Kissing Bridge: Turn It Around

Posted on by JonC

It had been snowing pretty consistently in Western New York for about a week and the skiing was good everywhere. South of the city had accumulated about 2 feet of snow over the previous week. I had planned to head out skiing in the morning and we were forecasted for a few possible inches that night.

liftline

I had plans to ski-tour a state forest in Ellicottvile and made my way out of the house. We received a few very light inches of snow in my driveway in Buffalo, which only required a few passes with the shovel. As I hopped onto the highway, the snow intensified pretty quickly.  Traveling into the southtowns on 219, precipitation started to get heavy.

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Tagged: Kissing Bridge, Lake Effect, Western NY7 Comments

Gliding at Paul Smiths VIC

Posted on by Peter Minde

It’s not uncommon to see people snowshoeing at a cross-country ski center. But near the end of my tour of Paul Smiths College Visitor Interpretive Center (VIC), I espied a veritable gang heading towards me on snowshoes. Thirty or 40, mostly guys and a few women. They were all wearing hard hats, and Carhartt or buffalo plaid and Malone pants. Heavy gloves. They were all on one side of the trail, so I had no worries gliding by.

corduroy

I accosted a straggler adjusting his snowshoe bindings. They were doing an outdoor session for a class in civic culture: How to manage a woodlot for a client. With a name like that, one would think the class covers polite debate, or how to hold a cup of tea with your pinky finger sticking out.

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Tagged: Adirondacks, Nordic Skiing, Paul Smiths9 Comments

Greek Peak: Soft Sunday

Posted on by Robert

Greek Peak is a mountain I know well from my college days. I spent a lot of time on the slopes that might have been better spent going to class. But then if I had gone to class, maybe I wouldn’t be writing this piece. I’m always excited to get back to a place I know well.

Katalima

With recent snow, Greek was sure to be in good condition. I called Alex and made plans to meet for first chair. He was ready to get some use out of his Indy Pass.

The trails off Lift 1A looked prime, so we took a few runs to warm up. High speed laps on the corduroy always get the blood flowing. Empty lift lines and new RFID gates meant we skied onto the lift most of the morning.

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Tagged: Central NY, Greek Peak, Indy Pass11 Comments