Windham Mt and The Gore Beach

Early April weather is always unpredictable, one minute the suns out next moment its raining or sleeting. You might put your coat on and off a dozen times if your outside working. This past weekend was that crazy April weather. We drove thru pouring rain Sat morning heading to Windham Mt. We skied thru out the day to Sun, clouds, rain, snow ,sleet, wind and then Sun and then the whole cycle repeated. Winter was winding down and so was Windham, we skied to about 2 pm when the clouds and wind just hardened the surface too much to enjoy any longer. Our fav runs for the day was the new trail Windfall and the old fav Worldcup (Wedgie). We toured Small town NY on our afternoon ride up route 30 to the Adirondacks and Gore Mt We spent the night at an awesome Lodge and eatery called the Black Lodge. Food and an good heating system are important commodities during a ski trip. Snow pants and gloves and boots from a days skiing need dried for the next days adventure. Fuel for the body is also needed to recover for the next day is also important. The Black Lodge delivered on both. Sunday morning, after a cold windy bitter night, we awoke to a perfect blue sky and temps rising fast. We grabbed some coffee and headed up. Derek got a real good quick tune on his ski, it really helped. We headed out and slowly worked our way up the mountain, skiing in the sun. We warmed up on twister, Showcase and then lapped Chatiemac and then tried out Burnt Ridge. The Quad at Burnt Ridge is the nicest most comfortable lift I have ever rode. Sagamore trail was worth two trips down, we really enjoyed the soft snow. We broke for lunch When Derek replied "Gore is like the Beach today, snow instead of sand". He dropped his snow pants and went out in his shorts. We skied long and hard and finally all too suddenly the rope was up on the Gondi and the day was done. Its been a great season and we are just trying to hold onto to it a little longer.

Skiing on the border in Catamount

This Ski season I finally left the uncommonly good conditions of NEPA and ventured out to the NY- Mass border to ski Catamount for the first time. The weather was sunny and 25 degrees and no wind ,perfect. It's always awesome when you get that first glimpse of the mountain on the drive up. Catamount did not disappoint. We arrived to no crowds and perfect conditions with most all trails opened. We lapped all trails including Catapult ,which they closed for grooming right after we hit it. It was boiler plate to the max and really made us appreciate the conditions of the other steeper trails that were groomed into edgeable snow. Halfway down Catapult we encountered a stranded terrified skier that after a while side slipped it down. You never really hear about Catamount, maybe cause of size, location but if your within a two hr drive give it a try.

Rough start to Ski Season

I Have a rough start to my ski season this year. While conditions have been great early season,my dengenerative knee has not responded well to skiing. six days out ,all at Elk mt have been a painfull challenge. Anything but skiing soft groomers has me buckling in pain. Seeing the Orth this week maybe a cortisone shot will do the trick.

Where to next Season

Time marches on, children grow, people change and the world keeps changing. Ten seasons at Big Bear and 218 ski days later we picked up up one last time. Oh we might drop in at BB once in a blue moon in the future, but our days of pass holders there are over. Kids have outgrown the mountain and time to move on is in order. We had some fun days BigBear and this little hill will always be special to us. When we are ever asked were do you come from we always will proudly proclaim"Big Bear PA

Underrated Mountain More Gore

Woke up 3:30 am packed up headed out 244 miles and 4 hrs later arrived at Gore mountain. What we found was a paradise for skiers with endless possibillties. Started of easy and worked our way to the top. Derek is a little shy when skiing new terrain so we went easy at first. Snow conditions and weather were perfect. Skied hard to 3:00 taking very few pics packed up drove home. Drove 7 hrs to ski 6, was it worth it Oh Yeah cannot wait to get back.

Rainy day in Central Ny

Skiers hate to have it rain, but usually means soft snow. Sat was no exception , light rain and soft snow made for a fine day at Greek yesterday. As always such a fun time skiing with Caleb. Injury prevents me from going hard or looking good skiing , but Iam stil out there. Going to the Ortho March 6th. He will prescripe rest and Corto?

Finding Nemo

Finding Nemo the movie came out the year my passed away ,so the movie will always be special to me. Nemo the storm brought alot of hype to ski community, while it came up short in quantity , quality was awesome and it really helped out the area's ski shoppes and hills. We enjoyed freshies early Sat at the Bear and then on Sunday hit up our Cat favorite Plattekill. Blue bird skies and mininimal wind made for a great day sliding at the Bear. We lapped the screamer until all the snow was smacked down ,then we burned the snow off the Polar Bear. Fun morning Sunday driving up to Platt temps bottomed out at -1 on the mountain still winds and sunshine warmed temps quickly into the mid 20's ,by the time we left temps were above freezing. Conditions were alittle hard in the morn but really fun. Attendance at the mountain seemed to be at an alltime high for any day we have ever skied here.{Platte is the only non BB area I will ski on Holidays)We been here on Presidents day with less people. Scotty (from Alpine Zone forum) and Harvey (NY Ski Blog) are doing a great job in promoting. While waiting at the lift we spied some local critters complaining about the crowd and blaming the promoters,I said "Don't worry March is coming we will once again have the mountains to ourselves!

Blue Mountain Bike Tour Jamaica

If you asked me what would I be doing at 5700 ft above sea level I would answer skiing. But on this MLK day, this year, we were touring the Blue mountains in Jamaica. Learned alot about coffee and the Jamaica culture. T

he skiing will be there but its nice to keep my wife Tammy happy as she puts up with all those ski days

Perfect Day in Pa

What a day to out today in NEPA , warmth sunshine no wind and soft snow. Big Bear served up an awesome learn to ski for free Day today, Mother nature cooperated with great weather and perfect ski conditions for the novice. Guaranteed customers will return and get hooked on skiing. Derek and I lapped the red chair all day . He decided he could ride the chair solo so while I lined up a demo from the ski haus he rode it all by himself. Another mile stone caught on camera

Life and parenthood just goes by too fast.

Last Day of 2012

Where do you ski on the last day of the year? Quite a few years we rang in the New Year with skiing till The ball dropped .Since then the Ski area has eliminated this fun night because of under age drinking . We knew ,early day skiing ,would be chaotic and lodge would be overcrowded, so instead we headed out to Prompton dam, where earlier in the year we picked out some good ski lines along their hiking trail system. We skinned in and made 3 full runs down a gentle pitched run that ended with some quick planning at the end to avoid tight trees and some natural obstacles. Great fun and lots of exercise we had on this last day of 2012.

Remembering those old Ktells

Ski Big Bear opened yesterday for the season and we were there. With today's snow and Holiday crowds at BigB we decided to try something else besides the normal ski. Way back in 1979 My mom bought me a pair of cheap skis , they were bright red and they slapped on the bottom of your shoes. I skied them across the road from my house that Winter and had a blast. In following years I went to buy other skis and eventually ended at ski hills , but you never forget your first. Today's ski was dedicated to those first plastic skis. We skied the same short pasture I skied so long ago.

Ski Belleayre

Belleayre Mt is on a ridge in the Catskills. State owned and run it is clearly our least favorite mt still operating in the Catskills region. We frequent all four of the areas ski centers every ski season , we decided on Belleayre this weekend since Big Bear wasn't open yet. There were three ways down from the top , alttle more than Local hills of Elk and Camelback were offering. We arrived early and lapped the short funs off the Lift 7 triple. Conditions were't bad considering the major rain event earlier in the week. Sno was rock hard but well placed snowgun droppings kept it maneurable. A long cold spell will help this mountain out this week. We have begun to out grow this mountain as my family evolves a skiers but will still like its aspects of it catering to the newbies with its lower mountain set aside for newest snowsport participants. New management will hopefully bring facilities in to the new millenium while still keeping skiing affortable for families.

Finally a ski day in PA Elk Mt

Thought Nov-Dec 2011 was tough on skiing , Well 2012 is way worse, Ski BigB ca't open till after Christmas, Camelback is closed on the Sat before the Holidays. Weather channel is getting worn out the house. Been driving by Elk mt all week and its been calling

Hit it up for just a few runs on my way home for the Holiday. What I found was a ski area working as hard as it could ( given the recent rain) to provide some skiing for its loyal base. Snowed the whole time I was there Maybe there is hope.

First Day of the New Season

First time out for the season Been a few seasons since we got out in November. Fun day up at Windham in the Catskills, took 12 runs top to bottom. Conditions were well early season so not a lot to expand on but still fun out there with Caleb.

Early season trail conditions can be rough , The Wall trail had a 3foot plus ditch at the bottom. We watched a unknowing skier yardsale it early. Caleb and I bet he couldn't cross it. He cleared it but his bindings released.

Fall is in the air.

Getting colder at night days are getting shorter, Ski gear time is here. Little D got an awesome new setup Line Super Heroes and Marker bindings .Stoked up can't wait for some Snow.

Lost Ski areas

Today the Boys and I went for a ride and visited two Ny lost ski areas. One area near Hunter Mt called Cortina and another one near Andes called Bobcat

Hunter mt stilled had some snow in various spots on the mt having been closed since the end of March

Cortina and Bobcat are small ski areas lost in the past and will not likely ever see action again. Oh to be able to jump back to a time where these small areas were turning the lifts and putting smiles on the small family crowds that graced the slopes. We starred up at the widest slope at Bobcat and for a few moments it was covered in snow and skiers were carving their way down.

On the ride home we talked about Bobcat having lights,snow making and a terrain park and then some day awaken again and providing night time skiing in the Catskills.