Author: Harvey

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

Moxham Mountain, NY

Posted on by Harvey

Moxham Mountain has always been, for me at least, a general term I used to describe an area sprinkled with ledgy cliffs on the “other” side of the Hudson River near North Creek, NY. Even now, after finally summiting Mox, I’m still not clear on the what parts of the landscape are truly considered part of the peak.

Trail to Moxham Mountain.

Take 28N from North Creek past the Minvera Fire House and turn left on 14th Road. Drive to the end of the pavement. After a mile on the dirt road, look on the left for a “trailhead parking” sign.

The trail feels to me more like a cleared bushwack as there is really no discernible roadbuilding on the route. Yet.  Right now, the ground is very soft and really nice to walk on.  There are some beautiful lichens on the rocks, but sadly I fear they won’t last without swift action to protect them.

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Tagged: Adirondacks, Hiking12 Comments

Search for a Ski Camera: Sony RX100

Posted on by Harvey

For three seasons, I’ve wanted a durable camera that would fit in my pocket, deploy quickly and take great pictures at the same time. I’m talking about sharp images that can standup to close scrutiny. And while the most famous skiers can get down the hill with a full-on digital SLR, I simply can’t. I can’t manage the bulk, and those cameras can’t handle the impacts they’d be likely to encounter in my parka.

When I last tried to solve this problem, there were plenty of compact, tough, reasonably fast cameras out there, but none of them were delivering sharp, crisp images.

But things are changing. It seems that the proliferation of smart phones, and the reasonable decent cameras they contain, has all but killed the point-and-shoot market.  Sales of compact inexpensive camera have dropped like a stone, and that’s pushing camera manufacturers to up their game in the portable camera sector. I came across a camera review in the New York Times for the Sony RX100 entitled Tiny Camera to Rival the Pros.

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Tagged: Ski Gear15 Comments

The Ski Season in Photos #12

Posted on by Harvey
Bumpin Riley • Plattekill Mtn • March 19, 2012

After the snow gods delivered a solitary week of winter across the northeast, a cruel blow was served: the winter hating heat wave. In mid-March temperatures soared to mid-summer levels reaching in the 70s and 80s for nearly two weeks.

Already limited snowpacks began to vaporize and mountains across the state scrambled to figure out how they could cram in the normally extended party that constitutes the spring farewell to the lift-served season.

Plattekill bumpfield

The jump from winter to summer coincided with St Patrick’s Day and many mountains scraped together whatever snow they could find and scheduled parties for the weekend of March 19, 2012.  Plattekill unveiled an new annual event — a mogul competition — to take place at midday on St. Plattekill’s Day.

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Tagged: Catskills, Friday Fantasy Photo, Plattekill2 Comments