This is what a full to capacity day looks like at Royal Mountain in Johnstown, NY on the very edge of the Adirondacks and just 50 minutes from Albany. They’re one of dozens of smaller family run mountains in New York state. They didn’t actually sell out, they just ran out of parking space. Lift lines maxed out at less than 5 minutes, but the pow maxed out closer to 20”.
Owner Jake Tennis credited Snowology with helping to make that happen. He hasn’t seen this since COVID when people stayed more local due to travel restrictions, a desire to avoid larger settings, and also limits on capacity selling them out, but that was over after one season. Royal though isn’t just some small bump that locals take their kids to, they have some of the best snowmaking capacity per acre around, they have legit steepness, and on days like today they have glades. It’s just 575’ of vert with two doubles serving the summit, but that’s all they need even on their busiest days.
All we did was tell people about the snow and the fact that it skis big during dumps, but that visibility really helps, especially when places are overlooked. Advanced skiers and riders can in fact have fantastic days at some of these smaller mountains that have steeps and natural terrain, and that’s something that we also like to help raise awareness of.
Royal Mountain is in the Snowology Club which comes with Snowology subscriptions, and subscribers are able to get one ticket there each season for just $30. By 9:30AM eight of our subscribers had used their discounts and they sold lots of full priced day tickets to people who had never been there before, but at $60 a pop for 20" of snow that's a very non-objectionable price. Those tickets are also part of the awareness that Snowology creates, and it’s easier to spot at the smaller mountains that don’t typically get surges this big with snowfall, but it also happens with big mountains too when we give shout-outs. Our coverage reaches hundreds of thousands of Northeast skiers and riders and maybe even over a million, with more who live beyond or who are just simply interested in snow. We help raise awareness and we do influence where people go.
Snowology
We love the Snowology Club program because it encourages people to explore, and most importantly for people who love snow it allows them to ski off their pass without breaking the bank, go find the snow instead of waiting for it to come to them, and find new experiences which are often enjoyable. There are about 150 alpine ski areas in the Northeast and most skiers and riders spend the majority of their time at just one. There are great things about having a mountain that you call home, but a little variety is the spice of life as well as skiing and riding and you will get more pow if you do.
We also love this program because it spreads focus beyond just the most notable. We do like all mountains, big and small. Each and every one of them is perfect for many people, and honestly, if you can’t have fun skiing 575’ of challenging vert on 20” of fresh untouched snow with glades in play on a Saturday, you are probably not getting out of skiing and riding what you can.
We don’t make money on the Snowology Club and it's honestly a ton of work to put this together. Ski areas don’t even pay us to be a part of it, we do it because we love the vibe and our subscribers love the discounts. Lots of great vibes were coming today out of an often overlooked mountain on the outskirts of Johnstown, and we love that more than anything!
The lake effect snow is setting back in over Royal this evening and we're expecting another 8" or so of snow by close on Sunday, so let's do this again folks, but get there before 10AM just to make sure you can find a spot!
KNOWLEDGE IS POWDER!
-- Matthew Scott
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