Hickory Hill Hike

On August 3, Hickory Ski Center’s Facebook page woke from a slumber that began in October of 2017. The message: “we’re having a party on Saturday August 14. Come support Hickory.” Further down in the comments they dropped the big one: “There’s more exciting news to come!”

road to Hickory
The Back Way

Those still following that long dormant page, jumped right to the most exciting possibility, that Hickory was planning to reopen. Later when placeholder copy and one of our pictures was added to the Hickory’s website, my anticipation grew.

Hickory faces hurdles. Beyond the logistics required to open any ski area, it will take some weather magic to open a rocky hill without snowmaking, at 700 feet, in Warrensburg NY.

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The Ski Wing Murders

I learned about the Ski Wing Murders in a roundabout way. This summer we’ve been working on the NYSkiBlog Guide, our directory of all kinds of historical data. One goal is to make progress on our Western NY Ski Areas section during this offseason.

In the process, we’ve come across information about some great looking NY ski areas that are now gone. Places with Holiday Valley vertical and more than 100 inches of snow in an average year. This peaked our curiosity.

This story is about a NY ski area that was best known as Ski Wing, even though the area had three different names from 1958 to 1993. The story is both tragic and incredible.
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Season Pass Math Fail

Maple Ski Ridge

I started cross country skiing at age 30. By the time I was 40, I was fully hooked on snow sliding. I was jonesin’ to ski by Thanksgiving, and often there was no snow in the woods.  I started to ski at Gore.

I didn’t have fixed-heeled gear. I took my 210s and leather boots over to the mountain, bought a ticket at the window, and skied.  For several years, Sunway, Gore’s classic green trail, was all I could handle.

I’d do twenty laps, which was a lot of turns, for an advanced beginner on skinny skis.   I was having a blast and never really thought too much about the price of the ticket.

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