Greek Peak Expert Skiing
For a resort of Greek Peak’s size, it has remarkably good expert skiing. The double black diamond Olympian trail is one of the steepest runs in New York State.
Somewhat surprisingly for a resort which caters to a family market, Greek Peak has quite decent advanced skiing. The resort receives enough natural snowfall to allow for soft moguls to form in midwinter. Thankfully, Greek Peak does not groom down all of its mogul runs, but permits a good number of trails to bump up.
The greatest concentration of advanced skiing is off of the quad (Chair 1A). Here, skiers will find Greek Peak’s signature expert run – Olympian. With a headwall whose pitch approaches 40 degrees, it’s fair to call Olympian steep. It is certainly the steepest trail in the region and amongst the steeper pitches in New York State. After the headwall, the trail flattens out before one final plunge ends in a low-angle runout to the base. Expert skiers will appreciate the fact that Greek Peak will only grooms the top section infrequently; having a truly steep mogul run, certainly helps the resort attract families and groups with mixed ability level skiers.
Directly next to Olympian is Odyssey. Odyssey is narrower than Olympian but not quite as steep. Unfortunately it is often closed for ski racing. Odyssey serves as the home race course to the Cornell Alpine Ski Team and it is common to see collegiate racers running gates on the trail.
The last two advanced trails served by the quad are Iliad and Alcmene. Alcmene is a narrow liftline black diamond that follows the quad liftline. Iliad is a wide slope under Chair 1. The resort often grooms only half of the Iliad trail, giving skiers the option of carving high speed turns or trying their luck at the moguls. The groomed section is appropriate for strong intermediate skiers, who may struggle with the top pitch, but will find the bottom 3/4 of the run to be decidedly blue in character.
Another great set of expert runs is found off Chair 4. Zeus – the liftline run – is short, but has a tremendous first pitch. Greek Peak’s newest double black diamond trail, Hercules, is the second steepest run and affords a great view of the Hope Lake Lodge on the way down. Hercules, however, is a wide trail and does not hold the snow particularly well. It tends to become icy and windswept when conditions are less favorable, but is a favorite in the spring.
One advantage to skiing off Chair 4 is it allows for faster laps. Greek Peak’s lifts are notoriously slow, but Zeus and Hercules have very little run out. The shorter line length means more vertical.
Greek Peak also has a number of gladed expert and advanced runs.