Gore Conditions (2011-2012)

I blew off last weekend and came up for three days this weekend. Excellent all three days. Top ridge and Uncas would be my picks, but you couldn't go wrong anywhere.

Tom

fujative wrote

I should have skied today.

Yeah, you missed out. Lies was sick . .  .

The story of the weekend was Lies, Lies Lies...

Most of the rest of the mountain was just hard & fast.

Wow! What a day today! The sun was out and it felt like late March, and the soft snow was awesome. Started on Chatiemac top to bottom, skipped the Hawkeye ice bumps, and headed to the sweet steep soft bumps on gun barrel, then off to Darby Au Natural which was basking in the midday sun. Work up lather and repeat over and over!

Fresh snow on open pit and leftovers on lies.

OH yeah, hehe. Yesterday Gore's photo 'o da day was the Dr. Jekyll/ Mr. Hyde trail Fairview w/ the subtitle " Hidden Gem "

Well today, Scareview was out in full force. Wind polished ice, side to side, top to bottom with hardly a flake on it, not even down the left side (till the bottom third or so). It was one of the worst times I've ever seen it.

Wait!  It couldn't have been any worse unless Yetis had pre-slid down it to give it even more gloss! It was bad. There was even some stout wind gusts that were capable of knocking you off your feet and then sending you plummeting down the " verticle bobsled run " to the bottom.

Was wondering of any Gore first timers had thought " Fairview's supposed to be a hidden gem. Let's try it!  " and then dropped over it's crest to meet......Scareview, Mr. Hyde . Hehehehe.

dont forget to mention the fact at the bottom the light is so flat you cant see anything

You're right FH! I did forget that. Waiting at the bottom ( in flat light ) was a hole and a good size MM hump, bump.

Years ago, I fell at Fairview's bottom and I slid all the across the trail and 5 yds or so into the trees. Today, after launching over that hump @ 40mph, a lucky fall mighta put you all the way thru the trees clear over on to Cloud !

Anyway, today was a dichotomy of snow conditions. The majority of the mtn stay frozen hard. A firm, light dusted hardpack such that even mere ski tracks left over from the weekend were kinda jottling.

Some of the mtn softened up. By lunchtime Topridge/Uncas were mash potato-ey (think instant mashed potatos) and were likely full on Granny's mashed potatos after lunch. Parts of the Arena area also got soft.

I thought Fairview was only an alternative to deliver you to the saddle without having to take ruby.  I thought the left side was OK today...only on it once though.  Run of the day for me today was Lies, but the woods skied well in places too and by the afternoon the ropes were down on many.  Mine Shaft might have been my hidden gem today...Darby...both barrels...etc.  If you didn't want bumps or au natural then Topridge was the groomer of the day.  Just my opinion but it was...

Lies on Sunday

good day up on the hill today,hit topridge first and several times later snow guns spreading sweet talc . great job snowmakers .moved up the hill hit it all up there hawkeye was nice ripping corduroy ,chati stiff natural snow ,straightbrook glades were fun abit played out good to be in the trees , lies big icy bumps.twister was quite racy ,sunway carvy. guns on showcase faiview also.played around on  a  really fine surface also. hope fully they can squeeze the darkside into the agenda

Guns on Pineknot & Top Ridge. TR skied great early, lots of man-made fresh and nice soft snow to turn in. Up top, Lies softened up nicely so every turn was a confident one. Fairview skied great.(I think they blew on it last night?) Hawkeye was just OK. They opened Chati but it looked brutal. Sunway skied great, nice and soft. Twister was hard and fast so the racers will like it. Really just lapped Top Ridge or Lies all day. Fun day w/ bright sun and bluebird skies. Felt warmer than the reported 37.

probably  as good as it gets with no natural snow. they have made tons of snow this week positioning gore for a good spring season as well as covering up the last vestiges of ice from the last rain event.

I agree with frk, excellent day today.  Hard to believe how nice it is up there considering how things look in Saratoga, and on the way up and back.  

The conditions were firm and carvable with a coating of some new snow on the upper mountain. Uncas was the choice as the guns were on all day and still on as we headed for the base lodge at 4pm. Top Ridge was also decent. Lies and Hawkeye were excellent early. Sagamore was fast and groomed as was Echo. Sleeping Bear could use a touch up. Headwaters was good all day. It is still snowing lightly right now at 5:15pm. Once again there were zero lift lines. A really great day despite the serious lack of natural snow.

it was  cold maybe just not used to it .uncas was sweet hard to see and cold with the guns . hawkeye , pit were very caveable . lies was scary.chati and straightbrook glades were fun even tho thin .tour with noted local dignitary lead to a rather fine surface and enjoyable aftnoon

The surface is still very fast for most of the mountain. I overhead a couple of Johnsburg Firefighters talking to a Parking Lot Dude on my way out yesterday. They said there were seven ambulances called on Saturday (?). I know one guy from NJ ended up in the trees head first on Headwaters and broke a piece off of the front of his helmet.

That being said, it's still fun but we could use some snow. How many times can you really lap the guns on Uncas?

In my opinion the summit was the place to be on Saturday:  Hawkeye, Lies and Open Pit were dry & chalky, carveable all day.  Uncas was fun, but we found the snow to be a bit on the damp & sticky side, especially compared to the dry stuff they were blowing on Hawkeye & Lies the weekend before.  Someone (Harv I think) made the observation that  Gore is big enough now that on any given weekend advanced skiers can find different areas of the mountain to be "best:" some will prefer the Topridge area, others the summit, still others the Ski Bowl or BR.  It's great that that can be the case even in a no-snow/low-snow year like this.

We rode up on the Snow Train for the first time (anyone else try it yet?).  It was definitely a "splurge," but a lot of fun, a great day.  I definitely recommend trying it if you live in the Saratoga area / Capital District.

Open Pit:


Ski Train:

Did you eat a meal on the train, Jeff?  How was it? Healthy, I hope!  Do you know if it is running during the week?

gebbyfish wrote

Did you eat a meal on the train, Jeff?  How was it? Healthy, I hope!  Do you know if it is running during the week?

We ate breakfast on the way up and a light supper coming home.  The food was excellent.
The train runs Fri-Sat-Sun, plus it will run Mon thru Thurs of the upcoming February vacation week.

conditions were very good today. top of the mountain was rippin .echo was even better.wild air skied very well with the guns putting out nice talc. todays big mountain adventure found all types of surfaces some scary, some very enjoyable.it is so interesting using different routes to get around.