Author: Brownski

Song Mountain: Lake Effect in Riblet Heaven

Posted on by Brownski

When I visited Labrador Mountain a couple weeks ago, my sons and I had such a good time that I knew I would be back to check out her sister ski area, Song Mountain. I went to Song on Saturday and I wasn’t disappointed.

driving to Song Mountain

The drive up was a perfect demonstration of upstate New York’s schizophrenic weather. It was overcast, then it was snowing, then everything cleared and it was sunny. I got off Route 17 onto 81 and it started snowing again. By the time I reached Song’s exit, it was like I’d driven to the Arctic.

I stopped to fill up my gas tank and there was a snowmobile at one of the other pumps. Some of the surface roads hadn’t seen a plow. I had to slow down to let more snowmobiles cross the road.

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Tagged: Central NY, Powder10 Comments

Skiing on Lincoln’s Birthday

Posted on by Brownski

I alway imagined Abraham Lincoln was a hot laps kind of guy. Midwest skiers have to make lemonade out of just about everything so pushing up the Mach numbers may have been Abe’s only option.

I also believe he’d approve of the way I celebrate his birthday — by skiing. I usually ski his birthday solo, out of necessity. Most people don’t get Lincoln’s birthday and Presidents’ Day off. When they were younger I would drop my kids at school and drive up to Mount Peter in Warwick.

Mount Peter on a midweek morning is like having your own personal ski hill. I was always able to rack up impressive vertical, considering how small the hill is. Including the skate from the top of the lift, chair time was most of my morning.

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Tagged: Adirondacks, West Mountain12 Comments

Labrador: Under the Radar

Posted on by Brownski

It was ski-on just about all day. There were small crowds, cheap(er) tickets, no reservations required. There was plenty of natural snow, a variety of terrain to choose from, fun low angle trees… three cool old fixed grip chairs and a T bar. I discovered that Labrador Mountain in Truxton, NY is awesome. The only thing I couldn’t figure out is how I’d gone this long without checking the place out.

road to Labrador

When I got home from my first visit there, I decided to do some research. I pulled out a couple of books I have on ski history and was surprised to find no mention of either Labrador Mountain or Truxton, NY. I turned to Wikipedia and was astounded to find that there was no page for Lab.

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Tagged: Central NY, Kids17 Comments