Gore Mountain, NY: 3/20/11

Left my house in NJ at 4:30 this morning with plans to hit Big Tupper, but with the website only reporting 11 trails open on the lower mountain, the cost/benefit analysis of driving another 1:45 past North Creek wasn't working out. So I pulled into Cafe Sarah, and while ordering a croissant, Harv and x10003q walked in and suggested that I go to Gore. I had only skied there once, in 2002, so I figured that it'd be fun to see what I'd been reading about over and over on this forum.

Contrary to what I'd read from outraged season passholders, quite a few people seemed to be availing themselves of the paid-parking option. When it snows, that must be a huge PITA for the plow crew to deal with the chains that demarcate the paid from the free parking:



Aware of my near psychotic aversion to weekend crowds, Harv recommended that I park at the ski bowl, which turned out to be a great tip. Compared to the hundreds of cars and all the people at the base area, there were -- count 'em -- 12 cars at the Little Gore parking lot. Ah, that's more like it!



At 10 am, Oak Ridge and Moxham were already skiing beautifully.




Then I took the crossover and did a few more warmup laps on Sagamore and Echo:



Even though I had lots of great runs on Gore -- wherever the sun had softened things up (including Chatiemac, Open Pit, Uncas, and Upper Darby on the upper mountain and anywhere on the lower mountain) -- I had the most fun at the ski bowl. I did the 46er trees I don't know how many times, and the snow in the woods stayed perfect the entire day. Can someone explain the complaint I've read here several times -- that the ski bowl is "not well connected" with the main mountain? It seemed fine to me:




A great spring day and I may ski Gore again on Tuesday.

What, no Lies!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lies might have been the best trail later in the day.  I was lapping Lies this afternoon  hoping they would open Rumor...not...IMO Sagamore skied the best all weekend.  This morning with the GS skis and then late with the bump skis.  It was the softest earliest yesterday too.  Top Ridge got an honorable mention as their bumps were fun at the end of the day.  They even opened high pines in the afternoon.  we didn't lose much snow today and the forecast looks favorable this week.

SKI MORE AT OLD GORE!!!!

James, so glad this worked out for you.  Did seem pretty kharmic that we both walked into Sarah's at the same moment.

If you got into the trees in the morning, it looks like it was the right call, as the trees at Hickory didn't really warm up enough to ski.

Paid parking is usually maxed out weekends from Christmas through Presidents, and well utilized at other times as well.  It's just a guess, but I don't think most of the people in the paid lot are passholders.  It certainly has advantages on spring days when arriving early doesn't make as much sense.  And as you noted, on days when the interconnect is running, the ski bowl has free premium parking.

I have to say that after the fantastic weekend I had, (Platty, Gore, Hickory) the moment I'll remember most was being with Xman, and seeing his emotional reaction to the rebirth of the Ski Bowl.  It was a little like reliving a familiar experience through the eyes of a child - new all over again.

Glad you had that experience too.

With regard to the "connectedness" of Gore, Burnt Ridge and the Ski Bowl - my opinion hasn't changed. Gore is a great, big, mountain.

Nice report from a different perspective. Have a great day a Whiteface tomorrow.

When we were turning onto Route 8 from Route 30 we noticed a lot of cars with ski racks heading away from Gore around 10:15am. We got to Gore around 10:45 and figured that if people were leaving there may be parking up close. We got a spot just outside of the paid parking area.

We took our first run on Topridge. It was OK, but was not soft, so we decided to head lower in elevation and went right over to the Ski Bowl. 46er was pretty sweet. Then we headed over to Burnt Ridge and did Sagamore and the Sagamore glade, which was not all that great and had a crik crossing.

Off Piste was hit or miss. You wanted to stay on the sunniest aspect for creamed corn, or else you'd end up on crust.

We finally met up with EDeO and ended up going back over to the ski bowl and followed the pack into the thick of it. Our last run the gang went into The Cirque where they found soft snow and bare spots. Nursing a strained hamstring, I opted for the beaten path and ended my day a few runs shy of 4pm, while the rest skied until the final bell.

I had strained my hamstring when my ski went under a limb submerged in the powder at McCauley and then again in British Columbia. Each time I ski, I seem to re-injure it, so I took it easy today and opted out of the adventures in the trees. I need to take a week off from skiing and rest my leg and see a physical therapist.  It was disheartening to not be able to ski with my friends all day today. I'm not done with my season just yet. It is going to be cold all week with snow. I'll be back.

Today was the first day that I went to both Burnt Ridge and the Ski Bowl TWICE. Spent most of the day on those aspects. Never got to the Summit. Was a really great day to be up there.

Glad you got up to Gore today James. You picked a good one and parking at the Ski Bowl was the perfect thing for you. Sorry I missed you.

Suds, or anybody ... what happened in the bump contest?

I hit BRQ at about 12:30 and lapped Sagamore until sweep.  Soft spring bumps.  Tired legs today.

James - It was a funny timing moment when we met up with you in Sarah's. You made a good choice hitting Gore.

the bowl was the place to be

James - glad you got a chance to check out Gore and all of the new terrain.  I haven't been to Gore since early January so I haven't had a chance to check out the new trails at the bowl, but I love the Burnt Ridge area.  It sounds like the trails at the bowl have exceeded most people's expectations which is great.  When they run a trail from the top of Burnt Ridge down to the pipeline crossover I think it will really round out the connection. I know the glades keepers don't want more trails cut, but I think BR needs at least one additional cut trail to justify the high speed quad.  The problem with the pipeline trail now coming down from the north quad is that it is just too flat.  On a cold day when it is firm you might be able to bomb it with minimal polling, but if it is warmer or there is fresh powder it is a tough stretch.  I come at this from the view of a part time snowboarder so I have some bias.  When I am knuckledragging there are certain trails on the mountain that I just won't consider going down because I know I will have to hike (wood in/out, lower cloud, Ruby, etc.).  I can deal with Cedars if the cutover from Twister is open to get over to BR from the base.  If I could easily get from the top of BR to the bowl on a non glade trail I would more readily consider starting my day from the bowl and I would spend more time over there.

I didn't have to skate or pole this weekend, but there were some snowboarders walking. I can see that the Pipeline trail can be a problem for snowboarders. A trail down from BR would be ideal.

Danzilla wrote

  It sounds like the trails at the bowl have exceeded most people's expectations which is great.  When they run a trail from the top of Burnt Ridge down to the pipeline crossover I think it will really round out the connection. I think BR needs at least one additional cut trail to justify the high speed quad.  

Ditto, x2, Yep!

Danzilla wrote

When they run a trail from the top of Burnt Ridge down to the pipeline crossover...

I also think it's likely that Barkeater will eventually be turned into a trail.  For many riders the speed of transit between pods is a big issue.  And on the current plan, Barkeater is actually drawn as a trail and counted in the mileage limit. I don't think that's a coincidence.  The flexibility is there do it in the future.

Right now Barkeater is one the toughest glades to cover at Gore.  At the bottom of it, right where it comes out onto Pipeline, it's steep. Low elevation steeps, like those in Twister and Cirque, are the first to melt out. That could be considered another argument for making it a trail with snowmaking.

IMO they'll leave it as a glade for a while.  Converting Barkeater to a trail is not high on the list of improvements. Top priorities now are snowmaking on 46er and the blasting of Hedges to improve return access from the BRQ. If you make it a trail now, it won't have snowmaking right away, and you'll hear it from the fans.  You won't get nearly as much crap for low elevation tree runs that aren't open. When you get the money to put the plumbing in, you do it.

Some good tree lines are developing across the BRQ pod. Personally, I hope any new trail balances both the "need for connectedness" with the preservation of those lines.  I also think the BRQ is completely justified by the current terrain on the Ridge. I realize I'm in the minority on at least some of these issues.

Tree skiers are still a small fraction of skiers on the hill. We have it pretty good at Gore and in the end, we may have to take this one for the team.

Harv and Danzilla, those are all good points.
IMO Pipeline just isn't viable long-term as the only trail access to the bowl.  It's just too long and flat.  I agree that an intermediate trail from the top of BR could dramatically improve the interconnectedness.  Converting Barkeater is one option, perhaps another option could be a new intermediate trail parallel to that glade.  I think the trail needs to be no more difficult than Echo (blue-black) so that the connection is accessible to the majority of skiers.
While we're on the subject, "fixing" Hedges to provide a connection back to the top of Twister is another important step in improving the interconnectedness.  I just hope that route isn't too flat.  Another idea would be a "double crossover" that provides an Echo-to-Twister connection and vice-versa in the vicinity of the Twister Glades.  As Harv mentioned with Barkeater, that might entail loss of the Twister Glades but so be it.  It's important to get an Echo-to-Twister connection high enough on Twister that skiers can then take the 1A trail over to Showcase etc and end up right at the Gondi.
Last thing is the return from Echo to BR has to be improved.  I know Mike said there's not a viable route, but I am pretty sure it could be done.
With the improvements above (admittedly it's a tall order), the intereconnectedness of BR and the bowl with the rest of the mountain would be awesome.  The amazing amount and variety of terrain at Gore would truly compete head-to-head (and win!) with just about any mountain in the East.

Adk Jeff wrote

IMO Pipeline just isn't viable long-term as the only trail access to the bowl.  It's just too long and flat.

I understand that Jeff is conveying the general perception about what is involved in going back and forth between the Ski Bowl and Gore, not necessarily his; thus, he probably has a legitimate point. On my three round trips last Sunday, I was stunned that for all the discussion about the interconnect's + and -, I poled *maybe* 90 seconds total, and that was on a warm spring day (as opposed to more typical hard and fast conditions). Are people that lazy?

My only observation was the lack of a sufficient base to keep the interconnect going later in the season, particularly after the bridge -- the lower part of Peaceful Valley was getting thin in spots. Still, what's the worst-case scenario -- you'd have to take off your skis and walk a few yards?