Gore Conditions (2013-2014)

Footer wrote

If the weather holds out I have a feeling they will hit a 100% open (minus glades) for MLK.  They are blowing snow like mad right now to hit that goal.  

You can easily spend 2 days at this mountain and still not see it all.  The mountain really does ski in "pods" that you can spend a few hours in each and have plenty of fun.

Agreed 100%. There will be plenty to explore. I ski there ~40 days a year and when it's mostly open with decent snow I ski as wide a variety of trails and have as much fun as I would most other places in the East.

Folks,

Thanks so much.  When you don't know the mountain so well, you are a little hesitant to plan a whole weekend with lodging, etc. Hopefully we can make it through this weekend without too many trails being lost.

Thanks again,
Chris

great day. this is my exact run count from the day. the whole mt ski sooo super duper awesome....especially lies, but elsewhere was good too.


hedges wood in lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies hawkeye lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies hawkeye lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies open pit windy hill twister

Condor wrote

hedges wood in lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies hawkeye lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies hawkeye lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies open pit windy hill twister

Wait, so Lies was good today? :P

Also, I admire your ability to rack up roughly 270,000 vertical feet in one day at Gore. You should be a pro skier. Actually, you should be like four pro skiers at the same time.

miker92 wrote

I admire your ability to rack up roughly 270,000 vertical feet in one day at Gore. You should be a pro skier. Actually, you should be like four pro skiers at the same time.

LOL

Did you ballpark that or is it total BS.

Either way nice work.

Condor wrote

great day. this is my exact run count from the day. the whole mt ski sooo super duper awesome....especially lies, but elsewhere was good too.


hedges wood in lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies hawkeye lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies hawkeye lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies open pit windy hill twister

I think you're "lying".

Harvey wrote

LOL

Did you ballpark that or is it total BS.

Either way nice work.

Ballparked haha. The block of "lies" is roughly 10x30, 300 runs times about 900ft vert for a run off the Straightbrook quad

Noah John wrote

Condor wrote

great day. this is my exact run count from the day. the whole mt ski sooo super duper awesome....especially lies, but elsewhere was good too.


hedges wood in lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies hawkeye lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies hawkeye lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies open pit windy hill twister

I think you're "lying".

nuhh uhhh!!! 100% accurate

Condor wrote

Noah John wrote

Condor wrote

great day. this is my exact run count from the day. the whole mt ski sooo super duper awesome....especially lies, but elsewhere was good too.


hedges wood in lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies hawkeye lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies hawkeye lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies lies open pit windy hill twister

I think you're "lying".

nuhh uhhh!!! 100% accurate

he's condor . he soars to the top, no lift needed.

Condor was in mufti today, almost didn't recognize he and his "friend" in the lodge, never introduced me, the lil' bastard.  Did point out his turns on Lies to my Snowsports group from halfway up the Straightbrook.  That's all it took to convince several grandparents to hammer Lies just before Lunch.  Nice demo Condor.

Just saying.  All the best.

64ER

OK,

Last question I have for you folks that know Gore so well.  How is their recovery time after a warm spell/rain?  I know nobody can be exact and there are a lot of variables, but I was able to ski Hunter on the Friday after Christmas and I was shocked out how well they resurface.  Remember we had that record breaking warmth the Sunday before.  I guess what am also curious about is how do they resurface, a few inches blown on top?

Thanks,
Chris

ChrisC wrote

OK,

Last question I have for you folks that know Gore so well.  How is their recovery time after a warm spell/rain?  I know nobody can be exact and there are a lot of variables, but I was able to ski Hunter on the Friday after Christmas and I was shocked out how well they resurface.  Remember we had that record breaking warmth the Sunday before.  I guess what am also curious about is how do they resurface, a few inches blown on top?

Thanks,
Chris

In general, snowmaking capacity has not historically been as great as at other mountains. When they are focusing on a certain trail or section, they certainly blow a ton of snow in a short amount of time. They can't blow on the whole mountain at that rate the way places like Mt. Snow can. That being said, they've made significant improvements over the last couple of years and they do recover at a normal pace. Any trail that they've been making snow on for ~24hrs will have good packed powder. At the end of the day it's really not that different from any other mountain trying to recover from a thaw: it depends on how severe the thaw was, how much snow there was before it, etc. Immediate weather has a lot more impact on skiing anywhere you go than the mountain's infrastructure does. I would be very comfortable wagering that you'll have as good a time there as anywhere else the same weekend.

Noah John wrote

I think you're "lying".

Hey Noah I think it's correctly written:

I think you're "lying."

With the punctuation inside the quotes.  You know grammatically speaking.

ChrisC wrote

Last question I have for you folks that know Gore so well.  How is their recovery time after a warm spell/rain?  I know nobody can be exact and there are a lot of variables, but I was able to ski Hunter on the Friday after Christmas and I was shocked out how well they resurface.  Remember we had that record breaking warmth the Sunday before.  I guess what am also curious about is how do they resurface, a few inches blown on top?

Hunter blows away any mountain in the East at capacity per acre.  As I recall Hunter has half the capacity of Killington and 1/5 the terrain. Or something like that.

When I first began talking to Mike Pratt about this stuff Gore had —on average — 15 acre feet or capacity.  Meaning Gore could blow one foot of snow on 15 acres of land.  Roughly equal to the length of Showcase.

I skied with Mike in Jan of 2010 and on the lift rides peppered him with questions about snowmaking. This is from that time:

http://nyskiblog.com/gore-snowmaking-capacity/

Then in August of 2011 this NYSkiBlog Exclusive broke the story of a HUGE upgrade to the Gore arsenal.  135 new high efficiency guns, 50% paid for by National Grid, the power company.  Mike estimated that those new guns brought Gore to a 30 acre foot capacity:

http://nyskiblog.com/gore-mountain-snowmaking-upgrades-2011/

There have been more upgrades since.  There is one going on now.

In terms of what they will resurface, they'll probably go after the same trails they did at opening. First after a meltdown is Foxlair to Sunway to 3B to Jamboree.  Or something similar.

Skied Sunday and Monday. Everything that was groomed skied well. Even with light crowds Sunday, things got scratchy by early afternoon. With Monday's lighter crowds, skiing was good until I left at 2:00. Hawkeye was the run of the day today. The bottom of the east side got soft, but nothing else.

For mlk weekend, I'd suggest showing up early.

Tom

Yesterday wasn't bad until it started to rain harder, but the 5" of snow today made it great. If we don't get r@in and they fix Lift 1, we'll have a good holiday weekend.

Mountain seems to have bounced back reasonably well from the last thaw cycle with surfaces generally in pretty good shape all things considered.  Summit got skied off pretty early but as usual you could find good snow here and there.  Snowmaking crews left some nice snow on Lower Darby. Lower mountain trails stayed good till almost the end of the day.  The 1-2 inches of snow in the forecast for today never materialized, instead we had breaks of blue sky.  Heavy duty crowds (they were parked way down the access road), but lift lines were minimal (Adk Express was back online).  These thaw cycles are killing us - it's getting pretty old skiing the same trails.  Hopefully the cold weather this week will get Burnt Ridge open (they were blowing Sag & Echo today) and Rumor.  Woods will need a major dump to be in play.

Had Lower Darby to ourselves:


Good to have the triple back:


Chati view:


My tr and more pics here.

Great job by the Gore grooming team.  They did a lot with a little.

Hard and fast, but considering where we were after the meltdown things are headed in the right direction.

Goreskimom wrote

Great job by the Gore grooming team.  They did a lot with a little.

Yes. Impressive.