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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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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Turin NY: Report from the Ridge

I’m optimistic that this winter’s rain is behind us. The turning point was 5pm last Saturday in Turin NY, when it turned to heavy wet snow at Snow Ridge. I know this because I checked the webcam repeatedly, willing it to be so, willing it to be snow.

Apparently, I wasn’t the only one watching. Blue and his brother Stefan called me right after the changeover. We made plans to meet up for first chair the next day.

It was a sleepy Sunday morning at the Ridge when I pulled in at 8:30. There were about 4 other cars in the parking lot and a similar number of people occupied the lodge. Blue and Stefan weren’t far behind me. By the time we were ready, the Ridge Runner was spinning.

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