Snow Ridge Powder Day - March 15, 2026

These pictures were taken with my Google Pixel 6a phone and my iPad camera at Snow Ridge in Turin, New York, on March 15, 2026. Images are shown at a resolution of 800x600. Larger image formats are available by clicking the links below each image.

I decided to chase the recent snowfall a bit and use an Indy day at Snow Ridge.
There was little or no snow in the valley on my way out, and for the first part of the ride north out of Utica. Snow slowly got deeper as I continued north, finally looking more substantial as a got close to Turin. The roads were completely clear until I got into the Snow Ridge parking lot. Snow Ridge reported 16" from the recent storm, but it was all groomed down to packed powder around the base area. The lot was busier than on my previous visits which were all weekdays. Still I parked a very short walk from both the lodge and the Ridge Runner chair. I went into the Wax House lodge to get ready and to do my Indy pass redemption. I was on the snow before 10:30.
I started on the Ridge Runner, the only Snow Ridge chair I'd taken on previous visits (the only one open those times) and took a warmup run down to check out the North Chair. I was ready to try some of the advanced and expert terrain just to the north and it did not disappoint. There were some groomed out paths with excellent packed powder and lots of edges and glades as well. I'm pretty sure I'd never has the chance to get all the way down to the "One Way Out" on my previous visits, where I was basically skating along a snowmobile trail.
Next, I decided to check out the trails off the Little Mountain Chair, the furthest north area at Snow Ridge. I skied everything over there, where there was a mix of the deep and untracked powder and more of that excellent packed powder. Cover there was good except on parts of Little North, where some grass and branches poked through. I took 4 runs in that area and then skated back to the North Chair from which I came down through some woods and then the South Slope.
After lunch, my goal was the Snow Pocket, also never open on any of my previous weekday visits. Since I learned about it when I first skied Snow Ridge, it's been a goal to get to try out that area. I went up the Ridge Runner saw, for the first time, the "Snow Pocket Open" sign and took Kuersteiner then skated across the meadow to the Snow Pocket T-bar. I don't get to ride T-bars much but had no trouble remembering the technique. At the top, I was surprised to see that the main trails were groomed. No complaints from me as these had some even more excellent packed powder than the rest of the mountain and some of the nicest I've skied all season anywhere. I took 7 runs off the T-bar and checked out everything I could find: groomed and ungroomed trails, and deep glades (where I learned that the 16" snow report was not the least bit of an exaggeration). Once done at the Snow Pocket area, I took a short break back in the Wax House.
By 1:30, the snow was getting a little heavier as the weather got warm and the sun was trying to peek through. I didn't want to leave but didn't want to overdo it either. I ended my day with 4 more runs off the Ridge Runner and North Chair, checking out more of the steep terrain on the north end and some of the glades right down the middle. I finished at 2:15 with 20 runs, every one of them a great one.