Gore Mtn, NY: 1/23/11

Ski Day 16: Once again, dire forecasts of bitterly cold temps were exaggerated.  And once again skiers seemed to heed the forecast — crowds were light. The trails were in great shape, and there was enough good cover in the trees, if you knew where to look, and stayed off the steepest pitches.


Uncas


View from Pine Knot

I skied alone the whole morning. I had a hard stop at noon, and around 11, I decided I had to get back over to Burnt Ridge one more time. I came down Chatiemac....



...into the Straightbrook Trees..



...and back out...


Manmade and Natural Snow in Straightbrook Trees

As I came through the Saddle, I decided that I'd completely ignored the North Side all weekend, and on a whim, headed for the Tahawas Trees which, luckily, were open and excellent...


Tahawas

It occurred to me as I was doing the herringbone climb into Tahawas, that the smart thing to do would have been to hit Burnt Ridge via the Gully first and exit through Tahawas, avoiding the climb.

When I got down to the North Chair, I saw that Pipeline was open.  I'd never been on it, and Zach, who had been snowshoeing up there yesterday, had txted me that he'd heard a lot of whining about the pitch, or lack of it.  Seemed like fate, so I went for it.

I decided to time the trip down.  I extended my poles, and with a combination of skating and double poling... it took me 12 minutes to get down to the Quad. How hard was that?

Eagle's Nest actually had some nice low angle bumps...



I did a run on Sagamore, and then return to the base via Echo right at noon.  In all the years I've skied at Gore, I've never seen the Gondola deserted at midday on a weekend...



Honestly I don't know how anyone who skies Gore regularly, or skied Gore this weekend, can think that Burnt Ridge isn't an awesome addition to the mountain.

Another good one in the books.

Harvey44 wrote

That's a great picture. Beautiful view and it makes me want to ski there, which is what it is all about.

SBR, I'm sure harv would arrange a " Tour of Gore " for ya complete with pals, good food and a nice merlot. Keep in mind Harv's more addicted to trees than beavers are. Sometimes, he doesn't ski outta the woods till July 4.

Snowballs wrote

SBR, I'm sure harv would arrange a " Tour of Gore " for ya ...

This has been discussed. This year the reverse may happen, with SBR providing me a tour of his stomping grounds, so a tour de Gore may have to wait until next year.  Truthfully, I don't know the mountain as well as many others, so I might have to bring in some local talent.



Hey SBR, what do you estimate as drive time from Hinterland HQ to North Creek?

Harvey44 wrote

Hey SBR, what do you estimate as drive time from Hinterland HQ to North Creek?

Google Maps says 8.5 hours. Since my brother lives in Quebec, due north of Malone, NY, only a few miles from the border, I would probably turn it into a road trip and maybe hit Titus and Whiteface on the way down. Another ski pal had offered to take me on some BC in the Daks, so that could be an option as well.



Remember what Warren Miller always said, "if you you don't do it this year, you'll be another year older when you do!"

Damn, Harv.  I should've contacted you.  I taught all weekend, but Ace ended up skiing alone all morning on Sunday too. She would've liked someone to ski with . . . Great conditions as far as I'm concerned.  Sagamore and Chatie were super fun, and the trees are just starting to get there.  I'm thinking the Storm Speculation thread for the beginning of February will start any second now . . .

mattchuck2 wrote

Damn, Harv.  I should've contacted you.  I taught all weekend, but Ace ended up skiing alone all morning on Sunday too. She would've liked someone to ski with . . . Great conditions as far as I'm concerned.  Sagamore and Chatie were super fun, and the trees are just starting to get there.  I'm thinking the Storm Speculation thread for the beginning of February will start any second now . . .

Would have loved the opportunity to ski with Ace.  

I'm going to be solo the next three Sundays nine to noon, maybe we can work that out.

I like the way you are thinkin MC.

SBR ... I guess it's about the same distance as Jay? Funny that you are more West than North!

Man I wish I went to Gore instead of Hickory.