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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Indy Magic: Opening Day 2019

My younger son wanted to go to Plattekill on Saturday. He missed Plattekill, and he told me repeatedly. He wanted to eat chili and nachos for lunch and the Plattekill lodge was the best for playing hide and seek at the end of the ski day. I admit it was a compelling argument.

I told him he would like Magic. It was just as cool as Plattekill — cool trails, cool old lifts, cool and welcoming crowd. And considering the recent snowfall, there would likely be some cool powder to ski — just like at Plattekill. And, I assured him, Magic would have chili and nachos.

My son didn’t care, but Magic is on the Indy Pass, a selling point for me. And like Catamount — our first stop on our “Indy Tour” — Magic has upped its infrastructure game, bigtime.

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Doug Fish and Birth of the Indy Pass

Doug Fish of Indy Pass

Doug Fish and Nate Parr have spent most of their lives skiing and working in the ski business. Their latest venture — The Indy Pass — is designed to expose smaller independent mountains to a wider audience and help them compete in the current era of mega pass consolidation. Our interview with Doug follows.


NYSkiBlog: Doug, where are you from originally? When did you start skiing?

Doug Fish: I’m a native Oregonian and live in the shadow of Mount Hood in Portland.

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