by Albert Neubert
It was a spring skiing weekend with balmy temperatures on Saturday followed by a severe thunderstorm laden squall line that blew through the region that evening. It hit 60 in spots around the Hudson Valley on Saturday before the cooldown on Sunday, which was still very mild for this time of the year. Surface conditions were heavy and soft snow on Saturday, firming up on Sunday with some frozen granular at the higher elevations, like in the Catskills. Local ski areas like Mount Peter, in Warwick, Thunder Ridge, in Patterson and Holiday Mountain, in Thompson, all experienced soft snow on both weekend days.
On Tuesday, the biggest snowstorm of the season in our area dumped up to a foot of heavy, wet snow but this time it was the lower elevation and more southerly ski areas that got the natural stuff. The forecast for the President’s Day holiday weekend is looking great with continued cold temperatures and with some snow flurry activity predicted for the weekend. I guess that’s the reason for the saying, “better late, than never.”
I took a ride up north to the Adirondack Mountains last week using the Northway to exit 18 which is right by downtown Glens Falls. I headed in the other direction, towards Corinth for a couple of miles and to an underrated gem called West Mountain. The ski area has a relatively low base elevation and a summit of just shy of 1,500 feet but there is a 1,000 foot vertical drop. West Mountain is a member of the Indy pass program, which entitles members to two free passes and a third visit with a significant discount. Even though West Mountain is pretty far north and in the southern Adirondack region, it’s one of the most accessible and easy-to-get to ski areas with no winding mountain roads to deal with and you don’t have to worry even if driving conditions aren’t the best.
West Mountain has 35 trails and they are accessed by two triple chairs, one quad chair and three beginner surface lifts. …
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