Gore Facebook comments on ski patrol/lift staff

Noticed some unhappy comments about the Gore ski patrol and lift staff on the mountain's FB page from a few days ago -- the March 11 post to be exact.  Wondering what other people's thoughts are -- both in reaction to the comments as well as their opinion on the Gore ski patrol and staff.  I've only been to Gore twice -- no interactions with the patrol, and generally the lift operators seemed pretty conscientious to me, and extremely friendly.  I did notice that some of the glades were roped off kind of early in the day.  We tried getting in Upper Tahawus glades around 11:30 and they were roped off.

https://www.facebook.com/goremtn

Petronio

Self-entitled whining, probably from the same people who think they can park wherever they want and carry their skis into the lodge. If you don't like Gore's concerns with skier safety, then by all means please go to VT.

Petronio wrote

Noticed some unhappy comments about the Gore ski patrol and lift staff on the mountain's FB page from a few days ago -- the March 11 post to be exact.  Wondering what other people's thoughts are -- both in reaction to the comments as well as their opinion on the Gore ski patrol and staff.  I've only been to Gore twice -- no interactions with the patrol, and generally the lift operators seemed pretty conscientious to me, and extremely friendly.  I did notice that some of the glades were roped off kind of early in the day.  We tried getting in Upper Tahawus glades around 11:30 and they were roped off.

Petronio

I wasn't able to find what you are referencing. FYI if you click on the DATE of a FB post you can get a link to that specific post.

Patrol anywhere is like any other large group of people, some are more considerate than others.  I've had dozens of experiences with Gore Patrol and only had two that weren't totally positive.

Lifties never had a bad experience. Tammy rocks.

EDIT: missed your comment about March 11 and found the post:

https://www.facebook.com/goremtn/posts/10203271744534930?stream_ref=10

People will always complain about stuff.  Props to Emily for leaving it up.

One thing that I learned back in the paid parking days...  There is almost always more to the story than you know.

Wow! commenters on that Facebook page can not be regular Gore skiers. IMO Gore Patrol rocks , they have always been courteous  and forthcoming with info and help. I also believe the paid staff is limited and there is a large volunteer contingent. That said I also believe lack of staff on any given day are the cause of trail/glades being left closed at times. Mark and crew keep up the good work!

BRLKED wrote

Wow! commenters on that Facebook page can not be regular Gore skiers. IMO Gore Patrol rocks , they have always been courteous  and forthcoming with info and help. I also believe the paid staff is limited and there is a large volunteer contingent. That said I also believe lack of staff on any given day are the cause of trail/glades being left closed at times. Mark and crew keep up the good work!

Ditto.

Pure coincidence that on one of my gondola rides Saturday the conversation was about how excellent the Gore Ski Patrol is. Gore is lucky to have Bean Dip in charge. Also, Gore isn't Vail, where young people come from all over the world to work the lifts for the entire ski season. Seeing that the right amount of lifties show up on any particular day is not an easy job, but Tammy does it quite well. I've never had a problem with a lifty, other than the one I'm married to, but that has nothing to do with lifts.

My biggest frustration this year is that the trail info posted on the "improved" web site has no connection with what is actually happening on the mountain.

Spongeworthy wrote

 . . . probably from the same people who think they can park wherever they want and carry their skis into the lodge.

Yeah,that really annoys me too, almost more than people leaving their unattended bags on top of tables for the day.

Harvey wrote

People will always complain about stuff.  Props to Emily for leaving it up.

That is true -- and why I wanted to fact-check it against the forum members here.  And I also positively took notice that the Gore FB person left up the negative comments.  I've seen lots of FB sites where negative comments come down.

FYI we stayed at Garnet Hill this past weekend.  Did not get any x-country in, but the folks there are doing a great job.  I'd also recommend the restaurant for dinner.  I had the Beef Wellington and it was delicious.  The kitchen also did a great and conscientious job dealing with our kids' food allergies.

Petronio

Don't know if they are good or bad. Usually people who volunteer their time are good people. But you don't have to look very deep into this forum to find similar rants to what is on the face book page. Negativity surrounds us - I just came back from a great day at Gore, how can I be negative about that.

Facebook sucks.

Petronio wrote

FYI we stayed at Garnet Hill this past weekend.  Did not get any x-country in, but the folks there are doing a great job.  I'd also recommend the restaurant for dinner.  I had the Beef Wellington and it was delicious.  The kitchen also did a great and conscientious job dealing with our kids' food allergies.

Extra points for supporting NYSB advertisers.  

Mar 11, 2014 was a Tuesday. Gore could have had some midweek lift closings

Those people complaining will be the same people calling for help when they get to the bottom of a closed chair after they go down a closed glade.

On Friday, I had two interactions with Gore patrollers. In the first, we were skiing Bark Eater Glades. We came out where the power line bisects the glade. We had come out pretty far to the right, and in all honesty, I wasn't sure where we were supposed to go next. There were some tracks going across the power line cut back into the woods, but there were also plenty of tracks following the power line. We stood there for a minute or two trying to figure it out when a patroller came out of the trees into the clearing. He saw us over to the right and yelled "Please don't ski the power line". I asked him if we were supposed to continue into the woods in front of us and he said yes. He was perfectly nice about it.

In the second, we were riding in the gondola with a woman patroller. She engaged in a conversation with us and could not possibly have been more pleasant.

There just seems to be such a sense of "entitlement" in today's world ... it can be really frustrating. In can understand how patrollers, and lifties, could get a little "snippy", after having to constantly deal with people doing things they shouldn't be doing. They're only human.

I've been a passholder for ~ 7 years and luckilly have not needed any medical assistance from patrol. However I have always found them to friendly and helpful when I had questions. Ditto for the lifties. I don't know how they manage to remain cheerful and attentive standing out in the cold watching everyone else having a great time.

tom

Hell, half the lifties on the mountain know my wife and I well enough that they will point me to the good snow early in the morning.  Never had an issue with any of them. Same thing goes for patrol.  

If this was an issue, I'd like to believe that we would have discussed it ad-nauseum here already.

The best lifties at Gore in my opinion are at Burnt Ridge.  They play the best music on the mountain.  Another reason why Burnt Ridge is Gore's best trail pod.

Facebook ok. Entitlement sucks

Patrollers and lifties are fine. They're just trying to do their job--like you and me. And nothing makes their day like a smile and cheerful greeting, letting them know you appreciate them being there. My personal favorite? I say good morning all day long to the lifties and hoot for the patrollers from the lift.

Spread the cheer. If you're going to be miserable, stay home. Otherwise find something positive to do for the day.

(Dismounting soapbox)

Generally speaking, the ski patrol would be happy to open all glades and trails as often as possible. Some reasons glades may be closed:
- later in the day, various trails are closed in sequence to allow for trail sweep. Thank the lawyers of NYS who believe that 100% of the trails must be swept at the end of the day.
- conditions are dangerous - skiers will complain if they hit a rock and may sue if they are injured
- the exit leads to a closed lift and skiers don't want to walk out

It's always fun to listen to the entitled skiers who like to second guess the patrol decisions. Understand that their goal is the same as most of us; Ski and ski as much terrain as possible.