Gore Conditions (2016 - 2017)

And now it says opening Saturday....

And that seals the deal for NOT taking a vacation day Friday for Gore.  Sigh.  

Bummer. I'm not one to second guess or pile on but I have to kind of ask WTF? A week of consistent cold temps and some natural on top of it? It seems like they are all over the place with strategy but I guess I don't know the piping and layout of snow making. Last Saturday they were blowing lower sunway and lower cloud. What does lower cloud get you unless there is a push to get to the summit? At one point they were moving to showcase and now they are on wild air with no mention of showcase. They were supposed to open beginner terrain to the base on Wednesday on Sunway but now its bear cub maybe.

Is it just me? Did something break this week and they are working at a disadvantage?

If you know nothing else about Gore, know this: the mountain is great despite the way it is run, not because of the way it is run.

The people who work there are good people, and they try hard. Some people who work there are great!!! But other mountains kick Gore's ass every year in early, middle, and late season operations. Not sure why that is, but it just is.

And they have been blowing uncas and tannery for five days.  They should be able to move on to something else. What happened to all the high efficency guns that were supposed to really help with the early season. So. VT is kicking our ass.Tom

Here is what I know:

Temps below 2000-2500 have been marginal the last few days. Tonight and tomorrow night look very cold and it's going to be all low elevation between maybe 10pm tonight and Saturday at opening.  Definitely hitting the sore spot on Quicksilver tonight.

Saturday looks like:  Sunway, 3B, Quicksilver, Jambo, Bear Cub, Foxlair, Ruby, Uncas, and Tannery.

Guns on the weekend will be on Showcase and Topridge.

I can see uncas.  If you want to do something on the summit for the holiday week you need to get to the chair and back. Plus you most likely have young kid coming so you need so easy terrain. I agree that wild air has high E gun on both sides of the trail for most of the way to me that would be a no brainer.

Was up at the mountain today similar to the reports from the last 2 days what was open was really good except for the lower part of Quicksilver which had rocks and dirt and the section of Sunway below Quicksilver which has lots of small death cookies. Snow making on Arena, near the magic carpet and all of Wild air.I would expect wild air to be open soon it looked pretty well covered above the Sleighride exit but not as much below, probably due to the marginal temps the few days.

One odd item on Wild Air they were only using ground based guns that use the hoses. Given that the trail has the high efficiency guns on the poles I'm not sure why? Perhaps they can not use the high efficiency when it is close to freezing?

They used a snow cat mid-day to bring a very large part up the mountain. Heard it was for a compressor.

mattchuck2 wrote

If you know nothing else about Gore, know this: the mountain is great despite the way it is run, not because of the way it is run.

The people who work there are good people, and they try hard. Some people who work there are great!!! But other mountains kick Gore's ass every year in early, middle, and late season operations. Not sure why that is, but it just is.

+1000000000000

mattchuck2 wrote

If you know nothing else about Gore, know this: the mountain is great despite the way it is run, not because of the way it is run.

The people who work there are good people, and they try hard. Some people who work there are great!!! But other mountains kick Gore's ass every year in early, middle, and late season operations. Not sure why that is, but it just is.

Totally agree, it's almost like it is part of Gore's DNA and it wouldn't be Gore if it were run better.  

SnowSnake wrote

Totally agree, it's almost like it is part of Gore's DNA and it wouldn't be Gore if it were run better.

Yep.

But even the Chicago Cubs figured out that, while the "lovable loser" thing is a fun schtick, the fans would really prefer that you bring in Theo Epstein and win the %#^@ing World Series.

mattchuck2 wrote

But even the Chicago Cubs figured out that, while the "lovable loser" thing is a fun schtick, the fans would really prefer that you bring in Theo Epstein and win the %#^@ing World Series.

To continue the analogy, I'd be happy going undefeated for the beginning six weeks of the season. Maybe next year!

tom

U-14camp this weekend Dec 10-11? Probably need/want Uncas for that.

Gore skied nice this morning. Foxlair a bit scratchy in the usual spots, but all else was good. I left early for a 12:00 XC lesson which was a bargain. It was my fisrt time on XC so the lesson was a big help. There was quite a few skiers making laps at the ski bowl. Glad i made the ride up.Tom

I thought conditions were really good. Best snow was at the bottom of the Eastside where the fan and HighEs were pushing it out at 5 degrees overnight.


Uncas

Skied till noon today. Big improvement over last weekend. Ruby & Foxlair were soft and smooth with Foxlair a little scratchy on the steep as usual. Sunway was soft and very carvable and Quicksilver was a nice extension of that. Lower Sunway was OK... A little bumpy which will improve after a few more days of grooming. Uncas had the little iceballs that usually happen during the first couple days of being open. Wild Air to Potluck was a nice surprise and skied well. Guns going on Showcase and Sunway below 3B.  Some fresh tonight and cold temps all week should make next weekend even better.

Great day. Great to ski with Duck, Freeheeln and Fixedheeln.

I think Quicksilver was the shizzle, but it was also cool when they opening Lower Uncas with massive whales.

Skied Gore today for a chance of pace.  Met my dad there as he can day trip it from home.

They had 2 and a half routes off the gondola open.  Foxlair and Ruby were both open.  Wild air was open to Pot Luck, Sunway was open to the top of the chair, and you could also take Quicksilver.  At the bottom, one could choose between Jamboree and The Arena to get back to the gondola.  Uncas-Tannery was also open, as well as the cutoff that allows one to avoid the Straightbrook lift.  Snowmaking was in progress on Showcase, Sunway below the chairlift, Cloud, and Hawkeye.  All should be open by next weekend, plus some more terrain once they finish those.

Conditions were quite good.  The terrain off the gondola skied the best.  Uncas had a bunch of death cookies on it, but was still skiable.  The pitch on Foxlair became a tilted hockey rink towards the end of the day, so we took Ruby Run on most runs toward the end of the day.  All in all, a good day of skiing.

I thought the mountain skied very well today. Quicksilver pick of the day , incredible turn around from earlier in week. Nice to get some pitch in on Uncas. Great ski partners make for great days.