West Mountain, NY. Been There?

[thetrailboss]

So last season while skiing at Pico and Killington, I spotted ski area to the west in NY just south of the Lake George area. In asking folks about it, I was told it was West Mountain.

We don't have much on it here in our profiles. I have not seen any reports or anything else about it really.

I did see some interesting pics on Chairlift.org and also did some digging...finding the mountain's website. Pretty simple site and interesting trail layout. 1,000 vert is nothing to sneeze at.

So has anyone been there? What's the real deal?

 

[thetrailboss]

The trailmap:

 

[tjf67]

West mountain is primarily utilized by the people in the glenns falls area. It is a struggling mountain with a hard time getting snow. It is a place for families in the area to bring there children to learn.
Once up and going most people head up the road to gore which is 40 minutes away.

Have been there a couple of times. I was from Albany, 50 minutes to west 50 minutes to Jimney. Would choose Jimney every time unless I was looking to save 15 bucks.

The conditions are alwasy spotty, Would avoid with so many other choices within 1:15 minutes

 

[thetrailboss]

Sorry to hear that. Seems like it is in a good location with Lake George and all. Some $$$ invested might turn it around. Unless it is just too small....

 

[tjf67]

The weather is its major problem. It right on the cuff where they get snow at gore and rain at west.

 

[hammer]

Sorry to hear that. Seems like it is in a good location with Lake George and all. Some $$$ invested might turn it around. Unless it is just too small....

I was at Lake George last December...very nice place but definitely more of a summer destination.

I think I saw West Mountain from I-87... unfortunately, they were barely open at the time so when we decided against going to Gore I didn't even have another option.

Memories of the early part of last season -- yuck. :-x

 

[nycskier]

Past it on the way up to Killington. Never got a chance to ski there. But I did notice they do have night skiing there.

 

[highpeaksdrifter]

I ski there on 6 Thursday nights as a chaperone for my son's ski club. There is little to recommend about it. As TJF pointed out Jiminy is a much better night skiing option.

 

[ComeBackMudPuddles]

I spent Wednesday nights in junior high at West (my school bused us up there). A little ski hill, nothing special, but good memories. I think there are a lot of school programs that help keep the place running.

 

[highpeaksdrifter]

I spent Wednesday nights in junior high at West (my school bused us up there). A little ski hill, nothing special, but good memories. I think there are a lot of school programs that help keep the place running.

I think that and snow tubing are the only things keeping it going. They're on shaker ground then Pico. :wink:

 

[thetrailboss]

I think that and snow tubing are the only things keeping it going. They're on shaker ground then Pico. :wink:

Eh? You mean these guys?

I did not think that they even skied back then....

 

[millerm277]

I've been there twice, once after it had gotten a decent amount of snow (which they don't seem to get often), which made it into quite a nice mountain, but the other time was pretty bad, their snowmaking seems to be very minimal.

 

[drjeff]

West was my home mountain growing up. It's nothing fancy or high tech, but it gives you some wide open high speed craving terrain for the most part, and the owners(The Brandt family) make a fair amount of snow. No chairlift improvements in about 3 decades either.

It was great to have 30 minutes away growing up, and I was part of the forementioned school weeknight programs as well as a member of their race team. A real family ski area. When it snows, they've got a couple of natural snow runs that are fun, although nothing that will make you do a quick "gut check" before heading down.

 

[Hawkshot99]

That is the first place I have ever skied. My aunt took me there for a X-mas present and we skied the bunny slope all day. When I had "learned to ski" my uncle took me up onto the big wide trail that you look at from the base. I have many good memories from there, and have made a few trips back since.

 

[takeahike46er]

I learned to ski at West when I was a youngster. I used to ski there after school on Thursdays.

For a local hill, it has decent terrain/vertical. I have fond memories of cruising on The Frolic among others. It is a good place to start-out for those that live in the Glens Falls/Saratoga area. Otherwise, it isn't worth much of a drive-- unless you just want to add it to your list of mountains skied.

West Mountain's biggest problem is that it gets hardly any natural snowfall and their snowmaking and grooming is marginal at best. They have a couple interesting runs that rarely open (The Cure, Holy Mackerel) but they aren't worth much of a drive.

 

[Warp Daddy]

We usually ski it in tandem on our trips to Gore. It makes a good 3rd day of skiing when the cover is ok . If you like hi speed cruising and rollers one side has a full 1000' vert with a nice pitch . However teh lifts are ancient and man your but will be sorde no chair pads on teh best slope's lift --ow !

 

[ski_resort_observer]

Like others I went there at night when I was in HS. Usually combined it with going to a pizza place in Glens Falls. It's where I learned to dislike night skiing....