X-perience NY Skiing

I am a long-time Hospitality Professional and have been skiing since I was 3. Grew up in Boston, skiing in Killington, VT most weekends. I have since gone to College and lived in Ski Towns across the US like Stowe, VT, Lake Placid, NY, and in the New Mexico Rockies. I did some racing, mogul competitions, and a lot of backcountry and big mountain skiing all over the country. I have been in Central NY since 2007, except for 4 years up in Lake Placid. We ski in Canandaigua, NY @ Bristol Mountain, plus both Labrador and Song in the Syracuse area primarily now. In 2023 so far we skied out west in both Park City and Breckenridge Mountain mostly. My favorite ski partner is my 11-year-old son now and we love trying different mountains all across NY!      

[xperience-skiny]

Spring School Break at Gore Mountain!

Tons of snow still, on Sunday reported 74 trails open, 12 lifts and 93% of all terrain acres! This is amazing given the poor winter we have had in the northeast, but March dumped on the southern ADKs and set up a nice Spring!

Gore Mountain Ski & Recreation Area - the most terrain in New York State! Year-round events and activities.

We arrived to fast frozen granular top to bottom in the morning. By noon the top was fast, mid mountain was softer and mashed potatoes and corn snow all the way down to the Ski Bowl. Burnt Ridge Mountain had some great coverage with fast turns in the soft spring corn snow. No lines anywhere, even the Gondola, and they opened up “Lies” (if you don’t know it’s one of two insanely steep Double Black Diamonds at Gore, the other being “The Rumor”) midday and it was big soft bumps to play on. It was an absolute beauty of a day, nothing but Blue Skies and Sunshine ☀️!! We had great views of the High Peaks and Mount Marcy’s snow fields above the tree line in the distance!

The Sun deck and outdoor grill and waffle cabin were full all afternoon with skiers and riders basking in the sun while taking breaks. We decided to add some Apres Adventure and booked a room at the Great Escape Lodge in Lake George for some hot tub and waterpark fun each day! It was only about a 35 minute drive but perfect for my 11 year old to make a great combo getaway for our Spring Break Trip!

Six Flags Great Escape Lodge – Book Your Getaway to Lake George, NY

We may try and get an Easter Sunday Final Ski Day in but all depends on the weather. All and all either way we had another great Ski Season in NY!!!!

[xperience-skiny]

POWDER DAY at Gore

The drive from 90 to the mountain was Beautiful (all be it slow) with the snow still coming down. The snow was fluffier off of the upper lifts and glades, and was especially good and deep at the top! The Gondola Base Area had great views, when it wasnt snowing too hard, of the huge hits in the Terrian Park Features below that go all the way to the base! We skied alot of runs and found steeps that are rarely open covered and fun to bounce around in the fresh snow! Most of the glades were skiing great also with fresh snow filling in the tracks throughout the day.

This was my first time riding the Burnt Mountain Glades and "The longest glades in the East' lived up to their billing. There was powder turns still to be found on evey run as they are so vast you can easily pick your way through for some fresh tracks! We dined at mid-mountain and the burgers were excellent, enjoyed some great microbrew selections and went back out for the last runs!

We took it easy in the afternoon and stayed on single diamonds and blue squares until are legs were burning enough that we called it a day around 3pm. Still needing some carbs but starring a drive back to Syrcause in the face, we opted for the below instead of an apres beer...Waffle Cabin and a hot coffee for the road!

Here is a few more photos from our trip! Gore is a pure skiier/boarder's mountian for sure with a simple no thrills village, North Creek at the base. The true draw is the mountain year-round along with all the great rivers, hiking and biking to play on and in, which are all amazing there!

[xperience-skiny]

The Boys on the Song Triple ripping up Otto's Folly on repeat!

Song Mountain is in great shape and has really Upgraded its Base area over the last 3 years!

With 100% of the trails open now and the big storm on the way there is no better time to ski Song. We were last weekend and had a blast. The woods should be skiabke later this week and the lines have been great, with ski up and ride for almost every run on the new triple.

Songs Base Area, view from the the Montain

The base area got new exterior details on the main lodge, the recently added triple chair (2 triples & 2 Doubles now), better on-snow organization for the learn to ski programs and the biggest recent addition is the year-round Huega's Alpine Resturant and Bar. Huega's features year-round indoor and outdoor dining, gas fire pit, great views, a large stylish bar and terrific drinks! The upscale food and cocktails gives the on-mountain dining more of a Vermont or Western feel, it is located directly next to the Thunderbird Private Ski Clubhouse, which is another unique geature Song's base has!

Huega's Alpine Restaurnat Est. 2021

We had a great day and continue to truly appreciate the terrific job the SkiCNY group has done this year at both Labrador and Song Mountins to provide good snow conditions for the first 3 months of the season, before the snow started coming!

Get out this week and enjoy what should be our biggest snowfall of the year this week and make for a terrifc weekend of skiing!

Enjoy!

Chris Pulito

[xperience-skiny]

Presidents Weekend at Labrador Mountain, Saturday 2/18/23, Surprisingly Good Shape!

They made snow, lots of it! They list 12+ trails open but there were legitimately 15 ways down from the top utilizing crossovers and switchbacks. So what I am saying is there is plenty of skiing and snow even though there is grass in your backyard!

There was great coverage with no bare or thin spots to be found, and all the trails offered fast loose granular with plenty of snow on top to turn on. I was with my 11-year-old son who just keeps getting better every time we go, I am realizing it's just a matter of time before I am chasing him down the mountain and not him chasing me!

We are really enjoying year two of the updated Puffin Bird Restaurant at Lab also. They made some great improvements to the main lodge bathrooms and the Puffin Bird space and menu since last year. Greta wings and lots of high-end terrific craft beers from all over the Northeast!

We did 10 runs and took our break, then when back out for a few more! The Terrian Park features under the Badger lift looked great also and there was a pretty good rail jam session going on under the lift for some free entertainment while riding. Overall a great day and we went to Sing the next day....more to come in the next blog later this week! Spoiler ALERT...Song was really good as well!

Get out there on the man-made stuff and enjoy some great skiing in CNY!

[xperience-skiny]

Day 3 of the week Sunday 1/23 at Labrador Mountain in Truxton, NY.

SkiCNY | Skiing in Central New York

Full Labrador Report Full Song Report…

Great Snow, 3-4 inches fell throughout the day keeping the edges full of loose powder. Liftlines weren’t bad as they opened up the T-Bar next to the triple chair to allow skiers to zip up the mountain and make room for everyone else on the Chairs. They have done a nice job making snow but are still 1 big storm away from opening the whole mountain. We found fresh tracks all day in some glades, woods side trails, and on the edges of the trails off of Badger lift.

We were excited to try the “new” restaurant at Lab this year, called Puffin Bird. I put new in quotes because it’s the same building with some lipstick and a new name. They did modernize the Bar area to give it a little more of an Apres Ski feel and added lots of new TVs. Simple things like playing some Warren Miller Movies or X-Games highlights on the side TVs could give it a better mountain vibe, but they struck out by not adding any fireplace areas for warming up and ambiance. The all-new restaurant at Song, their sister Mountain, Helgas has a much better feel, cozy fireplace seating, and a more extensive menu than just typical base lodge food!

All and all it was a great day, made about 12 runs, my son really gained confidence carving and in the glades on his 4th full day this year on the slopes!

[xperience-skiny]

MLK Weekend 2022 at Bristol Mountain!

Sunday was a Bluebird Day early with the sun hiding how cold it was, then the storm clouds began to roll in.

Monday greeted us with 10-12" in the morning and another 4 to 6" throughout the day!

The premier ski resort in the Finger Lakes Region of New York that offers 1200’ of vertical, 2 high speed quads, & state-of-the-art snowmaki

Liftline Powder and constant Snow (top video) made it one of the best ski days I have had in the Region on Monday!

My son and girlfriend's daughter soaked up the sun on Sunday Before the Storm.

We stayed in Canandaigua, which is truly becoming an exciting place in the winter, not just the summer. We had great food, visited The Lake House and Young Lion Brewery to watch the Bills game.

The mountain had holiday crowds but with all the lifts open and two high-speed quads, there was only 1 lift with a 5-minute wait. We discovered the mid-mountain restaurant at the Morning Star Cafe area, and Wow! it was like a small Austrian or Swiss Waffle Haus halfway up the mountain tucked in the woods. It is ski-in/ski-out and had a great sun deck ( but it wasn't used, too cold Sunday/Monday too snowy) and it must be the place to be in the spring. We had Waffles, sausages, bacon, and hot chocolates and it was the perfect hearty lunch on a cold snowy winter day!

Overall great experience, it felt much closer to Vermont and the Adirondacks than anything in Western NY or in the mountains around Syracuse.

See you on the Slopes sometime soon!

[viejospellejos]

Increíble

[xperience-skiny]

WOW! So that is for sure not in NY but wherever it is it is Amazing! 🙌