Gore Mountain, NY: 11/29/14

Ski Day 5: Neve had an 8:30 lesson and we loaded the gondola early.  Snow was pretty good. New manmade snow was gacky for a while, but was dialed back for skiing soon after opening.

There is very little spreading of snow going on right now.





It seemed to me that the new lift is running ever so slightly faster than the old lift.  I feel like you are keeping up with the gondi, or maybe even going slightly faster.  The old one slowly fell behind.

Here's PHOTOGRAPHIC PROOF that high speed lifts lead to crowded trails...





Both my girls were pumped about the new AE unloading zone.  Zelda really liked it.

We took off around 12:45 as cover got thinner.

Still there was plenty to ski.

Look at that crazy quad in action! It is hard to believe the triple is gone.

The speed seems in line with what Mike said.  Gondola was probably doing about 900, so that means 950-1000 on the AE2.  However, Mike said that they run slower early season for density control, so it will probably run faster later.

Crowded as hell today. Sunway was downright dangerous.

They need to get Topridge open bad. I know it's still early, but I'm a little disappointed that they're not making more snow everywhere. Our first ride on the AEII (henceforth referred to as "the deuce"), they were just blasting air out of most guns. (Later, they turned everything off and started attaching lift tower pads... Showcase tomorrow?). Also, the new line arrangements and corrals for the deuce and the double were weirdly designed.

Run of the day was Jamboree because it's the only run that I didn't fear for my life. Must have lapped it 8 times. I did like the new runout for the deuce, and it was pretty comfy.

A little strange that they didn't have any more terrain open this week after 12" and great snowmaking temps Wednesday-Saturday.

Haha can't wait to say "let's drop a duece!"

I can't imagine the trail crowd level.  The AE2 looks fully loaded from that picture, so about 2,000 an hour.  The gondola was probably doing about 1,800 an hour today because it runs way slower than it is capable of.  That's 3,800 people an hour on just 2 trails.  MC2's description of Sunway sounds like Belt Parkway or Hellgate at Hunta or Horizon at a mountain in northern NJ on a holiday weekend.  At the same place in northern NJ, they didn't open a second run down South Peak until almost MLK Weekend, so it was almost dangerously crowded on the one narrowish trail that was open.  Combine that with everyone going super fast to hit jumps cause it is a terrain park made it even worse.  Saw many people going down in sleds during that time.

The thing that mattchuck said about 3 days of good snowmaking, yet no extra terrain sounds like Gore needs even more snowmaking upgrades, or more aggressive tactics to terrain expansion.

Ok, rant/whine over.  The AE2 looks really nice now that it is open.  I can't wait to ride it for the first time.  I will go as soon as a worthwile amount of terrain is open (all the lifts) to ride it.  Guess what date that will happen.

We were there Sat 11/29.  Cars parked into lot C when we arrived around 9:15 a.m., so in absolute numbers not a lot of people, but given the limited terrain it was like the Van Wyck Expressway from the trail merge where Foxlair meets Sunway all the way to the Quicksilver entrance.  My middle daughter was completely taken out from behind by a teenager/20 something who was going too fast on Sunway and caught an edge.  We're lucky he didn't take out her ACL.

I'm not a snow connoisseur, but it was skiing pretty well.  

Other than that episode, had a great time.  All of us agreed that it felt great to be skiing again.  Looking forward to the rest of the mountain opening up.

Petronio

X... we called it the triple all day. Couldn't break the habit.

Sno the difference was way less than 100 fpm.  I'm saying the same speed or maybe 10-20 fpm difference.  On the entire lift ride we never caught up to the gondo car in front of us.  Maybe we were closer to it, I wasn't sure.

We left kind of early. It did seem crowded in spots, but not insane considering you had two HS lifts serving two trails.  I liked getting a chance to ride the new lift. But I think Gondo only probably makes more sense.  You could see that having the quad running was hampering snowmaking.

I think that the AE2 was running slower than usual and will run faster later n the year when more is open.  I think that in future years starting on the AE2 will be way better than on the gondola.  The gondola only gets you to foxlair and ruby run which the AE2 doesn't.  Both are equally lame runs that require a lot of snow to open.  Save the snow from those and open Showcase with Sunway on opening day.  Run the gondola when Topridge is open and you actually need it.  Otherwise I would so much rather have the chair and not take my skis off every run.

Some observations from a disgruntled skier awaiting his daughter packing to go back to school...did I mention we will drive by and planned on skiing KMART today

Matt was much less grumpy as a Gore Employee   Gore Employee=Happy MC  
The AE II will be colder than the AE I, which will be awesome on cold windy days when the Gondi is backed up to Sunway and we can ride quickly to wood-in and get up top easily.  The speed and the wind are going to be fun...Burnt Ridge on steroids!
...and it is super comfortable
On Friday Foxlair had some of the best and softest bumps on the mountain...one of my favorites when I rode the Gondi (which had a pretty big line to the zero line on AE II).
MP said that they need to get Headwaters covered for the workers to get up high and then they are going to light up the summit and Bear...all we need is the sustained cold.  What is open now is very well covered.  I had my good skis and if it weren't for going into the Powder, would not have any scratches on the bases.  MC did you hit any of the natural?  The ground is still warm so once too many people hit it, the base was gone and the rivers and creeks appeared.

I applaud and thank the groomers and snowmakers for their hard work.  Second guess all you want but it is only November.  A couple of storms and some cold weather and we will all be happy again...even MC...I think I will be back on Wednesday...now for a 7 hour round trip...
Ciao for now    I guess I can still stop at Bridgewater Corners

I was under the impression that we had storms and cold weather. 12" followed by 3 days of sustained cold and they don't open any more trails? I mean, I don't bitch and moan all the time, but I was definitely a little disappointed.

No, scratch that, I was very disappointed. Other mountains blow snow on more than one trail at a time. Other mountains groom entire trails instead of having one groomer track down the center of dangerous man made mank like Showcase today. I mean, seriously, West Mountain had way better snowmaking and grooming than Gore last year and that's a fact. It's okay to demand more from your mountain.

Also, paying $700 for a non holiday pass buys me the ability to complain about shit I don't like. Killington has 40 trails and 11 lifts open right now. Just saying.  

I have to agree with mattchuck here.

I'm always the first one to say "Give it time. It's early. It'll get better. Be patient."

But you also have to take advantage of opportunities when you get them (because you don't know when you'll get them again)

Hunter was great today.  3 trails open from the top and minimal lift lines with pretty good conditions.  You Gore people can always come south since we will almost always have more terrain open early season.