Garnet Hill and Lapland Lake

I just got back from a couple days at Garnet Hill and Lapland Lake in
the Adirondacks. Both had plenty of snow and tons of trails. There was a
big windstorm a day or so before I got there so Garnet had a lot of
twigs on the trails. Lapland had pristine trails even though they had
the same wind. I asked them why they were so good and they told me that
they got all the employees out on the trails picking things up at
6:30am. They did such a great job; they trails were flawless.

Lapland prides itself at being like a slice of Finland and having great
ski trails, and think they really pull it off!
gr

On Jan 1, 7:40*pm, gr wrote:
I just got back from a couple days at Garnet Hill and Lapland Lake in
the Adirondacks. Both had plenty of snow and tons of trails. There was a
big windstorm a day or so before I got there so Garnet had a lot of
twigs on the trails. Lapland had pristine trails even though they had
the same wind. I asked them why they were so good and they told me that
they got all the employees out on the trails picking things up at
6:30amthey trails were flawless.

Lapland prides itself at being like a slice of Finland and having great
ski trails, and *think they really pull it off!
gr

I've skied Garnet Hill every year since 1984. This winter I bought
another seasons pass and it has been a huge disappointment. The Nordic
Director of 25 years was let go prior to this season opening. He and
his grooming team did a great job all those years. However this season
Garnet Hill has decided to go in a different direction now. The
grooming now is marginal or not even done. If they do groom the full
45km is never done. More like 15km is buffed up. Finding track set
doesn't happen. I've pulled three small trees of the trails this
season since who ever is grooming just passes by them. Last week there
was branches and bark all over the trails. It's actually been a bummer
because I know what Garnet Hill can be. I wrote a letter yesterday to
the new Nordic Direstor voicing these concerns, but haven't heard back
from him. I skied in Crandal Park in Queensbury the last two days and
the frees kiing and grooming was better than Garnet Hill.

Looking at the Garnet Hill website, I was curious who this new outdoor
recreational director Tom Merkt is. A google search shows one who was
senior recreation student coordinator at nearby Franklin Pierce
University a few years ago, and there's a short bio and photo at
http://old.franklinpierce.edu/pages/.../powa/bios.pdf. Is that
him (one of the two guys)? It's hard to believe that owners who are
serious about running an established ski center would turn the
operation over to someone who can't be older than about 25 and seems to
have little if any experience in the industry. I don't recall any
posted notice for the position.

Gene


ADK Skier wrote:

I've skied Garnet Hill every year since 1984. This winter I bought
another seasons pass and it has been a huge disappointment. The Nordic
Director of 25 years was let go prior to this season opening. He and
his grooming team did a great job all those years. However this season
Garnet Hill has decided to go in a different direction now. The
grooming now is marginal or not even done. If they do groom the full
45km is never done. More like 15km is buffed up. Finding track set
doesn't happen. I've pulled three small trees of the trails this
season since who ever is grooming just passes by them. Last week there
was branches and bark all over the trails. It's actually been a bummer
because I know what Garnet Hill can be. I wrote a letter yesterday to
the new Nordic Direstor voicing these concerns, but haven't heard back
from him. I skied in Crandal Park in Queensbury the last two days and
the frees kiing and grooming was better than Garnet Hill.

I'm not familiar with the new situation at Garnet Hill but would
suggest giving them some time to figure out what they're doing.

On Jan 2, 6:19*pm, ADK Skier wrote:
On Jan 1, 7:40*pm, gr wrote:
snip--
twigs on the trails. Lapland had pristine trails even though they had
the same wind. I asked them why they were so good and they told me that
they got all the employees out on the trails picking things up at
6:30amthey trails were flawless.
snip--
I've skied Garnet Hill every year since 1984. This winter I bought
another seasons pass and it has been a huge disappointment. ......snip....... I skied in Crandal Park in Queensbury the last two days and
the frees kiing and grooming was better than Garnet Hill.

WELCOME To MY WORLD!!! UGH. Sorry to hear about Garnet Hill- I have
only skied there once... probably 17 or 18 years ago!!! but thought
it was okay- but then again I live right next to some of THE BEST
trails in North America... too bad that 90% of the time (and getting
worse all the time!) the grooming is just downright bad!!!
One day we were due for a big warm-up for a day or two and Mt
VanHoevenberg (Lake Placid) chose not to consolidate tons of snow- I
was skiing around on the biathlon side and there was sooo much snow
that should have been packed! I was saying to myself- "Gee, they must
have changed the forecast, maybe it is not going to get warm after
all!?"
then another day it was snowing like mad, accumulating nicely, but
where were the groomers??? VanHo nowadays seems to think snowmobiles
are the way to groom (So make sure you have big baskets if you
go!!!!!) but they like to wait until the snow is so deep that the
little machines CAN'T pack it and their groomers just plow lots of it
off the trails- ugh.
In the 28 years that I have been skiing VanHo I am astounded
constantly by how poorly a so called "Olympic development Center" can
possibly non-groom!!
Best of luck getting the new management to "ski-the-light" I am
rooting for ya!
Rand

On Jan 3, 10:17*pm, rwintski wrote:
On Jan 2, 6:19*pm, ADK Skier wrote:

On Jan 1, 7:40*pm, gr wrote:
snip--
twigs on the trails. Lapland had pristine trails even though they had
the same wind. I asked them why they were so good and they told me that
they got all the employees out on the trails picking things up at
6:30amthey trails were flawless.
snip--
I've skied Garnet Hill every year since 1984. This winter I bought
another seasons pass and it has been a huge disappointment. ......snip....... I skied in Crandal Park in Queensbury the last two days and
the frees kiing and grooming was better than Garnet Hill.

WELCOME To MY WORLD!!! UGH. * Sorry to hear about Garnet Hill- I have
only skied there once... probably 17 or 18 years ago!!! *but thought
it was okay- but then again I live right next to some of THE BEST
trails in North America... too bad that 90% of the time (and getting
worse all the time!) the grooming is just downright bad!!!
One day we were due for a big warm-up for a day or two and Mt
VanHoevenberg (Lake Placid) chose not to consolidate tons of snow- *I
was skiing around on the biathlon side and there was sooo much snow
that should have been packed! *I was saying to myself- "Gee, they must
have changed the forecast, maybe it is not going to get warm after
all!?"
then another day it was snowing like mad, accumulating nicely, but
where were the groomers??? *VanHo nowadays seems to think snowmobiles
are the way to groom (So make sure you have big baskets if you
go!!!!!) but they like to wait until the snow is so deep that the
little machines CAN'T pack it and their groomers just plow lots of it
off the trails- *ugh.
In the 28 years that I have been skiing VanHo I am astounded
constantly by how poorly a so called "Olympic development Center" can
possibly non-groom!!
Best of luck getting the new management to "ski-the-light" *I am
rooting for ya!
Rand

When I bought my pass at Garnet Hill around Thanksgiving there was
tons of early season snow. I got a few days in and than they said they
would be closed during the week. I said to myself I'll see how things
go until January. They bought two new YTS Ginzo's the state of the art
snowmobile grooming impliments. The vertical spring loaded vertical
knives cut through anything leaving beautiful track set and skate
lanes. Now they have 4 which is the envy of any groomer or other
nordic center. Van Ho has one G2 similiar to the Ginzo but made by
Tidd Tech. The point is Van Ho grooms and uses theirs. I think what is
going on at Garnet Hill is they have decided to store the two Pisten
Bulleys in the pole barn for the season and use just snowmobile
grooming. Thats a good plan to save the cost of using Pisten Bulley's.
However if you have Ginzo's you better be out there using them
especially during Christmas week. A few of use disappointed Garnet
Hill skiers joke that we need to send a 75 year old Finnish man who
owns another Adirondack Nordic Ski Center over to show then how to
groom. I think you know who I'm talking about.

On Sat, 3 Jan 2009 19:17:56 -0800 (PST), rwintski
wrote:

WELCOME To MY WORLD!!! UGH. Sorry to hear about Garnet Hill- I have
only skied there once... probably 17 or 18 years ago!!! but thought
it was okay- but then again I live right next to some of THE BEST
trails in North America... too bad that 90% of the time (and getting
worse all the time!) the grooming is just downright bad!!!
One day we were due for a big warm-up for a day or two and Mt
VanHoevenberg (Lake Placid) chose not to consolidate tons of snow- I
was skiing around on the biathlon side and there was sooo much snow
that should have been packed! I was saying to myself- "Gee, they must
have changed the forecast, maybe it is not going to get warm after
all!?"
then another day it was snowing like mad, accumulating nicely, but
where were the groomers??? VanHo nowadays seems to think snowmobiles
are the way to groom (So make sure you have big baskets if you
go!!!!!) but they like to wait until the snow is so deep that the
little machines CAN'T pack it and their groomers just plow lots of it
off the trails- ugh.
In the 28 years that I have been skiing VanHo I am astounded
constantly by how poorly a so called "Olympic development Center" can
possibly non-groom!!
Best of luck getting the new management to "ski-the-light" I am
rooting for ya!
Rand

You're spoiled.

On Jan 4, 7:16*am, John Forrest Tomlinson
wrote:
On Sat, 3 Jan 2009 19:17:56 -0800 (PST), rwintski
wrote:





WELCOME To MY WORLD!!! UGH. * Sorry to hear about Garnet Hill- I have
only skied there once... probably 17 or 18 years ago!!! *but thought
it was okay- but then again I live right next to some of THE BEST
trails in North America... too bad that 90% of the time (and getting
worse all the time!) the grooming is just downright bad!!!
One day we were due for a big warm-up for a day or two and Mt
VanHoevenberg (Lake Placid) chose not to consolidate tons of snow- *I
was skiing around on the biathlon side and there was sooo much snow
that should have been packed! *I was saying to myself- "Gee, they must
have changed the forecast, maybe it is not going to get warm after
all!?"
then another day it was snowing like mad, accumulating nicely, but
where were the groomers??? *VanHo nowadays seems to think snowmobiles
are the way to groom (So make sure you have big baskets if you
go!!!!!) but they like to wait until the snow is so deep that the
little machines CAN'T pack it and their groomers just plow lots of it
off the trails- *ugh.
In the 28 years that I have been skiing VanHo I am astounded
constantly by how poorly a so called "Olympic development Center" can
possibly non-groom!!
Best of luck getting the new management to "ski-the-light" *I am
rooting for ya!
Rand

You're spoiled.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Your right it's easy to get jaded with all the snow we have up here in
the Adirondacks compared to you fellow New Yorkers roller skiing in
Central Park during January. However I'm not afraid of a little hard
work either. I've shoveled litereally tons of snow at Friends Lake Inn
and Green Mansions so we could ski and race. I gave up counting how
many Hemlock trees I've climbed to cut down those annoying limbs which
rob precious inches of snow from the trails. I would drag around crazy
contraptions behind the snowmobile at Green Mansions Golf Course to
knock down the snow so we could ski. At least now I have a used Tidd
Tech at Green Mansions to groom with. To run a Nordic Center you have
to be over the top passionate and dedicated to the sport. I think
thats whats missing at Garnet Hill.

!! When I worked at Lapland Lake, long days at 5F spent clearing trails
of big and little debris were part of making things work, as well as
testing my mettle as a newcomer. My first test at Garnet Hill, after a
healthy mid-day wind, was on a smaller scale but similar. At Garnet,
Dick Carlson would be out all day during big snow storms (up to 3')
rolling and rolling it with the snowmobile. That's why I wonder whether
the new owners, a couple from Boston without any advertised ski
background, aside from coming up one time, really understood what they
were getting into and what it takes.

Gene

ADK Skier wrote:

Your right it's easy to get jaded with all the snow we have up here in
the Adirondacks compared to you fellow New Yorkers roller skiing in
Central Park during January. However I'm not afraid of a little hard
work either. I've shoveled litereally tons of snow at Friends Lake Inn
and Green Mansions so we could ski and race. I gave up counting how
many Hemlock trees I've climbed to cut down those annoying limbs which
rob precious inches of snow from the trails. I would drag around crazy
contraptions behind the snowmobile at Green Mansions Golf Course to
knock down the snow so we could ski. At least now I have a used Tidd
Tech at Green Mansions to groom with. To run a Nordic Center you have
to be over the top passionate and dedicated to the sport. I think
thats whats missing at Garnet Hill.

On Sun, 4 Jan 2009 10:16:29 -0700, wrote:

!! When I worked at Lapland Lake, long days at 5F spent clearing trails
of big and little debris were part of making things work, as well as
testing my mettle as a newcomer. My first test at Garnet Hill, after a
healthy mid-day wind, was on a smaller scale but similar. At Garnet,
Dick Carlson would be out all day during big snow storms (up to 3')
rolling and rolling it with the snowmobile. That's why I wonder whether
the new owners, a couple from Boston without any advertised ski
background, aside from coming up one time, really understood what they
were getting into and what it takes.

They might not at the moment.

But it's a new thing for them so I'm going to wait awhile, maybe even
a whole season, before concluding they won't get it.