Thunder Ridge, NY - Feb 11, 2024

conrad

I decided to check out Thunder Ridge, NY for the first time Sunday afternoon. I went for the Sunday afternoon special (walk up $45) and skied from 2:45 to closing at 5, catching the last non-patrol chair. There was a decent crowd out, but not as busy as usual I was told, likely due to the Superbowl. All three chairlifts were running and all trails with snow on them were open except for Fool's Delight under the triple.

The place had a very relaxed and friendly feel to it, even with all the teenage employees having a near continuous (good-natured) snowball fight throughout the day. There were tons of staff everywhere working in sync and everyone was out having a great time.

Skimap.org: https://skimap.org/skiareas/view/300
The main triple chairlift (Borvig 1986) is the most popular chairlift and serves its own hump that you can nearly ski off in all directions. Then there is an old double to the summit (Borvig 1971, pictured above) that travels at a slow 350 feet/minute (compared to the triple's 450 feet/minute). The two chairlifts kind of serve separate terrain even though they're fairly close together. There are several abandoned rope tows in the mid-mountain area.

View down Eagle's Lair from near the summit:

All in all, a pleasant couple hours on the slopes.

Sunset:

bousquet19

Thanks for your report, conrad!

Helpful writeup and great pictures. What a pretty day. Although that narrow strip of white on Eagle's Lair looks intimidating, the coverage looks better on some of the other runs.

My travels sometimes bring me near Thunder Ridge, but I've never visited. Your "Sunday afternoon special" might be just the ticket I'm looking for. Thanks for posting.

Woody

NewEnglandSkier13

Thanks for the report from an areas I don't know much about. It's too bad that they got rid of the T-bar which crossed under one of the chairlifts.

ciscokid

That’s Borvig country alright. Support them babies
Dutchess would be a great resurrection for vfail
How about Legoland?lol and Mt Peter

conrad

The t-bar is still there. It's just rusting away. Mt. Peter and Legoland are on the list!

ciscokid

Borvig scares me, right Sam?

https://liftblog.com/tag/borvig/

lotsoskiing

Looks a little more wintery now with the last storm

NewEnglandSkier13

ciscokid;c-64081 wroteBorvig scares me, right Sam?

https://liftblog.com/tag/borvig/

I'm still a fan of Borvig lifts. I'm more hesitant about detachable lifts than Borvigs.

skirick

The face section on Fools Delight is about the steepest 150' you'll ski at any ski resort.

Stan51

I have always been amused by the "grade inflation" in the name of this area. When my mother took my sister and I there to ride the rope tow in the early 60's, it was called Birch Hill. At some time it became Birch Ridge, or something like that. I guess none of those names were rad enough....

lotsoskiing

Big Birch

skirick

There used to be a Game Farm at the top of the triple, where the paintball area is now.

rickbolger

skirick;c-64108 wroteThe face section on Fools Delight is about the steepest 150' you'll ski at any ski resort.

It certainly is respectable!

using the steepest 150' I could find (see image below) it's about 30º which is about the same as the steepest 300' on Yahoo at Belleayre, a bit steeper than 400' of 26º headwall on Superstar at Killington, and not as steep as about 300' of the steepest 35º on White Heat at Sunday River or Ripcord at Mount Snow.

Gore has a particularly nasty 150' headwall that clocks in at 37º

There are 300' sections on Starr at Stowe and Green Beret at Jay Peak that are even steeper at 38º

at 50º the ski will generally not hold the slope, and at 75º the snow will generally not stay on the slope.

There is some margin for error on all of these, it's just a fun way to compare. IMHO the "percentage" type measurements are misleading. At least to me.

Personally, I can ski a 30º slope, even done a few at 32º but I chicken out on anything beyond that. So yeah, I agree -- at 30º, Fool's Delight is about the steepest I'll ski!

Here's where I measured, and the 30º is the bottom angle of a right triangle.

ciscokid

Wow Rick, A+ yur a smart’un

I remember going to Catskill game farm and Jungle habitat

skirick

Is this an app that you use to figure this out?

rickbolger;c-64114 wrote
skirick;c-64108 wroteThe face section on Fools Delight is about the steepest 150' you'll ski at any ski resort.
It certainly is respectable!

using the steepest 150' I could find (see image below) it's about 30º which is about the same as the steepest 300' on Yahoo at Belleayre, a bit steeper than 400' of 26º headwall on Superstar at Killington, and not as steep as about 300' of the steepest 35º on White Heat at Sunday River or Ripcord at Mount Snow.

Gore has a particularly nasty 150' headwall that clocks in at 37º

There are 300' sections on Starr at Stowe and Green Beret at Jay Peak that are even steeper at 38º

at 50º the ski will generally not hold the slope, and at 75º the snow will generally not stay on the slope.

There is some margin for error on all of these, it's just a fun way to compare. IMHO the "percentage" type measurements are misleading. At least to me.

Personally, I can ski a 30º slope, even done a few at 32º but I chicken out on anything beyond that. So yeah, I agree -- at 30º, Fool's Delight is about the steepest I'll ski!

Here's where I measured, and the 30º is the bottom angle of a right triangle.

slatham

I went to Thunder Ridge once - my eldest daughter’s first day on skis. Pizza wedges and French fries. Had to take a few turns and was very happily surprised by that steep pitch. Ended up doing a bunch of laps - conditions were good and it was an empty Monday.

skirick

That trail is normally only open on good snow years.

sotto

skirick;c-64129 wroteThat trail is normally only open on good snow years.

Fool's Delight has consistently been open mid to late January the last 5 or so years.

rickbolger

skirick;c-64127 wroteIs this an app that you use to figure this out?

I do all the measurements using google earth on desktop, I figure it has some margin of error but it's more or less the same margin of error for most locations.

I measure a line length "across the ground" and use that as the hypotenuse, check the altitude at top and bottom, and the difference becomes the height of the triangle. I used to do some sort of formula using sine and whatnot, but now I just plug numbers into an online calculator.

Wrote a webpage that explains the logic behind all this, linked here

ciscokid

Can’t find the old team Rick
I love reading good quality ski history, such memories!
Thanks Rick