New York State Powder Day

[rongon]

I had a very nice Saturday, at a cute little NY State ski hill with a whopping 600 foot drop. This one was about quality of snow, not quantity of terrain. I caught a bad cold and have been suffering ever since. But it was so worth it.

[Woodserson]

You guys get rain after that like we did in NH? OOOOFTA

Where, are you allowed to say? Great pic!

[rongon]

That was cute little Snow Ridge, off the Tug Hill Plateau. I traveled 4 hours to get there, caught a terrible cold that I'm still fighting. It was still worth it to get a full day of lift-served with access to untracked powder the whole day, and on a weekend!

We didn't get a huge amount of rain, but it was enough to turn everything hard and fast. I hear conditions aren't bad in the upper elevations of the Adirondacks. Are things skiable in the Whites?
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[Woodserson]

I haven't been up in the Whites since the rain, but in the central part of the state it rained hard, penetrated through the pack, and then froze super hard. So we have this really deep granular that isn't all that bad, with very little crust. As ideal as you can ask for, I think. Grooming at the local hill makes for fast and edgeable conditions.

I bet things are better up north, and a few inches tonight/tomorrow will help. I am going up tomorrow.

Snow Ridge... thanks for the tip

[MikeK]

600' is optimistic for Snow Ridge... it's actually about 400 although they claim 500.

I hope to actually put that 400 to the test someday... glad you went though. It's a great area.

[fisheater]

There is a hill 3 1/2 hours away with an advertised 475 feet of vertical. It is in a snowbelt area, and it is a dune, which makes the terrain interesting, although mountains are more interesting. I bought weekend season passes for my son and myself, for $100 each. The coolest thing is that there is an abandoned ski area 10 miles down the road as well.
So if live where vertical relief is not great. 400 feet of vertical can still be fun. Looked like a sweet powder day!

[MikeK]

Snow Ridge is a hill. It's glacially carved out of sedimentary rock. That and the whole Black River Valley area is not unlike southern and central NY and the Bristol hills, it's just a little lower vert.

That is why it has the characteristically flat top with steep side and gullies.

It used to be relatively unknown but in recent years it has been getting a lot of attention because of the huge dumps of snow they get. I don't think they even make snow there.

Tug Hill (which is actually a giant cuesta) is known for its relative flatness and mass amounts of snow blowing off the east end of Lake Ontario. Snow Ridge lies on the east, steepest and highest tilted end of the cuesta making the only really ideal spot for dh skiing.

[rongon]

It's a cruel twist of geologic fate that the snowiest part of NY State (and perhaps the entire eastern US) is flat as a pancake, while the best mountain terrain is relatively snow-starved. Oh well. It makes life very interesting for us.

[MikeK]

If you ever get back up to that area and want to do some touring, check out this place:

http://www.breiax-countryski.org/

It's pretty big in terms of area. If you want to schwack in the trees, Jackson Hill is your best bet. Egypt Rd is a lot of fun in its own right though. Going from top to bottom is really fun as is the Great Trail.

It's the best early season before they groom it.

[fisheater]

Snow Ridge is a hill. It's glacially carved out of sedimentary rock. That and the whole Black River Valley area is not unlike southern and central NY and the Bristol hills, it's just a little lower vert.

That is why it has the characteristically flat top with steep side and gullies.

It used to be relatively unknown but in recent years it has been getting a lot of attention because of the huge dumps of snow they get. I don't think they even make snow there.

Tug Hill (which is actually a giant cuesta) is known for its relative flatness and mass amounts of snow blowing off the east end of Lake Ontario. Snow Ridge lies on the east, steepest and highest tilted end of the cuesta making the only really ideal spot for dh skiing.

Okay Mike,
Your glacially carved rock is much different than the glacially altered landscape we have in Michigan. I now know the difference thanks to your cuesta lesson. In the lower peninsula we ski primarily on moraines, which are deposits of glacial till. The entire lower peninsula has an average till depth of 300 feet. The dunes I find a bit more interesting are merely the results of windblown fine moraine sand, captured on higher inland moraines.
Thanks for sending me on the geology assignment