Conditions Report
This report is from Sunday, January 25, 2025.
A surprise 12-inch snowfall transformed New York City’s Central Park into an improbable winter playground last Sunday, drawing out homesick skiers and snowboarders eager to make turns wherever gravity allowed. SnowBrains caught up with current New York resident Kristina Malzbender, who found herself at the center of one of the Big Apple’s most surreal ski days in recent memory-Central Park Skiing.
Early in the week, as forecasts began hinting at a major storm, Malzbender tossed out a casual post on TikTok about organizing a Central Park ski meetup. The response snowballed quickly. What began as a simple idea turned into a group chat of nearly 180 skiers, all intrigued by the idea of sliding through one of the world’s most iconic urban parks.
While it was a far cry from the deep, consistent snowpacks of her hometown, Boulder, Colorado, Malzbender saw opportunity rather than limitation. She dusted off her touring skis and planned to bring a little Colorado-style ski touring to Manhattan.
On Sunday morning, with “freshies” on the ground, Malzbender pulled on her ski gear, shouldered her touring skis, and hopped on the subway—arguably the most New York ski approach imaginable. The chat group linked up in Central Park and began touring familiar snow-day hotspots like Pilgrim Hill, Cedar Hill, East Meadow, and the Upper Park, areas that reliably fill with sledders and winter revelers whenever the city goes white.
As the ski group converged at Cedar Hill, the energy shifted. A loose, impromptu gathering of skiers and snowboarders began shaping a makeshift “terrain park,” launching off retaining walls, rocks, and whatever features the landscape offered. Amid the chaos, a goggled snowboarder quietly started throwing down stylish, confident tricks. It wasn’t until the goggles came off that the crowd realized who had dropped in: five-time Olympic medalist Shaun White.
White didn’t just cruise through—he sent it. Highlights included boosting over comedians Shane Gillis and Chris O’Connor as they sat casually holding beers, blending elite-level snowboarding with peak New York absurdity. In just a few weeks, White will trade his board for a microphone as a commentator at the Milano Cortina Olympic Games, but on this day, he was just another rider enjoying the storm.
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After wrapping up the Central Park session, Malzbender and friends opted for an even bolder exit: ski-touring their way down Manhattan instead of retreating underground via subway. They found surprisingly skiable conditions along the avenues and even enough coverage to ski the stairs at Bethesda Fountain and a stop at The Met. The urban tour continued street by street, drawing plenty of curious stares and conversations along the way.
Malzbender was especially surprised by how many people stopped to ask about her touring setup. “A lot of people have seen cross-country skis in the East,” she said, “but not touring skis in the middle of Manhattan.”
All told, it was a quintessentially New York ski day—improvised, chaotic, and unforgettable—with the added bonus of watching one of the greatest snowboarders of all time send tricks just feet away. As Malzbender put it, it was “a fun day of urban ski touring, made even better by the most unexpected celebrity sighting imaginable”.
