Last Friday I went on my first ski of the season, a long loop around Heron Marsh and over an esker at the Adirondack Visitor Interpretive Center in Paul Smiths. Although Paul Smiths is only a dozen miles from our office in Saranac Lake, it usually receives noticeably more snow. And so it was on this day: there must have been at least six inches, enough to kick and glide over the VIC’s smooth trails. I snapped the photo above near the outlet of Heron Marsh.
A week later, thanks to rain and a few warm days, cross-country skiers are out of luck. I walked to Marcy Dam this morning and found only a dusting of snow long the trail and in the woods.
And the Adirondack Ski Touring Council reports that the forecast is not promising: “only a mix of precipitation is predicted for the weekend followed by temperatures near 40 and rain on Monday. After that it does cool off a bit, but still no season-starting storm in sight.”
I’m starting to fear that this could be a repeat of last winter, when many backcountry trails lacked sufficient snow until well into winter. The one bit of good news is that the trail to Marcy Dam was frozen, for the most part. That means if snow does come, more of it will stick around.
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And as you can see from the photo below, Marcy Dam Pond is freezing over.
I’m not surprised. Global warming is a fact. I think its too late to change the direction its going. We (humankind) have sure messed up the natural balance, haven’t we?
It was great to see you on the trail at the VIC!
Tom, I hope that wasn’t our last chance to ski this winter,
Happily, we have received about two feet of snow since I wrote my story.
Janet, no diagreement here on the cause of the lack of snow. I worry that while the ignorant minority stubbornly refuses to acknowledge the truth the worst case scenario starts to take hold.