Brownski
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 19, 2020
4 AM departures are total bullshit.
I managed to get up when my first alarm went off and get on the road anyway, though. Everything was staged in the car already, which helped. I’m gonna have to go back to the sleeping in the parking lot method. It’s more compatible with my body clock. I pulled in the parking lot almost exactly at 8.
Robert was already there, booting up. I walked around to find an unlocked door so I could access a restroom, then went back to get myself ready at the car. Harvey pulled up very soon after. Snow Ridge has a very throwback feel to it. The lodge has a lot of charm.
While we were waiting to get our tickets, Scottski63 showed up. I think it was his first time at Snow Ridge too. We made our way out to the lift and we’re amongst the first few chairs up the mountain.
Robert was a great guide. He showed us some great spots in the trees right off the bat. As many people have said before, what makes Snow Ridge special is the snow. It was really good, soft, natural fluff. Even when we came out of the trees and traversed across the groomers to get back to the lift, it felt soft underfoot. I would crank a turn on un-disturbed corduroy and dig in 3 or 5 inches. The snow quality was just tremendous.
On the second or third run, we hit a defunct T bar line in the woods. That was tons of fun.
That’s how it went all morning. Lots of fun. The “snow pocket” was scheduled to open at 11. At around 10:50, Robert led us away from the main lifts and over to the bottom of the T bar. I knew I was out of shape and hadn’t ridden a T bar in years. It made me a little nervous. Falling off the surface lift halfway up would be pretty embarrassing. My fears were unfounded. I was still able to ride a T bar. As we headed up, I got my phone out for a pic. I hit the camera button once and it went dark. I guess it was pretty cold.
The Snow Pocket was pretty amazing. I understood that it was untouched because they only run the T bar on weekends. I understood that Snow Ridge was one of only a few NYS resorts that benefitted from consistent, voluminous lake effect snow.
The reality of the Snow Pocket was much, much better then I expected though. We found ourselves in thigh deep powder. It was pretty glorious. Of course my poor fitness caught up with me over there. My preference for narrow skis did too. My Blizzard Latigos are good skis but I could have used a lot more float. In four runs, I fell twice, leaving big old craters behind. My early wake up was catching up with me too so I left my fellow NYSB’ers to keep after the pow while I returned to the other end of the resort. After another run or two off the double chair, I headed back to the car to recharge, both myself and my IPhone. As I sipped coffee and downed a few granola bars, Robert swung by on his way to meet friends at Woods Valley. That guy has a ton of energy. What a great host he turned out to be. I got a couple more runs in after my break but I didn’t have the gas to make it the whole day.
At some point I got a knot in my thigh. I was able to massage it out on the lift though. More evidence I need to get back in shape. I made a resolution to just go back to my old gym habit. I haven’t been going regularly since the spring and I can feel it.
At some point the sun came out for a while. The view is pretty amazing. One thing I noticed is how popular snowmobiling is up there. Pretty much all day, you could hear them ripping around the flats nearby.
Snow Ridge is definitely a cool place. I should have checked it out years ago. Their inclusion on the Indy Pass this year is what finally enticed me to make the drive. It was entirely worth it. I can honestly say it was the best quality snow I have ever skied on in New York State and I have not skied in anything that deep since I worked a season as a liftie in Tahoe.
I really was suffering from that early rise though. On my way home, I pulled over at the first Thruway rest stop I came to and took a good forty minute nap. That helped a lot.
I managed to get up when my first alarm went off and get on the road anyway, though. Everything was staged in the car already, which helped. I’m gonna have to go back to the sleeping in the parking lot method. It’s more compatible with my body clock. I pulled in the parking lot almost exactly at 8.
Robert was already there, booting up. I walked around to find an unlocked door so I could access a restroom, then went back to get myself ready at the car. Harvey pulled up very soon after. Snow Ridge has a very throwback feel to it. The lodge has a lot of charm.
While we were waiting to get our tickets, Scottski63 showed up. I think it was his first time at Snow Ridge too. We made our way out to the lift and we’re amongst the first few chairs up the mountain.
Robert was a great guide. He showed us some great spots in the trees right off the bat. As many people have said before, what makes Snow Ridge special is the snow. It was really good, soft, natural fluff. Even when we came out of the trees and traversed across the groomers to get back to the lift, it felt soft underfoot. I would crank a turn on un-disturbed corduroy and dig in 3 or 5 inches. The snow quality was just tremendous.
On the second or third run, we hit a defunct T bar line in the woods. That was tons of fun.
That’s how it went all morning. Lots of fun. The “snow pocket” was scheduled to open at 11. At around 10:50, Robert led us away from the main lifts and over to the bottom of the T bar. I knew I was out of shape and hadn’t ridden a T bar in years. It made me a little nervous. Falling off the surface lift halfway up would be pretty embarrassing. My fears were unfounded. I was still able to ride a T bar. As we headed up, I got my phone out for a pic. I hit the camera button once and it went dark. I guess it was pretty cold.
The Snow Pocket was pretty amazing. I understood that it was untouched because they only run the T bar on weekends. I understood that Snow Ridge was one of only a few NYS resorts that benefitted from consistent, voluminous lake effect snow.
The reality of the Snow Pocket was much, much better then I expected though. We found ourselves in thigh deep powder. It was pretty glorious. Of course my poor fitness caught up with me over there. My preference for narrow skis did too. My Blizzard Latigos are good skis but I could have used a lot more float. In four runs, I fell twice, leaving big old craters behind. My early wake up was catching up with me too so I left my fellow NYSB’ers to keep after the pow while I returned to the other end of the resort. After another run or two off the double chair, I headed back to the car to recharge, both myself and my IPhone. As I sipped coffee and downed a few granola bars, Robert swung by on his way to meet friends at Woods Valley. That guy has a ton of energy. What a great host he turned out to be. I got a couple more runs in after my break but I didn’t have the gas to make it the whole day.
At some point I got a knot in my thigh. I was able to massage it out on the lift though. More evidence I need to get back in shape. I made a resolution to just go back to my old gym habit. I haven’t been going regularly since the spring and I can feel it.
At some point the sun came out for a while. The view is pretty amazing. One thing I noticed is how popular snowmobiling is up there. Pretty much all day, you could hear them ripping around the flats nearby.
Snow Ridge is definitely a cool place. I should have checked it out years ago. Their inclusion on the Indy Pass this year is what finally enticed me to make the drive. It was entirely worth it. I can honestly say it was the best quality snow I have ever skied on in New York State and I have not skied in anything that deep since I worked a season as a liftie in Tahoe.
I really was suffering from that early rise though. On my way home, I pulled over at the first Thruway rest stop I came to and took a good forty minute nap. That helped a lot.
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