Sharon
New member
An unexpected early opening. What a great idea. I hand it to management for seeing that window of opportunity to make snow and get GreeK Peak open early. They sent out text messages and emails to all those who have signed up. Offered $25 lift tickets and special gifts to the first 50 who bought lift tix. (never did find out what those gifts were). A good number of people showed up. Mostly pass holders. There was a long line to pick up passes and no wait to buy lift tickets. They were training new employees in the ticket booths as well as on the mountain. It was a perfect day for a shakedown run.
They advertised a 10am opening, but I believe they opened earlier. We arrived just before 10 and the lifts were already loading.
My ski companions were Amy
and Bubba
Lake effect snow had piled up sufficiently on the right side of Eleysian Fields. Technically it was closed and there were closed signs marking the end of the man-made and groomed area, designating the fresh snow area as "closed". It should have said "reserved"
The right side skied very nicely and was knee deep in places. The snow was light and fluffy. There was no base, but the grass skied fast enough, though there were a few snakes hiding deep. Unfortunately, I didn't stop to take any pix of the slope. It has a long run-out and was back-lit, so it was not very photogenic today, not to mention it was squalling pretty hard and the wind was ripping. I did not take many photos, but I am posting the few I have here.
The trail dumps into the meadow and onto Stoic with all the other people.
The guns were roaring.
Temps were near 20 and there was a stiff 15mph wind, but everyone was enjoying the sunshine between snow squalls.
On the 6th run, Bubba was starting to talk about going in for a beer. We ran into our friend Reuben and were able to coax Bubba into a 7th run. The conditions were very good, nice dry packed powder on the trails. A mix of man-made and natural snow made for a fine packed powder. There was no sign of deterioration of the trails after a few hours of steady traffic. You could really crank out turns and go fast. Bubba went in after run 7. On the 9th run I ran into the beloved Acid Christ. He says something like he's skiing like a grandma today. We ride up on the lift together and regroup with the rest of my crew, a few other friends and a bunch of ski patrollers at the top of Fields. Kevin, a good ole Greek Peak telemarker regular whom I ran into at Powder Mountain last Feb joins us as well. Everyone is totally stoked to be on skis so early in central New York.
As the group takes off, Kevin and I go immediately to the "reserved" side to ski the natural snow. Acid Christ sees what we are doing and joins in, and I think some of the other patrollers did as well. The natural snow conditions were excellent, packed in some places and fluffy in other. A few thin spots and a few machine-made snow boulders that rolled in off the man-made snow area were easily avoided. The powder was mostly tracked, but it was still quite nice and soft between the browner and grassier places the snowboarders scraped clean. We all ripped down and cut over before the meadow except Acid Christ. AC worked the ungroomed a bit too long and hit either a wet area or a machine-made snow boulder at the lower part of the trail and biffed really hard with a big spray of powder. He doesn't know for sure what took him out. All I saw was a red jacket with a white cross on it exploding in a big cloud of powder. AC seemed a bit shaken. He had only taken 3 runs and still hadn't gotten his ski legs yet. With his tail between his legs he went in for lunch after his 4th run of the day. I think he owes us all a beer....or at least the 5 ski patrollers that saw him blow up, or at least the one who stopped to see if he was ok.
All in all it was a great first day of skiing. Laps on Eleysian fields were fun. I may go out and do it again tomorrow.
What will it take for Acid Christ redeem himself? Stay tuned.
They advertised a 10am opening, but I believe they opened earlier. We arrived just before 10 and the lifts were already loading.
My ski companions were Amy
and Bubba
Lake effect snow had piled up sufficiently on the right side of Eleysian Fields. Technically it was closed and there were closed signs marking the end of the man-made and groomed area, designating the fresh snow area as "closed". It should have said "reserved"
The right side skied very nicely and was knee deep in places. The snow was light and fluffy. There was no base, but the grass skied fast enough, though there were a few snakes hiding deep. Unfortunately, I didn't stop to take any pix of the slope. It has a long run-out and was back-lit, so it was not very photogenic today, not to mention it was squalling pretty hard and the wind was ripping. I did not take many photos, but I am posting the few I have here.
The trail dumps into the meadow and onto Stoic with all the other people.
The guns were roaring.
Temps were near 20 and there was a stiff 15mph wind, but everyone was enjoying the sunshine between snow squalls.
On the 6th run, Bubba was starting to talk about going in for a beer. We ran into our friend Reuben and were able to coax Bubba into a 7th run. The conditions were very good, nice dry packed powder on the trails. A mix of man-made and natural snow made for a fine packed powder. There was no sign of deterioration of the trails after a few hours of steady traffic. You could really crank out turns and go fast. Bubba went in after run 7. On the 9th run I ran into the beloved Acid Christ. He says something like he's skiing like a grandma today. We ride up on the lift together and regroup with the rest of my crew, a few other friends and a bunch of ski patrollers at the top of Fields. Kevin, a good ole Greek Peak telemarker regular whom I ran into at Powder Mountain last Feb joins us as well. Everyone is totally stoked to be on skis so early in central New York.
As the group takes off, Kevin and I go immediately to the "reserved" side to ski the natural snow. Acid Christ sees what we are doing and joins in, and I think some of the other patrollers did as well. The natural snow conditions were excellent, packed in some places and fluffy in other. A few thin spots and a few machine-made snow boulders that rolled in off the man-made snow area were easily avoided. The powder was mostly tracked, but it was still quite nice and soft between the browner and grassier places the snowboarders scraped clean. We all ripped down and cut over before the meadow except Acid Christ. AC worked the ungroomed a bit too long and hit either a wet area or a machine-made snow boulder at the lower part of the trail and biffed really hard with a big spray of powder. He doesn't know for sure what took him out. All I saw was a red jacket with a white cross on it exploding in a big cloud of powder. AC seemed a bit shaken. He had only taken 3 runs and still hadn't gotten his ski legs yet. With his tail between his legs he went in for lunch after his 4th run of the day. I think he owes us all a beer....or at least the 5 ski patrollers that saw him blow up, or at least the one who stopped to see if he was ok.
All in all it was a great first day of skiing. Laps on Eleysian fields were fun. I may go out and do it again tomorrow.
What will it take for Acid Christ redeem himself? Stay tuned.
