Chasing Powder on The Tug

The lake effect storms that normally blow across Ontario and dump feet of champagne powder onto the Tug Hill Plateau have been somewhat lacking this season. Mother Nature has had other plans, sharing the snowfall in the Adirondacks, Western NY, and the Catskills. There have been small and intense bands here and there, but not what we are used to seeing coming off of Ontario in November and December.

North Slope
Snow Ridge

This was the case for until just days after Christmas. The National Weather Service of Buffalo released their highly-anticipated Expected Snowfall map. As a Tug Hill local, you could say the map was very exciting. Dry Hill, Snow Ridge, and Woods Valley saw a forecast for 12-18” of new snow.

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Panther Gorge Trek

Panther Gorge is a unique zone deep in the High Peak wilderness; it’s one of the most remote places in the park, and for good reason. Lying between the highest peak in the state (Marcy) and the third highest (Haystack), the Gorge is in a world of its own.

view of Panther Gorge

From The Garden, it’s about 7.8 miles; the Loj is 7.5 miles, Elk Lake is about 9 miles, and Upper Works is 10.7 miles, and these are just the distances to reach the area, without including exploration and a return to the trailhead. If you’ve ever hiked Haystack or Marcy and looked across towards the other’s peak, then you got a glance of Panther Gorge.

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Colden: New Slides, New Adventure

The Adirondacks are unique in many ways. They’re rugged, dismal, rocky, muddy, densely populated with spruce trees, and most are miles away from any trailhead. One thing that I think truly sets them apart from other mountain ranges in the East, or the country at that, would be their magnificent landslides.

Mt Colden aerial photo 2025
Aerial photos by Jonathan Zaharek

While almost completely lacking in Vermont and Maine, New Hampshire has a fair share of slides that are frequently climbed. However, most are very different from the slides we have in New York. They’re usually small, full of rubble and dirt with minimal slab, while the slides of the Adirondacks are beautiful streaks of smooth anorthosite that can rise hundreds of feet wide and long up a mountainside.

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