Snow Ridge: No Bad Days

Last week seems so long ago. It was -10 degrees and across the Northeast snow was falling. In the Tug Hill region of New York, some places got more than 3 feet of lake effect.

I’ve had more powder days at Snow Ridge than any other mountain. When I saw they were running the Snow Pocket lift for the first time this year, I knew we were in for a good time. For his birthday, I bought my friend Alex a lift ticket, and a little bit of Snow Ridge magic.

Much of the drive from Utica to Turin is through the farmland and forest. It’s a sure sign you are getting close when the walls of snow along the road grows taller than your vehicle. The sun was peeking through the clouds as we parked.

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The Holiday Valley Effect

I follow the lake effect snow in central and northern New York at this time of year. Sometimes it takes a little more work. Last week Holiday Valley came up big reporting 19 inches from Wednesday through Thursday night.

After work on Friday I linked up with my friend Alex in Rochester to plan our swing into Western New York. On Saturday we headed to Holiday Valley. Another friend, Katie met us at the Yodeler Lodge just as the lifts started spinning.

I’d taken trips to Holiday Valley as a kid, but Katie grew up skiing there. Even better we were joined by her father John, aka Wiz. John spent the last 27 years on patrol at Holiday Valley and his family has a deep ski heritage in western NY.

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Snow Ridge Powder Day! (Video)


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Over the past month, fresh snow has been a scarce commodity in New York State, the northeast and across most of the continent. After a long drought, Ullr pushed some cold arctic air across Lake Ontario and dropped a foot of lake-effect blower on Tug Hill. The just released video is from Tuesday’s Powder Day at Snow Ridge.

Snow Ridge Lake Effect from Ted Battesh on Vimeo.

“Skiing groomers on manmade snow was getting old, pretty quickly. When I heard that the Tug Hill Plateau area was about to get hammer with lake effect snow — to the tune of 2-3 feet — it got my attention. I kept an eye on the radar and snowfall totals.”