5 Upstate New York Ski Resorts to Visit If You Live in Brooklyn
You don’t have to drive more than a few hours from Brooklyn to hit the slopes this winter.
The winter skiing season has kicked off, and if you’re looking to hit the slopes but not venture too far from Brooklyn, there are plenty of options. We’ve rounded up five upstate New York ski areas that will allow you to shred fresh powder without having to hop on a plane. They’re all within a four-hour drive or less from Brooklyn.
[instagram_embedding url="https://www.instagram.com/p/BOIviJbAd_j/"]Mount Peter Ski Area
51 Old Mount Peter Road, Warwick, N.Y.
Drive Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes
Mount Peter Ski Area was started in 1936 for a rather interesting reason: Macy’s Department Store founded it to show off their ski and winter fashions. It’s one of the few family-owned skiing areas left in New York State, and it’s close. Located just north of the New York-New Jersey border, it’s less than two hours from Brooklyn. It also is the oldest extant ski area in the state. Famous for its free beginner ski and snowboarding school, the resort has 69 acres of skiable terrain on a 400-foot-high peak with five lifts and 14 runs about equally divided between beginner, intermediate and advanced.
[instagram_embedding url="https://www.instagram.com/p/BN9wPxYAuYe/"]Windham Mountain Resort
19 Resort Drive, Windham, N.Y.
Drive Time: 3 hours
The Windham Mountain Resort has a 1,600-foot-high incline with 52 ski trails, 12 lifts, and more intermediate runs than most. The resort offers night skiing, an on-site spa, and five terrain parks for freestylers. It also has artificial snow and opens early in the season, in November.
[instagram_embedding url="https://www.instagram.com/p/BCBKmUpvo71/?taken-at=7564916"]Royal Mountain Ski Area
3072 NY-10, Johnstown, N.Y.
Drive Time: 3 hours, 45 minutes
Near a lake in the Albany area, Royal Mountain Ski Area has artificial snow, 30 acres of terrain to ski and a 550-foot vertical drop. It offers three ski lifts and 14 runs equally divided between beginner, intermediate and advanced.
[instagram_embedding url="https://www.instagram.com/p/BOk3bFwAKl2/"]Catamount Ski Area
78 Catamount Road, Hillsdale, N.Y.
Drive Time: 2 hours, 45 minutes
Catamount Ski Area straddles the Massachusetts-New York border in the Taconic Mountains. It has seven lifts and 36 trails across 119 acres of land, and is one of the largest ski areas in either New York or New England. It has two ski lodges, and the highest vertical peak rises to 1,000 feet. One of its trails is just for snowboarding and has a terrain park and a 400-foot-long half pipe. It has a large number of beginner and intermediate runs.
[instagram_embedding url="https://www.instagram.com/p/BOQeFvLDU6G/"]Thunder Ridge Ski Area
137 Birch Hill Road, Patterson, N.Y.
Drive Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
If you’re looking to get in some skiing and not looking to travel too far, consider Putnam County’s Thunder Ridge Ski Area. If there’s not enough snow falling from the sky to cover the 22 trails, there’s no reason to worry; Thunder Ridge can cover 95 percent of the mountain with artificial snow. With six lifts, the slopes are geared mostly to beginner and intermediate skiers.
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