Val Bialas Ski Center Opens in Utica! Now We Just Need Some Snow

Val Bialas is open for the winter. Now we just need some snow.

The ski center on Memorial Parkway in Utica will offer snow tubing, sledding if you bring your own sled, skiing, and ski instructions.

There are plenty of fun activities that don't require snow. Storytime and hot cocoa by the fire, Disney movies with popcorn, a winter youth party, games, and a snowman-building contest, if we ever get snow.

The winter program at Val Bialas runs until March 31 on Thursdays and Fridays from 5 PM to 9 PM, and Saturdays and Sundays from 12 PM to 5 PM. All activities are free.

Valentine Bialas

Val Bialas Ski Center is named in honor of Valentine Bialas, a speed skater from Utica, New York who competed in three Winter Olympics before losing his leg in a car/train crash on the way home from a meet. He continued to skate for fun with an artificial leg and coached young athletes.

He was inducted into the Speed Skating Hall of Fame in 1963.

Where's the Snow

Utica and Central New York may not have much snow but Upstate and Western New York are covered in white stuff after not one, but two major storms. And there are plenty of other places to go tubing, skiing or snowboarding until we see snow in Central New York.