Friday, February 06, 2009

Bristol Mountain, NY



A couple of weeks ago I had the chance to ski Bristol Mountain in the Finger Lakes region of western New York. I was there in Syracuse on business and brought my skis for this side trip.
It was a little pricey ($50 for a 4 hour lift ticket), but the skiing was definitely worth it. With a vertical of over 1200 feet, it easily beats anything in Michigan, even in the UP.
It was a great experience, and a great way to further hone my skiing skills on some challenging runs. Even though it is a beginner run, their longest run "Milky Way" is over two miles long and took me over 7 minutes to get to the bottom, or three songs on the Ipod.





"Comet" was a double black diamond run that I enjoyed because it is by far the hardest run I have ever skied. It was extremely steep with large moguls and some sheet ice thrown in for extra terror! My skis were sideways and I was still going 35 mph! (Sorry, too busy not getting killed to take a pic!)



For skiing newbies, the trail color code is:
Green-beginner
Blue- more difficult
Black (1 diamond)-most difficult
Black (2 diamonds)-extremely difficult
Black (three diamonds)-experts only

These are two snowscupltures made by the lift operators. The shark had a really cartoony face but since I was loading on the lift I really couldn't get a detailed pic.

Bristol Mountain trail map.

3 comments:

Paula said...

I've never skiied, but those pics are GORGEOUS! I wouldn't mind hanging out in the snow again sometime (with the right clothes of course). Just takes your breath away.

Tim said...

I'm just skiin' ina wintah wundahland!:)
My son ad I went to Crystal Mountain in Michigan last weekend (this is a great ski/golf resort that also has cross country or nordic skiing, snowshoe trails, ice skating, sliegh rides, etc.) and I'm going to Buffalo on Tuesday (with skis as there is also a great place near there).
Winter's entire character changes when you get out there and enjoy it! Too many people just hunker down in the bunker and wait for spring.
Learning to ski is pretty easy if you have a friend that knows how. I taught my son to ski in two hours. By his third time he could do black runs. When winter is gone I'll be sad. :(

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