"Over the last three years, we were open for 11 or 12 days, total," Declan Hennelly, the park's manager, told The Highlands Current last February. "Some of those days, we probably shouldn't have been open."
That's the Fahnestock Winter Park most people around here know. It's the cross-country ski area off Route 301 inside Clarence Fahnestock Memorial State Park, and it spends most winters as a parking lot and a trail map. The Current's columnist compared it to Brigadoon, the village that only appears when conditions are right. He also wrote that when he told his wife the winter park was open, she asked, "Fahnestock has a winter park?"
The park isn't seasonal the way a pool or a farm stand is. It's set off by a storm. It has no opening day, just a depth of snow, and once you plan around that number, the place works very differently.
The Number Is About Seven Inches
Hennelly needs about 7 inches of snow on the ground before he'll consider opening. In a January 2026 profile on the New York State Parks blog, he described how his staff packs the snow with snowmobiles and ATVs, then drags groomers behind the machines to make the surface "as flat, compact and consistent as possible" for lightweight touring and racing skis.
The site gives that threshold a head start. The winter park sits at about 1,100 feet, and State Parks says the elevation "helps capture addition snow during storms," while a forested northwest trail system helps hold a base once it builds. A storm that leaves slush in the valley towns can still leave skiable snow up on 301.
Depth is only part of it. Hennelly told The Highlands Current that warm days above freezing are fine as long as nights fall back into the teens and 20s, which hardens the snow. The bigger threat later in the season is daylight. "You can still get a lot of snow in March, but you lose it quickly," he said. In practice, the park's season runs from the first deep storm until the sun gets strong enough to undo the last one.
Two Winters, Two Very Different Seasons
Winter 2024 shows how often the conditions fail. Around January 19, 2024, the park's update account on X said there wasn't enough snow to open. By February 13 and 14 it reported roughly 70% of trails available, with thin cover and bare spots starting to show. On February 16 it said the park had lost too much snow to keep operating. The whole stretch lasted only a few days.
Last winter is the one locals remember. Late in January 2026, two storms came in a row, 7 inches and then 16 on top of it, followed by cold that held the powder in place. "It's cold, it's dry, it'll last for a while. It's perfect," Hennelly told The Highlands Current. Then came the February nor'easter. The Hudson Valley ski-conditions blog Across the Snow Line reported on February 24, 2026, that Fahnestock had received more than 20 inches and was closed that day, with plans to open Wednesday.
| Winter | What the snow did | What the park did |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Not enough to open in January; thin cover by mid-February | About 70% of trails open February 13 and 14, closed by February 16 |
| 2026 | 7 inches, then 16, in late January; 20+ inches in the late-February nor'easter | Open after the January storms, with cold expected to hold the snow; closed February 24 after the nor'easter, with plans to open the next day |
The park doesn't open a little every year. In thin winters it barely opens at all. In 2026, The Highlands Current described a weekslong stretch of snow and below-freezing temperatures, and its columnist was still snowshoeing at the winter park in February.
What Opens When the Snow Does
The park opened in 1995. According to the State Parks blog, it was the vision of Paul Kuznia, the now-retired manager of the Taconic Outdoor Education Center. Kuznia hired Hennelly for a maintenance job there in 2009, after Hennelly had been coming to the park as an avid cross-country skier. State Parks calls it the closest cross-country ski area to New York City and the only full-service cross-country ski area south of the Adirondacks and Vermont. It's also one of only two fully groomed ski trail systems in the state park system, along with Minnewaska State Park Preserve.
The main difference between the two is rentals. Hennelly told The Highlands Current that Minnewaska has plenty of trails but you need your own skis, while Fahnestock rents them. If you have never owned cross-country gear, you can still show up and ski here.
On a snow day, the State Parks winter park page lists:
- 20 kilometers of machine-groomed trails, set for both classic and skate skiing
- Three blazed snowshoe trails rated beginner, intermediate and advanced
- A fast, groomed sledding hill right next to the parking lot
- Rentals for skate skis, classic skis, snowshoes, sledding tubes and tow-behind baby pulks
- A concession stand with hot food and drinks, indoor seating, a firepit outside, restrooms and changing rooms
State Parks says beginners and families tend to stay on the easier terrain near the lodge, while trails heading farther out get into intermediate and advanced ground. Hennelly told the Parks blog that skiing is the most popular activity, drawing first-timers, people out for an easy ski, and cyclists and other fitness regulars who use it to train in the off-season. The Highlands Current reported visitors from New Jersey, Connecticut and New York City, including a skier from the Bronx who was surprised that terrain that looks like deep backcountry is this close to the city.
Here are the prices currently posted by State Parks:
| Item | Posted price |
|---|---|
| Trail pass, adult | $12 |
| Trail pass, senior 62+ or junior under 17 | $10 |
| Sledding pass | $3 |
| Ski rental, per day | $18 adult, $15 junior |
| Snowshoe rental | $15 adult or $14 junior per day; $7 per hour |
| Sledding tube rental | $4 per hour |
| Baby pulk | $20 per day or $7 per hour |
Two rules catch people off guard. The Empire Pass and Golden Park Pass aren't accepted at the winter park, and dogs aren't allowed on the groomed ski and snowshoe trails. Fees can change between seasons, so check the posted rates before you go.
Canopus Lake Runs on Its Own Number
On the best days, the trails go out onto the ice. State Parks says it grooms ski trails on both upper and lower Canopus Lake "when ice conditions permit." That needs a separate threshold. As The Highlands Current reported in January 2025, park rules require 6 inches of ice before a lake opens for winter sports.
That ice depth is rarer than the snow depth. Canopus Lake opened to ice fishing on January 14, 2025, for the first time since the 2020–21 winter, The Highlands Current reported. The next month, Across the Snow Line reported that the Canopus Lake ski trails had opened for the first time in four years. If you ever ski across the lake, you've caught a day the park offers only in a few winters.
How to Tell It's Open
Because the opening depends on a storm, the useful information is the daily status, not a calendar. State Parks says the schedule is "always weather dependent" and asks visitors to check conditions every day before driving out. When the park is running, it's open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., the gate closes at 5 p.m., and it's closed on December 25.
Here's the order to check things after a storm:
- The conditions report box at the top of the winter park page, which is updated daily when the park is open
- The Fahnestock Winter Park Facebook page
- The Mid Hudson Valley Cross Country Skiers group on Google Groups
- The XC ski center at 845-225-3998, which is answered only when the center is open. Otherwise, the main park office is at 845-225-7207.
One more Fahnestock note for next year, since it's easy to mix up with the winter park. On October 27, 2026, State Parks posted that the Fahnestock Campground will be closed for the 2027 season while a new bathhouse is finished as part of Phase 1 upgrades. That closure applies to the campground, not the ski trails.
Snow is what sets the winter park's dates. If you'd like a guide who keeps track of what's happening around Putnam County, from the trails on 301 to the streets you might call home someday, Vision Alliance Realty is glad to help. Start your VIP home search with us whenever you're ready.
