rfarren
New member
I went up this past weekend to the southern Daks. I woke up at 5:00 in the morning and got on the road by 5:15 Saturday morning. I drove all the way to warrensburg arriving at Hickory Ski Center at 8:45. Hickory is closed on weekdays. That made it perfect to hit this Saturday, as it snowed 16 inches over there on Wednesday night/Thursday. It's a small mountain with 2 pomas that is natural snow dependent and is somehow a coop but isn't.... :-s I was explained but I wasn't really sure how it is run because there are some screwy laws in NY. Anyhow, it was pretty much all untracked, although not quite blower was pretty darn good. The place had a great vibe. Perhaps, it's what Soulskier is going for except with gnarlier big out west alpine terrain. I was totally beat because of the early drive and food deprivation.
I left early to have my skis worked on in North Creek. By then the forecasted storm had come in and made the roads miserable. Nonetheless, I survived.
That night is snowed some 8 or so inches at gore, but it was also mixed in with some sleet and freezing rain. It caused havoc on the lift lines as it took forever to get the upper mountain open. That meant all the people were funneling down to the gondola. On my third trip down the single line was literally 25 minutes long.
By the time I got to the head of the line the upper mountain lifts were opened. You would think that the freezing rain would cause the snow to be horrible but to my surprise it was great and soft. It was like a cake with soft on top, crust in the middle, soft on bottom. It actually reminded me a bit of the wind buffed I skied out in Whistler last December. I met some locals who offered to show me around the trees. They showed me some amazing terrain, and were super super nice. I later linked up with Powderqueen for a few runs, although I missed Harvey44 whom I met that morning on the line. The snow conditions were pretty soft despite the freezing rain the prior night. I never heard a scratch and I had no problem skiing my mantras.
I left early to have my skis worked on in North Creek. By then the forecasted storm had come in and made the roads miserable. Nonetheless, I survived.
That night is snowed some 8 or so inches at gore, but it was also mixed in with some sleet and freezing rain. It caused havoc on the lift lines as it took forever to get the upper mountain open. That meant all the people were funneling down to the gondola. On my third trip down the single line was literally 25 minutes long.
By the time I got to the head of the line the upper mountain lifts were opened. You would think that the freezing rain would cause the snow to be horrible but to my surprise it was great and soft. It was like a cake with soft on top, crust in the middle, soft on bottom. It actually reminded me a bit of the wind buffed I skied out in Whistler last December. I met some locals who offered to show me around the trees. They showed me some amazing terrain, and were super super nice. I later linked up with Powderqueen for a few runs, although I missed Harvey44 whom I met that morning on the line. The snow conditions were pretty soft despite the freezing rain the prior night. I never heard a scratch and I had no problem skiing my mantras.
