Greek Peak 1/31

[Sharon]

In the 23 years I've lived in central NY I have not ever seen such consistently fabulous conditions, both at the ski area and in the backcountry. <BR> <BR>We have a coupla feet of snow...all of which is fluffy pow. Each day a few more inches are added. <BR> <BR>Friday night brought 3" as did saturday and saturday night. There were many untouched stashes in the woods and you didn't have to go too far to find them. <BR> <BR>Even the trails were powdery with untouched to be had on the sides. The temperatures were warm, windless lower 20s, with mostly sunny skies. Perfect day to go out, as many other folks did the same. The trails I skied were not at all crowded, it was the liftlines that were a bit of a bear. 10-15 minute waits, primarily due to one lift being down, which makes all the difference. <BR> <BR>Some other folks had the right idea. They avoided the crowds and earned their turns. This morning I got an email with some awesome pics of my friends up to their chest in powder. The email read: <BR> <BR>"Less than an hour from Ithaca, on the shores of a frigid Skaneatles Lake, there exists a mecca, a tree run of 600-800ft with face shots for all and a gradient up to around 45-50deg in a few spots....and a packed skin trail for easy access. You owe it to yourself - this slope is about a mile long and we skiied a section about 100yards wide. <BR> <BR>I've attached 3 photos for proof....BTW Kyle IS upright in his shot....and has orange goggles on!"

 

[frontrange]

Hey Sharon- where are the pictures? I can attest to the Western NY conditions- Holiday Valley a week earlier was much the same. Powder and packed powder. They make up for the lower vertical with the snow and a great range of trails. The woods aren't my forte, but those who went in found powder sometimes up to mid-thigh. Beats sheet i*e anytime.

 

[Sharon]

I am in the process of buying a camera. I don't have any pics just yet, but I will soon. Wished I had a camera last week with all the new snow. Especially in my backyard backcountry. There is definitely thigh deep snow out there. My friend sent me some pics of his backcountry trek near Skeneateles lake. There's a 600' vertical pitch they hiked/skied. They were chest deep. Like Utah...only it was central NY. <BR> <BR>BTW, just north of here they got 81" of snow last week in just 4 days. I saw some pics on the news. People have to shovel their roof or they may be in big trouble. Already some roofs caved in. Kinda scarey. <BR> <BR>2 more storms on the way. Yippee!!

 

[billski]

Man, I can attest to the Western NY snow belt. Lived there from '65 to '80. The only thing missing is more vertical. Used to go to those resorts south of Buffalo - Peek and Peek, Holiday Valley, learned my craft the hard way, in the deep stuff. We almost never said the word "icey." <BR>Had to give it up for earned income. Traded for less snow, more snowmaking (read: higher lift ticket price) more vertical in New England. <BR> <BR>Think we should have trucked all the Big Dig dirt out to WNY to help with the vertical.