The Adirondacks Blog

Garnet Hill Lodge Ski Center, NY

Posted on by Harvey

Garnet Hill and I go way back. In 1988, I did some of my first “downhill skiing” on some very skinny skis on the hill.  On my very first run in the Adirondacks, I skied down from the Lodge to the Ski Shop on “The Cut Off Trail” — a short and fairly steep run with a 90 degree left hand turn at the bottom of the steepest part.

View from Garnet Hill Lodge

The hill had just been through a thaw/freeze cycle and it was actually pretty sporty. Yes it’s true — I crashed in the first corner and thought… “this is going to be a long day.”

It snowed overnight and conditions really improved. In fact on each of my first trips to Garnet Hill conditions were excellent. At the time I had no idea how special it was to score new snow on trips planned weeks in advance.

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Tagged: Adirondacks, Garnet Hill, Nordic Skiing1 Comment

Ski Day 16: Like a Local

Posted on by Harvey

Ski Day 16: Saturday started normally. We woke at our usual time, me at 6am, and the girls at 6:45. We played it like a Sunday with Zelda sitting it out. Neve and I were at Gore by 7:45, and we got in one of the first Gondi cars to load.  Same as it ever was.

Sunrise in North River

We skied a mix of pure corduroy and ungroomed manmade snow on the lower mountain. The cord was decent, and the little drifts of windblown manmade were a total blast. The bottom mountain was cold, but calm.

Neve was pushing to go to the top. On our second run, the rope was down and we dropped into Pine Knot. A slight breeze and colder temps made it very chilly at the summit.

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Tagged: Adirondacks11 Comments

Home to Ski in North Creek NY

Posted on by Harvey

I had a crazy cool weekend. My plan was to drive to North River Friday afternoon, ski a day at Gore and a day in the woods. But for me, a weekend in the Adirondacks requires a 2pm Friday departure, and I just couldn’t swing it at work. When I got off work at 6:30 Friday night, I walked home, and pondered my options.

Gore Mountain in North Creek, NY.

I drove to Plattekill early on Saturday morning, with no set plan for Sunday. While riding the lifts I tried to work out my lodging and skiing plans on my phone. My goal was my first ever ski day at Greek Peak. With all the recent discussion about the mountain’s future, I wanted to finally experience the hill and see Hope Lake Lodge to better understand the big picture.

But it was after all a holiday weekend and I couldn’t find a place to stay close to the hill. While there was extra driving involved, the math on my Gore season pass, and the simplicity of staying in North Creek, drew me back to our home away from home.

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Tagged: Adirondacks, Gore Mountain14 Comments