Light snow continued to fall overnight, giving good skiing conditions if a distinct lack of mountain views in this area where the 46 Adirondack summits over 4000 feet in height are 'bagged' by locals in much the same way as the Wainwrights are bagged in England. Well, that's not quite true as most of the 'Wainwrights' offer splendid views, whereas here (I believe) many of the summits are below the tree line.
After a hearty breakfast in Susan and Roy's adjoining room, Helen (full of cold) went off to explore the facilities at the nearby Whiteface Club and Resort (a bit like Mooney's Bay, she later reported) whilst the rest of us took a trip to the Mt Van Hoevenberg skiing complex.
A good choice. The trails here were used in both the 1932 and the 1980 Winter Olympics. After a relatively easy 10 km warm up in the north west corner of the complex, where a biathlon contest was due to take place later, we paused for an early lunch in the Cross Country Lodge, a warm, welcoming and busy spot.
Then it was on to the Porter Mountain Ski Loops and the Ladies 5 km Olympic Circuit. The Loops reminded us of the Burma Road trail in Gatineau Park, but here the hills were a little bigger, if not steeper. Anyway, it was great fun even if I did struggle to keep up. I'm regretting replacing my old skis as the new ones - as of last year - seem to have a 'drag factor' that makes them rather slower. They simply refuse to glide.
After that 13 km we returned to the Lodge for a second lunch, before embarking on a further 7 km of action on the North Brook Trail and the Flatlander Extension Loop (a nice wind down), taking our total for the day to a little over 30 km.
It snowed gently all day - soft, fluffy stuff, so all we really saw was snowy woodland and intricate systems set up to tap into the local syrup factories - the maple trees common to this area.
Dinner in Cascade Mountain Inn, followed by a slideshow of Susan's Tasmanian pictures nicely rounded off an excellent day.
Sent from Lake Placid
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