Russ LaChapelle: The Bard of Bearpen

I first crossed paths with Russ LaChapelle in the fall of 2010; though, like many people interested in New York ski history, I’d encountered him years earlier through his quirky, deeply personal website.

Jam-packed with information about vanished rope tows, forgotten slopes, and half-erased ski dreams, it was clearly the work of someone who cared more about getting the story right than making it look polished or easily navigable (as much as was possible with internet technology back then).

Russ LaChapelle
Russ LaChapelle — photo ML242

When we finally connected on the phone, I explained the pitch I’d made to Harvey, editor of the nascent NYSkiBlog.

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Greek Peak: Back for the First Time

With all the excellent reports that have been posted here this season, my wife and I were hoping that our four-day trip to Syracuse might be a good opportunity to score some of the upstate powder we’d been seeing on TV.

A sobering weekend forecast took that off the table and while driving north from New Jersey under gloomy skies, it looked like we were lined up for one of those “at least we’re skiing” kind of days.

But almost on cue, our luck changed while crossing the state line into New York’s Southern Tier. The clouds parted, the sun came out, and by the time we pulled into Greek Peak around 10 am, it was pushing 40 degrees with deep blue skies above.

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Cazenovia: Hitting the Club

There’s nothing better than hitting the club on New Years Eve. The club I favor has an old Hall T-Bar and this year featured 16 inches of new lake effect snow. When Evan, Tiff and I pulled into the lot and looked up the hill, we knew it was going to be all-time. Untouched snow as far as we could see.

Riding the Tbar

We geared up and headed to the new lift ticket window in the Wax Hut. I saw friend and member Jeff getting the outdoor fire going. He came over and chatted while we redeemed our Indy Passes. It sounds like the pass has been successful at Caz, allowing the members to share their little slice of heaven. There were more than a few Indy Pass redemptions that day as word spread locally about the snow totals.

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