Monday, January 16, 2012

XC Skiing - Rockwood State Forest

With any snow on the ground about to be destroyed tomorrow for skiing purposes, Holly and I got out for a short ski this afternoon while it was still possible. I'd heard reports from Fulton County of 8-10" of snow in the last storm, so Rockwood State Forest, west of Johnstown, seemed like a logical choice. Most of the trails here are on smooth old roads, so it doesn't need a lot of snow to be skiable. What we found was about 8" total - 5" of old granular snow, then a quarter-inch of icy crust, and all topped off by 2-3" of soft powder. Without the underlying crust, it could have been somewhat better skiing than it was. But the trails were pretty beat up - lots of footprints and dog piles, and just generally overused and in need of refreshing with some new snow. Unfortunately, that doesn't look at all likely for the rest of this week, and tomorrow's ice/sleet/snow/rain event will make this place unusable for a while. We were glad we got it in while we did.

2 comments:

  1. Living less than a mile further up the road, This place is an awesome place to take out my skis and still be real close to home. Love it!!. Also have a friend who dog sleds.... she loves this trail for that too. Just hopin to get out a few more times b4 the season is done :)

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  2. We like it because it's only an hour from the Capital District, and usually has pretty good snow even if there's none here. Not so great this year, though.

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