Dewey Mountain Springs Eternal

If you don’t like the weather in the north country, just wait 20 minutes.

Recently I went for a walk on Dewey Mountain. A few years back, I wrote about skiing at Dewey, my local right here in Saranac Lake — OK, it’s just outside the village, technically in Harrietstown. But let’s not quibble over details.

Dewey Mountain Trail Map

After knocking back an espresso at Origin Coffee, I drove over to Dewey. Three months post knee replacement, running is off the table and it ain’t coming back. It’s too hard on the prosthesis, and my surgeon bluntly told me, if you come back in, like, 8 years, and the prosthesis is messed up from running, I’ll probably decline to do another surgery.

Continue reading →

A New York Skier’s Season in Photos: 2025/26

My ski season has come and gone, and what a season it was in the northeast. From late December to early March we enjoyed natural snowfall, cold temps and little rain.

clouds at the top of Hunter Mountain
Thick clouds breaking up at the top of Hunter Mountain

These are the conditions that make for a great winter in the northeast it was nice to not have to deal with too many temperature swings, variable precipitation and other factors that adversely affect ski conditions. Here are some of my favorite photos from this season.

As usual, my season started at Hunter Mountain. Opening day on November 22 started with thick, low clouds and only the mainline open for top-to-bottom skiing.

Continue reading →

West Mountain: Last Indy Standing

It’s almost time to throw in the towel. Open ski resorts in the east have been dropping like flies. On the second weekend in April, in New York, my options were down to the ORDA hills and West Mountain in Queensbury. West is on the Indy Pass, it was an easy call to go check it out.

Getting to West is easy, it’s right off of the Thruway. Their spring hours were 10 AM to 4 PM so we weren’t required to get up early.

We took our time, stopped at a Stewart’s for breakfast on the way, and arrived at their Northwest Lodge around 9:50 AM. There were just a handful of cars ahead of us.

Continue reading →