I was scrolling through my Facebook feed the other day when I came across a post about skiing to Avalanche Pass this past weekend. It surprised me a bit as I had written off backcountry skiing for the past few days because of the recent rains.
Apparently, that was a mistake.
So on Tuesday morning, I decided to check out the conditions for myself, and I drove over to the Jackrabbit Trail trailhead off Whiteface Inn Road in Lake Placid. What I found was a deep snowpack with a powdery surface. The conditions were outstanding.
Other than one section where runoff crossed the trail, the route to the top of the hill was completely filled in with snow. Because of commitments I didn’t have time to go much farther, so I turned around and headed back downhill, thinking about where to go on my next trip.
If you’re looking to learn about the latest conditions, a good place to go is the Barkeater Trail Alliance conditions report on their website. I’ve also put together the photo gallery above that contains images from Tuesday and past ski trips to the Jackrabbit Trail, if you want to check them out. To get a look at the trail from Whiteface Inn Road to McKenzie Pond Road in Saranac Lake, check out the video from last winter below.
Make sure you get out before the next rainstorm.
Dear Mike,
My husband and I wanted to take a mini walk on a trail vs in town, so we looked up ( but not enough) about the Jackrabbit Trail. Now being home, I found more information about it all but when in Lake Placid, the visitor’s center had no information about the trail and we spent a long time trying to find the entrances off of Whiteface Inn Lane and another near Dack Shack on Saranac ave.
Surely with so much attention given to the grooming and care of these trails, someone could spend a bit of time and energy to make up some signs indicating that we were in the right place. (A) We had to double back on the Lane, finding a small clearing that was the beginning of it. Only when walking a bit more did we see that red poster indicating we were in the correct place. (B) near the old Howard Johnston restaurant now home to Dack Shack, did we manage to find the parking spot with white picnic tables that said there was something there. This part of the trail was excellent. Please encourage whoever is in charge to make some signs that can be easily spotted so that visitors such as us do not get frustrated and discouraged. Many thanks for reading this