The Time to Ski NY Blog

Dry Hill: Finally Dry

Posted on by Harvey

In 2010, I began work on NYSkiBlog’s Directory of NY Ski Areas to educate myself about New York skiing. In the process, I learned about Dry Hill, the other Tug Hill ski area. It’s a beautiful ski hill on a ripple in the terrain, a few miles south of Watertown. Dry Hill has a magic all her own.

Dry Hill Ski Area

There’s a lot to like about Dry Hill. Dry has a double chair, a T-bar and a magic carpet serving 7 trails on 42 acres; 1.5 miles of terrain with 300 feet of vertical drop. It’s not too surprising that both the double and the T-bar were made by the venerable Hall Ski Lift Company — which was also based in Watertown NY — from 1955 until 1982.

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Tagged: Indy Pass, Lake Effect, Powder, Time to Ski NY, Tug Hill8 Comments

Plattekill, NY: 2/27/10

Posted on by Harvey

My plan was to ski Plattekill with James and Jason, and to ski Gore on Sunday and Monday. Work got in the way of Monday and ultimately Sunday too. I was daytripping the Catskills again.

If you think Belleayre is in the middle of nowhere… Plattekill is 20 miles beyond that. The snow was incredibly deep in Delaware County. So deep that with the consistency of the snow, the trees were basically unskiable. Waist deep.

Plattekill is a part-time mountain, only open Friday thru Sunday. It has the most natural snow in the Cats (190″ avg) – and they leave a lot of terrain ungroomed. Hey it’s a vibe… it’s also a smart way to run a mountain. We stuck to the sides of the “groomers” weaving in and out of the untracked and the huge soft bumps.

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Tagged: Catskills, Plattekill, Powder, Time to Ski NY8 Comments

Gore Mountain: Christmas Week 2006

Posted on by Harvey

Gore Mountain snowmakingI skied Gore all week. In the past I haven’t always understood how Gore chooses to allocate snowmaking resources. But I have to say that this past week, Gore went all out. They blew on everything that was open, every night. They blew all day long on the days when it was cold enough. And while Hawkeye’s opening was a bit of a frustration, they opened up something new everyday.

On the 28th it went down to 10 degrees at our cabin and the mountain made huge progress overnight. If you got there for first tracks — especially on the 29th — the skiing was excellent. It was cloudy, but up top you were actually above the clouds.

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Tagged: Adirondacks, Gore Mountain, Time to Ski NYLeave a comment