades almost exclusively after lunch. It seemed that most of the tracks in the trees, were from Thursday night skiing. We were the only riders we saw in the trees all day on Friday.
The Ontario lake effect band of the day was favoring us. We decided to take an early-ish break for lunch to let the snow pile up. After a couple of smash burgers, we were back at it, skiing the trees again. We went until 2:30 on Ski Day 51, my longest lift-served day of the season.
What a blast! Matt and Laura O’Brien, I love your mountain.
Great write up, and nice pics!
Come on down to Catamount one day, where Senior pricing applies to those of us age 60 and up!
SPP
Oak Mountain was my first ski area. Back when it had rope tows, i had bear trap skis with bare wood bottoms and many years ago. West Mountain in Queensbury/ Glens Falls also offers Senior (65+) tickets.
I’ve never skied at Oak and it’s only 45 minutes down the road. Maybe this is the year! Thanks for the great story Harv!
Nice write-up, Harv! Thanks for the inspiration — I’ve wanted to ski Oak Mountain, and your report just moved it even higher on my list!
As I read this I feel sad about Hickory Ski Center not opening this season. This historic mountain so many of us ADK skiers love; natural snow, old-school lifts, loyal community, won’t be operating this year (and maybe beyond ).
This winter’s snow has been epic and all of us Hickory fans are grieving the loss of something really special. It’s not just a ski hill — it’s a place with soul.
My parents were original members dating back to the 1950s, so Hickory has always felt like part of our family history. There’s nothing else like it — the vibe, the community, the old-school feel, the way it makes you fall in love with skiing all over again.
Really hoping somehow, some way, Hickory finds its way back. ⛷️
Nice meeting you on Friday, Harvey, and seeing Robert again! Yesterday was indeed epic with the entire mountain now open. And Alternate and Skidway, neither groomed heretofore at all, afforded bottomless fresh. While you guys enjoyed the glades, my crew basked in the ample untouched margins of Kunjamuk and Fifth Ave., where one could lay down 8’s on consecutive runs. It really didn’t feel as cold as I had feared and we must have picked up several inches during the day’s intermittent snowfall. Moreover, Oak led the way today among nearby areas in ensuring the safety of its patrons and staff by closing due to the cold, forfeiting income to avoid injury.
Oak Mt. What wonderful memories. As a five year old Oak was the first area with a lift after Fahnestock was fortunate to ski thanks to my parents. And Oak had a T-Bar nice upgrade from a wet rope dragging through the snow. From the perspective of a five year old Oak was huge. A veritable alp. Now 70 years later I still love to ski. I don’t require an alp, local bump is fine. Especially w fresh corduroy.