Spring skiing begins March 1^st with mid-winter conditions. Not a bare spot on the mountains and trail counts are running high for this time of the year. All I will say about this sunny part of the season is it will be a long one!  Some resorts may begin to curtail hours and activities so it will be best to check in with their websites. To make it easy Ski Central here on CNYcentral.com has a list of all of the sites on the right side of the page.

Just say no to the proposed tax on skiing and riding! Time for a short P.S.A., public skiing announcement :)  The Governor of New York state has proposed a budget with an 8% sales tax on lift tickets and lessons. This will have a big impact on the local ski industry and I think is not the way to go about closing the financial gap. We need to find other ways that won’t keep people away from exercising. If you want to keep skiing affordable make you voice heard and head to the website stoptheskitax.com for more information.

This week at a ski area near you….Toggenburg holds a Not So Short – Super Sweet Slopestyle competition this Saturday. You can win some cold hard cash and prizes. And while you’re there, check out the chili at the Foggy Goggle. It won the Cazenovia Chilly Cook-off a few weeks back. Song hosts a snowmobile hill climb Saturday night in conjunction with the Tully Trailblazers. The annual Kandahar Race weekend is this Saturday and Sunday up at Snow Ridge. If cross country skiing is your thang, you’ll like this next note. It’s free on the trails at McCauley during the month of March. Brantling holds a couple of events this weekend. A chicken BBQ on Saturday beginning at 1pm. Sunday at Brantling is their customer appreciation day. It will be a fiesta theme with the best prices of the winter on lifts, lessons and food and plenty of fun and games. Bristol begins their sale of March Madness Passes. Who doesn’t like a fine wine and cheese? For those that do, head to Greek Peak for a free tasting this Saturday hosted by the Cayuga and Seneca Lake Wine Trails. Also this weekend is the American Cancer Society’s Hope on the Slopes 24 event at the Peak. And Monday there you can ski on some of next season’s gear at a demo day. And saving the best for last…Labfest! It’s that time of year again this Saturday at Labrador. Some great food, games and an evening firework show sure sounds nice.

This weekend I’ll be skiing out west in what’s called the greatest powder on earth. It’s my first trip ever to the other coast and I’ll be hitting Alta and Snowbird. The resorts are famous for tons of light fluffy powder, having already received nearly 400” this winter. And much of this snow is generated by the same process which I have skied in my whole life, lake effect snow. This time off of the Great Salt Lake.  Pictures and a full report from the trip will be coming next week. Until then…Happy trails…