Bearpen Mountain Hike with Ben Lane

In the four years since we posted an interview with Russ LaChapelle, about the Catskills’ enigmatic Bearpen Mountain — the one that got away — that article has become far and away NY Ski Magazine’s most popular, both in page views and comments.

Bearpen-License-Plate

Between my conversations with Russ, his many forum posts on the Snowjournal website, a feature article on his Lost New York website, and a 2014 trip report from Matt Lucas here on NYSB, I felt like I already knew Bearpen even though I’d never been there.

The closest that I’d ever come to the former Princeton Ski Bowl was seeing it from afar while at other Catskill ski areas, after which I’d always post photos in trip reports captioned with “Bearpen Mountain In The Distance.”

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North Creek Ski Bowl MTB

Two winters ago, on a bit of an impulse, I asked my friend and professional trail designer Steve Ovitt to evaluate the potential of our property for dual purpose nordic/mountain biking trails.

North Creek Ski Bowl MTB

Steve’s evaluation was enthusiastic and now, two summers later, we are all in, doing trail maintenance and riding on our land. I never imagined biking out the back door could be almost as much fun as skiing. Indeed it is.

After two days of blowing, raking, trimming and riding our trails, I ventured down to North Creek Ski Bowl to check out the relatively new trails that Steve designed and built for the town of Johnsburg.

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Climbing Chapel Pond Pass

The Adirondack Park offers an incredible variety of rock climbing opportunities, all in the spectacular setting of perhaps the east’s greatest wilderness.

View from Bob's Knob

Last weekend I traveled to the High Peaks region to climb for the first time this summer. Climbing Chapel Pond Pass was our goal, a region known for its incredible beauty, easy approaches and lack of blackflies.

With a major rainstorm overnight, our first destination was the Pitchoff Chimney Cliff, a roadside crag that dries quickly, given its south-facing orientation and exposed position above Cascade Lakes.

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