Eastern pennsylvania xcd spots?

[rongon]

The Poconos have lots of options for Nordic backcountry type skiing, and a few for more XCD-oriented touring. lowangle al mentioned some of the good ones (SGL 141 north of Jim Thorpe has some good terrain too).

Some folks were mentioning the Adirondacks. I'm not sure if this still is of interest, but there's lots of good backcountry skiing of various kinds in NY State.

The Catskill Mts have lots of little known terrain that's fun to ski when there's more than 2 feet of snow (as there is now). Many of the trails have some steepness to them, so XCD gear is useful. The woods are mostly thick with beech saplings, but you can find some good spots with more open woods. It's terra incognita for skiers for the most part, but I see people going in there on skis. There's no guide book or maps oriented to skiers, so it's still pretty Find-It-Yourself in there. I like it that way...

The Adirondack Park is huge, so you can't say just "the Adirondacks" like it was one thing. The southern and west-central parts of the Adirondack Park are where the snow collects, due to lake effect from Lake Ontario. These areas are not as straight-up mountainous as the High Peaks area (where Mt Marcy is). There are very few actual ski trails in the southern and western ADKs, but the hiking trails can be good fun when there's enough snow (as there is now). It's good territory for a setup like Madshus Annum--3-Pin Hardwire--Scarpa T4, or similar. Most of the areas where the snow gets deepest are also where the popular snowmobile trails are located. Snowmobiles are not allowed in areas designated 'Wilderness', so that's where you'll often find me.

The ADK High Peaks keep consistent snow cover up high, but that's where the terrain is steepest. The woods up high are extremely thick spruce-fir-paper birch, so most people ski the few trails that are skiable. The area has some famous skis tours like the Wright Peak Ski Trail, Whales Tail Notch Ski Trail, Mt Marcy, and the Avalanche Pass Ski Trail. These are all very popular. Google them and you'll find info and photos galore. When there's good snow cover at mid-elevations (like there is now) there are lots of hiking trails that make for good skiing.

There are some guidebooks for skiers covering the Adirondacks. Some may be out of print. Tony Goodwin wrote a good one. David Goodman's "Best Backcountry Skiing In The Northeast" covers the ADK High Peaks too.

[lowangle al]

The Catskills are a day trip for me so if I don't have snow and you do that's where I'm headed. I've been trying to find info on snow conditions up there, do you know of any?

[rongon]

I live about an hour from the Catskills, so that's my stomping grounds for mountain forest skiing. Getting reliable reports on snow conditions in the Catskills is really difficult. It has gotten easier in the last couple of years. There is a weather station high up on Hunter Mt that reports every couple of days. I check snow depth and general weather reports for villages and hamlets I know are near certain destinations, like East Jewett in the NE Catskills, Pine Hill in the central part, or Phoenicia in the eastern Cats. It's still a guessing game a lot of the time. I also check the Catskills hiking groups on Facebook and read their reports. I can usually tell more from photos people post, since hikers aren't as obsessed with snow specs as skiers are.

The last three weekends have been phenomenal up there. Deep powder that stayed around for a long time. 32+ inches deep at 3000 ft elevation. Unfortunately, that all changed this past Tuesday. It got really warm, there was some wet freezing rain, and now it's all re-frozen. I'm hoping we get a good 6+ inches of new snow tomorrow night, but that's not guaranteed by a long shot. Fingers crossed!

[lowangle al]

It was back to fantastic here the last couple days but definitely crusting up on sunny aspects. The low angle trees were a lot of fun, the steeper stuff was skiable but you really had to manage your speed.

[lowangle al]

Good crust and corn skiing lately with good cover. Get it while you can.

[lowangle al]

We are basically done here but it was a good run. There were 64 consecutive days of skiable snow with conditions ranging from good to fantastic. There was another 7 ski days before the Xmas thaw bringing the total skiable days to 71. I got out at least 51 days bc and one at the resort. I covered over 300 miles and climbed almost 30,000 feet. It was a good season in Pa. and I plan to be heading to Ak. next week where there should easily be two more months of skiing.

[fisheater]

I’m done here Allan. My season was great, and I didn’t have nearly as much as you. Have a safe trip to AK. It is time for the spring near shore fishing on the Great Lakes. Once the rod starts thumping I’ll be okay, but I enjoyed my solid two months of skiing so much I’m really missing it!

[lowangle al]

I kinda hate to leave here with paddling season and fishing already happening, but I guess I'll have to live with two more months of skiing.

[turnfarmer]

Was cursed by multiple density inversions nd then crusts, unlike Al. But before it melted it turned int primePA corn in my ex cow pasture.

[lowangle al]

Nice turns Farmer. I was down your way skiing at a friends place in Macungie last month. He has 14 acres of good terrain connected to 900 acres of public farmland that was also good xcd terrain. I left my nice powder to find a skiable but unforgiving crust. The maximum elevation was less than 900' compared to 1900' to 2100'+ at my house, that's the difference.

I went down once more to ski Bear Creek Resort and had a great time skiing spring corn.