Snow Ridge: Lost in Powder

Recently on reddit I saw a comment calling NYSkiBlog the hot toddy of Northeast ski journalism, I guess we are warm and fuzzy. I took it as a compliment. It’s true, I’m generally pretty positive about my riding experience. This year it hasn’t been hard; I’ve had four solid powder days already.

In a year where nothing is normal, for me riding is the place to find normalcy. The vertical doesn’t really matter, for that length of time it takes me to get down the hill, I forget about everything. Each resort is working to find normalcy as well.

After a summer of fundraising for a new patio and jumping on the Indy Pass, Snow Ridge has had a quiet start to the season. It was only a matter of time before the wind started blowing off Lake Ontario, and the Ridge regained epic status.

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Indy Pass adds Snow Ridge

Indy Pass logoThe Indy Pass is adding Snow Ridge in Turin NY to its lineup of New York ski areas. Passholders will now have access to four resorts in the state: Catamount, Greek Peak and recently added Swain Resort round out the list.

Snow Ridge — located in New York’s snowbelt — is a great addition to the pass, and potentially more so in a year when access to the powder of Vermont is in doubt.

For 75 years Snow Ridge has been delivering deep powder turns in the lake effect snow that falls to the east of Lake Ontario. Long before snowmaking became the price of entry in the ski business, it was the place to be for deep powder in New York.  To this day the 230+ inch annual snow totals, make it the snowiest resort in the state.

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Snow Ridge: Full Send Plateau

This past weekend may well have been the best of the season in the east. A storm that dropped 8-12 inches across most of the region, favored Stowe, Whiteface and Snow Ridge on Tug Hill with significantly more than that. Evan and I had the same thought: first chair at Snow Ridge on Saturday.

Friday, I took the afternoon off to ski McCauley, a taste of what was to come. After close that day, the lake effect band settled over Turin NY. Overnight another 6-8 inches fell, bringing the storm total for Snow Ridge to 29 inches.

One thing I was pretty sure of, it would be more work for us to grab first chair at Stowe or Whiteface on Saturday. At Snow Ridge it’s pretty easy. We arrived 45 minutes before opening, and parked next to the three other cars that were there.

Evan

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