# Snow Ridge Opening Day 2013-2014 Season



## Cornhead (Dec 14, 2013)

*Date(s) Skied: *12/13/13

*Resort or Ski Area: *Snow Ridge

*Conditions: *Powder, tons o powder

*Trip Report: *

After watching radar all week of copious amounts of snow dumping on tiny little Snow Ridge in Central NY, I couldn't resist driving up to see, and ski, for myself. I got there fifteen minutes before the scheduled opening, ten O'clock. They delayed this until about 10:30, since they had to clear the additional twenty inches of snow that fell overnight from the chairs. This is twenty inches on top of the 47 that fell in the previous two days, FIVE AND A HALF FEET OF SNOW! I picked up my lift ticket, $15 with my Greek Peak discount, they were only charging $22 to the general public, and took my place in the line forming at the lift. As I rode the chair I witnessed people stuck dead in their tracks as they tried to ski a good four feet of settled snow on the moderately pitched slope. Funny as hell, until it's you who are stuck in the middle of the trail, as I'd discover on my second run. They had two groomer length swaths groomed on North and South Slope trails. My first run, North Slope, I ventured off the groomed path, then just skied the path to the base. My second run I decided to ski South Slope, I followed a swath to what is usually the terrain park. The swath came to an end, I continued, for about a hundred yards. At this point I was stuck, a good fifty yards from the groomed section on the edge of the trail. It took me fifteen minutes to work my way there. I was grateful a heart attack was not induced by my struggle.

As things got cut up a bit, they skied much better. There were some nice steep trees skiers left from the top that had enough pitch to actually ski too. One trail, Headwall? had a nice cliff drop. I was up hill of a guy who popped it, spun, hit an overhanging branch of a tree on the edge of the cliff with the bases of his skis, and disappeared. He must have been twenty feet off the ground. He didn't stick his landing, and couldn't find one of his skis. He may have to wait till Spring! Throughout the day there were ski patrol all over the hill helping people look for their submerged skis. 

It was a surreal experience, one of the most memorable ski days of my life. I could only imagine what it would have been like if this much snow were to fall on a place like Whiteface, of course they'd be on wind hold.:wink:






My 125cm, 4ft ski pole,just below the grip.




Headwall, the guy in the left is the one who hucked the cliff and lost his ski, the drop is just in front of them.


----------



## xwhaler (Dec 14, 2013)

Hell yea Bob!   Was waiting to see one of these from snow Ridge.    Looks incredible.   Way to get after it!

Sent from my VS980 4G using AlpineZone mobile app


----------



## Cornhead (Dec 14, 2013)

Thanks, X SR a cool little hill. Someone said this may have been an all time record snowfall for them, I believe it, it was nuts!


----------



## ScottySkis (Dec 14, 2013)

Why go to Utah when you can just go there great going.


----------



## Domeskier (Dec 14, 2013)

Awesome.  The forth pic with the three feet of snow piled on the chairs just about says it all!


----------



## Rambo (Dec 14, 2013)

I think this is what record lake effects snow from Lake Ontario looks like:


----------



## fahz (Dec 14, 2013)

Amazing!


Cornhead said:


> *Date(s) Skied: *12/13/13
> 
> *Resort or Ski Area: *Snow Ridge
> 
> ...


----------



## Domeskier (Dec 14, 2013)

Rambo said:


> I think this is what record lake effects snow from Lake Ontario looks like



Wow!  How do they manage to plow through something like that?!?!


----------



## Cornhead (Dec 15, 2013)

Domeskier said:


> Wow!  How do they manage to plow through something like that?!?!



If I recall correctly , they were using equipment normally used to clear airport runways.


----------



## Rambo (Dec 15, 2013)

Back in 2007 the Oswego area was hammered with mountains of lake effects snow. People posted pictures on the internet and CBS evening news did a segment about all the snow and showed the photos on the national news.
However according to SNOPES the photos were not from New York State:




https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CCoQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.snopes.com%2Fphotos%2Fnatural%2Foswego.asp&ei=qdCtUvnWLpfesATwtoDQAg&usg=AFQjCNE569Wb-tfKIMipe5n5Xjmy9cnEZg&sig2=6yAk1WNW5pJ5z4--RrSRiA


----------



## air0rmc (Dec 15, 2013)

Nice pictures Cornhead.  My son and I were at the ridge yesterday, Von Allmen, Black River and Snow pocket were pretty tasty. (though not ideal for your quads on the first day of your season).  In that depth with out the right setup its easy to go over the handle bars.

I get at least 3 of these pow days a season there, though this one was special due to the amount.  The dumps are usually 1 to 2 feet and are quite common.  One of the best kept secrets in the NE.  With out the lake effect though, you get bored fast.  

There is another place about 40 miles east by way the crow flies, in Old Forge.  McCauley Mountain, It gets about 2/3 (on average) the lake effect that the ridge gets but in my opinion has more challenges.


----------



## Cornhead (Dec 15, 2013)

air0rmc said:


> Nice pictures Cornhead.  My son and I were at the ridge yesterday, Von Allmen, Black River and Snow pocket were pretty tasty. (though not ideal for your quads on the first day of your season).  In that depth with out the right setup its easy to go over the handle bars.
> 
> I get at least 3 of these pow days a season there, though this one was special due to the amount.  The dumps are usually 1 to 2 feet and are quite common.  One of the best kept secrets in the NE.  With out the lake effect though, you get bored fast.
> 
> There is another place about 40 miles east by way the crow flies, in Old Forge.  McCauley Mountain, It gets about 2/3 (on average) the lake effect that the ridge gets but in my opinion has more challenges.



Yes, I'll have to give McCauley a try, never been. Someone at Platty said the same as you in comparison to Snow Ridge. A foot at SR is just about right. One of the best days I had last year was there after a foot. It too was a Friday, and pretty much had the place to ourselfs. This past Friday at SR was just crazy, so glad I made the trip just to experience it.


----------



## billski (Dec 15, 2013)

OH MY GOD.  DIED AND GONE TO HEAVEN.  

Wish they had more vertical...


----------



## deadheadskier (Dec 15, 2013)

Rambo said:


> I think this is what record lake effects snow from Lake Ontario looks like:
> 
> View attachment 9791



Never seen anything like that on the East Coast in my life.  I've seen it in some of the mountain passes in Colorado.  Unreal


----------



## Cornhead (Dec 15, 2013)

billski said:


> OH MY GOD.  DIED AND GONE TO HEAVEN.
> 
> Wish they had more vertical...



It did cross my mind, so this is how it ends, heart attack struggling to free myself from 4ft of snow on a 500 ft mountain! I'd take that over heart attack shoveling the driveway.


----------



## air0rmc (Dec 15, 2013)

There are a few more places here I would like to share with you, they're are also in the snow belt and worth the trip.  
Royal Mountain in Caroga lake.  It is very dog friendly, in the lodge and running up and down the trails chasing their owners, cracks me up.
Oak mountain in Speculator, you can see it from rt.8/30 on your way to Gore.  It has some of my favorite tree skiing lines and natural features.
Big Tupper is also open this year, but does not make snow.
All are well under 40.00 and never crowded, even on weekends and holidays


----------



## Cornhead (Dec 16, 2013)

air0rmc said:


> There are a few more places here I would like to share with you, they're are also in the snow belt and worth the trip.
> Royal Mountain in Caroga lake.  It is very dog friendly, in the lodge and running up and down the trails chasing their owners, cracks me up.
> Oak mountain in Speculator, you can see it from rt.8/30 on your way to Gore.  It has some of my favorite tree skiing lines and natural features.
> Big Tupper is also open this year, but does not make snow.
> All are well under 40.00 and never crowded, even on weekends and holidays



Thanks for the advise, never heard of Royal Mountain. When I skied Santa Fe people were skinning with their dogs prior to opening, the humans were skinning, not the dogs! Sounds like a great way to walk your dog, the dogs love it too. I'd like to ski some of theses smaller places in the Daks, Hickory sounds like fun, I skied Titus last year. Big fan of anti-resort resorts, skied Platty yesterday, love it!


----------



## air0rmc (Dec 16, 2013)

I've always wanted to ski Titus, but get sucked in by Ice Face when I get to the hi peaks.  Hickory must be skied after a nor'easter I think, I heard there were some nice lines there.  If your in the Daks, Big Tupper is pretty unique.


----------



## Huck_It_Baby (Dec 16, 2013)

Nice Corny! Looks deeeeeeeeeep!

thanks for pics =)


----------



## Cornhead (Dec 16, 2013)

air0rmc said:


> I've always wanted to ski Titus, but get sucked in by Ice Face when I get to the hi peaks.  Hickory must be skied after a nor'easter I think, I heard there were some nice lines there.  If your in the Daks, Big Tupper is pretty unique.



The only reason I went is because it is on the Fox44 ski card, Jaytrem and I had skied Gore and Whiteface the previous two days. It was a nice mellow day after all that vert. It may not be high, but Titus is wide. Cool little hill, there are tunnels, and a bridge that you ski over the access road. Some nice low angle glades too.


----------



## Tin (Dec 16, 2013)

Amazing stuff.


----------



## MadMadWorld (Dec 16, 2013)

Glad someone made it out there!


----------



## WoodCore (Dec 16, 2013)

Nice! Reminds me of a day I had at Plattekill a few years back. Epic deep snow.


----------



## Nick (Dec 16, 2013)

!!! Unbelievable!!!


----------



## BackLoafRiver (Dec 16, 2013)

Wow!!!!!  Props to you buddy!  That looks like a memorable experience and one that will be hard to beat


----------



## Cornhead (Dec 16, 2013)

BackLoafRiver said:


> Wow!!!!!  Props to you buddy!  That looks like a memorable experience and one that will be hard to beat


Now I'm even glad I got stuck, it was all part of the experience. At the time, it was kinda scary. I don't know if it would have been easier to take my skis off, or not. It was difficult to keep both skis pointed in the same direction. It took tremendous effort to work one ski towards the surface where it could be realigned with its partner and advanced slightly forward. If you tried to just shuffle them under the snow, your legs would just compact the snow in front of it til you could go no further. Then it was even harder to bring a ski to the surface. I tried backing up when this happend, that was futile. A patroller stopped uphill from me and just watched, I assume to make sure I could make it without help. I was a little concerned about my heart being able to handle the stress. I was so spent when I got to within three feet of someone's track at the edge of the groomed strip, I took my skis off and crawled the last few feet on my knees using my shins as snowshoes. In retrospect, the easiest way out may have been to follow my track back uphill, probably with skis off. It's counterintuitive to think going uphill would be easier than going down, or even sideways, which is what I did. Once was definitely enough, I made sure I was close enough to cut up snow to bail the rest of the day. In fact, I spent the last hour skiing the boundary between skied and unskied snow. Dipping into the fresh, bailing back into the cut up, picking up speed, and repeating down the trail. The little islands of untracked amongst the cut up were fun to blast through too. One of the most memorable days of my skiing life without a doubt.


----------

