Hickory Ski Center Part 2: Photo Tour

Last Saturday, I drove down River Road from Warrensburg to find Hickory Ski Center.



I soon arrived at EDeO's sign ...



Within a minute I heard the sound of an ATV. It was Shawn Dempsey, the GM of Hickory Ski Center. We walked over to the Base Lodge and went inside.



Shawn showed me the firepit. His father Jim, had fabricated the metal hood for the hearth nearly 50 years ago.  In 1972, the Lodge burned to the ground.  When the building collapsed, the metal hood was crushed.  Shawn's father recovered the hood from the rubble and pounded it back into shape with a hammer. You could still see the dents.  In the old days, people would bring their own hot dogs and roast them in the fire.  These days, the  board of health doesn't allow it.



We talked for about an hour, then headed outside.  Shawn showed me the loading station for Poma 1.



It's a "manual" lift in the purest sense. There's a pull chain that engages each rider's platter with a cone up the lift run set at a set interval.  When the previous rider gets to the cone, the lift operator engages the next stick.  Shawn demonstrates both lift operation and usage at the same time.



The view up the Poma 1 run is indicative of the Hickory's terrain. An apron of moderate pitch surround Hickory's legendary steeps.



The WinchCat was looking ready for action.



We walked past the newly graded bunny slope and handle-tow and down to the base of the T-bar.



The wooden bars are all new. But the big news is the installation of three-phase electric power and the purchase of this baby.



This 50-horsepower electric beauty will replace a 40 horsepower gasoline powered engine that was noted for its noise, backfires and general crankiness on extra cold mornings.  Shawn seem a little conflicted by the fact that his state of the art power plant with the General Electric marque was made overseas, and not in Schenectady NY.

We motored up to the top of the T-bar and shut down the ATV.



Then we walked over to the mid-station on Poma 1. It's the end of the line for intermediates.



Down to the bottom of Poma 2 and then we started making our way up Ridge Run...



...and past Paul's Peril.



I mentioned to Shawn that a tree shot at Gore had recently been renamed "Paul's Peril" after the famed Paul had had a difficult encounter with a tree stump.

Shawn:  "Is that the same Paul who runs with EDeO?"

We got to the top of Poma 2. It's inspiring — the river, the valley, with beautiful views, and bedrock everywhere.



We continued over to The Roost.



Then we hung out for a while soaking it all in.



I asked Shawn if he would mind if I walked down "Hare." He agreed to meet me back at the base.



The run is everything that you've seen in the NELSAP pictures, and more.



The upper mountain has so many cozy nooks and crannies.



And the north-facing trails were still holding a small amount of snow from days earlier, and it was nearly 60 degrees.



Eventually I arrived back down at the lodge.



On the way out, I noticed a building high on a hill across the valley.

Harv: " I bet there's a great view of the mountain from there."

Shawn: "There is a great view. Want to check it out?"

Access to this spot almost eliminates Hickory's need for aerial photography.



And the view of the valley is stunning....



This hill is gorgeous. I love everything about it.

Whiteface, Gore and Belleayre aside, it seems that these days, ski hills are driven by real estate. In some rare cases,  ski areas are sustained by the pure love of skiing. Places like Mad River Glen, many X-C ski areas ... and the (pipe?) dream resorts of the Mountain Riders Alliance.

For me, the word that describes the feelings inspired by this hill is ... joy.  It's an incredible, magical place.  

Ski Hickory.

A little clarification.  The Paul's Peril at Hickory is a different Paul than EdeO's buddy who had the encounter with the stump.  Paul's peril at Hickory was the personal work of a long time Hickory shareholder and ski patroller, who spent years cutting the run.  

Great pix. Tough to take a bad one there.

As has been mentioned in the blog comments, Hickory really has a lot going for it.

Shawn looks like a nice guy.

Kirbyvv wrote

Paul's peril at Hickory was the personal work of a long time Hickory shareholder and ski patroller, who spent years cutting the run.  

Kirb... Shawn was kidding, and I should have made that more obvious. I'll try to clean that up.

I sure hope it snows this winter.

Love the sign -- very smart to use the original logo. I'd like to make a personal request to Shawn to use that on the website banner instead of the slick ones that are up there now.

Things look in good shape....the buildings and lift towers all painted nicey nicey. I skied there once last year. You can boot up in the parking lot and walk right up the to lift, it's very close. It even easier to get to than say the Poma @ Gore.

Harv, any more commentary on the upper mtn terrain? I know you pee'd in the woods, how did they look ?


The old Sitting Bull Cabins, etc at the base of Hickory could be made into a fantastic place to stay and PARTEE'!!! It has numerous cabins, a nice pond (ice skating), playground, large bar w/liquor lisense, huge dance floor and I believe restaurant facilities. There's an old road bed connecting Sitting Bull to Hickory, avoiding public roads, shuttle, sleighride. The terrain looks like it would lend itself to constructing a ski trail returning to Sitting Bull.


Hickory.....It's Hard!!!

Snowballs wrote

 I know you pee'd in the woods, how did they look ?

PEEKED! It was supposed to read >>" PEEKED "!!!




Hickory.....It's Hard!!!

Snowballs wrote

Snowballs wrote

 I know you pee'd in the woods, how did they look ?

PEEKED! It was supposed to read >>" PEEKED "!!!

Yeah. Un huh.  Actually I was reviewing forum rules, and actually both peeing and peeking are allowed.

Truth be told, I did both peek and pee.

I still consider myself a visitor to Hickory, having never skied the place.  So lets leave it at this ... I see (saw) great potential.  The limited access boundary-to-boundary policy is very cool. As Benny implies, with good snowfall, that policy could come in very handy.

Nice job Harvey.  Hickory is truly an amazing place.  Did Bruce mention if both of the Poma's will be running this year?  I have skied Hickory many times back in the day and there is nothing quite like it.  If you can survive four hours of riding up the poma and skiing down the steeps, than you are doing pretty well.  Hickory is the only place around that can completely trash me in just a few, intense hours.  There is a spirit of comraderie at Hickory that simply doesn't exist at most places.  My favorite thing to do is to bomb down Winfall after a powder dump to the cheers and hooting and hollering  of the people riding up on the poma.  The four foot drops off of the rocks will leave you breathless.  I am convinced if you can ski hickory, you can pretty much ski anywhere.  Not to badmouth Gore (Which I love as well)  but I find that skiing Gore is a welcome relief to my old bones after a day at the Hick.  Hickory will keep you on your toes since there really are no "cruisers" there.  Its just balls to the wall steeps, moguls jumps and trees.  I sure hope that we get a lot of snow this season so that I can relive the glory at the Hick.    Matt

The old Sittin' Bull resort is now a religious retreat.  The liquor license is long gone, and the restaurant closed years ago.  They are interested in renting out the cabins in the winter and actually named them the "hickory cabins".  I don't know who is handling the rentals, but they aren't planning on operating anything else in the near future.

"Its just balls to the walls steeps, moguls, jumps and trees" I haven't even seen Hickory and I love it already! Can't wait to ski it!

ka2kci wrote

Hickory is truly an amazing place.

Agreed.

ka2kci wrote

Did Bruce mention if both of the Poma's will be running this year?

Matty... you're confusing your GMs I think. (Understandable).  All lifts will be operational this year.

ka2kci wrote

I have skied Hickory many times back in the day and there is nothing quite like it .. there is a spirit of comraderie at Hickory that simply doesn't exist at most places ... My favorite thing to do is to bomb down Winfall after a powder dump to the cheers and hooting and hollering  of the people riding up on the poma.  The four foot drops off of the rocks will leave you breathless.  I am convinced if you can ski hickory, you can pretty much ski anywhere. ...  Its just balls to the wall steeps, moguls jumps and trees.

Anyone else inspired by this passion?  Post-of-the-week in my eyes.

ka2kci wrote

I sure hope that we get a lot of snow this season so that I can relive the glory at the Hick.

Matty ... I'm assuming you've seen our little job offer?