Garnet Hill, NY: 12/19/08

I looked at the radar this morning and decided a 9am departure would be significantly easier than my usual 2pm vanishing act. Most of our staff was either coming in late or working from home anyway, due to the weather. I had a meeting that I postponed and one that I moved up. I was out of there by 9:30.

Driving in a Snowstorm

It was sleeting LOUD in the flatlands, calm and dry in the Lower Hudson Valley and snowing north of Albany. As I got to Glens Falls it was borderline blizzard. By the time I got to the Hudson in North River it was still snowing hard. This was on the porch since last Sunday, some from Wednesday, some from today:

Snow on Porch

I caught up on email, and headed out for a ski down the road. I jumped on to the Garnet Hill trails, Old Faithful.

I ran into Grace and Armondo. They were probably in their late 70s and snowshoeing. They live in MIAMI…with a second home on the hill and they FLEW from Miami when they heard snow was coming.

I can’t BELIEVE I didn’t take their picture. They were awesome. I skied for about an hour and a half. Along Old Faithful to the Tailings view spot. Needless to say there was no view to be had. I skied home in the dark and snapped this pic on the snowboard. It is all from today:

Snow Accumulation

These are the skis I used today. They are the same skis and boots I used the first time I skied at Gore. This is now my “backcountry setup.”

Backcountry Skis

BC skis

I use it for anything that isn’t lift served in the Siamese Ponds Wilderness. For me, it’s a good set up for winter camping. The boots are Asolo Snowfields and the Skis are Karhu XCD GTs, the original classic version.

2 comments on “Garnet Hill, NY: 12/19/08

  1. It’s possible I’ve met this couple. Some years ago, waxing skis in the morning at Mount van Ho. This older guy comes in with his skis, north of 70, looks at what I’m doing. Asks me, “What do I have to do again with these?”

    So I gave him the short tutorial. Turned out he and his wife were reverse snowbirds: They lived in FL in the summer and came north in the winter. The preferred the extremes of the seasons. YEAH, that’s what I’m talking about!

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