Titus Mountain: Cold Powder

In 2013, I discovered a valuable life hack: skiing on my birthday is a great way to forget I’m getting older. Ever since that day I’ve made it point to ski Plattekill on the anniversary of my entrance into the world. The joy of skiing drives out any thoughts associated with the inevitable passage of time.

Titus Mountain

In years when my birthday falls on a day when the lifts aren’t spinning at Plattekill, I’ll ski it on the closest operating day. At the same time, I look to one of my other favorite privately owned New York ski areas, to ski on my official date of birth.

I didn’t have a plan to ski Wednesday, and it occurred to me that this tradition/coping mechanism dated back 14 years. I didn’t want to break my streak.

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Riding the Royal Powder Carpet

There are two wolves inside me. One wants to grow snow riding. Add stoke. Support locally owned mountains that are lifebloods in their communities. The other wants to throw all that out the window on a powder day.

first chair

Royal Mountain, overlooked by some, has been getting widespread attention with recent weather events. Royal is less than an hour down the road from me, and I’ve make it a habit to ride there every season. In April 2022 I caught a late spring storm and last year Jake Tennis gave us the scoop on the new trail The Red Carpet.

When I pulled up last Saturday I was hyped to see a great little mountain getting the attention it deserves.

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ORDA’s Ski3 Opens Early

Opening weekend in New York is always a special time. After months of summer heat we anticipate autumn’s first frost. Skiers often get a first glimpse of the winter season once the resorts fire up their snow guns.

Whiteface view from the base

In a typical year, Whiteface works to open on Black Friday. While this fall hasn’t been exactly cold, the temperatures and humidity aligned this past week to allow each of the Ski3 mountains to start making snow on limited terrain.

Whiteface, the tallest of the three, opened up 1.3 miles of trail with 1,840’ of vertical that ran from the top of the Summit Quad from Riva Ridge down through Paron’s Run, over to Lower Northway and finally exiting off of Summit Express.

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