Woods Valley: Wednesday Night Lights

Skiers and boarders adapt to all kinds of change.  Conditions, weather and equipment are constantly in motion. In the flurry of change, there are also constants.

snowboarder

Our favorite mountains do not move, our favorite lifties still spin our favorite chairs, and we can count on our best partners to ride with us. Back at Woods Valley for the first time this season, it all felt right.

After work on Wednesday, I drove to Woods. When I pulled into the lot I noticed changes around the mountain. The new lodge is almost complete and was just starting to glow as the external lights turned on.

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Oak Mountain: One Way or Another

When we were younger, Conor and I would build a jump in the back yard and hit it with our cheap kick in strap snowboards. It’s been a long time since then, but our love for snowboarding lives on. We only had a one opportunity to ride together before year end. On Saturday night, we made plans to ski Oak Mountain after a sweet little storm dropped some new snow on the mountain.

Oak Mountain base area

We were up early for the 3 hour trek from our family homes in the Finger Lakes. The mountain was shining in the sunlight when we pulled in around 9:30. We quickly suited up and walked on to the empty chair. The evergreens were covered in snow and the mountain was underneath a 6-inch blanket.

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Royal Mountain: Get Up and Go

In New York, early season conditions can be fickle, to say the least. The first year I moved to Utica, I remember a lake effect storm dumping 2’ of snow on Tug Hill a week before Thanksgiving.

Royal Mountain lift

This year I felt I would be lucky to get any turns in before Christmas. Saturday’s weather was a bust. I got my booster Friday night so I didn’t feel bad wasting Saturday, while it steadily rained. I had no expectation Sunday would be any better, but it was.

I woke up late on Sunday and saw a seemingly benign share on Facebook by ISKINY. Royal mountain was open, freshly groomed and from the picture it looked like loads of base.

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