Snow Ridge, NY: 1/3/12 (Updated with Video!)

**Video is at the bottom of this post. It starts off quiet, so don't think you need to crank your speakers!

Skiing groomers on man made snow is starting to get old, pretty quickly. When I heard that the Tug Hill Plateau area was about get get HAMMERED with lake effect snow (to the tune of 2-3 feet), my ears quickly perked up. I kept an eye on the Radar and snowfall totals.

NOAA wrote

Monday: Snow. The snow could be heavy at times. High near 28. Breezy, with a west wind between 20 and 23 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 16 to 22 inches possible.

Monday Night: Snow. The snow could be heavy at times. Low around -3. Wind chill values as low as -20. West wind between 14 and 16 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 7 to 11 inches possible.

Last night I got in contact with Mattchuck2 and started scheming a trip out that way. There isn't much terrain to explore out on Tug Hill, but Snow Ridge lays on the eastern limits of the plateau. Target Acquired. We agreed to leave my house at 6 am for the 135 mile journey Westward.

I watched the radar a bit before I headed to bed, and it looked like things had shifted South.  I told one of my buddies I was headed out there, and they were expecting  2 feet, he laughed at me and said "Haha no way, definitely not 2 feet. Maybe 6 inches". Reassuring myself that it would be a dump of epic proportions, I charged the cameras and packed my gear.

Matt pulled in just after 6. We quickly loaded his car and hit the road. I hadn't checked any snow totals, but I was getting worried that they didn't get nearly as much as we were expecting. There wasn't an new snow at my house. 30 miles West, the ground was starting to turn white, but not in the serving size we were looking for. Farther West, there still wasn't a whole lot. Maybe an inch on the ground by the time we reached Forestport.



Shortly after we started to see some terrain rise out of the horizon. Alas, the trails came into view. Here she is, Snow Ridge in all her 500 vertical rise of glory.



But, there still wasn't 2 feet of snow. What gives?!
There was enough snow in the lot to get Matt's car stuck, though. (video coming later) I would say 6-8".

I started to think it was going to be a total bust. 2-3 feet became 6-8 inches? How? What? Why?!
Regardless, we got our gear on and headed out with our heads up.

Matt already 1/2 way up.


Even though it was only 5` out, I was sweating like crazy. Definitely overdressed, and goggles on my forehead. Note to self - don't do that.

We got up top and took the skins off. Where was the Snow?! oh that's right, about 15 miles Northeast.



I spent some time trying to figure out how to defrost my goggles, then thaw out my camel back while Matt was getting ready to go. We looked around a bit and decided to head down off of skiers right. About two turns in, I heard some relief from Matt. Something about getting on real snow made it different than the past month or so we've been having.

Getting up speed for the first turns



Serious Face. (but the snow skied really well!)



Anddd it dumped us out onto flats.
To our relief, the flats were short and they led us to some good snow.

Matt







And we were at the bottom once again.  Put on the skins, and head up for round two. The woods had some decent snow, but some trenches deeply dug from erosion. The next trail over had a bit of base down from the guns and was pretty much untracked.



Matt put on his more photogenic coat
and made some nice turns!







Magnum.



And up for our third lap!
That one skied pretty well, too.

Yours Truly





Before heading out to the car for lunch, we decided to hit a whaleback at the bottom of the hill. It was fluffy looking, and we were playing "I'll do it if you do it" for backflips. One test hit each and then we went in for lunch.  Flippers were planning on coming later.

Who thinks I stuck the landing? I don't! (funny POV coming later)



Matt poking it out



After lunch we went back out to see that the whalebacks had been completely leveled by the groomer. Jerk! I guess it's a good thing, though, because inverts aren't allowed!



To the top again, except this time we decide to explore skiers left of the mountain. We stayed as far left as possible and found some good snow.













That trail was pretty bony, therefore our master reasoning skills put us into some trees next to it.

Welcome to Stan's Stash (Thanks Stan!)











Skinned back to the top for half of a lap. Didn't bring the camera along for that one.
We headed back up for our final run.

Views were nice





And the snow was STILL nice!





We got to the car, tossed our stuff in, and called it a day (well, almost).

A quick stop at the supermarket, and we picked up some food and drinks.

Dinner of Champions
(Now we can call it a day)



 Although it wasn't the 2 feet we were expecting, it still delivered lots of smiles, natural snow, and a day off of work. Next stop, Bennies Brook slide which recently got a facelift from Irene.

Like.

Nice!  I'd guess that you guys got the only powder turns in the East.  Was anybody else on the mtn earning turns?  How long was that drive from the west side of town, 2 1/4 hrs via Rt 29?

This has kind of a "Toll Road" vibe to it because of the whole "masses are starving for real snow" thing going on.  The difference being that Toll Road was in October.

fujative wrote

Something about getting on real snow made it different than the past month or so we've been having.

Understatement of the year.

A great man, or maybe it was a great skier, once said "I'd rather ski thin natural cover than bulletproof crap" or something to that effect.

Killer story telling. A classic.  

Awesome!  

Adk Jeff wrote

Nice!  I'd guess that you guys got the only powder turns in the East.  Was anybody else on the mtn earning turns?  How long was that drive from the west side of town, 2 1/4 hrs via Rt 29?

We were the best/only skiers on the mountain.  It was about 2.5 hours or so (yes, route 29).

Too bad Skimore wasn't there to give you the ravine tour.

Love this story. And while you're the only ones skiing real powder you can comfort yourself knowing that if it doesn't get any snow by monday the 9th, Squaw is scheduled to close....Sad but true.

Look at those tasty trees! Excellent TR and skiing.

WINNING!!! i wannna play

A few other lucky individuals found powder yesterday.







That's me and two friends at Smugglers Notch enjoying a sneaky 8" storm.

Edit to add: first two shots courtesy of Worth Skis.

A welcome story about what is lacking this season - snow. I would love to try Snow Ridge but it is so out of the way for me that I will probably never get  there.

Nice pics ML242, looks great.  I didn't realize Smuggs picked up that much.

A question for Matt, Fuj, River & others earning turns at closed areas:

Don't  most ski areas "technically" prohibit access unless you are skiing with a ticket during operating hours?  I assume that all ski areas are concerned with liability and consider skiing closed trails a form of trespass.  You must have been quite visible and your parked car must have been obvious.  It would be a bummer to drive 2 hours to get kicked off the mountain.

I know guys who climb for turns at WF just about every morning, but they know mtn mgt, mgt knows them and apparently everybody's comfortable with it.  Just curious what anybody has encountered at places like Killington, Pico, Cannon, etc. and what is the ski area mgt's attitutude towards turn-earners.

Way to get after it! Looks like you had a blast. I was hoping Greek Peak would get a little, that's just what they got... a little, too far south.

Adk Jeff wrote

A question for Matt, Fuj, River & others earning turns at closed areas:

Don't  most ski areas "technically" prohibit access unless you are skiing with a ticket during operating hours?  I assume that all ski areas are concerned with liability and consider skiing closed trails a form of trespass.  You must have been quite visible and your parked car must have been obvious.  It would be a bummer to drive 2 hours to get kicked off the mountain."

Snow Ridge didn't seem to be the kind of place that cares about any of that.  Like, would Hickory care? Would Royal Mountain?

A woman pulled up next to us in the parking lot who seemed to work there (she went into the office area). I asked her if anyone would have a problem with us hiking up and skiing down. The look she gave was a combination of "You want to do what?" and "Why in the world would anyone have a problem with that?" She said,she didn't care and she doubted highly that anyone else would. That was enough for us.

Funny, it's refreshing to hear a distinctly non-corporate "go at it" answer from an employee.  Still, I'm guessing that most ski areas officially discourage it.  Having engaged in various forms of poaching myself (woods, closed trails), I'm curious what turn-earners have encountered.

ML, I was about to link into that.
Glad you guys got some too!

Hopefully We can get some real snow once I'm back from heading West. I'll be happy to join you while using up those Mad Cards.

AdkJeff:
Some mountains have a declared uphill traffic policy. I know when Miker and I headed to PowMow, they had a no uphill traffic unless valid ticket policy. Magic definitely has an open uphill policy. I guess it more depends on time of year, time of day, and mountain ops.

Tons of people were at Killington in October before the lifts were open. Mountain employees were everywhere but no one said a word... unless you got near the trails which they were blowing on.

If a mountain has groomers out, I'm sure they wouldn't be too comfortable with uphill traffic either.

I'm sure liability is the biggest issue. It's probably not a bad idea to find someone and ask whether it's ok, check in with ski patrol, whatever. But on the other hand, sometimes it's better to ask for forgiveness than to risk get denied in the first place.

mattchuck2 wrote

Adk Jeff wrote

A question for Matt, Fuj, River & others earning turns at closed areas:

Don't  most ski areas "technically" prohibit access unless you are skiing with a ticket during operating hours?  I assume that all ski areas are concerned with liability and consider skiing closed trails a form of trespass.  You must have been quite visible and your parked car must have been obvious.  It would be a bummer to drive 2 hours to get kicked off the mountain."

Snow Ridge didn't seem to be the kind of place that cares about any of that.  Like, would Hickory care? Would Royal Mountain?

A woman pulled up next to us in the parking lot who seemed to work there (she went into the office area). I asked her if anyone would have a problem with us hiking up and skiing down. The look she gave was a combination of "You want to do what?" and "Why in the world would anyone have a problem with that?" She said,she didn't care and she doubted highly that anyone else would. That was enough for us.

Snow Ridge's policy is to just let them know you are there

fujative wrote

Next stop, Bennies Brook slide which recently got a facelift from Irene.

Better make sure you catch it midweek after a dump........it's a quite popular ski due to ease of access.

It can resemble a bump run at times

That's the plan.

If theres more snow go further left. There's some fun stuff





and creeks