Christmas Week in Johnsburg NY

Spending Christmas Week in Johnsburg NY is a family tradition. It’s a logical time to take time off, and rack up some ski days. Holidays in the mountains are always good.

Garnet-Hill-Lodge-view
View from Garnet Hill

Good skiing at this time of year is somewhat reliable. As much as we know that, we also know that one or two times in ten, we’ll get skunked. We dream of natural snow, but as East coast skiers, we’re always ready for the possibility that conditions will be marginal.

Regardless, we come and ski what we can. This season, after record warmth in November and December, we had a lot more fun than we expected. I’d actually call it a great time.

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In Defense of Early Season

As skiers we belong to a unique group of people, but not so special that we don’t feel the need to sub-divide our community further into even smaller fraternities.

early season at Gore

There’s the divide between skiers and snowboarders. There are gear sub-groups: telemarkers, AT skiers, mono-boarders and the almost defunct snow-blades. There is west vs east, terrain vs snow snobs and of course resort versus backcountry.

Debates between groups can be endless: dedicated, passionate skiers are naturally ardent. They want others to understand and validate, if not share their passion. I’m no different.

Dreaming of a long season

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Snow Ridge Opens 2015

Snow Ridge plays a unique role in the life of a hardcore NY skier. In a far corner of the state, the small ski area stands as a beacon of hope during the early season or times when powder is scarce.

Nick-at-Snow-Ridge-opening-2015

Because no matter how the season has gone to date, or what the current weather pattern, there are, almost always, a few months when cold air blows across the unfrozen waters of Lake Ontario and delivers powder on the Tug Hill Plateau.

In fact, consistently bad ski weather in the form of warm temperatures, can actually increase the chances that the magic will happen. And that’s exactly how it came down last week.

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