Closing Weekend at Whiteface

Closing weekend at your favorite resort is like a bad break up: it’s sudden, messy, and keeps you wondering if it could have lasted longer. Once the news was shared that Gore and Belleayre were closing in mid-April, it wouldn’t be long after until Whiteface too would call it quits for the 2024-2025 season.

Whiteface

As good as this winter was, with 189 total inches reported at the Face, spring came early at the mountain, receiving less than a foot of fresh snow in March and nothing more than a dusting in April. At least spring skiing can almost guarantee a good corn harvest.

Continue reading

Chasing Winter at The Top

Powder skiing in New York came to an abrupt halt in early March. Without a season saving storm in sight, the mountains have been losing snowpack. Even at higher elevations, temperatures above freezing during the day and below freezing overnight, brought on an early spring.

Marcy Dam

Spring isn’t bad. Longer days, light crowds and of course, t-shirt weather. Corn snow is a blast when time and temperature align. Early in the day, it can be a nightmare of frozen crud, and in the afternoon it can become mashed mush. Combine all of it together, and you have a springtime backcountry tour in the High Peaks.

Continue reading

Lake Placid Loppet: The Forecast Called for Pain

I haven’t blogged much for NYSB this year. Skiing at Mt van Hoevenberg on 1 December, I crashed hard when Pumphouse Road turned from groomed powder into a rock garden. A torn acromioclavicular ligament put me outta commission. When I returned to skiing, it was decent early season conditions. No one wants to hear “It’s thin, but really good” when downhill writers are contributing stories with epic powder shots.

Lake Placid Loppet

Early on, the big storms were missing us in Saranac Lake. Gradually, conditions improved in the Tri-Lakes. Three inches here, three inches there, and pretty soon you’re skiing in good conditions. By the time the Lake Placid Loppet rolled around, we had serious midwinter conditions.

Continue reading