Adirondacks Region
Skiing
Whiteface Mountain - Wilmington
If you have ever go skiing in New York, you have to go to Whiteface Mountain! It has the highest vertical drop east of the Rockies, it is where all of the alpine events were held in the 1980 Olympics, and it has a lot of long/fun trails. Depending on when you go in the winter, you can also see World Cup races up close and personal. With 94 trails that stretch over 24 miles on three peaks, you need more than a day to ski them all. After you are done skiing for the day, the lodge at the bottom of the mountain is always rockin’ with bands, beers, and stories about great wipe-outs! Also, since it is just a 30 minute drive from Lake Placid, you can see two of the best attractions in the Adirondacks in one day.
Gore Mountain - North Creek
Gore Mountain doesn’t have the cache’ that Whiteface has, but it is a great skiing destination as well. With 107 trails and 15 ski lifts, you can’t go wrong here. Being that it is only an hour from Albany, it gets a lot more “day-skiers” than Whiteface. It has a great vertical drop at over 2500 feet so you won’t feel like your ski run ended 15 seconds after it started. There are also a bunch of good places to stay near the mountain and after the sun goes down, North Creek bustles with ski-tourists hitting the bars, attractions, and restaurants.
Snow Ridge - Turin
If there is one of those rare winters when the ADK’s don’t get much snow, there is one place that you can still ski on fresh powder - Snow Ridge. The mountain averages over 230 inches of snow a year thanks to its proximity to the east side of Lake Ontario where there is almost always snow falling if the temperature is below 32 degrees! The vertical drop is only in the 500 feet range, but it is much closer to the major Upstate, NY cities than the bigger hills and of course there is that snow thing that is kind of necessary for skiing.
Titus Mountain - Malone
Yes, Titus Mountain is closer to Montreal than any major American cities, but it is a good hill with 1200ft vertical that can still give you a fun ski day. And the mountain is open at night unlike the bigger hills, so you have that going for you. It is a challenging hill for a peaceful ski day without the crowds.