Greek Peak: A Rock in Central NY

I set three alarms, one for 5 AM, then one for 5:05 and one for 5:10. I only needed the first one and I didn’t even get any guff from Danger Boy when I went to shake him awake. He got dressed and moved to the back Subaru’s back seat where I had a pillow and a pile of fleece blankets waiting for him.

Our bags, skis, a cooler of drinks, snacks and a thermos of hot coffee were already in the car. We were on the road by 5:10. My planning and preparations had paid off. Getting my son up that early was a lot to ask so I let him sleep all the way to Virgil. We made our way out Route 17 in the dark.

We pulled into Greek’s parking lot at 8:30. It was snowing lightly under a gray overcast. My son moved to the front seat to boot up while I went to redeem our Indy Passes.

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Greek Peak: Expanding the Zone

Embracing change isn’t exactly my specialty. My life can be boiled down to a handful of things I do year in and year out, over and over. Work, eat, sleep, deal with responsibilities in summer, and ski and blog about my favorite hills during the season.

Greek Peak

I’ve been planning to ski Greek Peak for almost ten years. I certainly had my chances. From my desk at work, I’ve watched the mountain experience some great lake effect snow cycles. I remember a stretch a few years ago, when a persistent upper-level low lingered for more than a week, dropping — as they say in the Virgil Valley — “two-tree” inches a day, until it was game-on across the mountain.

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Black Friday at Greek Peak

This past week snow riders gave thanks. It’s not often lifts in New York spin in mid-November. I got some early season action at Gore last weekend and this weekend hit Greek Peak on opening day too. It felt right to be back at Greek after closing them out on ski-for-free day. On April 15 2018, only a single white ribbon remained. This year, on Black Friday, I found a lot more.

Cats and snowmobiles

I woke from my long Thanksgiving nap shortly before 6am. With a -6f temp reading outside, it felt more like February than November. I loaded my gear and drove from the Finger Lakes to Greek Peak. The only cloud in sight was steam rising off Seneca and Cayuga Lakes.

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