Gut Tug will travel to NY - Saturday December 12, 09

Patrick

Active member
Days of a few firsts.

First time at this ski area. I'm pretty sure the following was a first. Daytrip where the distance in kilometers (one way or both) was greater than the vertical of the ski area. 250km vs 130m approximately. Leaving the locals which have greater vertical than this Tug I've been hearing about for years. The local scene was white, but wasn't happening.

If it wouldn't been for the snow that he had all week, but the storm brewing south of the border... then I saw skimore's post last Friday. This got me thinking:

skimore":rk90hyhz said:
Tug got 18 last night and

This Afternoon: Snow showers and areas of blowing snow. The snow could be heavy at times. High near 21. West wind around 16 mph, with gusts as high as 36 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Total daytime snow accumulation of 32 to 38 inches possible.

Tonight: Snow and widespread blowing snow. The snow could be heavy at times. Low around 12. Wind chill values as low as zero. West wind between 10 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 32 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 15 to 21 inches possible.

Saturday: Snow showers, mainly before 10am. High near 27. Wind chill values as low as -3. West wind between 10 and 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible.

I decided to PM skimore, he had invited me down a couple years ago and I was always curious. I could only afford being away for one day, daytrip destination only. As I was giving 40-60 odds of me actually making the trip, I kept staring at the computer screen that showed a strong lake effect instead of working. Too busy, but I had to get out. Then I was pretty much decided, skimore mentioned a friend that what part of his Chic Choc party last April and that he lived somewhere in Eastern Ontario. The friend in question was Taiga from TTips which lives in Ottawa only 2 miles from my home.

Taiga and I agreed at a 5am pickup time. The distance from Ottawa to Tug is something like 220km. The snow level was pretty low at the border which is the St.Lawrence River. Across the border, I had no idea where I was going, lucky Taiga had been to Tug before. After a few minutes, he tells me that he might have missed the turnoff...back we go, heading back from where we came from then we turned. Again, we turned too early and we are heading in the right direction, but the road would then turn west...back on our steps. #-o Looking on a Blackberry and trying to find the proper route...we found a interconnecting road and rejoined Highway 812, where we were suppose to be in the first place. Great, I was lost, no maps will travel.

As we are driving, the snow banks were getting higher. Wow...then in Lowville we made the wrong turn at the Fork in the road. :roll: We weren't too far that there was a huge sign mentioned the ski area was 2 miles to the right. 8-[ The plan had been to meet skimore as we wanted to skin up before the lifts opened, however we got there only 20 minutes before the scheduled opening of the lift. We hurried indoor, got changed and heading to wait in line. It would seem all these people know each other. Waiting for the lift to open, I was looking at the main run...not one track. Wow, it was beautiful. :drool: Taiga noticed skimore toward the top of the hill skinning. The lift took a while to get going, so skimore managed a first tracks before the people started arriving on the top. Most of the people assault that wide run next to the liftline. It was fun, however the pitch was a bit flat for this amount of new snow. We repeated this one more time and then saw skimore at the top. He said that this was too flat and that we needed to follow him. I don't know where he brought us? Faceshots, pillows, not sure if this was an official trail or if we turned away from the ski area. At one point, there was this drop, the slope wasn't getting steeper, it was a sharp drop. I was somewhat concern with all the trees and branches around, but it didn't seem to be much of a problem as skimore and friends charged down. This terrain is steep and intense (although short), not many place this small have terrain like this in their off-piste. We headed back further and further skiing through some nasty prickly branches, like skiing through bard wire, you don't want a face shot here. :? At the bottom of the drop, we were to negotiate a creek crossing. Back on top, back in the woods. I thought we were back at the same place, but skimore mentioned that this place wasn't. I didn't know where we were. Lost again, no maps, will travel.

A well deserved lunch at the bar, we headed back up with some skins as we were going to head toward a closed part of the hill. Trackless in the woods and on the trails, but not as steep. We decided to headback to where we were in the morning. We were a fairly big group, but we started to split up. Taiga and I got loss with skimore one more time. For the next run, I was toasted and wanted to ski the official trails. This is a fun local area, not much of a challenge...until you get lost.

Thanks to skimore for being a wonderful guide and lending a set of skis and skins. Not a ton of vertical and a lot of pushing, but I was done.

Powderqueen":rk90hyhz said:
I hope they got some pix to post.

It's been my experience, when the skiing is real good, you don't stop for pics. This is the only thing that skimore got (posted in the other FTO TR):

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGFYw_ek5FY[/youtube]

This is what some of the terrain looks like (taken last year by skimore): short and sick...sweet. :mrgreen:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lln9fqNRWWk[/youtube]

Don't ask me where this place is, because I don't know, I was lost the whole time. O:)

Finally to end this TR, this says it all:

This report is effective 5pm Saturday, December 12, 2009.

It looks like winter is finally here. We received a total of 38" of snow on Friday and the skiing and riding today were absolutely fantastic. If you weren't here today you don't know what you missed.

Thanks LAKE ONTARIO !!
 
Tug Hill is pretty wild, n'est pas? What an incredible snow machine. I have never seem snowdrifts along the roads like they have there. Nice TR Patrick!
 
Does enough of Lake Ontario say open water for Tug Hill's lake effect to continue midwinter? My understanding is that enough of Erie usually freezes that Buffalo's lake effect is not much by mid-January or so.
 
Tony Crocker":3pzd9dvq said:
Does enough of Lake Ontario say open water for Tug Hill's lake effect to continue midwinter? My understanding is that enough of Erie usually freezes that Buffalo's lake effect is not much by mid-January or so.

I'll defer to skimore on this but Erie is much shallower so if freezes alot sooner. Not sure about average depth which is probably more important, but max depth in Erie is around 200 ft and I think Ontario has spots over 800 feet deep.

Nice TR Patrick!
 
Harvey's got it. Erie usually freezes, Ontario has open water all winter. The area around Turin/Highmarket gets hit hard. Tends to be very localized. Lowville, not so much. Booneville not so much. At least in my experience....
 
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