I skiied from the West Trapps Lot to Overcliff - Oakwood - Glory Hill - Oakwood - Farm Road - Pine Drive yesterday. About 7 miles all told. Conditions were excellent, as the snow was perfect. Looked to be around 10", though tough to tell because of all the drifting. On much of the trails, it was difficult to tell whether or not a track had ever been set, due to all the drifting. Breaking trail was relatively effortless due to the dry, light powder. We found almost everywhere we went, that at least one person had broken trail for us.

Honestly, I can't remember a better day of cross country skiing. It was not difficult to stay warm, even though the temperatures were fridgid, and this snow just can not be beat.

The Oakwood - Glory Hill trail was really nice. You get a great view of the cliff profiles as you look south: Trapps, Nears, Millbrook. Really nice.

-em

thanks evan---

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Breaking trail was relatively effortless due to the dry, light powder.

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this is so true. in prospect park as well...a breeze; great snow.

we've skied the preserve and mohonk last weekend. It was darn close to perfect... the grooming is excellent, and only a few snow shoers had gone on Overcliff. We went on from the rhodo bridge onto amazingly beautiful groomed trails around the hotel area. On a whim, we skied back on Undercliff, and even that had the tracks relatively undisturbed by walkers (!) so that by double poling it was possible for me to ski real fast all the way back to the car... with burning abs at the end!

great fun.

we also got great close up views of the ice that came in at the Trapps. looks really awesome !!!

Minnewaska was in fine shape too on Sunday. Did the loop out to Castle Point; carriage roads were in skating condition, but the bottom half of the loop (?) had just classical tracks. Which was fine by me, I don't skate.

how deep is the snow up there? Snowshoe deep? Don't worry, I'd avoid the X-country ski tracks!

Umm pretty damn deep in many places. But yes the official policy for Minnewaska is no snowshoeing allowed.

The Preserve still allows snowshoes, right?

holy bejesus old man winter! what a fine, fine snow and x-c ski was had this past weekend in minnewaska!! we strapped up and glided out to awosting via the awosting road and circled back via castle point. outstanding snow; crisp, perfect day and a most memorable sunset (pics to follow).

other folks i ran into could not remember snow as glorious as this.

sunday was spent breaking trail on friends' private land on halcott road north of fleishmanns in the catskills, where dogs can run with us!!

http://www.gunks.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=1361&password=&sort=1&size=medium&cat=500&page=1

http://www.gunks.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=1362&password=&sort=1&size=medium&cat=500&page=1

Great pics, Joe. One suggestion - save images as JPG instead of GIF; you will get better image quality and smaller file size.

Will there be enough snow for Full Moon?

hmmm... hope so... we were going to go up there tonight...

took a quick snowshoe walk on Butterville Road field - just to enjoy the moonlight - not a lot of snow - supposedly more is coming - might be enough to ski

Current conditions for Friday 1/25? Anyone?

Overnight snow was much less than predicted. Only 1 inch in Poughkeepsie. So things could be scratchy on the ridge.

Friday we got about 2 inches- however, things up on the ridge are much better than you might think. I skied out Overcliff yesterday and it was great. They had groomed on Friday after the snow and it's nice rolled base- great for skating. Once over the Rhododendron Bridge, things further along toward the hotel are even better...

Minne also groomed, and that's good too, should be able to try it today! (Sunday)

Enjoy it... more snow coming soon, we think...

ummm.... in case anyone is curious, that was yours truly posting as "demon."

anyone taking bets on how much snow we will get in the next "storm" coming Monday...???

we also had an epic snow shoe at Peterskill yesterday afternoon without being more than a mile or so from the road, there's lots of snow out there in the woods. most of the time, my boots were filled with ice water on account of not having brought gaiters...

got out at Minne for a bit yesterday afternoon- it was great for skating, nice and fast, and the tracks were real nicely set too. Now, if we can (we should) get between 6 and 12 inches of white tonight, we should be set for a week or two...!! I will be out skiing again tomorrow... more later y'all

We're in great shape folks. Played hooky the day of the big storm to ski patrol on Castle Point. Easily over a foot of new snow on the ridge. Minne and Mohonk both grooming like crazy. Skiing was wonderful. By the weekend it will be nice and consolidated and tracked.

We should be in good shape through Mid March. Heard more snow might be coming Sunday night into Monday too. Enjoy it out there!!!

My wife and I went out to Castle Point and back on Saturday AM and the conditions were wonderful! There were groomed tracks most of the way, but my wife said they reminded her of Disney... like the cars that little kids ride that follow tracks! Telemark hill was FAST!

D4T

Yes... that's exactly the way the trax should be when they're good... like slot cars!!!

We ski patrolled both days... it was great. We got a little more snow this afternoon to freshen things up a bit.

stupid question, but what do you mean 'patrolled?' do you have the orange vest, cpr pack and walkie-talkie? should i stop to say hi to the patroller there next time and ask if they're g.c'ers?

yep- I patrol there with the radio and pack, most weekends when there is good skiing and a few odd weekdays here and there. Not usually the orange vest though- too dorky (even for me.) if you see a guy with radio and no vest, that might be me. or it could also be one of the more "obscure" Vulgarians... (although I have not seen him on the trails or in the log book this year for some reason.)

when the trails are in good shape, Minne is #1. Since last week, they have been really good. Mohonk has been grooming better as of late, but I really haven't skied there this season. The views and ambience of Castle Point are just so awesome.

Things are starting to go downhill, but we've got maybe 1 or 2 weeks of decent skiing left.