Gore Conditions (2013-2014)

COLD start. coverage very good on all trails .showcase -sleighride open. adk express spinning and guns blasting all riders. saddle open, cash only- seems they moved the register . MP said the 5,000,000 gals/day the are blowing should get lift 7 & 10 spinning by next wkend.

gore snowmaking is on steroids right now. unbelievable base is being laid down. the new guns acquired over the last few years are really making a difference.

frk wrote

gore snowmaking is on steroids right now. unbelievable base is being laid down. the new guns acquired over the last few years are really making a difference.

Last years start was marginal temp wise. While those guns really help at 28 degrees... they make a huge-big difference at 20 degrees.

freeheeln wrote

MP said the 5,000,000 gals/day the are blowing...

The crazy cool thing is that when Gore goes at 5M per day, that's all out capacity wise. BUT only a little more than half of what Gore is permitted for. Think about that.

Wow! That's a lot of water to pump up hill. It's got to be $$$$$$  If it only half of the permitted amount they need more pumps.

Raymo40 wrote

Wow! That's a lot of water to pump up hill. It's got to be $$$$$$  If it only half of the permitted amount they need more pumps.

While the pumping infrastructure ain't cheap, once it's installed it doesn't cost much to run, and of course the water is free.

The limit is not pumping, it's money. Money to compress air.  That's why upgrading the guns is the way to go at this time. More snow for the same budget, or maybe the same snow for less money.

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Harvey wrote

freeheeln wrote

MP said the 5,000,000 gals/day the are blowing...

The crazy cool thing is that when Gore goes at 5M per day, that's all out capacity wise.

Snowmaking is certainly off to a gangbuster start this year.  Those low-energy guns from 2 years ago (plus the ongoing tweaks and improvements that occur every year) are really paying dividends.

For the record, water pumping capacity is 4800 gpm = 6.9 million gallons per day.  In theory, Gore can pump up to 6000 gpm by diverting some of the pumping capacity at the Hudson River pumphouse to the Ski Bowl (those pumps are primarily used to recharge the reservoir), but the system usually operates at 4800 gpm.

For those who are interested, Mike Pratt gave me a great behind-the-scenes tour of Gore’s snowmaking plant two years ago.  Here's the link.  Also, a comparison of Gore’s plant to some other ski hills is here, along with some additional snowmaking information.

Hey Jeff your link isn't working.

Adk Jeff wrote

For the record, water pumping capacity is 4800 gpm

Permitted max pumping from the river is 9000 gpm.  That's what I meant re: using half or what was permitted.  Never did the daily math.

Gore Conditions:

Lots more loose snow around today to turn on vs yesterday.  Looking good at the moment.

Fixed the link.  Clumsy fingers.

Harvey wrote

Permitted max pumping from the river is 9000 gpm.

What's interesting is that Gore could double its gpm on the hill (from 4800 to 9600) without increasing the gpm it takes out of the river. That's because snowmaking on the hill is supplied from the reservoir, not directly from the river.  You'd have to run snowmaking full-tilt (9600 gpm) for a long, long time (2 weeks? a month?) to deplete the reservoir (refilling at 6000 gpm).

If Gore could put another 150-200 of those low-E guns on the mountain, and double the gpm up the hill to 9600, without needing additional compressed air (don't know if that's possible), we'd be skiing Rumor and the Ski Bowl for Christmas week. And it wouldn't take much more of an energy budget.

Interesting quotes from the Adirondack Journal: "Gore executives are planning to install no less than 100 new high-efficiency snow guns, primarily on the ski trails on the “Interconnect” route between Gore Mountain’s primary slopes and the North Creek Ski Bowl, Gore manager Mike Pratt said Nov. 24." and "Gore executives are planning to install no less than 100 new high-efficiency snow guns, primarily on the ski trails on the “Interconnect” route between Gore Mountain’s primary slopes and the North Creek Ski Bowl, Gore manager Mike Pratt said Nov. 24."

Sorry the second part that was nice is here: "Last year, the Interconnect trails opened Jan. 1 following heavy snows right after Christmas. Two years earlier, they opened at the end of January. Pratt said that he envisions that with the new equipment, the Interconnect trails can be open for Christmas most every year."

The holes for the towers have been done for a while.  If Mike is in the paper with it, then it's finally a done deal.

More grant love.  Nice work MP and ORDA.

ski yesterday at gore. first time there this season, day 7 in the books. hands down the best opening conditions ive ever skied at gore. super impressed. everything skied really well. showcase had some death cookies in a few spots but not bad over all. everything else was basically hero snow.

oh and....THE DECK IS BUILT OFF TANNERY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!GHALEDGHLKSFJHELKSDrf

Condor wrote

oh and....THE DECK IS BUILT OFF TANNERY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!GHALEDGHLKSFJHELKSDrf

Yes, the metal deck is in. I hope snow and ice fall through as intended, or it'll be a slippery death trap.

But yes, ski conditions were great last weekend and getting better.

was good today .

hard to believe they are going to make the top this wkend, tho lifties got called to work lift 7

freeheeln wrote

was good today .

Agreed.  Best first day my wife and I have ever had.  Looking at going up tomorrow but that rain might keep me away.  Showcase still had cord on it at 10:30... and everything stayed firm.  There are some skid marks at the bottom of quicksilver and the Arena, but nothing real there.    

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Wow Uncas was fun today! Soft bumps under the guns.  The rest of the trails were fast but edge able.  Summit will be open next weekend for sure with the cold temps coming this week, hope for some natural snow tomorrow and perhaps later this week.  

Ditto to Dan and Evergreen.  Skied both days, I thought Sat was a little better overall than Sunday.  

Uncas was the place to be, under the guns:


Sun was overcast but we had some blue sky on Sat between snow flurries:


Showcase - Sleighride were pretty good:


A late afternoon look back over Uncas' guns:


And a view of some of next weekend's terrain:


I'm hoping Hawkeye next weekend will be in similar condition to Uncas this weekend.  Fun stuff.

The rest of my tr & photos are here.

Summit is opening tomorrow.