Author: James Michaud

Family Fun at Shawnee Mtn, PA

Posted on by James Michaud

Since my son started skiing, we’ve made a point of visiting at least one new hill together each season. Two years ago, we skied at the Poconos’ Alpine Mountain. Last season, he got his first taste of fresh powder at Mount Peter in southern New York.

Bridge over the pond at Shawnee Mtn PA.

This year, we checked out Shawnee, another ski area that allows families in the New York City/New Jersey region to maximize slope time while minimizing drive time.

Only a few miles from the Delaware Water Gap and a convenient one-hour drive from my house, it’s easy to see why Shawnee had already gotten our business. For starters, it’s a far less busy place on weekends than nearby Camelback and has a friendly local-hill feel about it.

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Tagged: PA7 Comments

Windham’s Wounded Warrior Weekend

Posted on by James Michaud

Many people have written heartfelt essays about the magic of skiing — how it takes us out of our sometimes drab everyday lives filled with responsibilities and routine, puts us in the middle of nature, and allows us to fly for a few minutes.

Windham Wounded Warrior

If we’re lucky, the snow will be soft and the lift lines short. If we’re extra lucky (especially here in the northeast), we might score untracked powder.

But this past weekend at Windham Mountain, the ninth annual northeastern Wounded Warriors winter event — where 31 servicemen and women who’ve suffered spinal-cord and orthopedic injuries, amputated limbs, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) came to ski and snowboard together with their families — gave me a new appreciation for skiing’s transformative power.

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Tagged: Catskills, Windham5 Comments

A New Beginning At Belleayre

Posted on by James Michaud

On the drive up the Thruway Saturday morning for my inaugural ski day of the 2012-13 season in the northeast, I thought about the endless discussions in the NY Ski Forums about ORDA taking over the management of Belleayre, the state-run ski area in the western Catskills.

During the off-season, I’d read threads arguing the pros and cons of such issues as free skiing for seniors, the extensive ticket discounts and giveaways of years past, and the number of employees per skier visit. I’d also heard glowing reports from a couple longtime employees who were ecstatic about ORDA’s efforts to transform Belleayre into a fiscally prudent ski area. However, with up to a half foot of new snow in the forecast for the day, my immediate concern was less about ski-area politics and more about getting on the hill as soon as possible.

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Tagged: Belleayre, Catskills7 Comments