Mont Tremblant & Far Hills (XC), Quebec: 01/13 - 01/15/2018

It's hard to beat the package Tremblant can deliver for a family ski getaway: a big mountain with lots of variety, quaint pedestrian village that's consistently ranked tops in the east, and oodles of slopeside lodging options. Throw in a favorable exchange rate and the opportunity to experience a different language and culture within driving distance of home, and it's easy to see why Tremblant is so popular with east coast snow sliders.

Gore, Mt. VanHo, Whiteface: New Year's weekend 12/30/2016 - 1/01/2017

We had a nice stretch of skiing over the New Year holiday, leveraging our ORDA passes for maximum variety over the three days.

Like most working Americans, I was scheduled to work on Friday and be off on Monday, but with the incoming storm Thursday night I quickly swapped out Monday for Friday. Apparently I wasn't the only one to come up with that idea as we arrived Friday morning to a rapidly filling parking lot, probably the busiest day we've seen at Gore in two years.

XC at Lapland Lake: 12/29/2013

These days I don't get the chance to do nearly as much groomed cross-country skiing as I'd like. So when our kids made plans to spend Sunday with the grandparents, Beth and I jumped on the chance to get in a skinny-ski workout. The only hitch, if you hadn't noticed, is the minimal snow cover we're currently experiencing throughout the Adirondacks. Mount Van Ho?... a 1K loop on manmade snow with a "rock ski advisory" for a few more K. Garnet Hill Lodge?... 15K with warnings of "variable conditions and icy patches."

Lapland Lake reported in with good skiing on 34K, just about their entire trail system. I knew from experience that I could rely on Lapland's impeccable grooming and honest reporting, so it didn't take long for us to make our decision and pack the car.

K-P night patrol

There’s a lot of things I love about skiing, but at the root of it all is the simple joy of being out in the woods, in the snow. The nicer the snow, the bigger my smile. And when the snow is good around home, my favorite thing to do is to head out the back door for a tour of the woods that surround our house on my cross-country skis. But the short daylight hours of mid-winter and my job in Albany make it difficult to get out in the snow as much as I’d like, so when the snow is good I grab my headlamp and go on night patrol.

Skiing the historic 1930s trails of North Creek and Thirteenth Lake

Skiing has a long history in North Creek, with roots in the early 1930s. Early “Ride Up, Slide Down” skiers arrived by train and then rode in flatbed trucks to the Barton Mines property on Gore Mountain where a network of ski trails led back to North Creek. The trails were immensely popular, with hundreds of skiers arriving in North Creek on weekends with good snow conditions to ski trails like Halfway Brook, Raymond Brook, Pete Gay and Rabbit Pond. Those early trails even gave rise to the first Ski Patrol, experienced skiers who assisted injured skiers with first aid kits and toboggans and swept the trails at the end of the day. Eventually World War II intervened, interest shifted to development at the North Creek Ski Bowl, and the old Ride Up, Slide Down trails fell into disuse. Until Steve Ovitt came on the scene.

Skiing Mount Marcy circa 1986

When I first took up cross-country skiing nearly 30 years ago, in the early 1980s, it was on wooden skis (Edsbyns) that I bought new at Morsan’s Sporting Goods (now Campmor) in Paramus, New Jersey. Around that same time I became an avid hiker and an aspiring 46er. The natural intersection of those interests led me to try my skills – such as they were - on ski tours like Avalanche Pass, the Whiteface Toll Road and Mount Marcy.

Mount Van Hoevenberg XC: 02/23/2012

One of the things I’ve missed in this nearly snowless winter has been the ability to grab my XC skis and head out for an hour or two in the woods that surround our house. In recent years, those out-the-back-door tours have made up a significant portion of my nordic skiing, as dragging the kids along for a full day outing to a place like Garnet Hill Lodge or Lapland Lake doesn’t fit our family well – at least not yet.

XC Update: Lapland Lake and Garnet Hill now open for skiing

Lapland Lake and Garnet Hill both opened for skiing today on limited terrain with thin, early season conditions. Kudos to Lapland Lake for offering a half-price ticket ($10) today, helping to take at least a little of the sting out of our lack of snow so far this season. Also, best of luck to Garnet Hill as they start the season under new ownership.

Mount VanHoevenberg in Lake Placid had been open earlier this week, but remains closed today following Tuesday night’s rain. Just a couple inches of snow should allow them to re-open some trails.

Be sure to check the websites of all three ski centers for updates on conditions:

• Lapland Lake ski report
• Garnet Hill Lodge ski report
• Lake Placid cross-country ski conditions

I guess I no longer have an excuse for not training for the Loppett…

Photo: Lapland Lake Friday, 12/23/11

Cross-Country Season Preview

Ski season is just around the corner, and over the past couple weeks I checked in with many of the region's cross-country ski areas. My Adirondack Cross-Country Ski Season Preview appears here, on Adirondack Almanack. If the snow this winter is anywhere near as good as last year, the backcountry options look great too. Here are some additional resources for trip planning this winter:

• Phil Brown takes a look at new slide routes in the High Peaks created by Tropical Storm Irene in his article New Adirondack Slide Guide on Adirondack Exporer.
• New backcountry ski trails have been created in the Siamese Ponds Wilderness area around North River over the past couple of years. Bill McKibben writes about the new routes here in Adirondack Life.

Also be sure to also check out this interview with Ron Konowitz, the only person to have skied all 46 of the Adirondack High Peaks for some inspiration.

Jeff's Highlights: 2010-2011 Ski Season

It’s been such a great ski season that I’m reluctant to call it “over.” You don’t have to be a skier to know that the winter of 2010-11 was longer, colder and snowier than recent winters. Although the ski season got off to a slow start, skiers were rewarded for their patience with a streak of snow and consistent cold that started in early January and ran well into spring. And once spring finally did arrive, you might argue that the skiing got even better.

Whiteface Toll Road, November 6

Stony Pond Ski Tour: 03/26/2011

This past Saturday all of the elements came together for a great backcountry ski trip: blue skies, packed powder, a great group of friends, and a point-to-point through trip that drops nearly a thousand vertical feet. At the end, instead of taking off our skis and climbing into our cars, we all skied into Jim Hanley's and Michele Quirk's Falls Brook Yurts for an end-of-winter celebration. The full trip report and photos are posted here on the Adirondack Almanack.

Additional photos are below...

Dewey Mountain XC, Saranac Lake: 02/25/2011

We had the chance for a quick overnight visit to the Lake Placid area, so after a semi-white knuckle drive through the tail end of Friday's snow storm, we arrived in time to head over to the Dewey Mountain cross-country ski center just outside of Saranac Lake for one of their Friday Night Ski Jams.

Snow!

We woke up this morning to snow coming down at 1 to 2 inches per hour, and I wanted to get out on my cross country skis before the snow got too deep. I've been out on the Kalabus-Perry trail a few more times on skis and snowshoes since I wrote about it last month, and this morning I made a quick circuit past some interesting terrain that the K-P accesses.

Hardwood glade, about 150' vertical

Dual XC Tours: 01/23/2011

This past Sunday, family commitments kept us close to home. On days like that Beth and I sometimes each get in a quick nordic workout on trails near home by skiing one at a time, in shifts, while the other stays home with the kids: dual cross country ski tours. Beth did a 3.5 mile circuit of the groomed trails at the Wilton Wildlife Park and Preserve's nearby Scout Road parcel, while I opted for a woods tour through Saratoga County forestland that I can access right at the end of our block.

You can read more about my tour in a guest trip report here.

Mount Van Hoevenberg XC: 01/17/2011

I was having second thoughts as we pulled into the Mount Van Hoevenberg parking lot a little after 9am on Monday. The temperature in Lake Placid was minus 16 and hadn’t budged a bit on the short drive over. I had visions of not being able to warm up all day, while skiing snow that would have the sliding qualities of beach sand. It seemed I wasn’t the only one with second thoughts, as there were only four or five other cars in the lot. The short but very chilly walk from the car to the lodge did little to improve my outlook.

Perfect grooming

Mount Van Hoevenberg XC: 12/30/2010

As often as possible I like to pay tribute to telemark skiing’s nordic roots by getting away from the lifts for a day of cross country skiing. Sometimes that means a backcountry day, other times it means hitting one of the groomed cross country touring centers. Today, we headed up to the Olympic cross country ski trails at Mount VanHoevenberg in Lake Placid, where snow conditions have been excellent over the past few weeks.

A visit with Lapland Lake's Ann and Olavi Hirvonen

Last week I had the opportunity to interview Olavi Hirvonen and his wife Ann, who own and operate the Lapland Lake Nordic Vacation Center in Benson, near Northville, NY. Olavi competed in the 1960 Squaw Valley Winter Olympic Games as a member of the U.S. Nordic Ski Team., and in 1978 he founded Lapland Lake, which he and Ann have built into one of the East’s foremost cross country ski centers.

Jeff: What events led to you being selected for the U.S. Olympic Nordic Ski Team in 1960?

Olavi: Well, it’s a long story… I was born in Montreal and was brought to Finland when I was eight months old. I was raised there by my grandmother and learned to ski as a youngster. I came to this country in 1949 after serving in the Finnish Army. After being here a couple years and married for a few months, I received greetings from the U.S. Army with special orders to go to Alaska as an instructor in the Arctic Indoctrination School. In the wintertime I taught skiing, snowshoeing, and Arctic survival, and in the summer it was mountain climbing, rock climbing, glacier travel and arctic water training.

Whiteface and Esther: 11/06/2010

What a difference a day makes. We had originally planned this trip for Friday, the 5th, but the weather forecast for Thursday and Friday was so dismal we pushed back a day to Saturday. We couldn't have scored a more beautiful day to be in the mountains.

Just enough snow to ski from the Toll House

Garnet Hill Lodge: 02/05/2010

One of the great things about cross country skiing is that you don't need a lot of snow to have great conditions. With the few inches of powder that has fallen over the past couple days, it seemed like a good day to take off from work and check out the trails up at Garnet Hill. Beth and I have done a lot of cross country skiing over the years, and Garnet Hill is one of our favorite places.

Mount Van Hoevenberg: 12/29/2009

Beth and I headed up to Mount Van Hoevenberg in Lake Placid to meet friends for a day of cross country skiing. Mount Van Hoevenberg is well known for its Olympic heritage, and it continues to host one of the best touring centers in the East, with excellent grooming over an interesting network of looped trails. Six to eight inches of recent snow made coverage excellent, although the snow was so cold and dry that it made for slower ski conditions than I prefer.

Cold trees, fresh snow