In a New York minute

The view from the room at Crowne Plaza in Lake Placid is supposed to be beautiful. But all I can see is snow...over three feet and still coming down. Happening on Valentine's Day, the Sweetheart Storm of 2007 is exactly that -- a sweet dream for skiers and riders throughout the northeast.

I'm lucky to be traveling with my sweetheart on Valentine's Day. We're right in the middle of a road trip that’s taken us, so far, to two of our favorite ski resorts, Gore and Whiteface, and to Titus Mountain in New York, which we’ve never skied before. 

Here’s how our adventure has been so far:

Gore Mountain in North Creek always amazes me. Just when I think I’ve seen all there is to see, I discover a new trail or a chairlift that wasn’t operating the last time I skied here.

What do you want? Long, easy and intermediate cruisers? Found plenty of them. Winding trails through the woods? Just look on the north side. Steeps? Well, there are steeps like Uncas, and STEEPS like Rumor and Lies, both open, and skiing well early in the morning.

Like every other resort in the northeast, Gore could have used more snow before the big storm in February. But they did a tremendous job with their snowmaking. When we visited the glades weren’t open, so I’ll have to go back. 

Titus Mountain is in Malone, about an hour or so north of Lake Placid. It's one of those great little ski resorts you’ve probably never visited unless you live there or unless, like me, you want to ski everywhere there’s a slope and snow. We had a wonderful day exploring a new area.

Titus has three mountains, none of them large, all laced with lovely twisting old-fashioned trails. Nothing too steep, nothing scary. All easily skiable in one day on tele gear. The views are expansive.

Did you know that you get genuine bragging rights when you can say you’ve skied a mountain like Titus? Everyone knows Whiteface, but Titus is a true adventure. Spend a day there the next time you’re in northern New York.

Whiteface Day 1: Even with little natural snow, much of this big, burley mountain was being skied. They were making snow like crazy on the steepest terrain on the upper mountain and both Skyward (steep!) and Paron’s were in superb condition. 

Whiteface, Day 2: 3,166 vertical feet of lift-serviced terrain covered with 10 inches of fresh powder and still dumping! Seriously wonderful, one of the best ski days in years. If there’d been enough snow to open the glades, maybe one of the best ski days in a decade. Skiers and riders live for days like this on mountains like this.

Fuel Stops

One of the main reasons to visit new ski areas is to find wonderful places to stay and great food to eat.

Gore

Stay at Copperfield Inn. Eat dinner either in Trapper’s Tavern, a great après ski joint, or treat yourself to “Gardens,” which is upscale and excellent. For lunch, try the outstanding Italian stir-fry made to order in the Gore base lodge.

Titus

Malone is closer, but we stayed 45 minutes away at Hohmeyer’s Lake Clear Lodge. Beautiful lodge, amazing dinner (with an outstanding wine cellar and hundreds of European beers to choose from) and breakfast that is well beyond ordinary.

Whiteface

So many places to choose from! This time, we splurged at the Crowne Plaza in Lake Placid, which has free shuttle service (that starts early enough to catch first chair) directly to Whiteface. For dinner one night, we strolled across the road to Veranda (where some guy named Bill Clinton –apparently the husband of a NY Senator -- celebrated a birthday recently). The next night, we went off the beaten path to  Caffe Rustica, (518-523-7511) which got rave reviews from several locals on the chairlift. Go with local knowledge whenever possible.