Gore Gondola Location

Since Gore has a big lift upgrade going on now, I thought it would be fitting to talk about one of the last big upgrades and how it worked out.  Personally I think Gore made the right decision on where to place the new gondola back in 1999.  More skiers can use it where it is since it goes to a central location on the mountain.  The old gondola went all the way to the summit and there wasn't much top to bottom stuff that could be skied from it.  You needed to take either the Lower Cloud Traverse, or take the ADK Express to reach the front side trails and the North Side.  Now, it serves the entire front side along side the ADK Express and you can easily access any part of the mountain from it.  Lapping runs off of it is also possible which wasn't as practical in the old location.  The new gondola was also able to be built as a single stage which makes it much more reliable and economical to run.  What does everyone else think?

Where should the gondola at Gore have been built?

It should have been built right where it is now. The current arrangement was the best option.

It should have followed the old gondola's line and went to the summit.

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Agree 100%. Plus the high capacity of a Gondi is best served there as many, many intermediates will invariably ride it due to it's ease of use.

If it went to the top they could make snow on Hawkeye & Headwaters early season and open the top before the bottom. Downloading until they had a WROD to the bottom. Extending the north quad to the top of Bear would allow them to open the north first and solve the saddle congestion problem.

I would rather have the better terrain open earlier because after the BC is open you won't find me there.

I think it makes the most sense for Gore's customer base where it is.

Harvey wrote

I think it makes the most sense for Gore's customer base where it is.

Yes, the SPORS love it.

PeeTex wrote

If it went to the top they could make snow on Hawkeye & Headwaters early season and open the top before the bottom. Downloading until they had a WROD to the bottom. Extending the north quad to the top of Bear would allow them to open the north first and solve the saddle congestion problem.

I would rather have the better terrain open earlier because after the BC is open you won't find me there.

They could do the same thing right now with uncas/topridge/pine knot.  Maybe with the new snow making this could become a reality.  

 The biggest thing the Gondola move achieved was opening up a new area for Gore skiing.  Without it, you would not have any of those runs.  Next time your at Gore, go into the bar and look at the old trail maps on the wall (Sno, your going to need an adult)... you can really see how the mountain changed when old red went away.  Had they not done the move we would not have topridge, uncas, or Pine knot.  

Footer wrote

(Sno, your going to need an adult)... you can really see how the mountain changed when old red went away.  Had they not done the move we would not have topridge, uncas, or Pine knot.

Who needs an adult when you have skimap.org for all your old trail map needs.  http://skimap.org/SkiAreas/view/320

Footer wrote

They could do the same thing right now with uncas/topridge/pine knot.  Maybe with the new snow making this could become a reality.  

For the last several years MP's been pretty firm - at the beginning of the season, and after a big rain/freeze, it's Sunway, Quicksilver 3B etc with the goal of getting Sunway open all the way.

With next years improvements you might see that blown at the same time as Topridge.

I don't have inside info on this one. Mike Pratt may change his thinking. Also low long he will remain GM is a question.

I agree that it belongs where it is for the same reasons everyone else stated above.

As far as the other issues go, I think that has a lot more to do with the budget than with what's physically possible.

Harvey wrote

Footer wrote

They could do the same thing right now with uncas/topridge/pine knot.  Maybe with the new snow making this could become a reality.  

For the last several years MP's been pretty firm - at the beginning of the season, and after a big rain/freeze, it's Sunway, Quicksilver 3B etc with the goal of getting Sunway open all the way.

With next years improvements you might see that blown at the same time as Topridge.

I don't have inside info on this one. Mike Pratt may change his thinking. Also low long he will remain GM is a question.

Ya, I get the theory.  Makes sense to only have to run one lift when your going to have low attendance.  I've just never been a fan of how scratchy Arena gets in those first week or two.  Then again, wind tends to be rather severe early in the season so maybe topridge is not the answer...  

Footer wrote

Harvey wrote

Footer wrote

They could do the same thing right now with uncas/topridge/pine knot.  Maybe with the new snow making this could become a reality.  

For the last several years MP's been pretty firm - at the beginning of the season, and after a big rain/freeze, it's Sunway, Quicksilver 3B etc with the goal of getting Sunway open all the way.

With next years improvements you might see that blown at the same time as Topridge.

I don't have inside info on this one. Mike Pratt may change his thinking. Also low long he will remain GM is a question.

Ya, I get the theory.  Makes sense to only have to run one lift when your going to have low attendance.  I've just never been a fan of how scratchy Arena gets in those first week or two.  Then again, wind tends to be rather severe early in the season so maybe topridge is not the answer...

Top Ridge, Uncas and Pine Knot basically face south. That would not be the place to try and run late season skiing off the gondola like they used to do with the red gondola at the top.

The current location really helped spread skiers around the mountain to alleviate lift lines. What I'd like to see is some redesign to allow the cabins to be stored at night so that skiers could enjoy t he view instead of the claustrophobic cubes that result from snowmaking. The lower terminal should have been placed right where it used to be in what is now the Northwoods Lodge.

On another note, instead of thinking about early season skiing, why don't we think about opening later and skiing further into the spring? The conditions are much more enjoyable in March/April than early December. It's a mindset that would take time to change, but would result in a better season.

adkskier wrote

What I'd like to see is some redesign to allow the cabins to be stored at night so that skiers could enjoy the view instead of the claustrophobic cubes that result from snowmaking.

They can and do take the cars off the gondola.  It doesn't happen much, but in some of the ADK Express construction pictures, the cabins were off.  The parking rails are at the top, so it is very hard to take them off every night as all the workers have to get up there on snowmobiles.  Whiteface has the parking rails at the bottom, so they just need one guy at the top to shut the lift down once they are done, not 5 to get the cars off.  From what I have heard, this is done during high winds and snowstorms.  Killington takes the cars off both gondolas whenever they are closed.  K1 has the parking rails at the bottom, and Skyeship has them at the mid station.  Parking is always installed at the bottom unless there isn't enough space, which is what happened in Gore's case.

Any idea why Gore has the crappy cabins like Killington and not the more roomy cabins like Whiteface?  It always seems like you are touching the knees of the person across from you in them.  They might be a tad wider than WF though.  I always thought this was odd since you would have expected orda to volume buy the same cabins for both gondis

Coach Z wrote

Any idea why Gore has the crappy cabins like Killington and not the more roomy cabins like Whiteface?  It always seems like you are touching the knees of the person across from you in them.  They might be a tad wider than WF though.  I always thought this was odd since you would have expected orda to volume buy the same cabins for both gondis

It has always blown me away that both whiteface's and gore's gondolla were done in 1999... and they are both totally different manufactures.  One would think that they would have combined the jobs into one bid and be done with it.  However, working in the state they don't really go for that kind of thing.  Case in point, my building has new Kone elevators... the rest of the plaza has new schindler elevators.  If you actually want people to bid on a state job, you have to divide it into smaller pieces.  Big tar balls never work well.    

Gore's cabins are bigger then Killingtons.  I also believe the gore cabins are a bit wider in the "shoulders" then Whiteface.  

Coach Z wrote

Any idea why Gore has the crappy cabins like Killington and not the more roomy cabins like Whiteface?  It always seems like you are touching the knees of the person across from you in them.  They might be a tad wider than WF though.  I always thought this was odd since you would have expected orda to volume buy the same cabins for both gondis

Gore's cabins are not crappy.  If you wanted to see crappy gondola cabins, you should have gone to Stratton any time up to 13-14.  You had to bring all your skis and other gear in the gondola with you and the seats were hard plastic and too far up and too narrow to actually sit on.  Whiteface has better cabins than Gore, but Gore's cabins are far from crappy, especially compared to Stratton's old cabins.  Luckily, they are replacing them this summer with new cabins that are the same as Vail's Gondola One cabins.

You gotta forgive Z - anything that is not Whiteface is crap.

I would think that anyone that has hidden in both would prefer the Whiteface cabins.  There is more leg room but may a tad less width.  I do find it odd they didn't do a volume buy on that.

There is no padding in the Gore cabins.  But the newer Gore chairs are nicely padded. Bellarye has no padding at all so they are the worst of the 3.  I have a sensitive behind.

Yes, the Whiteface cabins are better than Gore's.  Both are better than Stratton's old cabins.

Coach Z wrote

There is no padding in the Gore cabins.  But the newer Gore chairs are nicely padded. Bellarye has no padding at all so they are the worst of the 3.  I have a sensitive behind.

The Burnt Ridge Quad is the nicest chairlift I have ever been on.  Soft foot pegs  and  soft butt cushions, all aluminum bar, light as a feather.