New home in the Dacks!

EastCoastChris wrote

Hahaha. I did. I took Gore without ever having ridden it before. For a couple different reasons actually.

Awesome stoke!  I love NY too!  It really is a great State with so much diversity!  

Weekend crowds in VT are just brutal.  Gore/WF is an excellent choice.  You are gonna have a great season.  

I always say the best thing about VT is the view of the Adirondacks from across the Big Pond!  

This site can be very helpful as well.  You just need to ignore the negative nancys.  Judging from your well thought out and written posts, I'm confident you will figure out who they are real easy....  

that is a funny video

Welcome Chris. Here a little helmet cam video of one of the many glades at Gore.  Early season stoke.

 http://youtu.be/FP-nca1c2eg

Ohhhhhh yeah. I seriously can't wait. I'm going crazy. I have to go up opening day. Just to get some turns. I have to.

It snowed in New York City today. Took the pooch out for a walk and its snowing! I compare every year to the horribleness that was 2006/2007. Ugh remember how bad that year was? Wearing tshirts into December. But now its freezing and snowing NYC in early November. I hope we blow right through the 2010 totals - I hope it doesn't stop until April.

I was just checking the trail map/terrain map again. It looks like the only Gore traverses that can't really be circumvented somehow are Little Gore to Burnt Mountain/Main Base Lodge and The Cloud. Does this seem right?

Which way do people usually move across the mountain? I can't really tell from looking at Google Earth but it seems like one would warm up at the Little Gore /Burnt Mountain glades and move over toward High Peaks/Gore Mountain during the afternoon right?

So realistically, I would  end up doing the Little Gore to base lodge hike once in the AM. And the Cloud hike once in the afternoon coming in yeah?

The thing with traverses I think its that they seem crappy when you have to unstrap and jog along them or pick pole to get to where you are going. You hate them when you are all sweaty huffy and puffy. But you totally forget about as soon as you get to where you are going. Sometimes to the point where you get on it again and you're like...OMG why did I take this trail back to this traverse?!? That happened to me a Sugarbowl a ton last season, and that is where I rode the most (my non-special occasion mountain.)

Raymo40 wrote

Welcome Chris. Here a little helmet cam video of one of the many glades at Gore.  Early season stoke.

 http://youtu.be/FP-nca1c2eg

EastCoastChris wrote

O the horribleness that was 2006/2007. Ugh remember how bad that year was?

yeah started slow but wasn't that the year WF got slammed w/ like 40 inches of pure old fashion ADK dry on Valentines Day.  O, that was epic!   

I see Northern VT as a different beast. If I make the trip there, I do it for the snow.

But as awesome as the snow is - someone who is trying to pick a local hill from the Gore/WF or Mt.Snow/Stratton/Stowe basket isn't really going to consider Jay. Its just SO far away by car. Northern VT is totally in a different league than NYS or Southern VT yeah - but that's northern VT. If you can't get there on the regular than it doesn't really matter.

No one that lives in Burlington would pick WF over Jay Peak I don't think.

But I actually used to travel A LOT for work and have an ungodly about of frequent flier miles from commuting across the continent for almost a year.  I also get my gear to fly free as long as I keep my status. So quite honestly, if I knew I had a free weekend coming up, I would probably just head off to SLC and grab a shuttle to Park City.

I am the biggest defender of the East - but whenever I can get off the east coast I do it. LOL. I'm such a hypocrite. But hucking yourself off cliffs into 10 feet of fresh and calling yourself an "expert" IS pretty fun. Not gonna lie.

mattchuck2 wrote

x10003q wrote

mattchuck2 wrote

Welcome to NY State skiing.

It's really a failure of marketing that NYS doesn't get the recognition of Vermont... Well, that and the relative lack of natural snow...

It is marketing.
Gore 150", Mt Snow 156", Stratton 180", Whiteface 198", Okemo 200", Killington 250".

MRG: 250"
Sugarbush: 269"
Smugg's: 322"
Stowe: 333"
Jay Peak 355"

I'll be the first to jump to Gore's defense. I love Gore. But to act like it's in the same natural snow league as Northern VT, or even Killington, is to deny reality. More than twice as much snow is effing awesome. Imagine how great the glades would be if they were refreshed more often? Or if the 1-2" snowfalls that we get were actually 4-5" snowfalls? Completely changes the day. The early and late season base would be better, the powder days would be deeper, the Ski Bowl would be open more. The window in March that we get every year when everything is open? That would start in late January and last until April. Sure, sometimes we get lucky and ski trees until mid April (like last year), but that is mostly due to cold temperatures in spring, not an increase in snowfall.

OMG the ST. VALENTINE'S DAY MASSACRE. That was awesome.

I was actually in Maine that winter and I was watching it pile up and scheduled the next day off. I was living in this big old victorian gothic building converted into apartments. I got up at 4 AM minutes after it finally stopped and started shoveling just enough of that out of my drive way to get to Sunday River from Lewiston. It was dry and fluff, but there was so much of it that it took me until like 7 AM. I was so proud. But as soon as I got my car from the driveway to the road...literally as I was bringing the shovel back to my porch - the plow truck came. Hahaha.

Got the day in though

ScottyJack wrote

EastCoastChris wrote

O the horribleness that was 2006/2007. Ugh remember how bad that year was?

yeah started slow but wasn't that the year WF got slammed w/ like 40 inches of pure old fashion ADK dry on Valentines Day.  O, that was epic!  

Love the stoke, Chris.  It was nice to see snowflakes in the Hudson Valley and NYC today!

Gore is a great mountain, some really interesting terrain, and great glades.  When everything is open you'd be hard pressed to find a better mountain to ski.  The one thing you have to be prepared for, and the thing that frustrates me most about Gore, is midweek lift closures.  Very often Gore won't turn all the lifts midweek, effectively closing big chunks of the mountain even though the terrain is skiable.  That isn't intended to squash any stoke, just something for you to prepare yourself for mentally at your new home hill.

EastCoastChris wrote

OMG the ST. VALENTINE'S DAY MASSACRE. That was awesome.

That year was the pits until the Feb 14, but rocked after. I remember we had 4 storms and the last one was around 4/15.

My only photo from the VD storm was taken about 4 days later:

Any Ski Race Parents or Racers remember the Hovey from that year.  One run and we were shoveling snow onto the course to get that one run done.  The ski season didn't really start until after MLK Day...but boy what a finish to the season.  This season is gonna rock!

sudsnbumps wrote

This season is gonna rock!

Shoveling snow on the run? Ha. That's not good.
This year it will have to be postponed due to low visability from all the blizzards we are going to get!
AW YEAH! My Wooly Bear is iron clad, undeniable PROOF that's gonna be the best year ever.



PS that is not a wooly bear pic from 1997 that I save and whip out every year...I SWEAR it!

I saw a bunch of these a few weeks ago in my yard

so that is a good omen?

mattchuck2 wrote

x10003q wrote

mattchuck2 wrote

Welcome to NY State skiing.

It's really a failure of marketing that NYS doesn't get the recognition of Vermont... Well, that and the relative lack of natural snow...

It is marketing.
Gore 150", Mt Snow 156", Stratton 180", Whiteface 198", Okemo 200", Killington 250".

MRG: 250"
Sugarbush: 269"
Smugg's: 322"
Stowe: 333"
Jay Peak 355"

I'll be the first to jump to Gore's defense. I love Gore. But to act like it's in the same natural snow league as Northern VT, or even Killington, is to deny reality. More than twice as much snow is effing awesome. Imagine how great the glades would be if they were refreshed more often? Or if the 1-2" snowfalls that we get were actually 4-5" snowfalls? Completely changes the day. The early and late season base would be better, the powder days would be deeper, the Ski Bowl would be open more. The window in March that we get every year when everything is open? That would start in late January and last until April. Sure, sometimes we get lucky and ski trees until mid April (like last year), but that is mostly due to cold temperatures in spring, not an increase in snowfall.

I actually agree with the statement that the difference is not all that great. I've come to the conclusion that if you want powder, go west. Any powder at all that I ski on the east coast is just a bonus. Also, Gore's got a lot of acreage and fewer skiers so that powder gets tracked up more slowly than a lot of other places.

I agree that there is a difference, my point is merely that the difference is not so great as to justify the additional drive time necssary to reach Northern VT from points south. If I lived in Boston, it would be another story.

CUontheslopes131 wrote

Any powder at all that I ski on the east coast is just a bonus.

Wow.

You and I couldn't be farther apart on this issue.

EastCoastChris wrote

 


I was just checking the trail map/terrain map again. It looks like the only Gore traverses that can't really be circumvented somehow are Little Gore to Burnt Mountain/Main Base Lodge and The Cloud. Does this seem right?

Which way do people usually move across the mountain? I can't really tell from looking at Google Earth but it seems like one would warm up at the Little Gore /Burnt Mountain glades and move over toward High Peaks/Gore Mountain during the afternoon right?

So realistically, I would  end up doing the Little Gore to base lodge hike once in the AM. And the Cloud hike once in the afternoon coming in yeah?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      probly want to use the main lodge,gondi. the bowl does offer good boarding,but logistically challenging on a board to access the rest of the mt. eagles nest may;  cedars and the pipeline do require hiking. you can avoid the lower cloud hike by utilizing the topridge chair. wood in and wood out also involve hiking.skidds post is correct about midweek lifts (more gore). not trying to negative nancy you, im a long time pass holder and enjoys the mt a ton. just keeping it real. hope this helps you stay stoked

Bump for pure stoke.

Harvey wrote

Bump for pure stoke.

Fun thread.  I don't remember it but I won't forget it now.

I'm so stoked to ski this season.  I hope to get up to Gore on a deeper day and have you show me some off map playgrounds. :)

I'm down with that!

The peepers or tree 🐸 or something are really ripping tonight!  Bring on the cooler weather!