XC Skiing the 'Gunks 1/5/07

[Jay H]

Went up to New Paltz, NY to ski the 'gunks, parked at the West Trapp parking lot and did about 12-13 miles up the Trapps Carriageway past Awosting falls on the Peters Kill and then the short sunset path that parellels the park road to the upper lot. Only one short road crossing along the way til we took the Awosting Carriageway to Lake Awosting and then CastlePoint on the way back. Had thoughts of some real BC skiing to Millbrook Mtn but time and the lack of deep snow took that idea off the table. The groomed trails between the lakes makes for fast skiing and the gentle grades makes for good time to be made. We left around 10am from the trailhead and got back around 4 with a short lunchbreak at Lake Awosting.

Surprisingly enough, we only saw about 6 other XC skiers the entire day, even though the conditions are good on the groomed tracks, not so good off the groomed path... Nice day, snow was a bit soft in a few scattered paths on the afternoon and the trapps carriageway is generally a free-for all with postholers walking in the ski tracks. However, once past the falls, it gets better and the groomed trails are in very good shape.

Pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/cycleslug/XCSkiingInTheGunks

My tendons are all pretty sore today, all that gliding!

Jay

 

[MattC]

That is indeed really strange that you didn't see more folks, considering the great conditions, which will likely soon be history. Good pics-I really like the wide view of Lake Awosting.

Matt

 

[daxs]

Glad to see you had a good day xc skiing. I am looking forward to seeing some snow in the Catskills in a few weeks when Jim and I go hiking. I've been running and mountain bike riding (and I have the bruises to prove it) to stay in shape for some wint3er activities.

 

[Doc McPeak]

Jay, that looks like a nice area for skiing. I'm planning to meet a friend somewhere in the Cats for skiing and am looking for ideas. Where can I find info on this trip? And any other suggestions. My friend is coming up from NYC and I'm heading south so the Woodstock, New Paltz area would be a good place to start.

Thanks, Sean

 

[Jay H]

Sean, New Paltz is probably only about 1 3/4 hours from Manhatten depending on the Hudson river crossings. I'm already on this side of the river so it is only about 1.1 hours to the New Paltz exit (exit 18). When are you looking to ski because conditions could change by the end of this week. It is supposedly going to reach 60deg in the NYC area tuesday and they are talking possible 70deg weather on wednesday. This would mean that it could be 50-60deg in new paltz, which would be colder than NYC but still, not looking good for the snow conditions. Minnewaska is groomed between the lakes for both skate skiing and classic and there are some trails that are ungroomed. There is minimal snow for real backcountry skiing though we did see some tracks of those that have tried... Your best bet would be post about snow conditions in the NY section as it gets closer to your date.

As far as places... Fahnestock grooms and I think may make snow (east hudson). Frost Valley in the catskill grooms classic and has different level trails, that is in the southern catskills. There is actually a book about XC Skiing in the catskills which lists various places to go

I'm sure there are good skiing references but a good place to start is the NYNJTC maps for the Shawangunks and the Catskills. They'll be your trailmap for both areas....

A book on XC skiing in the catskills:
http://www.amazon.com/Catskills-Winter-Sports-Guide/dp/1930098286

For reference, Minnewaska State Park has really nice, groomed and mostly easy to moderate XC Ski routes as many of the roads are made for horse and carriage so nothing too steep for the most part. The Lake Mohonk area is another area to XC Ski in that must be very pretty, that's where the Mohonk Mountain House is. Both have day use fees. Not sure about the trails there + grooming.

More of the true backcountry skis would be in the catskills where other than say Frost Valley which has a day fee, most of it is free but you'll have to chose your spots and time.

Jay

 

[Doc McPeak]

Thanks, Jay. I think Minnewaska should be perfect. I haven't been down there in ages. We're in no rush, so we'll wait for winter to return in force.

Here's the Minnewaska area map I found, in case anyone else is interested.
http://www.lakeminnewaska.org/skimap.html

Now, lets hope when winter resumes, it picks up where it left off!

 

[Jay H]

Hey Sean, nice map. Where my friend and I parked though is off that map and the TC map has more trails on it and is a better map. However, the milages on the ski map is nice, the TC map doesn't list actual trail mileages, just a map scale.

We parked kind of in between Minnewaska SP land and Mohonk Mtn house land as if we took some of the carriageways heading east, we could get into Mohonk Preserve/Mohonk Mtn House land... We parked in a section that is listed in your map as "To Mohonk Preserve ->" and right off Rt 44/55 as it's cheaper than parking in the park itself.

Jay