Prospect Mountain: Too Much is Just Enough

The cliffs of the Trapps escarpment glowed pink with the sunrise as I drove up the Thruway. When you work weekends, you ski on Tuesday. With the impending holiday, I wanted to get at least one more day on skis before the end of the year.

Prospect Lodge

Between New Paltz and Kingston, a Volvo station wagon hurtled past me, going 85 mph at least. The vanity tag read “TREESKI.” I know Harv favors Honda CRVs, who else might it be?

Diving off the Thruway in Troy, I had smooth sailing up Route 7 towards Bennington. In Pittstown, I saw the scar of land where the long-abandoned Moon Wink Motel had been demolished.

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Chasing Magic on Opening Day 2022

Two weeks ago skiing wasn’t yet taking up much real estate at all in my thoughts. As I watched the West get properly pummeled in the early goings, I chose to ignore the idea of powder skiing in the East.

Magic Mountain Opening Day 2022
Opening Day 2022 courtesy Magic Mountain

But finally one of those big west coast lows showed signs of moving over us with some cold air in place and machinations of a snow chase became a sudden reality.

We hatched a chase plan from hike-only Plattekill on Saturday to Magic for Sunday’s untouched opener. Arrangements were secured and touring gear was resurrected from the deep, dark corners of my closet. Just seeing my skins airing out above the furnace flooded me with endorphins.

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The Killington World Cup 2022

Superstar was a pile of mud and muck two weeks before the races and that had the town, community and Killington Cup fans at large wondering if the event would even go down. Mother nature complied in the nick of time, transforming Superstar — at the base of the spanking new K1 Lodge — into a course worthy of some of the fastest female skiers on the planet.

Mikaela at the Killington World Cup 2022

With a healthy dose of cold Canadian air and a dedicated snow making crew and even a bit of lake effect, the event pushed the envelope as the skiers raced against the impending forecasts of rain for Sunday’s slalom event.

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