For the past few years the Midwest rope tow scene has been firing off. Some of the best riders flock to these small hills to ride some of the best terrain parks in the country. The rope tows provide a valuable life line to the industry in the form of new skiers and riders. They offer the perfect place to learn without shelling out big bucks for mega passes.
I have memories of my own, learning at Brantling in Sodus. Near the city of Rochester there are two rope tows; Powder Mills in Pittsford and Northampton Ski Park (NHP) in Brockport. Both are operated by Swain as learn to ski areas, but a few years ago the NHP started featuring a terrain park.
Driven by community volunteers the park has been picking up steam and attracting local riders. I had learned about the hill through word of mouth and planned on checking it out on opening weekend.
I hit up Alex. He lives down the road from NHP and we made plans to link up Sunday morning. The sun was shining and the hill was busy when I arrived at 11am. As I booted up Alex pulled in next to me, followed by Kyle. Kyle is a season pass holder and one of the guys who volunteers his time to help set up the park.
Inside the small lodge were a few tables, some of rental equipment and a few families getting ready for the slopes. Alex and I grabbed our $17 lift tickets and headed out. We took a warm up lap and scoped out the features. A few inches of lake effect fell overnight softened everything up. Kyle was already working on setting new features with help from Tyler, Josh and park manager Cooper. I rode down to the guys and introduced myself.
All the park features are set up and raked by volunteers. Most of the rails were scrap metal the crew found, cleaned up and painted. For the opening weekend things were looking good with a bunch of features set in, including a donkey kick down rail and sweet wall ride made out of an old oil tank.
The crew was digging out a snowmaking pile and starting to form a hip. While they worked, Alex and I took a few laps. The park was great for getting my jib legs back under me, with a variety of smaller features to get warmed up on. The last time I rode a rope tow I was a lot younger. I was getting a workout in while the groms zoomed by me with little effort. By the fourth run Alex and I were shedding layers.
Satisfied with the build, Tyler and Josh started seshing the features and providing me with some shots. Tyler was eyeing the wall ride and landed a sweet Bluntslide over the tank. The rope was getting busy with a mix of families learning to ski and park rats looking to lay down. It was a beautiful site.
Cooper was all work keeping the rope tow running and setting features. Cooper is the life blood of the park, putting in countless hours to get the jibs and rails setup. I caught up with him and asked him about NHP. He told me the park has been getting more popular and the best way to support it is to come out and ride. He pointed me to Eddie the liftie running the rope tow. Eddie is a handy man who has been at NHP for 9 years. This is his second job, after his 9-5 and for him it’s a labor of love. He was all smiles as I chatted with him through the lift window.
Before I left the crew sessioned the donkey kick rail and I got a few more shots. I thanked the guys and headed out. Afterwards I ran into Katie Patterson, the NHP general manager. She has been working with Swain for the last three years and was excited to tell me about all the learn to ski and ride programs. They offer a variety of camps and private lessons for kids and adults. She’s hoping to continue building out the terrain park and maybe offer terrain park lessons in the near future.
Places like Northampton Ski Park are why I linked up with NYSkiBlog 5 years ago. They are the heart and soul of skiing and riding. The people who work and volunteer there do it for love of the game. I was pumped to land a few good tricks but even more hyped from the energy the community brought to the park. I hope to see the rope tow scene in NY explode and rival the midwest. So get out there and shred, maybe we’ll see you on the rope.
Great to see this post! Saturday my five year old and I decided to check out Brantling for the first time, though we had considered Northampton. He learned to use the handle lift, so, great day. Sunday he had a birthday party in the morning so I went back to Brantling for pow laps. We had talked about skiing NHP in the afternoon if he was up for it and he was. So glad we did because it was perfect for him. I was getting tired holding the rope for both of us, then he figured out that grip and we kept going several runs past what I thought would be our last. The lights were on when we left.
I’ve been skiing for 30 years, coaching for over 20, and this was one of the best ski days of them all. (Granted, the special nature of a father seeing his 5 year old really “getting it” having fun and learning – and chatting it up with some of the bigger kids in the park is a different category of Joy). Oh, and between Brantling and NHP I bought 3 lift tickets on Sunday, and spent $58.00.
NHP is so much fun. So glad there is a tow rope park in Rochester.
Cooper is the man and NHP is the best. The features get better and better and it’s all because Cooper works so hard in and out of season. Best hill in Rochester hands down. Thank you to everyone who makes it possible
This is like the anti-megapass business strategy, creating an affordable pipeline for beginners to ultimately feed the big hill. I like it.