Snow Ridge 1/5/13

Lake Ontario delivered plenty of snow to the Tug Hill Plateau this past week. It seemed like a good time to go visit Snow Ridge.

Got an alpine start from Ithaca with Acid Christ and Sparks. We were on the snow by 10am.

The morning was spent on the north side of the area, both in and out of bounds.







They only groom part of the trails and there was plenty of untracked snow, on trail, throughout the day. This pic was taken at noon.


There was plenty of untracked snow in the woods too


This photo was taken some time around 2pm


My ski pals were very impressed with the little ski area. It isn't tall, but it gets great snow, has some steep pitches, lots of trees and is highly under utilized. Most people stay on the groomers. There was no competition for fresh snow. Was happy that Skimore wasn't there with his posse because we had all the goods to ourselves.

BTW, they give NY ski area pass holders a $15 lift ticket!! Even if we paid the full price of $37 for a lift ticket, it would have been well worth it.

  Nice TR and pics, Snow Ridge was on my radar when TWC was showing 12"+ possible for the Tugg Hill Plateau. Snow Ridge claimed 8" over the last 72 hrs. I've been there once, it was after a two foot storm. Cool little hill, I just wish it were closer to home. I think I could be at Gore for the same drive time.

  Looks like you had a great day there. The sun just started peeking through the clouds at Greek when I left at 2:30. The light was very flat this morning. Someday I'll have to make the trip up to Snow Ridge again. That's cool that we GP passholders get the discount, we're not on their list on their website.

Looks like a great day. Have never skied Snow Ridge, only been there for moe.Down-  Maybe this is the year..

It is only a 2 1/2 hour drive from Greek Peak. Gore is 3 1/2.

We've done both in a day trip, but Snow Ridge is much easier. Plus, we had a nice dinner at the Dinosaur BBQ on our way home.

  Glad u guys had a good time . The Ridge rawks !!  it s as retro as it gets . Been skiing there for over 25 yrs , will be there wed  

my pass lets me ski it FREE on wednesdays , sure hope the warm up doesn't mess up the goods tho

Powderqueen wrote

It is only a 2 1/2 hour drive from Greek Peak. Gore is 3 1/2.

We've done both in a day trip, but Snow Ridge is much easier. Plus, we had a nice dinner at the Dinosaur BBQ on our way home.

For me they are about the same, I'm 40 miles South of Greek. Great little place, hope to hit them again after they get dumped on. Never been to the Dinosaur Barbeque, Brook's in Oneonta is a traditional stop for me when day tripping the Cats.

Powderqueen wrote

 There was no competition for fresh snow. Was happy that Skimore wasn't there with his posse because we had all the goods to ourselves.

Glad we could assist. It's surprising that more don't take advantage of that place. Did you go out and down to the creek? The prickers have gotten out of hand leading down to the ridge

We got lost and got stucking skiing this

How fortunate you got stuck!!

Yeah, another foot of snow ought to cover up the brambles and open up some more lines. We didn't go way out because of that. There was a lot to ski close to the trails too. No one skis the ungroomed there, so there was much to pillage. We ran out of time! The lifts close at 3:30 there.

Seems like a summer of bramble cutting could produce more lines. If you ever want to do an outing, lemme know and I'll bring my pals up. They were really impressed with that place.

Even with attention in the ski blogs, people aren't go to go there. It's just in a weird location, not near anything. You drive for miles without seeing any mountains, just farms. My friends were concerned about where I was taking them for a day of skiing. But they fully understood by the first run...and it just kept getting better.

I have relatives very close but have never been.  They live close enough that I listened to moe down in there backyard!  Nice report maybe sooner than later after seeing all that untouched stuff to adventure in and around.

I would highly advise that anyone going into the sidecountry at SR DO NOT GO ALONE. There are a lot of obstacles, downed trees, brambles, cliffs, etc. You don't want to go it alone. Go in groups and keep track of each other.

Skied The Ridge today . 23 runs 4 hrs in flat , make that very flat lite . Snow in the early hrs were fine but turned to packed chowdah by early afternoon as the temps rose . All in all a good day considering it was free with my reciprocal . will be back on several wednesdays thru the rest of the season.