West Mountain: 01/14/2015

I made my way over to West Mountain last night for the first time this season. A few inches of new snow last Friday and again on Monday, along with ideal snowmaking temperatures, have produced excellent conditions.

West Mountain: 02/05/2014

I’m not one of the lucky people who took Wednesday off from work to ski winter storm Nika, but one of the advantages of having a local ski hill is the ability to get in some runs whenever you can, without committing the entire day. So when the storm over-delivered on its promise for powder, I left the office a half hour early, grabbed the kids at home and headed up to West Mountain for a couple hours.

West Mountain: 01/29/2014

Staying home because it’s too cold to ski would have been the wrong call to make last night. Yes, it was cold (upper single digits), but conditions at West Mountain were excellent. Snowmaking and grooming operations have produced nice packed powder surfaces on all open trails. With the exception of a few times that I skied West during or right after a storm, the conditions were about the nicest they’ve been in several years. The good skiing is not just the result of the cold weather we’ve been enjoying, it’s obvious that a lot more care and attention is being given to creating and maintaining quality skiing surfaces. Granted, I’ve only logged two evenings of skiing at West so far this winter, but last night’s conditions weren’t the result of getting lucky and hitting a good night. Snowmaking, grooming and contouring all seem to be head-and-shoulders above what we’ve seen the past few seasons.

West Mountain: 01/08/2014

Not only was last night my first visit to West Mountain this winter, it was also my first visit under the mountain’s new management. The Post-Star has done an excellent job covering Apex Capital’s plans for managing the mountain out of bankruptcy, you can read about it here, here, and here. I was anxious to see whatever sprucing up has been done so far at the mountain, and to see what the skiing would be like after rain and warm temperatures Sunday night and Monday followed by the arrival of the over-hyped polar vortex.

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.

West Mountain: 03/20/2013

Quick update from skiing at West last night. Since it's probably my last Wednesday night at West for this year I brought Daniel along with me. Homework? What homework?

It always seems odd at this time of year to go "night skiing" before it actually gets dark. Since we started skiing around 6:30, we got in a bunch of runs before the daylight completely faded. As you can see from the photos, it felt like we had the place to ourselves. You would think it would be easy to meet up with people, but it took us until our fifth run to hook up with the rest of our Wednesday night telemark gang, and we skied with them until last chair just before 9pm.

Daniel skiing Midway. Yes, that's a cape.

West Mountain: 02/06/2013

Having not skied at West Mountain since three weeks ago (rain last Wednesday, sick the week before), I wasn't sure what to expect tonight in the way of conditions. Specifically, last week's thaw and generally lackluster conditions on my previous visits to West kept my expectations low. However, West's groomers and snowmakers, with some cooperation from mother nature in the form of consistently cold temperatures over the past week, have the mountain in good shape.

West Mountain: 01/16/2013

A little snow can make a big difference. That was the case at West Mountain last night, where 2 – 3 inches of new snow that fell on Wednesday softened the slopes, or at least lessened some of the scratchiness. Trails leading back to the triple chair, Mach and Bannister, had the nicest snow – no surprise since those trails get quite a bit less traffic than the trails that lead back to the double chair and lodge. Last night’s conditions were a big improvement over the previous Wednesday night, which featured hardpack and frozen granular.

West Mountain: 03/07/2012

With temperatures in the mid-50s and a late afternoon sun still above the horizon, the scene was quite a bit different from last week when I left work in Albany to head up to West Mountain.

West-West-Willard: 02/29 & 03/01/2012

If you’ve followed my Wednesday night updates from West Mountain (OK, it’s been a couple weeks) you’ll know that we’ve had more scratch than soft for surface conditions this winter. But Wednesday night this week finally coincided with one of the few (only?) snowstorms of the winter.

When I left work in Albany late Wednesday afternoon, there were a few inches of wet snow on the ground. The snow continued to come down at a moderate to heavy clip as I pulled into West Mountain’s parking lot an hour later. The 3 to 4 inches of new snow that had fallen at that point certainly improved the trail surfaces, but it was still difficult to avoid bottoming out on the rock-hard underlayer. Eventually the accumulating snow improved the surfaces enough so that the last few runs of the night were noticeably better than the first few.

West Mountain: 02/08/2012

Ski conditions Wednesday night at West were pretty far from ideal: very firm hardpack (it ain’t ice unless there’s fish underneath). About the only soft “snow” on the hill was the sugary loose granular piles along the very edges of some trails. I had been hoping that we might be skiing under the snowmaking guns, but temperatures were just a degree or two below freezing – marginal for snowmaking - when I pulled into the lot around 6pm. I certainly can’t fault West Mountain, they generally do an excellent job with snowmaking and grooming. Ski areas all over the northeast have suffered not only from the lack of snowfall but also from a lack of consistent cold temperatures for snowmaking operations, and I’m thankful that there’s any skiing at all this winter.

West Mountain: 01/25/2012

In “you don’t know if you don’t go” fashion, conditions last night at West Mountain turned out to be better than I had expected. To be sure, I hadn’t expected much: recent rain and warm weather killed any hope for great conditions. But coverage is fine, and surfaces last night were reasonably edgeable and soft enough for a couple hours of fun skiing with friends.

West Mountain: 01/11/2012, UPDATED 01/14/2012 WITH SNOWMAKING VIDEO

Wednesday telemark night at West Mountain, week 2. While those who skipped last week missed out on a fine night of skiing, those who skipped this week probably made the right call. Loose granular snow over a hardpack base plus crowded slopes (mostly school groups) added up to less-than-stellar skiing. It’s still skiing though, and those of us who braved the slopes were all smiles by 9:15 (in the bar) as the first beers were poured.

West Mountain: 01/04/2012

Cold temperatures and a generally lackluster start to the ski season kept away quite a few of our usual Wednesday night telemarkers. But cold doesn’t really bother me, and I figured the skiing would be pretty good under the guns at West Mountain. Too bad for those who skipped, because the skiing turned out to be quite good: cold temperatures over the past couple of days produced nice, silky manmade packed powder conditions last night.

West Mountain: 03/30/2011

About a dozen of us showed up for what will probably be our final Wednesday Telemark Night at West this year. Despite temperatures that remained well above freezing all evening, snow surfaces were rather crispy and crunchy. All that may change with the possibility of yet another snow storm on Friday. There's plenty of snow already on the trails, so West will have no trouble maintaining good coverage for this weekend. Whether West remains open beyond the weekend is more a question of economics rather than snow, so check here and West's website for their closing date.

West Mountain: 03/02/2011

Sometimes “in like a lion” means cold and snowy, a good thing, and sometimes it just means cold and windy, not such a good thing. But having missed the last two Wednesday nights due to school break and a bout of bronchitis, I wasn’t going to let a little chilly breeze get in the way of my usual mid-week ski night.

Conditions were actually better than I had expected. Rain on Monday left surfaces firm and fast to be sure, but there was enough loose and edgeable snow to make for fun, but cold, skiing.

West Mountain has their annual pond skimming contest and cardboard sled races tentatively scheduled for March 26. The long-range forecast has some temperature ups and downs, but based on early season snowmaking efforts, good natural snowfall and solid base depths on the trails as of last evening, I’d say that date should be no problem.

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.

Willard Mountain: 02/24/2011

Willard's side-by-side double chairs in operation

Since it's the February vacation week, we take a break from our usual Wednesday telemark nights at West Mountain, but I had promised Daniel that the two of us would go night skiing this week, so he and I headed over to Willard Mountain for a few hours this afternoon and evening.

West Mountain: 02/09/2011

Once again a packed lodge and parking lot (high school racing) translated into near empty slopes. Maybe the cold (upper single digits by the time I headed home) kept people away, because only a handful of our usual telemark group showed up to ski. Snow earlier in the week has helped keep the slopes in very good shape, perhaps not as soft as other Wednesday nights this year but still very good. Too cold and too few skiers for any pictures other than this view of the lower slope as I headed in at the end of the night.

Willard Mountain: 02/02/2011

I had been meaning to get back to Willard all season, ever since I interviewed owner and GM Chic Wilson back in November. With our kids home for a snow day, today seemed like the perfect opportunity to head over for a family ski day.

Base lodge from the Wipe Out trail