Gore Conditions (2015 - 2016)

Stuck to Burnt Ridge today. Sagamore, much to my surprise, was beautiful. Nice, carvable granular with a decent base. I stopped next to 2 patrollers on Sagamore and asked them if anything else was skiing as good. They said Top Ridge and Twister were really good, but that I might as well stay on Sagamore, which skied the best and had only a handful of people skiing it.

Echo and Twister were very firm and very fast, but I felt better on Echo. Twister's base seems really thin in a lot of spots and just slightly less carvable than Echo. All good, but Sagamore was the best.

Harvey wrote

DomB wrote

Cool - I 'll look for that.  Sounds like you can also use your speed from Twister to save some of the skating.  I probably should have thought of that : )

It's really Echo that saves you a few skates.  If open, Twister's Little Sister cuts you over from Twister to Echo.

Thanks, Harv.  

Spongeworthy wrote

Stuck to Burnt Ridge today. Sagamore, much to my surprise, was beautiful. Nice, carvable granular with a decent base. I stopped next to 2 patrollers on Sagamore and asked them if anything else was skiing as good. They said Top Ridge and Twister were really good, but that I might as well stay on Sagamore, which skied the best and had only a handful of people skiing it.

Echo and Twister were very firm and very fast, but I felt better on Echo. Twister's base seems really thin in a lot of spots and just slightly less carvable than Echo. All good, but Sagamore was the best.

Agreed.  Did the exact same thing today.  Probably ran that thing 10-15 times.  First time on it this year.  Work the rest of the week for me so if it lasts till next week I'll hit it again.  Kind of weird to ski it in that narrow ribbon but really made you work.  Would have hated it if it was crowded.... but that is why I only ski midweek!  
 
I didn't even make it up to the top.  Ran twister twice to head over to burnt ridge and that was it.  Word in the lodge was they closed Lies around noon due to ice conditions.  From what it looks like from here on out if they don't groom it, don't ski it.  

Footer wrote

From what it looks like from here on out if they don't groom it, don't ski it.

That's been my rule for the last few weeks. Although the web site shows Sagamore as not being groomed for Tuesday (at least not yet), it was still great when I left Burnt Ridge at 2:00.

Gonna have to break that rule and go for Sagamore tomorrow. They're sure wasn't enough traffic on it today to wear it out.

Today =   but I did get freshies on little dipper and otter slide glades

Did it rain and if so how much snow did Gore lose?

Goreskimom wrote

Did it rain and if so how much snow did Gore lose?

Nope no rain, about 2' of freshies, where the hell were you??
Seriously, it looks like armageddon

according to their facebook page gore in making some snow.
"Snowmakers were at work last night at the Saddle and on Sunway, Quicksilver, 3b, and Jamboree!"

sig wrote

according to their facebook page gore in making some snow.
"Snowmakers were at work last night at the Saddle and on Sunway, Quicksilver, 3b, and Jamboree!"

So in other words it's November all over again.

I'm still curious what happened with Open Pit.  It closed a month ago and as far as I know never reopened.
Ditto with the Dark Side.  Those trails appear to be ready to go but the pod never opened (or maybe it opened very briefly). Explanation?

Looks like Burnt Ridge may be done for the season.  Maybe North Side too?

my guess is we are going to need a way to get down from the top so they have to blow some snow. spring skiing on sunday?

If anyone could post a shot of the East Side from the base, it would be appreciated.

Adk Jeff wrote

sig wrote

according to their facebook page gore in making some snow.
"Snowmakers were at work last night at the Saddle and on Sunway, Quicksilver, 3b, and Jamboree!"

So in other words it's November all over again.

I'm still curious what happened with Open Pit.  It closed a month ago and as far as I know never reopened.
Ditto with the Dark Side.  Those trails appear to be ready to go but the pod never opened (or maybe it opened very briefly). Explanation?

Looks like Burnt Ridge may be done for the season.  Maybe North Side too?

The official excuse from those in the know was that they froze a snowmaking pipe on the Darkside and they couldn't make enough snow for the Wood Lot area around the base of the chair. (Don't shoot the messenger)

Txt from Shaman says the last two days (today and yesterday) the skiing has exceeded expectations. I think.

sig wrote

my guess is we are going to need a way to get down from the top so they have to blow some snow. spring skiing on sunday?

Theoretically you just need Uncas to go up and Tannery to get back down.  Download the gondi.  But yeah, I guess you’d want to have at least one or two frontside trails skiable for non-experts given it’s the last weekend in February.

YUKON CORNELIUS wrote

The official excuse from those in the know was that they froze a snowmaking pipe on the Darkside and they couldn't make enough snow for the Wood Lot area around the base of the chair. (Don't shoot the messenger)

How bout the Pit?  And sorry, but since we’re all pissed about the weather, we may have to shoot you anyway.

Harvey wrote

If anyone could post a shot of the East Side from the base, it would be appreciated.

Well it’s not a photo, but there’s this description from Gore’s Facebook page:  Base Area looks a little sad at the moment- ignore it and head up- we are open!

Harvey wrote

Txt from Shaman says the last two days (today and yesterday) the skiing has exceeded expectations. I think.

That’s setting the bar pretty low…

Sorry to be such a grumpy old man.  Maybe I should steal that avatar from PeeTex.

Adk Jeff wrote

sig wrote

my guess is we are going to need a way to get down from the top so they have to blow some snow. spring skiing on sunday?

Theoretically you just need Uncas to go up and Tannery to get back down.  Download the gondi.  But yeah, I guess you’d want to have at least one or two frontside trails skiable for non-experts given it’s the last weekend in February.

YUKON CORNELIUS wrote

The official excuse from those in the know was that they froze a snowmaking pipe on the Darkside and they couldn't make enough snow for the Wood Lot area around the base of the chair. (Don't shoot the messenger)

How bout the Pit?  And sorry, but since we’re all pissed about the weather, we may have to shoot you anyway.

Harvey wrote

If anyone could post a shot of the East Side from the base, it would be appreciated.

Well it’s not a photo, but there’s this description from Gore’s Facebook page:  Base Area looks a little sad at the moment- ignore it and head up- we are open!

Harvey wrote

Txt from Shaman says the last two days (today and yesterday) the skiing has exceeded expectations. I think.

That’s setting the bar pretty low…

Sorry to be such a grumpy old man.  Maybe I should steal that avatar from PeeTex.

The fact that they were somewhat honest on their social media means it must look like total shit at the base.

Don't know about OP other than that the knob was rock solid ice at one point.

You may be grumpy but you got me chucklin

YUKON CORNELIUS wrote

The official excuse from those in the know was that they froze a snowmaking pipe on the Darkside and they couldn't make enough snow for the Wood Lot area around the base of the chair. (Don't shoot the messenger)

I'm not disputing this, but there were many days when the website listed woodlots for snowmaking.

Darkside (and north) really hold the snow in the spring.

Tom

Hullabalo was fantastic the one weekend I skied it. They blew on it like crazy. I do remember woodlots being a mix of hard manmade and frozen mud. I just figured that they hadn't had enough time to blow it properly and would head back eventually. It is odd that darkside isn't open especially since they made the decision to not blow pineknot and instead use wood in and wood out to get intermediates too/from the summit. Upper Cloud, lower cloud, Upper Steilhang, headwaters, and tannery have been inaccessible for intermediates for much of the season. I understand that it has been a challenging year, but that chain of decisions really made the mountain much smaller for a good portion of guests.

Would it prevent someone from coming back if it was their first/only visit to gore? Would it prevent someone from coming back if they've been to gore before and could only ski the front side?

Glad to see they have the guns going again even if its just for goodwill to hold on to passholders for next year.

Proof that Gore needs more snowmaking capacity ASAP.

Sorry, but it had to be said.  

Danzilla wrote

It is odd that darkside isn't open especially since they made the decision to not blow pineknot and instead use wood in and wood out to get intermediates too/from the summit. Upper Cloud, lower cloud, Upper Steilhang, headwaters, and tannery have been inaccessible for intermediates for much of the season. I understand that it has been a challenging year, but that chain of decisions really made the mountain much smaller for a good portion of guests.

Would it prevent someone from coming back if it was their first/only visit to gore? Would it prevent someone from coming back if they've been to gore before and could only ski the front side?

My wife is one of those intermediates. She is pretty much done for the year as she is tired of skiing the same trails again and again. She doesnt mind uncas, but it seemed it was either icy, full of bumps or intensive snowmaking most days we were there.

I think if a first time visitor also skied southern vermont, they probably wouldnt be coming back. When i compare notes with friends that ski there, they hsve done a much better job in a challenging environment. Someone that likes gore's terrain will come back.