World-class cross-country skiing at Paul Smith’s VIC
By Tom French
Wide enough for skate skiing and snowshoes too
backcountry skiing
Latest Story
All Stories
Jenkins Mountain backcountry ski trails: A forest preserve model?
Paul Smith’s system opens to skiers
Park officials seek comments on backcountry ski trails
By Phil Brown
The APA proposes to adopt guidelines for three types of trails: ski touring trails, for rolling terrain; backcountry ski trails, for steeper terrain; and skin tracks, for accessing slides and other skiable terrain (often using climbing skins). Currently, few trails in the Adirondacks are designed for backcountry skiing.
Check the ice before skiing on ponds
By Phil Brown
All was not lost in recent thaws. We went pond skiing in the St. Regis Canoe Area three days last week and found the conditions ideal: a few inches of fluffy snow over solid ice. The carry trails between the ponds had just enough snow to ski.
Adirondack Park poised to allow wider ski trails
By Phil Brown
The Adirondack Park Agency has tentatively approved new criteria for ski trails intended to enhance the experience of backcountry skiers in the forest preserve.
Battle over Old Mountain Road may be settled
By Phil Brown
When Jim McCulley drove his snowmobile on Old Mountain Road in 2003, he touched off a series of court battles that lasted fifteen years. For now, at least, the legal saga appears to have ended.
DEC responds to backcountry skiers’ concerns
By Phil Brown
Backcountry skiers have long complained that state agencies have given them short shrift when it comes to accommodating their sport in the Forest Preserve. One major complaint is that years ago the state Department of Environmental Conservation transformed part of the Wright Peak Ski Trail into a hiking trail; the subsequent narrowing and eroding of…
DEC hopes to reroute Wright Peak Ski Trail
By Phil Brown
Several years ago we skied two High Peaks in spring with Ron Konowitz. We did a few laps in the bowl on Algonquin Peak, climbed over Wright Peak, and descended the Wright Peak Ski Trail. The Wright Peak trail is one of the few trails designed for down-mountain skiing in the Adirondacks. It was built…
Skiing Mount Marcy’s summit in a whiteout
By Phil Brown
I try to ski Mount Marcy every year around my birthday (March 30), and so I did the trip Thursday with Brian Mann of North Country Public Radio. It was the first time I skied the summit in a whiteout. The weather was mild and overcast when we started up the Van Hoevenberg Trail from…