Best wishes for a happy and health 2016 from all of us at Adirondack Lifestyle! This is a day to celebrate. January 1, the arbitrary day we humans assigned to start a fresh slate, is also Ziggy the Lifestyle hound’s birthday. It was also one of the first few days fans were able to cross-country ski in the Adirondack Mountains of northern New York.

Bonus Backcountry Ski Report

This year’s unseasonable warm and snowless fall made our annual First Day backcountry ski a challenge, and we almost chose to ski-skate at the Olympic trails at Mt. Van Hoevenberg. With only four inches of crusty snow on the ground, it certainly was the best game in town. But, the sight of Ziggy’s sad-dog face when we started to get ready for no-dogs-allowed skiing at MVH compelled a change in plans. Despite better judgement, we decided to give the Old Mountain Road section of the Jackrabbit Trail a try.

The quiet solitude of Adirondack backcountry skiing (light) was welcome and softly falling snow beautiful, but conditions were not good.

To be fair, we did not expect normal January Adirondacks backcountry ski conditions. The official report from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (which can always be found at the link on the right) even warned about unsafe conditions in the Adirondack backcountry.

But….

At least the dog had fun.