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.

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.

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.

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