A Tribal Gathering: The Lake Placid Loppet

Friday morning at Mount van Hoevenberg, it was quiet. Only the squeak of our skis on wicked cold snow broke the silence. My friend Colin and I had van Ho to ourselves for the ritual pre-race warmup. The Lake Placid Loppet loomed.

Adored and cursed, the Loppet has been my muse for over 20 years. The hardest race in the northeast, it’s the standard by which I judge the difficulty of any other race. Although I’ve had some good finishes, I’ve not yet made my coveted goal of a three-hour finish, and time’s running out for that.

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Gore vs Whiteface, Again.

Once again, the question has been raised in the NYSkiBlog Forums: which mountain is “better” Gore or Whiteface? The question will never be settled: each mountain has a distinct personality that attracts skiers who thrive there. The two mountains, and the skiers they attract, are different.

Gore Mountain Trees
Gore Mountain: Epic NY Tree Skiing

Whiteface skiers thrive on the uninterrupted vertical, awesome High Peaks views, Lake Placid nightlife and of course, the Slides. Gore regulars like the mountain’s width and variety, the trees, and the sheer volume of terrain. If Gore passholders mind the exercise required by flat spots, and if Whiteface diehards are concerned about windholds after big storms, it’s apparently not enough to get them to switch to another mountain.

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Funding New York’s State-Run Ski Areas

OpEd: Funding NY State Run Ski ResortsA recent editorial in the Glens Falls Post Star asked the question: “How much longer can New York taxpayers continue to subsidize ski centers at Whiteface and Gore Mountain?”

The next paragraph yielded a vague response: “It’s time for state officials to rethink the financial and ownership model that has sustained them for the past 30 years.”

With a sluggish economy and state and local tax revenues in decline, there’s no question that public funding for everything is becoming problematic. While the editorial poses a legitimate question, it ignores some important issues, and has logical inconsistencies that make it hard to take seriously.

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