Swain Ski Resort: 3.14.24

[Evan]

It was a beautiful 60° sunny day in WNY, and I hadn’t made it to Swain yet this year. Being one of the closer ski areas to home I regret not going more frequently. The few weekends this season I had Swain in mind there was rain, such as last weekend with their Spring Carnival and pond skim that I had planned on attending. I’ve always had fun days at Swain, and today was no different. Their strong Indy culture and community stand out.

Since I had Indy redemptions to use and the afternoon free it was lining up to be great timing. I reached out to Kyle and Cooper, who were also interested in going. We met shortly after opening (1pm weekdays) for some spring time turns. Despite the circumstances of the season, Swain had a decent amount of runs still open. I remember thinking the same thing last April when I skied Swain.

We lapped the Double Chair rotating runs through Clark, Wheels, Brewer, Robinson, and my favorite of the day was Last Will. To get to Last Will and Robinson you had to traverse across the top of the mountain, but it was worth it!

We rode for about 3 hours before dark clouds rolled in. None of us had really looked at the forecast prior, and it was the first time we were finding out about afternoon rain. That quickly put an end to our afternoon of riding, but glad we were able to make it to Swain for some local fun.

 

[Harvey]

I dig this. It's NY core.

 

[Johnny V.]

First place I ever skied in 1981. Hasn't changed too much since then. When I first started, they had the snow quality over Bristol as Bristol was owned by a bank in a bankruptcy takeover.

They've been on the edge of closing a few times in the recent past, but have managed to make a go of it so far.