Snow Ridge: Afternoon Deep

While visiting my parents in the Finger Lakes over the weekend I watched the weather reports. I was surprised to see a late season surge, a large amount of snow headed towards Tug Hill. Farah and I headed to Snow Ridge Sunday afternoon.

Snow Pocket

It was one of my deepest days, and possibly the best three hours of skiing I’ve ever had. I’m sure the following words or pictures won’t really do it justice.

Driving the Thruway it was clear skies and dry roads, but after getting off the interstate and driving north of Rome, conditions changed drastically. Deteriorated or improved, depending on your point of view.

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Jay Peak: Playing the Long Game

Three weeks ago Doug Fish of Indy Pass sent me an email. “I’m coming East, here’s my schedule. When are we skiing together?” I looked at his itinerary and started to weigh my options. I needed some time.

Jay Peak

When it comes to weather, the farthest out I look is 240 hours. Each day, I do one simple thing; I check the GFS 240 hour snowfall map for the CONUS (aka Continental US). By noting the difference in the map vs the previous day, I can see if the GFS is seeing snow on that 10th day. Sometimes I leave a browser tab open and refresh it each morning, to more easily see the change in the modeled storm overnight. It’s a bit of a game as storm tracks flip back and forth each day.

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Sommet Olympia: Powder Olympics

There was no podium at Sommet Olympia, the crowds were light, and it seemed the only camera there to document a perfect day was mine. The mountain boasts an Olympic spirit in its name and on the trail map, but the only race was for fresh tracks and it was game on.

Like the recent olympics, this storm had simply appeared in the background of most people’s minds. After a demoralizing rain and thaw, the temperature plummeted and we were left with a foot of right side up pow, a grippy wet base hugging the firm surface underneath and the light and dry where it’s supposed to be, on top. If that didn’t solidify a gold medal day, the sun started to come out at 9am.

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