Gore Conditions (2015 - 2016)

Harvey wrote

Spoke to Mike today, ran into him on the hill.  He was optimistic about blowing tonight on Showcase.  Below freezing but humidity is high.

The guns are blowing.

Guns were lit up on Showcase (and Sunway?) last night around 9.  They weren't going all the way to the base at the start.  It's seems cold enough now for T2B for sure. Humidity is gone too.

Based on the quality of the skiing, it seems like a lot of $$ were wasted on snowmaking this week. What if Gore didn't try to fight Mother Nature and delayed opening? The money saved could be spent for additional snowmaking post President's week to extend the ski season when it's at its best. Trying to outgun Mother Nature is a losing proposition. Looking at the extended weather forecast, it's likely next weekend's conditions will show little or no improvement.

adkskier wrote

Based on the quality of the skiing, it seems like a lot of $$ were wasted on snowmaking this week. What if Gore didn't try to fight Mother Nature and delayed opening? The money saved could be spent for additional snowmaking post President's week to extend the ski season when it's at its best. Trying to outgun Mother Nature is a losing proposition. Looking at the extended weather forecast, it's likely next weekend's conditions will show little or no improvement.

Yeah, I was thinking that if they couldn't get Showcase open in quality condition (i.e. way better than what they actually had), they should have just blown Jamboree wall to wall and had that for opening weekend. Showcase is a long trail, and it seems like they bit off more than they could chew. I appreciate the effort, but sometimes it's better to aim lower so you can deliver the goods, instead of aiming high and coming up short.

If the Governor wants to issue a press release stating that Gore and Whiteface are opening Thanksgiving weekend, then those mountains better be open Thanksgiving weekend if it's at all possible.

They should not have delayed opening.  There is very little snowmaking opportunity this week.  They would be in the same boat next weekend if they did.  There's no such thing as outgunning nature.  You just need to have the capacity to do a lot when nature doesn't give you much.  You need to be able to work with mother nature when she cooperates (snow, cold weathee) and fight her when she doesn't (r*in, warm weather) People want to ski early, so do whatever it takes to open early and have good conditions.  Plus, all of Gore's competitors are open this weekend, so it would suck if they weren't open too.

Turn that around and in the spring, you may be saying "some of Gores competitors are still open and Gore should be too" but will be out of money to make more snow and remain competitive when the quality of skiing will be superior.

adkskier wrote

Turn that around and in the spring, you may be saying "some of Gores competitors are still open and Gore should be too" but will be out of money to make more snow and remain competitive when the quality of skiing will be superior.

There was an interesting thread on here regarding a mountain manager and late-season skiing's massive profit losses.  From what I understand, it doesn't make any financial sense to be open longer.  Killington is an outlier and I would guess that even their bar sales don't bring them into the green.  After President's weekend most profits are gone, I'm pretty sure Harv will know exactly which discussion I'm talking about and even pull it for reference.

There is no right answer here, the past few winters have been early & cold, they mountains seem to have been going off of the momentum from past winters.  

If they weren't open this past weekend many would be bitching that they were not open.

I really do not understand the negativity about Gore being open last weekend.   For early season  conditions, the product was  perfectly acceptable.   There were plenty of people having fun, and a surprisingly large number of cars in the parking lot.   Financially, I doubt the mountain took a bath on it.  Even though temperatures were warm on Saturday, a significant amount of snow remained,  which will become base for later in this season.  I think we had a very good opening weekend last year which if I remember correctly was part of a white Thanksgiving.  That is the exception, not the rule.

I have no problem with them opening, I just though they could've delivered a better product if they didn't try to get Showcase and Sunway/Quicksilver/Arena open. If they concentrated solely on Showcase (not sure how the snowmaking system works, but maybe run some hoses from an adjacent trail to get full coverage), or Showcase and Jamboree, the product would have been better. Skiing on one side of one trail is fine with me, but they didn't even really have that. Lots of rocky parts and chokes that required evasive maneuvers to avoid dirt. And there were some bad skiers on the hill, too.

It just seemed like they created a dangerous situation when they didn't need to. I've been to opening weekend before (recently) when they only had Jamboree open (with full coverage), and I had a good time. People just want to have fun skiing and not die. Coach's post reminds everyone of the dangers of early season WROD skiing. It's hard enough on a trail full of snow. A trail with bad skiers, dirt, rocks, lift towers, snowmaking equipment, kids building jumps, etc. makes it even harder.

Again: I can ski it just fine, but it's not fun for me.

^ Pepper in a handful of folks who thought they were taking warmup runs for Hahnenkamm for good measure!

We had a great time this weekend. It was exactly as expected....look out your window...

Great opportunity to take a few runs, kids got some time in their new boots, shake out the cobwebs, make some new friends, see some old ones, and then home for lunch.

Could be REAL interesting this weekend as more of the crowd starts to roll in coupled with SL Mtn Adventure and NYSEF

I wasn't there, but I think it makes sense to try to have a decent run open for thanksgiving weekend. Showcase is a better choice than  topridge which sits in the sun all day. Although it is very easy to second guess every decision after the fact, I don't see the point. I'm glad they are open and hopefully will be heading up soon.

tom

Any inside word on what they are hoping for this weekend? Still going to be 10am open on Saturday/Sunday? Any additional runs? Kids start SL mountain adventure this weekend. Just wondering how much of an s-show its gonna be. Getting run over on the first day out isn't an ideal way to start off the season. Word is NYSEF kids are only doing a half day.

I like the move to get showcase and the frontside open off the AEII. It makes a ton of sense to me. Lift is probably cheaper to operate then the gondola. You only have one lift to run (as opposed to the TR chair and Gondi) and assuming its cold enough you get more terrain open for more people. Its just gonna be a slow December I think.

keep in mind the NYSEF kids always have half days the first weekend of Dec.  Dryland is being considered an option for them this weekend.

"We're jumping on every opportunity, but it's slow going.  We pushed piles on Showcase this morning. We'll make snow on Showcase as our top priority with Sunway to Quicksilver as #2. It's colder up top now so we're making on Foxlair too."

Hoser wrote

keep in mind the NYSEF kids always have half days the first weekend of Dec.  Dryland is being considered an option for them this weekend.

Thanks - I didn't realize that.

Thanks for the update Harv. Hopefully they can get both options open. That would be pretty darn good considering the weather and would go a long ways towards keeping traffic manageable.

They are reporting that Foxlair is next on the snowmaking list.  I don't quite get this.  There is zero reason to have anything but the AE2 open until Topridge is ready.  I'd be waiting on Foxlair until Topridge was being blown.  Opening the gondola before it serves its real purpose of an access point to the Topridge and Straightbrook will just mean unnecessary costs and even more people on the minimal trails open due to the abysmal weather we've had so far.

snoloco wrote

They are reporting that Foxlair is next on the snowmaking list.  I don't quite get this.  There is zero reason to have anything but the AE2 open until Topridge is ready.  I'd be waiting on Foxlair until Topridge was being blown.  Opening the gondola before it serves its real purpose of an access point to the Topridge and Straightbrook will just mean unnecessary costs and even more people on the minimal trails open due to the abysmal weather we've had so far.

Yeah, to tell the truth, I don't even know why they opened this week. Coulda saved a lot of money by not paying all those people to work on Wednesday and Thursday. And you're right. Definitely weird to prioritize Fox Lair over the learning terrain, Sunway, Sleighride, etc...

They don't have any learning terrain open currently.  My priority would be to open Sunway, Quicksilver, Sleighride, and Jamboree, and opening the Sunway Chair.  After that would be Foxlair, Ruby Run, and one of the Topridge runs, bringing the gondola and TR3 online.

Currently they are blowing on Showcase, Sunway and Quicksilver. Foxlair is now connected to the same line as Sunway.  In the spot where Sunway is hugely wide (and often thin) they now have guns on both sides.  The guns on skiers right are on the same line as Foxlair.  And as you point out you need Fox (or Ruby) to connect Topridge anyway.

So right now you can add Foxlair without shutting down Sunway or Showcase. Pretty sure that is what is going on.