Gore Mtn, NY: 12/3/11

From Saturday:

Fox Lair head wall had pretty nice gun pow on it, and had a few more fun lines than last week.  Decent coverage on Fox Lair all the way to Sunway.  Sunway was a little better than last week under the Gondy, but still had basically one lane to go down (unless you wanted to ski on dirt).  After that, Sunway was good until quicksilver, with a bunch of fun little snowmaking mounds to pop off.  Quicksilver lost some snow towards the flat section after the top pitch, and then the bottom section right before 3b was kind of a mess.  3b was covered decently (lost a little snow skier's left), but the snow it was covered with was kind of grabby and weird (got better as more people skied it, but was still a little grabby).  Jamboree had pretty good coverage all the way down.  

They took the little park off of the upper part of Jamboree, which was kind of nice in that it allowed the full use of the Jamboree trail.  They put a down box and a down rail over between the snow train and the poma, and it had a pretty big crowd (15-20 kids strong), even when we came off the mountain at 3:45.  Things got a little crowded in the morning with NYSEF, Ski School, and general public all on the one trail.  In the afternoon, Ski School mostly stayed inside or on Jamboree, and a lot of the General Public left, so it probably emptied out up top.

There was a giveaway for season pass holders.  A free little travel beverage cup thingy, and a coupon for 42% off any food or retail purchase.  Kind of poor planning on their part, though because the coupons didn't have any numbering system on them, and looked as though they were printed on a photocopier - wouldn't be too hard for someone to just make a ton of copies and get 42% off of food for the rest of the year.  I wonder if they'll have to write down your name when you use it, so they know you aren't trying to screw the system.  Also, the coupon didn't say whether or not it could be used in the bar, so I'm just going to assume that it can.

Bar Vino was the place to be Apres with the Tannery continuing its renovations.

I decided not to go back today.  Might go mountain biking, or just laze around an watch football.

matt, thanks for writing my report. it was a perfect description of saturday. quicksilver was pretty worn in more than a few spots so bring your rock skis for sunday, BTW, i borrowed a pair of rossi s7 from a friend for a run. they are 105 mm at waist with tip and tail rock. they skied great and this was on sketchy snow. i image what they will ski like in soft snow. talked to one guy in gondola who was a skinny ski devote who didn't want to hear the praises of a fat ski. he'll never know how much fun they are. carver/race skis are good for only one thing., fat skis do everthing.

So what you're saying is, "fat skis try harder".

Kinda cool that it was crowded. And not just cause I wasn't there. Well maybe it is.

Good idea using Bear Cub Run for rails. A very easy (not much snow required) way to spread people out a bit.

mattchuck2 wrote

...the bottom section right before 3b was kind of a mess...

Sounds like the trouble spots are the same as last week.  That spot at the bottom of Quicksilver was dubbed "chocolate corner."

Also sounds like there were soft bumps.  That's all I need to have fun.

BTW I learned last week that every Gore passholder is eligible for two of those discounts on food. I'd heard that it was 40% off, two times on lodge food.  I found out about it in the Showcase retail shop.   I'm still trying to find out how to access the discount. If anyone knows, please post it. I think this promo may have been funded by Centerplate. (?)

Appreciate the report Matt.

Harvey44 wrote

BTW I learned last week that every Gore passholder is eligible for two of those discounts on food. I'd heard that it was 40% off, two times on lodge food.  I found out about it in the Showcase retail shop.   I'm still trying to find out how to access the discount. If anyone knows, please post it. I think this promo may have been funded by Centerplate. (?)

The 40% discount also works in the retail shop. We bought new transpacks for the kids there and used our 40% for each bag.  I don't know if you also get to use it twice for food, but if not, you're better off using it for something expensive in the shop.

Thanks Gore. Day 1 of my season and you have showed me what an old man I am. Soreness has set in.All in all I had a great day. The snow was good I thought, except for chocolate corner. Great to be out there! Here are a few pics.
The last picture is some cooking stuff for the new grill.

poindexter wrote

The 40% discount also works in the retail shop. We bought new transpacks for the kids there and used our 40% for each bag.  

Geez, I didn't realize the discount was good in the shop.  I am looking for a bag for Daniel so he can carry his own stuff (he's 7) and maybe one for Sylvie too (almost 4).  Would you recommend those transpacks 'dex?

That is a pretty amazing discount for the shop.  Might have to do some xmas shopping in a few weeks when we are up.

We have 3 of the transpacks and love 'em.  There is enough room for boots, helmet, goggles, layers and assorted other stuff.  The boot pockets have little drain holes and the whole bottom of the bag is waterproof.  Our 3 year old can carry hers on her back.  With the discount its a no brainer.

The transpacks are great because the kid's hands are free to carry their skis and poles.  They also work great as airplane carry-ons for ski trips, as you can bring your boots on the plane and not have to worry about the airline losing them.  We fill the transpacks with the ski boots and a full set of ski clothing so if the luggage disappears we still ski the next day without having to buy everything.  We've been lucky so far, but we're headed to Colorado for Easter and I'm not taking any chances.

By the way, does anyone have a feeling as to what Gore will be like this weekend?  We are supposed to go up for the first days of Mountain Adventure, but I'm not sure it will be worth the 4 1/2 drive to ski the same one trail all weekend long.  We did that over Thanksgiving and it was fun, but I'm ready for a little more variety now.

It's going to be pretty cold each night this week, so we should have more to sample this coming weekend.

This website is kind of a rolling advertisement, but it had a good review of the Transpack packs:

http://braveskimom.com/everyone-carries-their-own-gear-transpack-bags