Lack of white stuff is ‘snow problem’ for Adirondacks

When facing warmer temps, tourism leaders switch gears on winter events, attractions

The amount of rain that poured on the Adirondacks in mid-December was “biblical” by Mike Farmer’s standards. The tourism director for the town of Webb grew up in Old Forge and noted the recent mild weather in the Adirondack Park. 

Would the temperatures have been colder, the precipitation blast might have benefited many recreation centers in the park, including McCauley Mountain in Old Forge. Instead, rivers swelled and roads were closed due to the flooding. 

Winters in the North Country are changing steadily according to scientists. Using temperatures over 30 years, researchers at Paul Smith’s College found that winters could shrink from today’s average of 16 to 17 weeks to as little as 11 weeks in 77 years. 

The warming could be leading to flood damage while changing the local economy’s reliance on winter weather. 

“We’re going to need to find ways to draw tourists here that don’t necessarily have to rely on predictable winter conditions,” said Curt Stager, a climate scientist at Paul Smith’s who worked on the winter study. “And some communities are beginning to do that already.”

One place is in the southern Adirondacks, where tourists gather for ski centers, shopping and events. For two years, Lake George hosted Ice Castles, a winter attraction with other sites around North America. It brought in 90,000 visitors to the Warren County village. But warm temperatures melted some of the event’s fairy-tale-like sculptures, causing frustration among the community. 

“It gave Lake George kind of a new winter identity for a couple of years, but then it just became an incredible challenge for them to try to keep it open and keep the quality of the attraction,” said Mark Behan, president of Behan Communications, who was involved in this year’s planning. 

To adapt to a warming climate, a coalition of 13 residents and business leaders was tasked with facilitating a winter attraction that could withstand thaws. Sam Luciano, president of the Fort William Henry Corp. and a coalition member, said there were several criteria that the new event had to meet. Avoiding weather dependency topped the list. 

The work resulted in two new attractions, including a variation of Ice Castles, now named Winter Realms. An ice skating rink is supported by a glycol chiller to keep the surface frozen and a snowmaking machine is in place for days without powder. The event is set to last until the first week of March. 

An entirely weather-independent event was commissioned to Montreal-based Moment Factory that will extend to the end of March. Winter’s Dream is meant to simulate sensations of the season with lights, shadows, original music and interactive displays. 

The contract lasts five years with hopes from the committee to extend it.

“It’s really a new experience built for the realities of our climate situation,” Behan said of the installation. 

More visitors, less snow

In the High Peaks region, a popular ski center is adapting to fewer snow days and more rain. Workers at Mt. Pisgah Recreation Center, managed by Andy Testo, geared up for the winter season by installing new pipes for its snowmaking system to supplement the mountain’s layers of snow. But intense rainfall, which is increasing with the warming climate, dissolves the powder. 

“We get more days like this more often,” said Testo. “The last couple of years, we’ll make snow for two weeks and you might get a rain event like this that wipes you clear out.” 

Although Testo doesn’t have exact numbers, anecdotal evidence suggests the center is seeing an upward trend of skiers, making the upkeep of the mountain critical. He recently hired a heavy equipment operator to help with Pisgah and other parks that he manages in Saranac Lake. 

“The reality of the ski hill is even though it looks smooth, from a bird’s eye view, there’s lots of hummocks and hollows in it, so smoothing the surface that you need to coat in 18 to 24 inches of snow will make it that you actually have to make quite a bit less snow,” said Testo. 

About 88 miles away, snowmobilers normally flock to Old Forge for its trail system. After the December rain, many of those paths were closed to the public due to flooding damage. 

Farmer said recent years have seen an increase in mountain biking when snow is absent. Trail cameras near parking lots showed a 300% increase in cyclists, he said, which is likely from the system’s accessibility to town. 

“The word is out on us and we have people coming here from all over,” Farmer said. “When things get tough in other areas, they come here.”

Still, winter tourism in the Old Forge area is strong, Farmer said. Visitors from other parts of New York and outside of the state have expressed appreciation for North Country winters. Travelers from the nearby Mohawk Valley, for example, notice the difference. 

“They always remark that when they leave, they’re looking at grass,” Farmer said. “They drive an hour north, and we have winter or some semblance of it.”

Photo at top: A child walks through Winter’s Dream in Lake George. Photo provided by Amanda Metzger