Face4Me
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- Joined
- Sep 12, 2020
I decided that I would do a tour of central New York and Pennsylvania ski areas that I've never been to. The original plan was to ski ten mountains in five days, however, a snow storm on the day of my planned departure forced me to modify my plan, and leave a day later, adjusting the trip to seven mountains in four days. The revised plan included the following ski areas: Camel Back, Elk Mountain, Greek Peak, Song Mountain, Labrador Mountain, Toggenburg Mountain and Plattekill Mountain. (I've skied Plattekill before, however, the last time I skied there was almost thirty years ago)
Day 1
My first day had me driving from my home in the Lower Hudson Valley to Camel Back Resort in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, a drive of approximately two hours. I arrived at the mountain about fifteen minutes later than I had planned, which was no big deal. As I drove up the road leading to the resort, my first thought was that this was exactly the sort of thing I don't like about so many ski areas today. It's really built up, with lots of condos, hotels, restaurants, water slides, etc. at the base of the mountain.
I bought my ticket, grabbed a trail map, and proceeded into the lodge to boot up. After looking at the trail map, it became apparent that Camel Back's trail system is a pretty straight-forward collection of parallel trails dropping off of a ridge.
Camel Back "Main Face"
I left the lodge and got on the Sullivan Express high speed quad. I decided that I'd work my way along the ridge, from skier's left to right, hitting each trail in succession. In just a couple of minutes, I had reached the top.
My first trail was King Tut, followed by Hump. I felt a little “out of sorts” on those first two runs. I was having a tough time with visibility, even though it was a perfectly clear day. I wear eyeglasses, and I have a prescription insert that fits inside my ski googles. After the second run, I thought maybe the insert needed to be cleaned, so while I rode the lift up, I took my googles off and removed the insert. I was surprised to find that there was only one lense in the insert!!! I immediately panicked … how was I going to ski four more days without being able to see??? When I was booting up, I had switched the insert from my clear goggles to my tinted goggles, so I was hoping that maybe the lens had fallen out and was either in my bag or on the table where I had booted up. I skied back down to the base and went inside to look. Fortunately, I found the lens in my goggle bag and was able to pop it back into the frame. What a relief!!!
I went back out and continued my progression across the ridge.
Over the next hour and a half, I made my way across, skiing most of the trails, including Cliff Hanger, Camel Back's double black diamond trail. The pitch off the top of the ridge on many of the trails, including Cliff Hanger, is actually quite steep, in fact, steeper than I would have guessed, but it doesn't last for more than a couple of turns, and that's it.
Cliff Hanger With Great Wolf Lodge In The Background
In the end, Camel Back was pretty much exactly what I expected. This may be harsh, but I can't really imagine any reason why I'd ever go back. The runs are short, and oddly enough, I think an unintended consequence of the high speed quad lifts is that they actually accentuate how short the runs are, because you're back at the top of the mountain so quickly.
I guess if you don't really have any other options, it's better than nothing, but I'd describe Camel Back as a resort that has some skiing rather than a ski resort.
Camel Back Base Area With Water Park Features
After leaving Camel Back, I headed to my next destination of the day, Elk Mountain, which is located off of I-81, Northeast of Scranton, PA.
I was immediately impressed by the contrast of Elk Mountain to Camel Back. Looking up at the mountain from the parking area, I could already tell that this was going to be much more my speed. I took the shuttle ride from the parking lot to the main lodge, bought my lift ticket and booted up. Studying the trail map on my way up the East Chair double lift, I saw that Elk Mountain's trail system was somewhat “circular”, with the trails essentially all dropping off from a central point, some to the left, some down the middle and some to the right. This is somewhat of a simplification, but it's the best way I can think of to describe it.
Once again, I decided that I'd follow the same approach that I had followed at Camel Back, working my way from skier's left to skier's right. Like Camel Back, I was somewhat surprised by the pitch at the top of the trails. With one-thousand feet of vertical drop, the length of the trails at Elk Mountain was a big improvement over Camel Back. The other nice change was that some of the trails at Elk Mountain were left ungroomed, with nicely formed, reasonably soft bumps on some of the expert trails. I had a lot of fun skiing the bumps on Wyalusing, Chippewa, Tunkhannock and Iroquois (I may not have gotten the trail names correct).
Tunkhannock Bumped Up Nicely
These Guys Yelled Out For Me To Take A Picture Of Them!
There were lots of fir and pine trees along the edges of the trails, and I really liked what I saw. Unfortunately, I had arrived at the mountain a little later than I had originally planned, and my afternoon ticket was only valid until 4:30, so I had to really hurry to ski all of the trails. I really would have liked to have spent more time there.
Fir And Pine Trees Lining The Trails At Elk Mountain
In the end, I really liked Elk Mountain. I don't know if I'll ever have any reason to ski there again, but if the opportunity presented itself, I'd definitely go back. This was exactly the kind of place I had hoped to find on this adventure.
The Base Lodge at Elk Mountain
After leaving Elk Mountain, I drove to Cortland, NY to spend the night. Day 2 was slated for Greek Peak.
Day 1
My first day had me driving from my home in the Lower Hudson Valley to Camel Back Resort in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, a drive of approximately two hours. I arrived at the mountain about fifteen minutes later than I had planned, which was no big deal. As I drove up the road leading to the resort, my first thought was that this was exactly the sort of thing I don't like about so many ski areas today. It's really built up, with lots of condos, hotels, restaurants, water slides, etc. at the base of the mountain.
I bought my ticket, grabbed a trail map, and proceeded into the lodge to boot up. After looking at the trail map, it became apparent that Camel Back's trail system is a pretty straight-forward collection of parallel trails dropping off of a ridge.
Camel Back "Main Face"
I left the lodge and got on the Sullivan Express high speed quad. I decided that I'd work my way along the ridge, from skier's left to right, hitting each trail in succession. In just a couple of minutes, I had reached the top.
My first trail was King Tut, followed by Hump. I felt a little “out of sorts” on those first two runs. I was having a tough time with visibility, even though it was a perfectly clear day. I wear eyeglasses, and I have a prescription insert that fits inside my ski googles. After the second run, I thought maybe the insert needed to be cleaned, so while I rode the lift up, I took my googles off and removed the insert. I was surprised to find that there was only one lense in the insert!!! I immediately panicked … how was I going to ski four more days without being able to see??? When I was booting up, I had switched the insert from my clear goggles to my tinted goggles, so I was hoping that maybe the lens had fallen out and was either in my bag or on the table where I had booted up. I skied back down to the base and went inside to look. Fortunately, I found the lens in my goggle bag and was able to pop it back into the frame. What a relief!!!
I went back out and continued my progression across the ridge.
Over the next hour and a half, I made my way across, skiing most of the trails, including Cliff Hanger, Camel Back's double black diamond trail. The pitch off the top of the ridge on many of the trails, including Cliff Hanger, is actually quite steep, in fact, steeper than I would have guessed, but it doesn't last for more than a couple of turns, and that's it.
Cliff Hanger With Great Wolf Lodge In The Background
In the end, Camel Back was pretty much exactly what I expected. This may be harsh, but I can't really imagine any reason why I'd ever go back. The runs are short, and oddly enough, I think an unintended consequence of the high speed quad lifts is that they actually accentuate how short the runs are, because you're back at the top of the mountain so quickly.
I guess if you don't really have any other options, it's better than nothing, but I'd describe Camel Back as a resort that has some skiing rather than a ski resort.
Camel Back Base Area With Water Park Features
After leaving Camel Back, I headed to my next destination of the day, Elk Mountain, which is located off of I-81, Northeast of Scranton, PA.
I was immediately impressed by the contrast of Elk Mountain to Camel Back. Looking up at the mountain from the parking area, I could already tell that this was going to be much more my speed. I took the shuttle ride from the parking lot to the main lodge, bought my lift ticket and booted up. Studying the trail map on my way up the East Chair double lift, I saw that Elk Mountain's trail system was somewhat “circular”, with the trails essentially all dropping off from a central point, some to the left, some down the middle and some to the right. This is somewhat of a simplification, but it's the best way I can think of to describe it.
Once again, I decided that I'd follow the same approach that I had followed at Camel Back, working my way from skier's left to skier's right. Like Camel Back, I was somewhat surprised by the pitch at the top of the trails. With one-thousand feet of vertical drop, the length of the trails at Elk Mountain was a big improvement over Camel Back. The other nice change was that some of the trails at Elk Mountain were left ungroomed, with nicely formed, reasonably soft bumps on some of the expert trails. I had a lot of fun skiing the bumps on Wyalusing, Chippewa, Tunkhannock and Iroquois (I may not have gotten the trail names correct).
Tunkhannock Bumped Up Nicely
These Guys Yelled Out For Me To Take A Picture Of Them!
There were lots of fir and pine trees along the edges of the trails, and I really liked what I saw. Unfortunately, I had arrived at the mountain a little later than I had originally planned, and my afternoon ticket was only valid until 4:30, so I had to really hurry to ski all of the trails. I really would have liked to have spent more time there.
Fir And Pine Trees Lining The Trails At Elk Mountain
In the end, I really liked Elk Mountain. I don't know if I'll ever have any reason to ski there again, but if the opportunity presented itself, I'd definitely go back. This was exactly the kind of place I had hoped to find on this adventure.
The Base Lodge at Elk Mountain
After leaving Elk Mountain, I drove to Cortland, NY to spend the night. Day 2 was slated for Greek Peak.
