Greetings from the Niagara Frontier. Our season out here was off to a slow start this year but thanks to a few recent storms we have been making up for lost time. Thanks to a post from Drsmooth I had picked up a 6 pack of weekday tickets for the Buffalo Ski Center in Colden, NY. Realizing we were dangerously close to the halfway mark of our short season it was time to take an afternoon off and check out Route 240's other ski area.
The Buffalo Ski Center, known up until last year as the Buffalo Ski Club, is a private ski club located on NY 240 just north of Colden, NY with 38 trails on 463' of vertical. The area today is the result of the merger of three former areas, the Original Buffalo Ski Club, the Sitzmarker Ski Club (the clubs merged in 1991), and the public Ski Tamarack (purchased by the club in 2004). During the week only the Tamarack and Sitzmarker areas are open with the Buffalo area open on weekends. Most of the operation appears to be based out of Tamarack and this is where you will find the main lodge and ticket sales. The Sitzmarker and Buffalo areas each have a lodge with tables and restrooms at the top which can be accessed from East Hill Road but there are no tickets available at either of these lodges.
We pulled into the parking lot of the Tamarack lodge just after 2:30pm with the snow still coming down and after picking up our lift tickets we were on the slopes just before 3. The hill was covered with several inches of fresh dry powder which was fun on the steeps but a bit of a drag on the runout at the bottom. The Tamarack area is served by a Borvig double with magic carpet and handle tow serving the beginner trails immediately next to the chair. The double runs over Doc's Showoff, a nice wide blue which shows the profile of the Tamarack area, a steep bit at the top with a long mellow runout to the bottom. North of the chair are some nice long narrow top to bottom runs with names such as Ski Bum and Whiteout which wind their way through the trees. To the south a few steep narrow chutes with names like Timberline and Yardsale break off at different points down the main trail and shoot down into the woods before turning back towards the base. Headed further south along the crossover to the Sitzmarker Area we found some wider trails each being steep at the top and feeding back into a nice run out back towards the Tamarack chair.
View from the lot.
Base of the Tamarack Chair, bunny hill to the left, Doc's Showoff center, and the bottom of Rendezvous to the right.
Tamarack from the top
Yradsale shooting into the woods as seen from the chair.
At 4pm the Sitzmarker Area opened and we headed over to that part of the hill. The Sitzmarker area is served by a Borvig double and a Hall T-Bar. There was less vertical on this part of the hill but the verity of terrain made up for it. Trails such as Old Sitz and Corker featured a steep drop with a mellow runout and were a blast in the powder. Sitz Bowl proved to be an interesting blue run with lots of different natural features to keep things interesting. At the southern end of the open terrain a nice green run named Hayride wound through the woods. From the top here you could continue across the ridge to the Buffalo area which is not open on weeknights and will have to be visited in another trip. The return to Tamarack was via a trail at the bottom of the Old Sitz T-Bar.
Looking down the T-Bar line while crossing over to Old Sitz.
Riding up the chair looking back down the line with Corker below and Sitz Bowl to the right.
Looking up Old Sitz, keeping skiers right returns to Tamarack while the left goes to the base of the Sitzmarker Chair
Top of Corker
Base of the Sitzmarker Chair looking up the line.
As it got dark we finished up with a few more runs off the Tamarack Chair before calling it a night. Most of the woods trails are not lit so terrain was limited to the wider top to bottom runs once the sun went down.
Back at the top of Doc's Showoff at Tamarack after dark.
Base of Tamarack after dark.
The Buffalo Ski Center operates Wednesday thru Friday from 2pm to 9pm, Saturday from 8am to 8pm and Sunday from 8am-5pm. A weekday ticket will cost you $30 at the window with weekend tickets costing a bit more unless you come as the guest of a member. The recent name change shows this area is trying to open itself more to the public but there was still very much a club feel to the place. That being said most of the people I saw skiing that night looked to be doing so on tickets. With plenty of interesting trails and minimal crowds it is worth a stop if you are in the area.
