Gore Conditions (2017 - 2018)

Are you saying that if I didn't see them they were there?   :)

I'll grant you the tracks. There was 5 of us who plunged in, I was fifth so what do I know. With some help, I did find my own line for a nice distance.

Did maybe 3 ski bowl and after that spent most of my time at Burnt Ridge.  Those BR glades are all nice. Cirque is v cool, yet maybe my least favorite.

So what’s the story for Sunday?  Ski bowl lifts ok?  Burnt ridge glades still ok?   Not counting this variable spitting from the sky.

snoloco wrote

The North Quad is a shit show of epic proportions and stopped 6 times in one ride and slowed down at least 10.  Took well over 15 minutes to ride.  If they intend on that lift being the only way out of Burnt Ridge just about every mid season weekend then it needs to be upgraded to a HSQ end of discussion.

 Later in the day they shut down lift 6 and there was a real line at the north quad. Someone speculated a power problem but it's just speculation. It's planned to be running tomorrow. But I didn't mind the ride on the north quad - we were watching little kids bombing powder pass, falling and rolling and getting up laughing. It was almost as good as skiing it.

Topridge was surprisingly good in the early afternoon. Deep soft bumps on either side of the trail. Should be nice tomorrow as well.

I'll be heading back to Jersey after skiing the last six days at Gore. I couldn't have picked a better week to take off.

tom

Despite the line up the access road, great day at Gore. Dark side was pick of the day for me. Lower Steilhang was sweet. Dark Side glades were great as well. Was skiing with my Aunt and Uncle who are more fair weather skiers so didn't do as much glade skiing as normal but introduced them to Boreas and they approved.

Burnt Ridge skied nice today too. I didn't find Boreas overly thinner than around peak snowpack of last winter. Abenaki was thin in the usual spots. Barkeater was awesome and great coverage.

Wet and wild today - could only squeeze in 2.5 hrs at West Mtn on Saturday night, so braved the rain today with a friend and two 12 year old boys.  Rain and fog made for low visibility but the snow got softer over the course of day and the whole mountain skiied really well.  Lies was the best I had experienced in some time - everything on the summit (didn’t do rumor) was excellent snow.  Interesting that they have groomed Chati and let Hawkeye bump up - usually the other way around in my experience and both were great.  Boys wanted the terrain at the Bowl so we took the pipeline which always feels like an accomplishment. They were disappointed the half pipe seemed to be roped off for some groups of small kids.  Hit Sagamore and Echo on the way back both had good snow although sagsmore a little icy - no racing on Echo for a change - it was all in lower part of Twister and Showcase today.  Echo is a great run - almost never get to ski it.

Great to have the whole mountain open, although less open today than Saturday.  Forecast looks decent next couple of weeks - fingers crossed.

Sagamore completely frozen up time for dds visit. Needs groom badly.    Echo fantastic.  Groomed runs ok tough to see and called it a day when I was covered in ice about noon.   Lies good but so short and quick.   Rumor lots of fun and soft.  Beware those drops.  Sleeping bear very good too.  Trails very either very good or very bad.   Ran a frozen upper Darby.  Needs snow bad.  Same w lower steilhang.  

wish I had a nickel for every time I heard "that was the absolute worst run I've ever taken" on Sunday AM to describe Quicksilver. I heeded the warnings and avoided, but it must have been abysmal to garner that much widespread disdain...

And agree with Rumor--I'd been avoiding since opening given the ridiculous whale drops, traffic, and typical firm chalkiness there before grooming. Hit it Sunday afternoon in the rain and the snow was awesome--even in the steepest of (previously) firm drops. Yet it was still probably the most puckered I've been on that trail--visibility like 10 feet.

Ha yea made it about 3 feet down QS then quick uphill right to Lower Sunway.  Not sure why there was not more grooming.  The trails (limited) that were groomed, mentioned above, were excellent.

I also hit upper darby to lower darby on Saturday, lower was very good with good snow on skiers left.  I knew upper was going to stink bc it always stinks in the chute, but its never open so had to do it.  Topridge was also very good especially on skiers right, the "headwall" was surprisingly steep since it never has one.  Sagamore was very good and the bowl was awesome, had first tracks or close to it on Hudson droping down from the glade.  Glades off sagamore were all good, never did sagamore glades but they looked good from the chair.  Amazing going from 104 trails to 39 trails today :(  Only takes a little bit of thaw to freezing rain....  

Skied Gore on Tues. 2/13/18. Trails were somewhat frozen. Not necessarily ice but frozen hard/firm groomers. Hawkeye and Lies were closed. Chatemac was groomed and super hard on the surface. Looks like they are getting ready to open Rumor - Tons of machine made snow there.

Rumor


Top of Rumor

do we think the ski bowl interconnect will be open this weekend?

Repeat to yourself......It is not spring yet....it is not spring yet....it is not spring yet.....it is not spring yet....

I'm sure they will spin the Hudson Chair this weekend.

Whats the word from the mountain?  

I'm sure I'll be booting up at the Yurt tomorrow morning but the web site's not showing the 46er being open which is a bit concerning.

Any updates???

Same here....was thinking of parking at SB but don’t trust the connection especially after seeing how much snow the adks lost this week.

Did some sledding with the kids at Dynamite hill this morning was nice they had a cardboard sled race.  Not sure how I feel about Gore tomorrow looks like the lowlands got this storm

Anybody at Gore today?   How’s the crowds and surfaces?

There today.  Not very good.  Gondola was not running until after 9, lots of ice and lots of people.  Gore must figure out better snow management.  If they are not going to blow snow after this next meltdown I don't see how they get through March.  It's dust on crust.  

I have skied plenty of mountains after rain and thaw, but many do such a good job grooming and doing snow making touch ups that you can really get a good 1/2 day in.  They should have had guns roaring on some of the mainlines. Trail such as Cloud were open and should have been closed.  With the climate getting warmer, Gore is going to need to ramp up their snow making operations to be more efficient and go later in the year.  I skied at Okemo in early March once and they were blowing snow in strategic areas.  If they can only pull so much water from the Hudson, then it is time to build more snow making ponds.  

Case in point, I was riding a lift with a former employee and Gore regular.  He complained that during some of the coldest days of the winter in January, Gore barely made snow.  That is the time to add to base depths.  My thoughts are that deeper base depths allow for better tilling of snow.  

ChrisC wrote

 

Case in point, I was riding a lift with a former employee and Gore regular.  He complained that during some of the coldest days of the winter in January, Gore barely made snow.  That is the time to add to base depths.  My thoughts are that deeper base depths allow for better tilling of snow.

Nobody ever makes enough snow these days. It's expensive to run every hour that it's below 28 degrees, and you will pay for it. Truth is, they probably ran a lot of hours this year, but we've also had a fair amount of rain this year. I am confident that even if they are saying now that they won't blow snow in March, I'd bet my weight in snow that they will at least touch up critical areas during off-peak energy hours.

Ahhh Sunday.   Gondi line long but others ok. Cars down the hill almost but not quite to 28 when left at 1230.   Trails of day topridge and echo.    Don’t bother with the top.   Rumor and lies closed as frozen solid.   Dark side ok.   Twister and wild air ok.   Last holiday of the season is ok too.    Heard Saturday much worse crowd wise.   Ugly week ahead.  Very ugly.  Enjoy it now.  

Sagamore ok also.  

Saw what looked like a horrific crash on Oak Ridge just below the Peaceful Valley intersection.  I'm sending thoughts out to the skier and the family.  Anytime I see them taking someone out of the trees I worry and fear for the worst.

While at the Yurt, I quickly became aware of what appears to be a common sense of annoyance.  Why spend time and money blowing snow (a somewhat feeble attempt mind you) on the 46er and never bothering to put a Piston Bully on it to spread the piles and groom it out??  Yes I understand the weather has been terrible, but if you're going to put your swim suit on, then jump in the pool.  Does Gore Mgmt. somehow think that by putting a few piles of snow on the headwall they are going to make the Ski Bowl a success?  

If they want the big mountain feel (as in 2 new lodges), they need to start thinking big mountain and focus on their core terrain, all the way down to the Ski Bowl.  This means concentrating as much effort on the 46er, Hudson and the interconnects as they do on other trails, some of which might not be as important, for keeping the "big" mountain open all season.  If they concentrated on the 46er earlier in the season they could probably just let it go natural from there on out, and I could guarantee you that come early spring, you'd have one of the best bump runs in the State.  Plus access to the summit.  Even if they lost the interconnect, if the 46er developed the way I think it would, people would come to the Ski Bowl just for that, especially when Lies and the Rumor are frozen glacial ice.

I was really disappointed today.  I know they can do better.