Gore Mountain, NY: 12/28/12

Ski Day 7: So today had a tough start.  I guess you can't take the NJ out of the boy, completely.  I just had ants in my pants.  Neve was doing AM Kids Club so I had to get her breakfast.  If I was solo, waiting in line for a bacon, egg and cheese and the Gondi went green I'd be gone.  (Basically I'd never get IN the line without being totally dressed.)  The thing is that if the grill opened at 7:30 instead of 8, and they just started throwing bacon egg and cheese on....they'd sell 100 of them in that half hour.  They would.

So it's breakfast then booting up and then off to the Northwoods Lodge. Today I missed the first Gondi by almost 40 minutes, getting on at 8:45.  The line was really long.  There was a big line at the triple too.

I saw some peeps headed for Cedars and the BRQ, so I went for it.  When we got to the quad we learned the lift wasn't going to open and we were essentially stuck.  The thing was among were a bunch of instructors who had dreams of doing a run on Echo or maybe Cirque.  They had to get back, so they cranked up the lift and we got on.

Patrol asked everyone if they were up to skiing out through Tahawas Glades. Most were, but a few opted for the ride back.  The quad was plush and sweet as always.



The horde of tree skiers, thundered up Hedges...



And ripped our way through Tahawas...



Back the saddle and down the front.  Showcase was actually in the sun, and awesome even at mid-morning.  The cord must have been insane.



A rare trip into Killkare ... it was enchanted, relatively unskied, and had good snow.




Under the Straightbrook Chair

Dark Side was the place to be, IMO.



It had the most accessible good snow.



At noon I picked up Neve, we rode the triple and we had lunch at the Saddle.



Afterward, on Mike's recommendation we hit Sleeping Bear, and finished our day on Sunway.  Great snow all around and the front side was groomed, manageable, soft heaven.

We had a great day yesterday. Unfortunately CMR had to go back to work and left on Wednesday, so it was just the kids and I on Thursday and Friday.  Thursday wore us out, but we were back at Gore at 8:30am yesterday, ready for our last day of skiing.  Even arriving at 8:30, we already had to park in lot E.  I knew it was going to be a crowded day.  My daughter had lost her pass, so I spent the first 45 minutes waiting in line to get a replacement pass for her. We finally made it out at 9:30.  We spent most of the day in the High Peaks area, since that seemed to have the best snow and fewest people.  The few times we ventured down the front side we were amazed at the sheer numbers of people at Gore.  Sunway was a complete zoo, but not nearly as horrifying as the main lodge at noon.  

Darby woods and Straightbrook glades had really good snow. The dark side glades started to get rocky in the afternoon. I  think the most fun we had was in the Topridge area. The High Pines glades had really deep snow, and Topridge was great, especially in the afternoon sunshine. We were going to try Pinebrook glades, but missed the entrance and were stuck on Pine Knot the whole way, which was a mess of crust, moguls, and bodies lying everywhere.  That picture of Tahawus makes me jealous - I was begging the kids to go there, but they were exhausted and not interested in the hiking.

When we pulled out at 7:45 this morning for the trip home, I saw all the cars coming along Route 28 toward Gore. I was a little jealous, since I knew the skiing was going to be great today, but after 7 straight days of skiing and some heavy shoveling on Thursday, we were not up to the challenge.  Hopefully all that snow will still be there next weekend.

Looks great, nice pix. Hah, what happened in the first one -- you went "auto correct" crazy?

That first pic of Walt (Mobile 4) is precious. It was nice of Area 2 to take everyone through Tahawus glades rather than take the SnoMo out. Sounds like you had a great day. I got to take a few Pow turns with my daughter that day as well.