Double New York Times Kudos!!

Wow - there is another excellent article in today's NY Times online about Whiteface and Lake Placid. In today's article called, New York's Overlooked Ski Resorts, the reporter discusses how New York's ski resorts have an undeserved bad rap, especially when some folks compare Vermont resorts to New York's, and think Vermont is the place to ski in the east. Hogwash I say. Real skiers are tired of that cowsey-wowsey schtick anyway. Reporting from the Village of Lake Placid, the Times' Mr. Pennington says, "As snow fell, dozens of skaters circled a 400-meter skating oval in the middle of the village. While a lot of winter resorts offer skating, how many let you skate on the oval that was the site for Eric Heiden’s five gold medals for speed skating in the 1980 Olympics? And, yes, that was a pack of dogs you saw pulling a sled earlier in the day." Once again, the Times does a great job reporting reality!

Welcoming the New Year in the Adirondacks

The weather is cooperating with my and most everyone's intention to start the new year off right. We received three inches of snow overnight, and as you can see from the weather dog, it is still snowing. The forecast calls for a winter storm heading our way this Tuesday through Wednesday. Hooray! We needed a fresh layer on the wonderful but rock solid base we had. I have to admit, yesterday's ski at Mount Van Hoevenberg was pretty scratchy and fast. As usual, there were no complaints, only smiles. My ski friend and I were happy simply because we were outside in the lovely Adirondack Mountains, despite the less than perfect conditions. Anyway, back to the impending new year....
Saranac Lake is having their First Night celebration which was a big hit last year. The Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) has "joined forces with the Lake Placid-Wilmington Connecting Youth to Communities (CYC) and the Reiss Foundation to offer Skate Into ’08. This is a safe, alcohol-free and fun way to ring in the new year on Monday, December 31 from 10:30 pm – 12:30 am on the Olympic Speed Skating Oval. For more information on Skate Into ’08, please contact the ORDA Skating Office at (518) 523-1655 x 223."
For those of you planning to get it going with a fitness program in '08, you can check out one of my favorite places in Lake Placid; Lake Placid Health and Fitness - the gym. Have fun tonight - party hearty, but party healthy!

Christmas Eve 2007 in the Adirondacks

It is snowing like crazy here, thank goodness. Here's the real snow report: we lost about 18 inches of the 30 inches of snow we had on the ground in yesterday's warm and rainy windstorm. Winds topped 70 mph here; there are many trees down and limbs across wires, etc. Mount Van Hoevenberg is closed in order to clean the trails of debris and will re-open tomorrow. Whiteface is open with the lower mountain, Little Whiteface, ready to go. The cold front came through about 9:00 last night and the rain changed to snow, so we have about two inches of fresh snow on 12 inches of very hard pack. I imagine the back country has breakable crust and will need a few more inches of fresh snow to be back up to snuff. It is really fun to visit the Olympic Speed Skating Oval in the Village of Lake Placid this time of year. You can skate on the oval where Eric Heiden won his five gold medals in the 1980 Olympic Winter Games.
The birds have discovered the smörgåsbord of feeders here at the homestead. Today's star is Mr. Hairy Woodpecker.