New York backcountry skiing 2014

[KenR]

new Meetup group for NY Backcountry Skiing & Snowboarding:
http://www.meetup.com/New-York-Backc...-Snowboarding/

or just post trip ideas + partner requests + stories here on EYT.

or both.

Ken

[Todd Eastman]

Ken, this is great. When the gods of snow bless your area the touring and tree skiing is the finest.

Have fun and compare your local ski reports with those at Snoqualmie Pass out in the land of fat snow. Tell some stories as you get out and ski the Empire Zone...

Cheers

[webby]

Post your stoke here - bring it on

[KenR]

valley skating report

Good supportive surface for skating the ungoomed snow in the south around the City, but very hard and fast. Next time I'll get out my metal edges. Without metal edges, gentle + flat terrain was fast + fun once I got accustomed to it - but even moderate slopes were strenuous going up and tricky and difficult (? scary ?) getting down.
Classic striding not recommended.

Ken

[shoestring]

one of my fondest memories of living in brooklyn before moving to truckee was XC skiing in nearly 2 feet of snow in prospect park and XC skiing down the streets in park slope to a friend's place to watch the winter olympics in 2006... looking forward to some empire stoke too

[KenR]

Minnewaska ungroomed

The "carraigeways" (single-land forest roads) of the Gunks are some of the spectacular trail skiing in the world, with rocks and cliffs rights alongside the skiing, pretty lakes, big views, and the remarkable mountain hotel and gazebos and tower of Mohonk (which are temporalily closed for one week). Many of thses trails get groomed, which is wonderful. And some remain ungroomed -- out Hamilton Point and around Lake Awosting at Minnewaska State Park is one to the great backcountry trail tours.
photos from a month ago

The lakes up on the Gunks ridge seemed very solid on Friday (though I was careful to avoid near outlets or inlets). Sharon and I made a track on Lake Minnewaska, went closer to the cliffs than usual, which was more dramatic. Lake Awosting I only made a short loop (because late in the day) out on the snow-covered water, near the beach.

Breaking trail was rather difficult in the heavy snow. There's a slight firm layer at the top. I advise taking any trail-breaking work slow and easy (because I strained a groin muscle slightly by rushing it).

Hamilton Point trail I started from the north end and made it as far as the first viewpoint ("Echo Rock") -- where the uphill starts -- then turned back and retraced; So it's in pretty nice shape that far. For those who want to make a track farther, I recommend in this special situation to start from the south (because then it will be more downhill). I think it will be just too difficult breaking trail in the usual north-to-south way this time. And do it with a team.

around Lake Awosting -- Sharon took the lead breaking trail down to the nice viewpoint -- so that's a worthwhile side trip from the groomed Upper Awosting carriageway / Castle Point loop. Then I continued breaking all the way to the beach, then a short loop out on the lake surface. I think the beach makes a nice destination, and it's not that far off the usual groomed loop.

Ken

[KenR]

memories of living in brooklyn ,,,

Well I didn't take any photos the time I skied Prospect Park, but here's some skiing on the island of Manhattan:
* Central Park + Northwest tip 2011
. . . . . (with a skiing visitor from Sweden)
* night ski tour 2006
* ski traverse South Ferry to north tip

My "dream tour" is a complete circum-navigation of the perimeter of the island of Manhattan on skis -- needs to be done mostly during the night, before they plow and salt the streets and Greenway trail.

Ken

[webby]

Eastern PA skiers - I am headed out solo tomorrow - will show you some pretty good spots if you like - pm me

[KenR]

Finally got around to editing and posting 20 photos from skiing at Caumsett State Park [map] on the north shore of Long Island:
https://picasaweb.google.com/AmericanTouristSki/CaumsettBeachesLongIslandNY
About an hours drive east from Manhattan island.
Photos from back in early February . . . skiing on a narrow spit of sandy land, water on both sides, with seagulls, waves, strange snow+ice formations. Sometimes the only skiable snow is icy slush exactly at the interface between land + water.









Caumsett has lots more (ungroomed) skiing than just the amazing beaches. Indeed it takes about 4km mostly downhill from the parking just to reach the beach. (Sunken Meadows State Park has nice beach skiing much closer to parking).

Worth knowing about for those times when the track of those moist storms from the S and SW misses the Hudson valley and instead goes "out to sea" -- that's where Long Island is.

Ken

[James]

Wow, certainly very different then where I ski. Cool pics, thanks for sharing.

[BillyFromTheHills]

Wow Ken, you rock!

[KenR]

At last got around to editing and posting 22 photos from skiing on the beaches at Sunken Meadow State Park [map] on the north shore of Long Island:
https://picasaweb.google.com/America...esLongIslandNY
Not much more than an hour's drive east from Manhattan island.
Photos from back in early February . . . skiing at first along the big (salt) water of the Long Island sound, later along a quiet creek.
Sometimes the only skiable snow is icy slush exactly at the interface between land + water.









Nice thing about Sunken Meadow is that the skiable beach is available only 100 yards from the parking. The beaches at Caumsett are bigger and more interesting, but also more work to get to. Sunken Meadow also has some non-beach trails in the woods that go to viewpoints on a bluff overlooking the water - (but those trails are narrow, so likely need to remove skis for some sections). Also a golf course.

Ken

[stevesliva]

This site has had some nice photos recently:
http://www.adkbcski.com/

[freeheelwilly]

This site has had some nice photos recently:
http://www.adkbcski.com/

Hmmmm...A lot of those people and places look very familiar.

BC is very good right now after a pretty slow start. You couldn't safely get into any slides until about a month ago; now pretty much everything's in.

[Seeker]

Cool pics! Also appreciate the link--Daks skiing is on the list.