Ciscokid asked so here is a trip report from Kissing Bridge in Glenwood, NY. We skied the area over both days last weekend and conditions couldn't have been any more different between the two. A lake effect snow storm Friday night into Saturday piled up around 26" of fresh powder on the hill. The snow continued through the day Saturday with an additional 10" of snow reported. The grooming crew had done a good job making things passable leaving plenty of the deep stuff off to the sides for anyone who wanted it. It was cold and windy but you don't pass on knee deep powder when you have the chance. Sunday was the classic bluebird skies with a high approaching 30. The groomers had done a good job packing everything down by then but you could still find some deep stuff without looking too hard for it.
Kissing Bridge advertises 37 trails served by 9 lifts on a 550' vertical drop. The ski area is located across the West Branch of Cazenovia Creek from the main road and the original plan was to have a covered bridge crossing the creek providing access to the base area, thus the name. The ski area today is actually the merger of the original Kissing Bridge with the two adjacent ski areas.
The original Kissing Bridge is the central area and it is here you will find the main lodge, food, rental, and parking facilities. The main lift at Central is the Holly Quad, a 1983 VonRoll, which provides access to any trail at central as well as the North and South areas. If you look closely at the downhill chairs and you will pick out the occasional Hall stamped on the grip. A VonRoll runs up the opposite side of Holly acting as a relief lift for the quad and providing access to the southern side of the hill. Further south is a small learning area served by a magic carpet lift. The runs here are mostly wide cruisers running top to bottom through a few trails on the south side meander through the woods a bit.
Panoramic view of the Central base area on Sunday
Riding up the Holly Quad on Saturday looking back at the base lodge.
and uphill with Holly to the left and Rooster Run directly below.
At the top of the Holly Quad, radically different conditions between the two days.
Hemlock takes a curvy path down through the trees, it is one of the kids favorites.
Heading north from the quad brings you over to Coal Chute, the only top to bottom green run at Central. This year a short rope tow was relocated from north to open the bottom of Coal Chute back up, unfortunately the rope is about 100' too short requiring a bit of a climb or a hike through the lot if you miss the crossover and ski all the way down. The rope tow serves a mini terrain park and a small base area called Coal Chute Village with a waffle stand and some picnic tables.
Top of Coal Chute
Looking down towards Coal Chute Village. The barn to the left housed the drive terminal of the Coal Chute chairlift.
Looking up hill at the mini park from the bottom of Coal Chute
Further north of Coal Chute is the World Of Your Own Area. This area is mostly black runs served by a 1971 Stadeli double. These trails are the shortest at Kissing Bridge but also the steepest. Here one will also find the big terrain park.
Base of the World Chair
Looking back down at the base.
Terrain Park from the chair
Looking up World of Your Own from the bottom
Continuing North from World of Your Own brings you to Kissing Bridge North. This part of KB was originally the Glenwood Acres Ski Area. Up until a few years ago North had its own base lodge, food, parking, and rental facilities and was home to the children's lesson programs. KB has consolidated all these services into the Central area. The buildings remain but have not been used the last few seasons with the lodge only being open during ski races at North for the race teams. North is served by a 1988 CTEC quad chair running up the Slalom Run trail. A Borvig double runs up the adjacent Exhibition trail but I have never seen it used. North has some of the more unique trails on the hill. Moment of Truth is a nice black run with some fun kickers leading into a steep drop to the bottom. The kids favorite trail on this side is Crazy 8s, a twisty narrow blue run with banked curves. Snowmaking infrastructure exists at North but there are no permanent guns, this year it has been all natural snow over here.
Base of north looking up Slalom Run
About half way up thinks level off
Looking down Slalom from the top.
Crazy 8s winds its way down.
On the other side of Central is the original Concord Ski Club now known as Kissing Bridge South. KB South consists of 5 trails served by a Borvig Double chair. The South area is all natural snow, there is no snowmaking capacity on this side of the hill. Grooming is also usually kept to a minimum. South has the longest runs at Kissing Bridge with Woods Trail measuring just under a mile long.
Bottom of the South Chair. The line passes through the building housing the drive terminal.
Heading down Shindig, the main blue run at South.
The top of Woods Trail, a long out and back with some nice narrow steep bits.
Riding up the double on Sunday.
Heading down Snowball, a wide open green run.
If you don't have a pass an all day weekend ticket this season will run you around $78 though the online pricing is variable depending on how early you buy and ticket demand for a given day. Less expensive tickets are available for nights and during the week. With covid restrictions we have been happy to have the passes this year as most weekends this season the lift tickets are sold out. The first two hours on weekends are also exclusively for pass holders, something they plan to continue next year. Kissing Bridge fell on some hard times several years ago. The current ownership has turned things around and is investing in snowmaking and other upgrades across the area. Having skied here for 4 seasons now I can honestly say it keeps getting a little better each year. I have also been very happy with the children's programs which is the main reason I keep skiing here.
