Experience A Wilderness Skiing Adventure In The Adirondack Backcountry

Garnet Hill Lodge is an ideal home base for backcountry skiing in the Adirondacks.  The area surrounding our property offers some of the best wilderness skiing and ski mountaineering trips in New York State.

Adirondack Backcountry Skiing at Garnet Hill

The Siamese Ponds Wilderness Area, which is adjacent to our property, contains almost 40 miles of mapped and marked trails. These routes offer opportunities for day ski trips and multi-day winter wilderness adventures. In addition, trails can be connected to frozen ponds, streams, and other winter-only routes to provide an almost infinite variety of backcountry ski options. Just two of the many options are described below. See Adirondack Ski Tours by Tony Goodwin for more touring options in the area.

Adirondack Backcountry Ski Trails

Botheration Pond Ski Trail

Botheration Pond Loop, a route that circles around the Balm of Gilead Mountain and several lesser hills, is an 8 mile loop. The route begins at Old Farm Clearing and ends at the Garnet Hill cross-country ski center. The loop combines existing trails with more than a mile of new trails and two bridges. This trip takes about 4 hours to complete and you need to be an intermediate skier with confidence in your own skills.

The Raymond Brook Ski Trail

The Raymond Brook Ski Trail is one of the oldest ski trails at Gore Mountain. Today it’s on state land, but it is still an important part of the backcountry ski trail network around North Creek, NY. The trail climbs at the start and goes through rolling sections at the bottom. The effort to get to the Raymond Brook Trail is well-spent. This historic Adirondack backcountry ski route drops hundreds of feet through a beautiful forest. The trip takes about 3 hours to complete and you must be a very good skier.

Additional Information

For adventurous and advanced skiers, we can provide guided backcountry ski excursions to Puffer Pond, Hour Pond, Peaked Mountain Pond and many others destinations. Contact the Outdoor Center at (518) 251-2150 for details or to arrange a trip.  We also offer weekly tours for a variety of ability levels.  We stock backcountry skis and equipment to make sure you have what you need out on the trail.

The DEC provides information on backcountry trail conditions across the Adirondacks, but feel free to call the Outdoor Center for local conditions.