Gore Conditions (2012-2013)

Another great day for Gore!  Chatiemac, Hawkeye, Lower Darby, Hulabaloo all skied nicely.  Did my first run on Lower Steilhang ever, ugh, lots of bumps and navigated my first glade (Otter Slide).  Hopefully, we won't see rain on Monday.  Should be skiing nicely for another couple of weeks, barring a downpour!  

I will again apply ratings of "stellar" and "excellent" to this weekend's skiing, especially in the trees.


Trails weren't bad either.  Rumor headwall had some icy bumps, everything else was nice packed powder.


Gebby, hope you enjoyed your first glade.  In my family we start 'em young:


More pics & TR from Saturday.

Thanks, Jeff!  If I had grown up in a skiing family in upstate New York, maybe I would have been in the glades a long time ago, but, oh well, it was a blast even though I waited 50 years to do it! ;)

Well don't wait another 50 years!  I always smile when I hear someone say they tried skiing the glades and liked it - the tree skiing is one of the things that really makes Gore great.  Try Chatterbox next.

Here's a few pictures from Friday the 22nd.  I would have posted them up earlier but I am still recovering from a mancation weekend.  Bowl was awesome.  Should have stayed down there but one of our crew wasn't too keen on the glades so we worked our way up after an hour or two.  Twister glade was the only bummer of the day.  Really funky crusty kind of cover in there.  Like it didn't get the same gift the rest of the mountain got.  Tahawus glade was great.  Chatty glade had a ton of snow.  Cover was good everywhere.  Great couple of days.  Good to see Harv and Shaman on Friday night.  Not certain I was completely coherent at that point.  I know for certain I wasn't later.  Saturday was rough for me until around noon.

Pandora's Box:)


46er - a little crusty on top but still super sweet


Twister glade - looks better than it was


My snowboarding friends in a squall around noon Friday.  A liftie asked the guy on the right if someone threw up gatorade all over his jacket.

Spring finally showed its face today.  Halfway down the lower mountain mashed potatoes shows up.  Up top stayed firm all day.  Wet slush was all around the gondola.  I doubt any of the lower glades make it to the weekend.  Twister glades viewed from Echo looks like a dirt pile.  I went over to Tauhaus glades and there is still plenty of cover over there.  Eagles nest is VERY wet after the bridge.  Wife and I spent some time in the chatterbox glades (her first glade was today).  Upper part was nice, lower part was very thin.  Sagamore and Chatiemac skied great today.  Lies was decent.  Still plenty of snow in the chatiemac glades.  

Word on the street from most of the lifties is last day for midweek will be the 5th.  

Footer wrote

..her first glade was today...

Good on ya too, Gebby!

Thats a long glade for the uninitiated - otterslide is usually the best "first timer" glade, good for her.

Saturday was only my 2nd time at Gore  and I was blown away by the few glades I did (1st time was in January, glades were closed)

Ski Bowl and Hudson Glades - Lots of fun, and unusually steep I thought for such low-mountain glades.  Lapped these for 3 runs and my legs were already tired.

Twister - The only disappointment a bit.  The top was okay, but the middle was very skied out to the point it was icy, and the bottom/exit was icy with bare spots.  Core shot avoidance navigation stuff.

Chatterbox glades - hit this last run of day only because I had to do more glades with a last run. Figured given it's relatively high-traffic area and obvious "middle map placement" it would be worse than Twister, but it was absolutely fantastic with a ton of snow everywhere.

Did something else that was good too, but the name escapes me.  I wish I stayed the entire day in glades, but I was with the gf (lower intermediate) and didnt want to ditch her for long stretches.   My only serious complaint on the day is the number of calories that were likely in the 1/2  pound bbq cheesehamburger topped with pulled pork that I consumed in the pub.

things got  a bit grabby today. not so much up top ,clouded up, snow shower rolled thru ,kept it a little cooler .lower mt was sliding slow .it's in that in between soft and corn stage .woods skied well,tho they are pretty well skied still decent coverage.they opened rumor from the top ,lies was ripping today, roll right over the top, peel that soft snow away.most skiing i have done off the straight brook chair in a while, was good stuff

Got some weird ice/sleet flying stuff today.  Only glades open were off of straight brook and darkside.  Everything on the lower mountain and burnt ridge that read open had ropes up.  Still plenty of snow in the straight brook glade.  Darkside skied nice all day.  Lies did as well.  Everything below saddle was extremely slow in the afternoon.  Snow was very grippy on our final run down.  If you want to be in the trees, I have a feeling this is going to be the last weekend for that.  Get there early.  I'm still waiting for the "real" spring skiing to start... no gloves, just a fleece... and getting a tan on the chair...  

Get up there early in the morning, because as Footer said, things got really grabby down low at around noon time.  Most of the glades were roped off, but Straight brook, chattiemac and eventually otter slide glade were opened.  They had the super expert warning flags at the start of the Tahawus glades, so I can only presume that is close to being done.  I had been recommended to try chatterbox glades as my next glade, but they never dropped the flags there.  I did chattiemac glade after nutting up and I can only presume that one is a bit tougher than Chatterbox.  Couldn't bring myself to drop in on the Straightbrook glades.  Chattiemac, Hawkeye, pine knot, top ridge all skied nicely.  Lower steilhang bumps were sweet!  Sagamore is starting to really thin out in one spot about 2/3 up and I'm sure that is going to coalesce into a big bare patch.  Fairview had the super expert flags up and on skier's right there is ice and rock, but there were sweet bumps on skier's left and I had to do that a few times!  The upper mountain was shrouded in mist, probably a light frozen rain just hanging in the air.  Eventually made it down to otter slide glades and that skied nicely and just had to hit it another time before calling it a day.  See you this weekend!

Reading these updates make me sad, mashed potatoes notwithstanding...My skis are in the trunk, and I've spent the last 2 days snowmobiling a little ways up the road from Gore. Too bad my friend has a bum knee, so the only stop we're making on the way home is Oscar's in Warrensburg.

So close yet so far...

Another great day at Gore!  $30 lift ticket day brought out a lot of people as well as the maple fest and music by "Raisinhead" also helping I'm sure.  It didn't seem to get as grabby down low by the early afternoon, like it did on Thursday.  The Straightbrook Chair had the longest lines I've seen all season as many skiers just did lap after lap on Rumor and Lies.  Everything softened up to a nice sugar/mashed potatoes consistency and Open Pit was not as icy as I'm used to.  By 1 puddles and slush forming down by the lodge.  Every lift, other than the gondola and the Straightbrook chair was ski right on.  Lots of glades open, though chatterbox never did and I could only convince my daughter to come in to otter slide glades.  By the end of the day it was in the low 50s and if it keeps warm like this, I'm not sure they'll be able to go past next weekend.  We'll see.  

sunshine and soft snow great combo. worked up from the bowl . tahawus glades were very  loud ,wood in pretty quick. straightbrook the place to be , it all skied great, rumor from the top! met the usual suspects.  worked back to the bowl ,not too bad of a slide considering how soft things were. hit the ski bowl glades one last time,  as they shut  down the bowl today.

local getting  last run in in  the ski  bowl  glades.

Will ski bowl glades be skiable tomorrow morning?  Lapped Lies with my youngest then Rumor once it opened until we had to leave...we both had to work...It killed me to leave today.  I will have both kids in tow tomorrow... and as I was screaming down the cord waiting for the woods to soften (we skied Mineshaft early...check your fillings), I wondered if the ski bowl glades should have been skied early?  Anyone?

i thought saturday was maybe the best spring ski day ever. the snow remained consistent the entire day, not too soft, not too hard. often the lower mountain isn't skiable due to mush but not today. the coverage was spectacular for end of march with nary a bald spot anywhere. there is no big warmup in sight this next week so coverage should remain excellent. saturday was a groomer day as the woods were a bit stiff although coverage was excellent too. i'm now giving Gore an A grade for the year. both the management and mother nature have provided a great 4 month season. until march came along, i was ready to award a B but winter was backloaded this year. the vibe at the lodge was great too.

took a while for things to soften up.worked the lower mt for a while.fixedhealn smoked me on ruby chinese downhill twice.twin fawns was awesome.headed  to burnt ridge, echo very nice . fixedhealn crushed me again across cedars.report from sagamore -crunchy. went to straightbrook ,chatty was sweet , hawkeye good.poked in straightbrook glades  bit stiff.darkside not as soft.killed on windy hill by fixedhealn again.twin fawns was still sweet. if it was groomed it ripped ,if not, eh.they dropped ropes most everywhere ,trails and glades.

frk wrote

i'm now giving Gore an A grade for the year. both the management and mother nature have provided a great 4 month season. until march came along, i was ready to award a B but winter was backloaded this year.

Mother nature > snow at Christmas =  skier visits = greater budget for snowmaking, grooming, and midweek lift.

Not a knock on Gore management.  The ski business remains extremely dependent on well timed snowfall.

Exhibit A = snowmaking on Lies in March.

Cold and windy today with lots of the mountain closed down.  Gondola, Straight brook, tannery and high peaks the only lifts in operation.  All glades closed as well as rumor and lies.  It snowed lightly throughout the day and all of the closed runs should have some nice new snow on them for those early enough to get first tracks this weekend.  Even Chatterbox looked to have all of its bare patches covered and I was eager to try it as that was recommended for my next glade, but they never dropped the ropes.  Very little sun was seen and only the temps that were in the low 30s allowed anything to even remotely soften up.  The wind dropped it down into the 20s or teens I imagine.  The place was dead.  The A lot was only about 1/3 full.  I guess no one expected to be skiing this late in the season.  I felt bad for the lifties, cause it was cold out there!  No bumps on any of the open runs to speak of, as I am sure they are all lost to grooming to cover bare spots, and they are doing a great job on that, though the snow is receding quite a bit at the lodge racks.  Hoping they'll be open till the 14th, like WF, as I have my annual bro fishing trip this weekend.  Enjoy!