The Oak Mountain Blog

My first time riding Oak Mountain was five years ago. I had just started writing for NYSkiBlog and was starting to go off the beaten path. In the years before that time, I drove past the hill on my way to Gore. Now it’s my mission to get to Oak at least a twice each season.

The family-owned resort offers some surprisingly good terrain, a real vibe and no lift lines. Weather delayed their opening to this past Friday. Seeing an opportunity to rack another opening day in 2023, I drove to Speculator early Friday morning.

At the ticket booth I was greeted by Laura O’Brien, half of the husband-and-wife team that runs Oak.

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When we were younger, Conor and I would build a jump in the back yard and hit it with our cheap kick in strap snowboards. It’s been a long time since then, but our love for snowboarding lives on. We only had a one opportunity to ride together before year end. On Saturday night, we made plans to ski Oak Mountain after a sweet little storm dropped some new snow on the mountain.

We were up early for the 3 hour trek from our family homes in the Finger Lakes. The mountain was shining in the sunlight when we pulled in around 9:30. We quickly suited up and walked on to the empty chair. The evergreens were covered in snow and the mountain was underneath a 6-inch blanket.

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There might be something in the water over in Lake Pleasant, NY. At Oak Mountain, overlooking the lake, it seems everyone is smiling and kids are laughing.

Oak was off my radar — until this year — when I started to hear good things. They had more than a foot of snow during the week, and a lot of it remaining untouched. My friend Alex the Skier said he wanted to try something new. With 2-for-1 tickets from Warren Miller, we headed up Saturday morning.

We arrived around 9am. The first thing I noticed were out of state plates, from New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts. Oak’s snow quality and uncrowded slopes attract locals and tourists alike.

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