Author: Harvey

Skier, Blogger, Ski Blogger. Editor-in-chief NYSkiBlog.

Whiteface Opens 2020

Posted on by Harvey

I did what I needed to do, to get first chair, on Whiteface’s opening day 2020. I cleared my schedule and drove to the Adirondacks on Friday afternoon. I woke up at 5am Saturday morning and left our place at six. I arrived in the River Lot at 7:30 and booted up there.

the drive to Whiteface

I went over the bridge to the base lodge, through the tunnel and up to the Face Lift. A small group waited patiently as mountain ops finished the grooming on Fox, the final stretch of the only way down. Broadway to Lower Valley to Fox.

Ron Kon saw my skis, which pretty clearly ID me, and he introduced himself. We talked about Whiteface, and uphill policies, and ski days. It was Day #13 for him.

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Tagged: Adirondacks, Whiteface15 Comments

Man, I Wanna Be a Local

Posted on by Harvey

Man, I want to be a local. And this year, I’m not alone. Second homes in the mountains have been occupied full time since the spring, and the real estate market in the Adirondacks and Catskills has been off the hook.

But for me, this isn’t a new thing. I’ve been dreaming of living in the mountains of New York since I found them for the first time back in 1988. I discovered my love for cold and snow and remote locales, freeheeling in leather boots in the Siamese Pond Wilderness.

While we have a plan to make it happen, it’s a few years off, in 2024, so it’s not going to help me this season.

In pursuit

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Tagged: Flatlands, Ski Life8 Comments

Come On, Vermont!

Posted on by Harvey

Vermont is in a unique position. Largely rural — and without a major metropolitan area within the state’s borders — Vermont has avoided the levels of infection from the pandemic that have affected other states in the Northeast, and the rest of the country.

Middlebury Snow Bowl
Middlebury Snow Bowl

While infection rates in Vermont aren’t really that different than many of the more rural areas of New York, because Vermont doesn’t have those dense urban areas, the statewide rate for infection has been much lower than other states. (For example at the time of this writing, Chittenden County infection rates are equal to or above those in the neighboring NY counties just across the lake.)

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Tagged: Ski Life, VT21 Comments