The Adirondacks Blog

Riding the Royal Powder Carpet

Posted on by Robert

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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Tagged: Adirondacks, Lake Effect, Powder, Royal Mountain6 Comments

ORDA’s Ski3 Opens Early

Posted on by ThatNYSkier

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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Tagged: Adirondacks, Gore Mountain, Whiteface5 Comments

Goodnow Mountain Ramble

Posted on by Peter Minde

As I wrote this on 14 October, fat, waterlogged snowflakes were pelting out of the sky and accumulating in my yard. The upcoming weekend was Columbus Day, the swan song for hikers. On Sunday, I got out into the woods, hoping to get a measure of solitude. I gazed at the bottom of the map. Hoffman Notch or Goodnow Mountain?

I chose Goodnow. The trailheads alongside Route 73 confirmed my decision. They were all stuffed to the max with cars. I wouldn’t mind climbing Cascade again, but not with 500 of my closest friends. I turned onto the Northway to dash down to exit 29 and Blue Ridge Road.

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Tagged: Adirondacks, Hiking4 Comments