Plattekill: A Date with Stella

In my own personal utopia, work would be a three-season activity, limited to those times when there is no snow in the hills. But life has a way of expressing its own opinion, often in an insistent way.

skiing winter storm stella

Midweek ski days are rare for me, even in years when my workload is sane. Still, by the time Zach texted me about skiing the biggest winter storm of the season, I had plans to hookup with Winter Storm Stella.

Tuesday the flatlands were shutdown by the storm, and I was the only one who made it into work. My brain was on overdrive juggling different projects, trying to clear the decks, for one day.

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Another McCauley Surprise

McCauley. I think about it. I look at the webcams, read the snow report and check the NWS point forecast. The place is on my list.

mccauley first chair

At this point, if I’m staying in North River, I’ve got to be solo to even consider McCauley. After driving from the flatlands, the girls aren’t eager to get up at 5am for a 90 minute drive to the hill.

Early last week the forecast called for a lake effect event, so I started to consider options.  I admit I thought that headline snow totals from farther west might give me a great opportunity. After a huge day Saturday at Gore and in our woods, I crawled into bed with the alarm set for 5:30.

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Skiing with Duck

On average, Gore gets less snow than some other mountains. Most Vermont hills claim more than Gore’s official 150 inch average and other mountains in New York get more snow too.

But one thing is sure, we do a lot with the snow we get, at Gore. Over the last week, the mountain reported more than fifteen inches and everyone you met said it was the best skiing in quite a while.

A nice midweek storm dropped over a foot, and in a show of mercy for us weekend warriors, it snowed again on Friday night. It looked like two inches at our place. I assumed that there would be more on the mountain.

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