Rebuilding Snow Ridge

In the evening on Monday August 7, severe weather ripped through southern Lewis County in New York. The next day the National Weather Service in Buffalo confirmed that the storm was an EF-3 tornado with wind speeds topping out at 140 mph. The storm carved a path of destruction 16 miles long and 700 feet across at it’s widest point. The last time an EF-3 tornado touched down in New York was back in 2014.

Tornado path map courtesy localsyr.com

The storm’s destruction began near West Leyden and stretched northeast to Turin NY. The Village of Turin was subject to significant damage. Snow Ridge Ski Resort and the West Wind Motel, 1/2 mile north of the ski area were hit hardest. After that, the long rampage ended; beyond the West Wind Motel damage was minimal.

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Snow Ridge 3rd Annual Park Jam

The Annual Flower Skate Shop Park Jam at Snow Ridge became my favorite event when launched in 2021. Now in its 3rd year the event has been getting better with a tight park setup and good vibes all around. It’s been an awesome community event with loads of familiar faces each year.

I’ve watched as my Woods Valley crew and other local groups have congealed together around this one event. Although my dreams of winning such an event have faded, it’s still a blast to ride and push myself with all the homies cheering me on. You can bet I have this event marked on my calendar each year; when the date was confirmed I pulled out the park board one last time and got ready for Saturday.

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Snow Ridge: Dog Days of Winter

You may not want to believe it but Winter is approaching halftime. Despite a slow start, winter came back with vengeance the last two weeks delivering the goods in varying degree all across the state. I’ve been traveling for work and had some serious FOMO down south. It was bad. I had to stop checking social media and stay off the mountain webcams.

Snow Pocket T Bar
The Snow Pocket T-bar

Home for the weekend, I wanted to make the most of my time off, hoping to find some untracked snow. In situations like this, the Snow Pocket is often part of the calculation. As usual it lay dormant all week waiting for me to claim first T on Saturday morning.

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