And just like that, the long awaited first day of the ’15-’16 season is in the books! What a thrill it was to see all the cars rolling in and the smiling faces coming down the hill. My mother and I would like to thank every single one of you amazing people who showed up to sample the goods this weekend. It was great to finally meet so many of you who help give Snow Ridge such a unique, exciting atmosphere.
Lake Ontario showed us why we love her, dumping 30 inches on Snow Ridge from late Friday night to early Sunday morning. I had driven through a couple big lake effect storms on my way up to school at Clarkson, but this was my first true Tug Hill lake effect storm experience. For those of you who didn’t make it up to see the spectacle, let me give you a bit of a visual. When I left Syracuse Saturday morning, it was 30 degrees and bluebird, not a cloud in the sky. As I started driving, it was hard to imagine that it was snowing anywhere nearby. About 25 miles south of the mountain in Lee Center, I got my first glimpse of some clouds and a dusting of snow. I started to get excited about 10 more miles down the road in Ava, where there was maybe half a foot on the ground. And then, another 5 miles or so near West Leyden, it was on! Snow was hammering down and I had entered into some crazy winter parallel universe. By the time I arrived at Snow Ridge around 9AM, 18 inches had already fallen and the storm was in full swing. 12 more inches piled up before the storm fizzled out early Sunday morning. If you haven’t experienced the craziness that is Tug Hill lake effect, I highly recommend visiting us during one of these storms this winter, such a wild experience. Not to mention, it produces some of the best skiing and riding conditions on the planet. Yeah, I said it. We have some of the best quality snow in the world. It’s science. We’ll revisit this claim in a future post!
It was incredible to see so many people share the same enthusiasm and excitement that I felt this past weekend. It was a great way to kick off the season, and we were thrilled to get our first opening day in the books. Obviously not everything was perfect, we still have a lot to work on, and mother nature has a lot of explaining to do, but I think we’ve gotten off to a pretty stellar start despite the meager odds. Again, thank you so much and we can’t wait to see everyone again when we re-open for the season!
Nick