Gore Mtn, NY: 1/14/12

Ski Day 12: We arrived last night and found something we've been missing. Winter.  Above 1500 feet everything was plastered with snow. It was cold and windy, temps were dropping and it was snowing lightly.  I shoveled a nice amount off the porch. It all felt good.



It was 13 degrees at 6am, and it hadn't warmed up at all when we boarded the Gondola at 8:15.  The wind was blowing pretty good, but not as hard as I'd imagined based on forecasts.  Still the gondola was swaying on our first ride up.


Pixie dust on Echo

The mountain itself really didn't look that different.  The snow that fell was in someways very much like manmade snow as it stuck to everything.  The trails themselves definitely benefited from the infusion of natural snow.



When I got to it, Lies had a very difficult headwall that was well worth negotiating for the loose snow that was below.





Our tentative plan was to see if this was the day Neve would ski the summit of Gore for the first time.  As Gore families know, the real barrier to bringing a newbie to the summit, is nothing on the summit itself.  It's the approach on Pine Knot.  Rated a blue, it's often the toughest blue trail on the map.  It's narrow, double fall line, high traffic and often windy.

While Neve was in her lesson, I skied Pine Knot to check it out. It was actually in great shape and we decided to go for it.





I was a little nervous, but we really skied it with ease.  When we arrived at the straightbrook chair, we agreed that the biggest danger was high speed traffic that was passing us as we made wide turns to control our speed.

Just as we got in line for the chair, it went down.  Patrol told us it was going to be a while, so we headed down on Tannery.  Neve loved opening it up on Tannery, so we lapped it from Pine Knot again.



We normally eat at the saddle, but it was a zoo today.  People were cold and the place was packed.  We went to the base lodge and had lunch.  After lunch, Neve looked tired, but insisted she wanted to go back up to the top.

Gondi lines were long because of the temps and wind.  I rode the Gondi four times and had to wait in the line three of those times.  My total wait time, maybe 20 minutes total, was probably more than I waited in Gondi lines all of last season.


Quiet Gondola ride after lunch.

Neve asked me about the "Dark Side." She wondered if Darth Vadar skied there.  We rode the double together and I did my best to explain the importance of these few acres.


"So.....welcooooooome..... to .... the machiiiiiine..."


Natural snow and bumps on Upper Steilhang


Sure feels like winter. I like it.

Beautiful!

Sounds like a lovely day skiing with your girls.

Wonderful trip report. The pictures make me feel like I was there today. I need to drive up to Gore.

Yea!  Such a joy to finally see some snow on the ground.  My son is almost two so probably another 1-2 years before I start him on skis.  This TR has me excited for that. In the mean time can't wait to get to gore.  Thx!

Love this TR!  What a great family day on the hill.  The Darkside photo made me think of a day a few years ago.  My older two kids wanted to drop into the Darkside Glades.  I was fine letting the older ones go, but I did not think my 6 year old should do it.  I sent the older ones off and headed to Hullabaloo with a 6 year old who was screaming and crying.  We took a few turns and the hysterics continued.  Finally my youngest came to a full stop and would go no further, while the crying reached a more fevered pitch.  I was dreading the idea of Ski Patrol showing up as it appeared I had a kid on a hill they could not handle, when really the tears were all about not being able to ski the Glades!

Thanks everyone. This was a day I will not soon forget.  Neve's enthusiasm, grit and determination inspire me.

diamonddave wrote

Yea!  Such a joy to finally see some snow on the ground.  My son is almost two so probably another 1-2 years before I start him on skis.  This TR has me excited for that. In the mean time can't wait to get to gore.  Thx!

DD ... I think that is about right. From what I've seen boys are ready just a little sooner than girls to start skiing. Some boys are ready at 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 seems to work for girls.

Awesome report! The dark side picture made me smile! Can't wait to head up to Gore sometime this season..still waiting for some better conditions..

Can someone explain why the darkside is so awesome for those who not been there?  I am back in LP Feb 17-21 so I think we will definitely try and make it out to Gore.  This time we are going to stay in Wilmington since its so much cheaper.  Anyone have any thoughts on the Hungry Trout Motel and Restaurant.  

Claude

BigK75 wrote

Anyone have any thoughts on the Hungry Trout Motel and Restaurant.  

Claude

Yeah, I'm having some "thoughts".  First and foremost, why would you stay in Wilmington and ski at Gore?  Do you stay in North Creek when you're skiing Whiteface?

Noah John wrote

BigK75 wrote

Anyone have any thoughts on the Hungry Trout Motel and Restaurant.  

Claude

Yeah, I'm having some "thoughts".  First and foremost, why would you stay in Wilmington and ski at Gore?  Do you stay in North Creek when you're skiing Whiteface?

Hi Noah John:

i am only skiing one day at Gore.  The rest of time (3 days) I will be skiing Whiteface.  

Claude

BigK75 wrote

Can someone explain why the darkside is so awesome for those who not been there?

I was hoping someone else would help me with this.  I'm not sure the darkside is really "awesome" in an objective sense.  It's a fairly small area, not incredibly steep, and the real vertical is just a few hundred feet (500?), and it's served by ancient, slow chair. (<Personally I wouldn't change that).

But there is just something about it.  Gore has a hardcore community of tree skiers.  A huge percentage of both locals and flatlanders who call Gore home, love the mountain for it's vast amount of tree skiing. It seems that every inch of the dark side is skiable. And with it's north facing aspect and high elevation, the snow if often better on that side.

There is something about the dark side that just epitomizes what Gore is all about, at least for me.  Claude you may come to Gore, ski the dark side and think - what's the big deal?  And that would be understandable.

Can someone else help me? Why do we like it so much?

its old school; gores castle rock, a little mrg, hickory with a chair. riding into the sun on the lift. its quiet save from the woohoos. its quick shot, chair, quick shot, chair.... . and the spring skiing is super

Harvey44 wrote

 And with it's north facing aspect and high elevation, the snow if often better on that side.

So true. Many times, when the snow is melting on the rest of the mtn, one can duck over to the Darkside and be quickly returned to winter skiing on frozen snow.

The ground level, surrounded tightly by forest chair ride is also very nice, scenic and more intimate with the mtn.

Betty loved that trail.