Gore Conditions (2017 - 2018)

All of this would be easily solved if they just cut the trail over from Burnt Ridge.  But they refuse to do it for reasons I just can't understand.  When they invested 20mil in lodges the whole money thing is not a valid excuse anymore.

I'm on break right now, can someone else take this one?

I'll answer it myself.  The gov doesn't ski and is more interested in shiny things than actually upgrading what needs to be upgraded and properly connecting the ski resort.  He thought it was more important to tear apart a perfectly functioning lodge for the first half of the season, just to make it look shiny, at the price of being way short staffed, and going over budget and having to take money from the snowmaking budget to finish it.  I ski Whiteface more than Gore, but I would've gladly traded the lodge construction disaster for a new trail at Gore that would better connect the mountain and could be completed snowmaking and all for about a tenth what the Whiteface lodge construction cost.

There are a few things at play here.....

1) Open up Abernake and make it a trail, blow some snow on it, and make it a legitimate part of the Interconnect.  Instant skiable connectivity to the Ski Bowl.

2) Open up Rabbit Run and cut it across Hedges, hold it up high through the top off Tahawas Glades and bind it to Abernake.  I'm fairly certain the geography works and it will be skiable (as long as the Hedges crossing can be managed).

3) Trash Peace Pipe, it was a feeble attempt at fixing what should have been a no brainer.

4)  Take rope rights away from Gore Patrol......*just kidding*.....

Nicely done sno. I can't say I read it, but it looks like you headed off in a better direction.

MikePom wrote

1) Open up Abernake and make it a trail, blow some snow on it, and make it a legitimate part of the Interconnect.  Instant skiable connectivity to the Ski Bowl.

This is in the plan, and will happen. I will be bummed, but the skiing public will like it, and Gore "needs" this to serve and satisfy the masses.

Tragic that it has to come to that isn't it Harvey?

When all they needed to do was hold back on pulling a rope on a sunny Sunday afternoon in March.......

Conditions:

Overall the mountain skied really well, and considering what we were facing at the end of February, it skied amazing.

For some reason the quad was spinning but they weren't loading anyone at 8:15, so we took the gondi to Ruby Run so we could do our usual first run down Showcase.  Great cover, beautiful corduroy the whole way down.  

Second run was Powder Pass to North Star.  The snow had not softened yet, so Powder Pass wasn't great, but there was still untracked snow available on North Star.  

Twister has good cover, really not scraped as it has been most of the season before this month.  Really easy to zoom down and lay some trenches.  Then we did Sunway to Otter Slide Glades.  Fun.  Sunway has good cover.

Uncas was fun, groomed and fast without scraped down patches.  Hawkeye was nice.  Then I did the Rumor for the first time ever.  That headwall is steep!!  But after clenching my sphincter and getting past it, the rest of the run was wonderful, so much fun.  I skipped Lies today.

Open Pit has great cover.  Headwaters and the interchange after Hawkeye dumps out is also in the best shape it has been all season.  Down Tannery, then Foxlair to Wild Air.  
 
Sleeping Bear has good cover.  Tahawus was closed -- not sure why.  Pipeline was hard and fast.

Sagamore was . . . incredible.  We lapped it 3 times.  It was so easy to set my edges and just zoom down -- I felt like a kid pretending to ski the Super G in the World Cup.  A little scrapey towards the bottom but nothing really.

Echo has great cover, they had wrapped up the racing practice by the time we went by.  Then it was back up the quad for one more run down Powder Pass and North Star, then another fast run down Twister and we were done.  (No Dark Side today.)

The saddle, just past the lodge, has a big ice rink starting on skier's right and extending through the middle.  Avoid it by staying on skier's left.

The wind was cold on that quad today!

Hoping the conditions will hold up until Easter weekend.  Anyone ever go to that sunrise service?

Petronio

Thanks for this ski conditions report. SKI CONDITIONS, not politics, not trail building, not mountain management. SKI CONDITIONS. Great overview of todays trails and how they skied. Thanks going up Tuesday very helpful.

I know making Abernacki  a trail to connect the bowl was the plan. When they opened Abernacki there were a bunch of snow making pipe sections sitting at the top of Burnt Ridge quad. I heard at the time (maybe 3 years ago) that they jsut did not get to it that summer before then. But since then the pipes are gone.

As much as i like glades they really need a better trail going over to the bowl. Plus having another way back to Burnt Ridge makes sense, the quad really only has one trail, Sagamore, when Echo has a race. BTW Sagamore was incredible Sunday.

Skied almost the same trails as Petronio  Sunday and I agree with all his comments, Sagamore was especially good as was Lower Darby and Darby woods. The traffic was surprisingly light given the great conditions and sunny skies. One odd thing is that they seemed to close a number of trails during the day. We parked at the bowl (along with maybe  20 other cars) and when we skied Powder pass in the afternoon we saw Peace Pipe and pipeline were roped off. We asked the lift attendant what to do and he said just go under the rope. The Peace pipe / Pipeline were in great shape with full cover no idea why the closed it. Tahawas glade was also closed in the afternoon but lots of others were open, usually that has the about the best cover of any glade.  

I historically have not been a fan of fully cutting Abenaki....but I think I've come around on that one. Reality is I usually don't ski those trees anyway--much bigger fan of Barkeater and Boreas. Plus it seemed like Abenaki wasn't thinned well anyway--like the primary route is angled the wrong direction or something. Just a funky line, IMHO. There's better options on BR anyway.

And yes--I'm pretty sure snowmaking pipes are still piled up there at the entrance.

How's conditions looking on Rumor/Lies? Heading to Gore tomorrow and want to hit them one more time before I'm done for the season.

I know this is too late for LostCosmonaut. Rumor was groomed out. Only open from the goat path. Lies is pretty rough. Could use a groom. Rocks and dirt coming through on the headwall.

Saturday 3/24 pulled in to park and at 8:05 the main lot was full and though "ut-oh" but it was unfounded.  150 racers from the NE here for USSA Easterns, no other impact all day long, inside nor out.  Never waited over two minutes at top chair, nor over 30 secs any other chair.

After a quick run down Twister, with decent cover, headed to top.  Immediate to Rumor, which was the best Blue groomer in NYS (or the East) today.  Three laps, wow.  Then Chati which was decent also.  Hawkeye looked good but time for quick snack and head to Sags.

Sags was best I have skied it this year. Make that 3 or 4 years.  Full width no, but fast and nice first 70% then softened up down the pitch. So sweet and buttery.   Seven laps on Sags, 15 mins each up and down, 1:45 non stop, from 11:15 to 1pm.  One run had no one on the lifts, and no one, zero, in view or on trail until the bottom 10% or so (then it was two people).    

Had to ride up the lift with another person once, when it got crowded (see 30 secs above).  Fantastic and the kids on Echo again did not impact.  Best day at Gore this year and probably last year as well.  Lodge busy but could easily find four seats in multiple places for the two of us.  Amazing what a difference some real snow a few days/week ago made to the hill.  Missed that Gore last three years.

I agree with all of that- beautiful day

Gore skied hard, edge-able and fast everywhere today. Racers in town on Echo but everywhere else was sweet... I'll be back for a repeat tomorrow. Dusting of snow here in Minerva at 9:15, not in the forecast but hoping for an inch from the snow gods by morning...  sacrificing a few braincells to some good IPA for the cause

Scary radar images past 24 hours.   But as it clears, Saturday and Sunday might be stellar.  

Might be time for a Champagne lunch at the summit.

A good day today. The bottom is pretty beat up, but the rest of the hill is in decent shape. Early on it seemed that every time I went over a lip there was a surprise just beyond; ice, slush or mud. But the rain stopped early so I moved away from the gondola and conditions really improved. Sagamore was very good; Echo was great although cedars was a pain.Uncas, Chitimac, Hawkeye, lower Darby and Open Pit all had good cover and skied well. Sleeping bear is getting thin in places but Pete Gay was excellent. It was much colder up high and it actually flurried for a short while.

tom

Thanks for the updates, they’re really helpful. I’ll be skiing Gore on Sunday. If anyone wants to meet up for some laps, shoot me a message.

TomCat wrote

A good day today. The bottom is pretty beat up, but the rest of the hill is in decent shape. Early on it seemed that every time I went over a lip there was a surprise just beyond; ice, slush or mud. But the rain stopped early so I moved away from the gondola and conditions really improved. Sagamore was very good; Echo was great although cedars was a pain.Uncas, Chitimac, Hawkeye, lower Darby and Open Pit all had good cover and skied well. Sleeping bear is getting thin in places but Pete Gay was excellent. It was much colder up high and it actually flurried for a short while.

tom

Thanks for the report. Debating between Gore tomorrow and Platty. Looking at current temp forecasts, not showing warming up enough to soften up high until maybe 1 or 2 PM at Gore. Platty thanks to the low elevation should soften sooner.

Torn what to do because I have an ORDA pass and would like to get in on the annual Rumor corn harvest...but not sure that harvest will happen or if it does if it would happen long enough to get some meaningful laps in before last chair. Could do Belle also, but wasn't too thrilled with the terrain and the drive is a bit longer than either Gore or Platty which are both about the same from where I live.