Mount Peter: Welcome Back in Time

Last week my eleven year old asked me to take him to Mount Peter. He’s been skiing bigger hills the last few years and has been stepping up his game lately so I was a little surprised that he wanted to return to the 450-foot feeder hill. Still, I think that all skiers remember their home mountain fondly. My son is lucky that his is such a special place, with so much history and charm.

When my older son started skiing, I looked around for a small area where he could learn. It had to be nearby, small, affordable with a good ski school and magic carpet. There are several feeder hills that fit the bill around the metro area and we tried them all out.

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Silvermine: Frozen in Time

The first article I wrote for NYSkiBlog was about taking my kids hiking at the long closed Silvermine Ski Area in Harriman State Park. Silvermine has been one of my go-to spots for a long time, for short walks, hikes around the lake, canoeing, sledding and an occasional ski.

Silvermine pond

It’s a cool spot to get a small dose of nature quickly, easy to get to, has convenient parking and even has bathrooms. Though New York is littered with closed ski areas, most of them have been completely erased from the land. Nearby Ski Stony Point, for instance, is covered in McMansions with big manicured lawns. Silvermine looks like someone shut it down and just walked away twenty years ago.

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Mountain Biking at Sterling Forest State Park

Twelve years ago I purchased my first full suspension mountain bike, a Kona Dawg Dee-Lux. It was a trail bike with 130mm of travel front and rear. Over the years, I replaced several parts, some multiple times, including three wheelsets and I rebuilt two rear shocks and the front fork. That bike owed me nothing.

Devinci mountain bike
Devinci Django 29

This fall I finally got a new ride, a Devinci Django 29. It has a carbon frame, SLX/XT buildkit in a 1×11. I read great things about the bike and was able to test ride it in both a medium and large frame size. Other than the super wide (800 mm) handle bars, I felt comfortable on the large from the start.

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