Subject: Upstate NY Regional XC Ski Conditions
$Revisions: ,01/27/98 08:17:16 AM,01/27/98 10:37:26
AM,01/27/98 10:39:49 AM,01/27/98 10:41:54 AM
$UpdatedBy: CN=Kurt Ries/O=VIESystems
The
following is a list of XC ski locations and their associated snow
conditions
for upstate New York and surrounding areas.
We are
requesting help from fellow skiers to keep the list updated with
first
hand information. Please send updates to kries@viesystems.com and
I will
post as necessary.
Feel
free to add other ski areas in the region.
This
report is also posted on http://www.roundthebend.com/condxski.html
-Many thanks to the Round the Bend folks
We need
YOUR help to keep it updated!
Kurt
Ries
Canandaigua,
NY
kries@viesystems.com
**Key
To Report Entries***********************************************
1.)
Location - Identifying name of the ski area and related information
2.)
Numeric rating of ski conditions, S-R-T
S - Rating of snow conditions for skiing,
0 - 10
0 - no snow, 5 - OK, 10 - To die
for
R - Trail has been Rolled for
skating, 0 - 10
0 - Has not been rolled, 5 - OK, 10 - Pristine conditions
T - Trail has a Track for diagonal, 0 - 10
0 - No tracks, 5 - Ski set tracks,
6 & above - machine set
tracks
3.)Date
- Last updated, mm/dd/yy
-Search for %% to find the latest updates
4.)Comments
- Notes and details on the associated location
****************Upstate
New York XC Ski Conditions********************
Posting
Date: 1-29-98
OVERALL
NOTES:
Watch
dates on reports carefully, conditions can change in only a few days
For
additional information check out
-1-800-CALL-NYS, www.xcski.org/newyork,
www.roundthebend.com
Much of
upstate and surrounding areas have decent snow.
Happy
Trails
*********************************************************************
SYRACUSE
AND SOUTHERN ADIRONDACKS AREA
*********************************************************************
Tug
Hill
PO Box
189
Sandy
Creek, NY 13145-0189
Office:
315-387-5964, Ski Club Hotline: 315-387-5199
http://home.earthlink.net/~winonalodge/
Tourathon
Trails
Sun.
1/25
The
best skating of the season on the roads.
The groomers were
out
packing the woods trails--Winona Way, Sally's Ride, and Frank's
Fancy
had been done by early afternoon.
Ed
Luban
1/24
Excellent
cover but very crusty in the woods, with skier-set tracks.
Pretty
good skating on the roads, and very fast.
It was
nice to see quite a few novice skiers out today.
Ed
Luban
****************************************************************
Highland
Forest
Fabius,
NY
Fee of
$1.00 per skier
315-683-5550
Classic
only on narrow trails
Fri.
1/2
Lots of
snow, of course, and all the trails were very well tracked.
Ed
Luban
****************************************************************
Osceola
XC-Center
Osceola,
NY
315-599-7377
7
days/week 10am till 5pm
25+ km
of wooded rolling trails
About
15 miles from Tourathon trails
If
anyplace in NYS has snow, it's usually this place...
New for
this year we have made our mountain bike trails into
snowshoe
trails and have Redfeather Snowshoes for rent.
1/22/98 Excellant conditions, 14-16" base & cool temps have kept
the
snow in
good shape. All culvert area's are
covered with snow since all
the
rain. Fortunately we have missed the
ice storms completely. 10 of
10 for
set track, 10 of 10 for snow conditions
and 9 of 10 for skating.
24K
groomed. Syracuse Biathlon events
1/31/98 & 2/1/98. Races start at
11AM
and end around noon. For those who do
not want to compete or
spectate,
we do have the trails open north of the road.
currently no
other
races planned rest of winter. open 7 dats/week
10am till 5pm.
we will
be mailing this report out once a week.
if you need more
current
info call us at (315)599-7377 or e-mail us and we will get back
to you.
Hugh
Osceola
Tug Hill
Cross
Country Ski Center
****************************************************************
Salmon
Hills Cross Country Ski Resort
100
Noble Shores Drive
Redfield,
NY 13437
315-599-4003
www.discover-tughill.com
e-mail: LizExplor@aol.com
Fee of
$8.00 per skier
Night
skiing 5-9 PM
If you
like snow and impeccably groomed trails this is the place!
1/19/98
Conditions
at Salmon Hills are good to very good.
They received about a
foot of
snow over the last week which has covered the hard snow that
remained
after the meltdown. Nearly all trails
are open with good tracks.
Watch
for thin spots and rocks that have been pulled up by the groomer,
especially
on the new reservoir loop.
It was
snowing yesterday so things should be even better this week.
Todd
******************************************************************
Chateaugay
State Forest
Town of
Orwell
RT#2 a
few miles west of Salmon Hills
BC Only
*****************************************************************
Beaver
Lake Nature Center
Baldwinsvile,
NY
638-2519
******************************************************************
Bear
Swamp
Bear
Swamp (State Forest 15 miles south of Skaneateles on Rte. 14A)
******************************************************************
Green
Lakes State Park
Fayetteville,
NY
btwn.
Rts. 5 and 257,
7 miles
east of Syracuse
About
12k of trails
1/22/98
Green Lakes State Park quite skiable. Snow
about a 6. Good tracks
on Long
and Tower Trails (also a 6), Lake Trails flattened as ususal with
no
useful tracks (0). Syracuse expects more snow today and Green Lakes
conditions
should remain good through the weekend (if, of course, it's
doesn't
sleet all over us).
******************************************************************
Schenectady
Municipal Golf Course
Golf Rd
(off State Rte 7), Schenectady, NY
This is
one of the nicer places to ski within the urbanized part of
the
Capital District.
******************************************************************
Vanderkamp
Center
337
Martin Road
Cleveland,
New York 13042
Phone: (315) 675-3651
Fax: (315) 675-8802
E-Mail:
vk2@juno.com
Vanderkamps.
Located just off Rt49, on Martin Rd, about 25 feet
before
the "Welcome to Cleveland" sign.
January
21, 1998
Snow
4-5, about 5 or 6 inches are on the ground
Rolled
0
Tracks
5-6, Many people have been out so there are tracks covering
90% of
our trails
****************************************************************
Carpenter
Hill State Trails
Turin,
New York (Snow Ridge)
An
awesome network of trails that start on Carpenter Road just a
couple
miles North of Snow Ridge or about 6 miles south of Lowville,
New
York. The trails, combined with Snow
Ridge trails, total about 15
miles.
1/11/98
The
fearless four (Dave, Ellie, Diane, and Bob) called all
over
and couldn't get a good report of any snow so they threw caution
to the
wind and set a heading for the frozen North.
Three of the four
were
losing faith to varying degrees; especially, as we passed Oceola
Trails
and they did look usable, but they surged on for greener
pastures
(not by consensus). Going up Rt. 26,
the snow got thinner
and
thinner; but as we climbed up Carpenter Road, it started looking
like
Dave had a chance to be a hero instead of a goat. There was
about 6
to 12 inches hard base with 1 to 2 inches powder (which saved
the
day) and we got another 2 inches of powder while skiing. The
washouts
had to be negotiated; but otherwise, it was great skiing
(kinda
like skiing on silk) and the glide was very good plus you could
choose
to stay on the trail or ski a new track parallel to it with
same
degree of ease. It was still snowing as
we left and should be
excellent
this week if no more foul weather.
Happy
Skiing,
Dave & Ellie
*********************************************************************
SOUTHEAST
ADIRONDACKS
*********************************************************************
Luzerne
Mountains (Warren County west of Glens Falls)
********************************************************************
ROCHESTER
AREA
********************************************************************
Harriet
Spencer
Honeoye,
NY
HH
Spencer holds the snow better than any place in the area. The
trails
are nicely groomed for the high school race team.
1/7/98
FYI -
there is NO SNOW at Harriet Spencer as of last Wednesday.
bob
witkowski
********************************************************************
Cumming
Nature Center
Honeoye,
NY
Fee of
$4.00 per skier
Rentals
available, $8.00 per day
Great
family skiing!
******************************************************************
Mendon
Ponds
Rochester,
NY
******************************************************************
Ellison
Park
Rochester,
NY
******************************************************************
Oatka
Park
Monroe
County
******************************************************************
Genesse
County Park
30 min
from Rochester and Buffalo
no
grooming etc, classic trails only
******************************************************************
Letchworth
State Park
Livingston
County, NY
******************************************************************
Durand
Eastman Park
Webster,
NY
******************************************************************
NORTHERN
ADIRONDACKS
******************************************************************
Van
Hoevenberg
Lake
Placid, NY
50K
Classical/Skate
Open
Daily 9:00 - 4:00
$12
full day, $9 1/2 days
518-523-2811
http://www.orda.org/snow.html
http://www.lakeplacid.com
Ski
Conditions and Event info 1-800-462-6236
1/4/98
8-8-8
Good
snow cover, tracks are iced with a dusting snow very fast.
Skating
is good with a few ice spots
-Kurt
******************************************************************
ADK Loj
Vicinity
Lake
Placid, NY
518-523-3518
Adirondak Loj
ADK
Weather Phone 518-523-1363
1/3/98 7-0-3
Good
snow cover, with water saturated powder and breakable crust
in the
AM, chunky in the PM. Track skiing is excellent!
-Kurt
******************************************************************
High
Peaks & Northern
Adk.
Backcountry
518-523-1365
Adirondack Ski Touring Council
******************************************************************
Backcountry
Paul Smiths, Duane and vicinity
Backcountry
Paul Smiths, Duane and vicinity
3 0 0 1/4/98
The
area around Gabriels/Paul Smiths/Duane had 20+ inches of solid
base
before last week's storm. Since then
they received 18" of powder
followed
by 5" more a day later.
Snowmobilers were complaining about
too
much snow! It is now warm; the snowpack
is settling and melting.
Turns
in the backcountry will be difficult.
Tracked skiing is
excellent.
Northern
Adirondacks
1/20/98
-- Ice storm damage
North
of Paul Smiths College toward McCollums and beyond were
devastated. The Jones Pond Road, Harrietstown Hill, even
the little
hill on
the farm close to the railroad grade were hit hard. These
areas,
in comparison to Onchiota, Loon Lake, Sugar Bush, received little
damage. Probably within fifteen miles of Gabriels,
these three areas
got
clobbered the worst.
******************************************************************
Marcy
Dam
(service
rd route)
******************************************************************
Connery
Lake Trail
(Lake
Placid Area)
******************************************************************
Backcountry
Saranac Vicinity
******************************************************************
Coreys
South
end of Upper Saranac
Lake on
State Route #3
******************************************************************
Jackrabbit
Trail
Lake
Clear to Keene, NY
518-523-1365
Adirondack Ski Touring Council
******************************************************************
Santanoni
Preserve 6-0-4 1-1-97
******************************************************************
CENTRAL
ADIRONDACKS
******************************************************************
Old
Forge area
Foot
hills of the ADK
McCauley
Mountain 315-369-6983
25 K of
trail
http://www.adirondacktravel.com/O.F.skiing.html
Fast
fun over rolling hills
******************************************************************
Lapland
Lake
Northville,
NY
1-800-453-SNOW
http://www.laplandlake.com
Half
hour north of Amsterdam, NY
$10.00
trail fee.
1/19/97
Lots of
new snow; all trails were impeccably groomed and tracked. A
perfect
afternoon of skiing. 10-10-10!
Ed
Luban
*****************************************************************
Garnet
Hill
North
Creek, NY
http://www.garnet-hill.com
1-800-CALL-NYS
Garnet
Hill, North Creek, NY
9-8-9 12/6/97
Some
outlieing trails and some steeper trails were not open, but
about
25 km were groomed and set. Previous
chopped slightly
icy
conditions were replaced during the day as a steady gentle
snow
fell. The long downhill glide to the
van pickup was open and
delightful. Absolutely wonderful conditions, especially
for early
season.
In fact, pretty darn good even if it was midseason.
Bill
Nechamen
Schenectady,
NY
****************************************************************
Boonville
XC Trail
Black
River Canal trail, Jackson Hill trails, Potato Hill trail,
Briea
Trails
Boonville,
NY
Trails
run along the Black River Canal and up on Jackson
Hill is
off Rt #12, about 1 mile south of Boonville
The
warming hut alone is well worth a visit!
1/22/98
I skied
much of the canal trail and all of the connector up to Jackson Hill
today. The tracks are in good condition and will be
great when they groom
again. There is about 3" of new snow on top of
the tracks that has been
skied
in by skiers but not machine groomed.
The warming hut on Jackson
Hill
must be experienced!
All in
all it's very good. Classical only, of
course.
TR
****************************************************************
Dippikill
Warrenton,
NY
Near
Lake George
****************************************************************
OTTAWA
AREA
****************************************************************
Gatineau
Park
Ottawa,
Quebec
http://magi.com/~vo2max
http://www.iatech.com/tour/tour.htm
Snow
Report 819-827-2020
Gatineau
Park
01/19/98
The
trees in the park are still coated in an inch or more of ice, and so
it
still looks dramatically altered. But the parkways (40kms) have been
reopened,
and are in surprisingly good condition. They'll be in
excellent
condition by the end of the week, since we're expecting
another
10cm of snow. The main trails are slowly being cleared of trees
and
branches, which are down in astonishing numbers. My guess is that
trail
#1 will be clear by the weekend. The NCC has organized groups of
volunteers
to help with the work, and from my experience, it's all going
remarkably
well. It appears as the though the Keskinada trails are the
first
priority. I heard over the weekend (from an instructor) that
Keskinada
is being shortened to 42kms from 50. I suppose that trails 40
and 33
will be eliminated, since they're the furthest out, and see the
least
skiing in normal conditions. A loop that went to the end of 1B and
back
along 1, 3, and the Camp fortune trails would produce about 42kms,
but I'm
only guessing here. I saw yesterday that the CF trails were
being
cleared, and 1B is being worked on too.
Onno
Oerlemans
University
of Ottawa
****************************************************************
SOUTHERN
NEW YORK
****************************************************************
Northeast
Catskills
Backcountry
Northeast Catskills
Northeast
Catskills
Backcountry
Northeast Catskills 4-0-0 1/4/98
Snowpack
above 2000 feet is sufficiently deep to cover the rocks.
It is
wet and melting. Track skiing is excellent. Turns will be
difficult.
****************************************************************
Crystal
Lake Camp
near
Hughesville, Pa,
about
30 miles east of Williamsport and 60 miles south of the
New
York State Line
There
are about 30K of wonderful twisty and hilly groomed trails
over a
terminal morraine, and a 110 ft downhill with poma lift to
practice
telemark turns and/or ride to the trails that start at
the
top.
****************************************************************
Chenango
Bribge, N.Y.
****************************************************************
Greek
Peak/ Virgil Mountain,
(state
forest area)
********************************************************************
Hammond
Hill
Ithaca,
NY
We have
a nice XC area SE of Ithaca called Hammond Hill. We've cut
about
15km of track, mostly classic but 1 loop(5k) and the roads are
skatable.
We have an old Alpine for grooming and can set track. All
trails
are above 1800 feet and we usually have decent skiing. We also
have a
rudimentary warming hut and a parking lot, where trail maps are
available,
gratis.
Dan
%%27/1/98
Conditions on Hammond Hill are very good. Snow cober is
adequate(1
ft or
so) and all the trails are groomed to varying degrees. Tracks have
disappeared.
Snow quality is good, not icy, but packed. RFoads have been
trashed
by DEC vehicle painting the boundary blazes(graet cooperation).
a
report on Hammond Hill
****************************************************************
Helderburg
Mtns
Thacher
State Park
The
Long Path
This
area is about 30 minutes southwest of Albany.
7-0-5 1/3/98
Track
skiing here is excellent on wet snow.
Rocks are still
covered.
****************************************************************
Minnewaska
State Park
New
Platz, NY
****************************************************************
VERMONT
AREA
****************************************************************
Prospect
Mountain
Woodford,
VT
802-442-2575
Open 7
days/week.
http://users.aol.com/xcski/private/HomePage.html
802-447-3311
Chamber of Commerce
45 min
from Albany
****************************************************************
Grout
Pond, Vt.
(in
Natl. Forest near Stratton)
Not
Groomed (Recreation area, shared with snowmobiles,
well-marked
trail system).
****************************************************************
Bolton
Valley, VT
802-434-2131
http://www.boltonvalley.com/
70K
trail system, groomed classical/skate and ungroomed
If you
enjoy the Tele boards and tree skiing this is the place!
Bolton
reopened, under new ownership, on 11/20/97. They've added
some
10K of new, wide trails with a skating lane and double
tracked,
and are building more. This is in addition to the 60K
or so
of old trails, of which some 70% were ungroomed, steep
backcountry.
The new owner hopes to build the best cross country
center in
North America!
12-5-97 9-9-9
****************************************************************
Backcountry
Stowe Vicinity
Stowe,
VT
Camels
Hump, VT
Craftsbury,
VT
Trapps
Lodge, VT
Catamount,
VT
Mt.
Mansfield Touring Center
http://salus.med.uvm.edu/VTXCSki.html
****************************************************************
WESTERN
NEW YORK
http://www.buffnet.net/~jsundqui/sb.htm
http://www.buffnet.net/~jsundqui/ecf.htm
****************************************************************
Sprague
Brook Park
1/2/98
Haven't
tried, but probably marginal at best.
****************************************************************
Emery
Park
XC
trails are not groomed
1/2/98
Extremely
marginal/mashed potato on 1/2, but melting fast, so
probably
nothing left now.
****************************************************************
Byrncliff
$6
Trail Fee
Just
east of the intersection of Rt. 77 and 20A near Varysburg.
From
Rochester, get off the thruway at the Rt 77 exit (pembroke),
and go
south about 15 miles. At the flashing red go east (left)
and
it's at the bottom of the hill.
1/2/98
Closed
- no snow.
****************************************************************
Allegany
Forest
Allegany,
NY
(716)
858-8513
****************************************************************