Mohawk: The Indy Tour Resumes

A couple years ago, I wrote something called “In Defense of Early Season.” The premise was that even though early season conditions aren’t perfect, skiing is better than not skiing. That concept was front of mind last weekend. It had been too long since I’d skied; I just had to get out.

Mohawk Mountain sunrise

I also wrote about “Skiing in the Rain” in the past but I wasn’t eager to do it again, so we settled on Sunday over Saturday. The warm, wet weather this month has stymied the early season plans of many local mountains. Greek Peak and Mohawk Mountain are both on the Indy Pass and open, so they were options. It didn’t make much difference, considering they would both feature limited terrain.

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TGR Stoke the Fire

Ski movie tours are a long-standing tradition, going all the way back, almost to the very beginning of downhill skiing in the United States. Names like Miller and Barrymore pioneered the art form in the days when ski movies were narrated by a guy standing at the back of the theater, often the same guy who edited the film with tape and a pair of scissors. For many people, attending the annual ski movie premiere in person still marks the unofficial start of the ski season.

East 32nd St in NYC

I’ve been to a few tour stops but this year I wanted to change things up. I’d never been to a Teton Gravity Research movie so that was my first stop when researching options. I’ve been a fan of their movies for awhile but always just ordered the DVDs (when that was a thing) or streamed them.

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Feeder Hills Build Skiing

A recent installment of Stuart Winchester’s Storm Skiing Journal newsletter highlighted the ridiculous window lift ticket prices at many big resorts. The price inflation is even more astounding when compared to the much lower price a skier would pay to ski at these same hills with an Ikon or Epic pass or some other heavily discounted ticket product.

Campgaw
Campgaw

I know that if I skied a few times a year and was asked for $209 when I walked up to the ticket window, I’d be tempted to turn around and leave, no matter how far I’d driven. These prices must make it more difficult for young skiers to stick with the sport.

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