Gore Press Release on Summer 2011 Improvements

GORE MOUNTAIN ANNOUNCES HUGE TOWER GUN ACQUISITION
Numerous Base Area & Trail Improvements Underway

NORTH CREEK – The 11/12 winter season will debut Gore Mountain’s most exciting snowmaking year since it tapped the Hudson River in 1996.  A huge acquisition of 130 new high-efficiency tower guns will be added to Gore Mountain’s inventory.  These 30’ guns will be concentrated not only on Gore Mountain’s core terrain of trails such as Sunway, Otter Slide, Sleighride, 3B, and Quicksilver, but also on newer terrain offerings including the Wild Air Terrain Park and Burnt Ridge Mountain’s massive expert Sagamore trail.  In addition, the purchase of 30 shorter 10’ guns has been prioritized, with those to be reserved for Gore Mountain’s signature Showcase trail.  The shorter length of these guns facilitates their use for Showcase’s location, which is on the high-speed Adirondack Express lift line.

The new snowgun supply will allow Gore to relocate some of its existing tower gun inventory to the North Side, to family-friendly cruising trails including Pete Gay and Sleeping Bear.  New fan gun outlets for the base area Arena trail will provide powerful snowmaking capabilities in that location, while allowing ground guns that were previously used there and on the North Side to move to Gore Mountain’s summit trails quicker.

Skiers and riders can look forward to the unveiling of the natural Hudson trail and Hudson glades on Little Gore Mountain, which are located north of the new Hudson Chair’s lift line. The Hudson Chair, which opened in January 2011, completed Gore Mountain’s interconnect with the Historic North Creek Ski Bowl.

In cooperation with its concessionaire Centerplate, Gore Mountain will be introducing several new facility upgrades for the 11/12 winter, including a complete renovation of the Tannery Pub & Restaurant, which will feature an-all new deck to seat 100+, an updated kitchen, reconfigured seating, improved menu options, and silverware and flatware replacing disposable plates and utensils.  A new outdoor grille on the north side of the sundeck will offer convenience foods and specialty items for breakfast, lunch, and apres-ski and will replace the patio barbeque currently used.  Guests should also look for new single-stream recycling.

Another base area improvement will be a new patio at snow grade level placed off of the locker room at the lower level of the Base Lodge, which will provide a safe and convenient entry and exit for guests at that location.

A significant extension of the new lower-mountain Chatterbox Glades all the way to the 3B trail is presently underway.  Like with its variety of terrain parks, Gore offers a progressive approach with its tree skiing and riding, featuring various levels of difficulty in these areas for guests to develop their ability and work their way up.

The purchase of a new Pisten Bulley groomer just five months ago is another exciting and noteworthy improvement, representative of Gore's commitment  to product quality and the guest experience.

sounds good

I especially like the idea of the front side easier glade as a progression point to the rest of the glades at Gore.  For me the glades are what makes Gore a rocking ski area.  

Harv do you know what WF is doing this summer?  Will they be making an announcement soon as well?

ausable skier wrote

I especially like the idea of the front side easier glade as a progression point to the rest of the glades at Gore. For me the glades are what makes Gore a rocking ski area.

Chatterbox is a sweet glade. It takes some of the sting out of calling it a day for me - more trees on the way down. It only ended where it did last winter, because time is short in the summer.

ausable skier wrote

Harv do you know what WF is doing this summer? Will they be making an announcement soon as well?

I have a pretty good idea. Putting finishing touches on a blog entry now, will probably be ready in the next few days.

Best way to get the word first is to like us on Facebook:

This is great news. Does anyone know if it is possible to move the guns around; e.g. Echo to Sagamore? If they are truly fixed then it would seem that snowmaking is only significantly increased when making snow on the trails with the new guns.

I'm looking forward to better early season conditions and congrats to the Gore team for pulling this off.

tom

NORTH CREEK - Gore Mountain will be opening the Hudson Chair at the North Creek Ski Bowl for scenic rides and mountain biking August 27-28, so that region visitors have a chance to explore Little Gore during the summer!  The schedule will follow with six weekends of Northwoods Gondola fun from Labor Day to Columbus Day Weekends.

The Hudson Chair operation coincides with the first weekend of “Day Out with Thomas” happening at the nearby Saratoga & North Creek Railway.  Complimentary shuttle will be provided from the train depot to the Hudson Chair.  Once at the Ski Bowl, chairlift rides that feature new views of the Hudson River, Moxham Mountain, The Vanderwhacker Forest, and North Creek village will be offered!  Mountain bikers and hikers can try lift-serviced terrain on the new “Peaceful Valley” trail, and foodservice will be available.  Ski Bowl Park is home to picnic areas, tennis courts, a ball field, small pond, and community gardens.

For all Saturdays and Sundays following from September 3 until October 9, the Northwoods Gondola will be open at Gore Mountain’s primary base area, offering even more hiking and biking opportunities, as well as special events each weekend!  Shuttle service from the train depot to Gore Mountain will continue.  Highlights of the fall schedule include:

Sunday, September 4: Yoga in the Adirondacks re-Treat, which includes two 90-minute yoga sessions, Bear Mountain summit meditation, and a specialty health luncheon including locally grown and homemade products for just $75.  Maximum attendance is 15.

Saturday-Sunday, September 10-11: Season Passholder Appreciation Weekend, offering complimentary gondola rides, hiking, and mountain biking to all 11/12 season passholders.

Saturday, September 17: Downhill Mountain Biking Camp for beginner and intermediate riders, including base area coaching, guided group tours, and lunch for $59.

Saturday, September 24: Carl Heilman II Photography Camp, combining indoor and outdoor instruction with Gore Mountain’s unique natural environment to shoot foliage, moving water, landscapes, and more.  Lunch is included for a total cost of $69.95, with a maximum attendance of 20.

Saturday, October 1: Gore Mountain Leaf Cruncher- the toughest 5K in the North Country!  Register online for just $15 before September 29 at www.active.com.

Saturday-Sunday, October 8-9: Gore Mountain Harvest Fest, the grand finale of the fall schedule!  This massive free-admission family event offers live entertainment all weekend, an amazing array of Adirondack vendors, inflatable village, creative fall food and drink menu, children’s entertainers and activity schedule, helicopter rides, pony rides, and so much more.  Bands include Raisinhead and The Ernie Williams Band.

The fall season at Gore offers something for everyone, and guests are encouraged to participate for education, enjoyment, fitness, or all of the above.  Gore Mountain is an outstanding venue for corporate events, family gatherings, birthday parties, and other special occasions.  For more information on all of Gore Mountain’s programs and events, as well exciting news about snowmaking, lodge, and trail improvements in progress for the upcoming winter, visit www.GoreMountain.com.

TomCat wrote

This is great news. Does anyone know if it is possible to move the guns around; e.g. Echo to Sagamore? If they are truly fixed then it would seem that snowmaking is only significantly increased when making snow on the trails with the new guns.

I'm looking forward to better early season conditions and congrats to the Gore team for pulling this off.

tom

These are all fixed guns to be welded in place.  A number of the new guns are designated for Sagamore.

There is truth to what you are saying TC.  By one way of looking at it, efficiency has only been improved in those areas where the guns are fixed - Sunway, Otter Slide, 3B, Quicksilver, Sleighride, and Sagamore, and additionally on the North Side on Sleeping Bear and Pete Gay.

But there are other advantages.

Think of this - if you own 100 guns, but you have 500 hydrants on your mountain to cover all the terrain, you spend a lot of time, money and manpower moving the 100 guns around.  If you ADD 130 guns into fixed positions, you will never move those guns again. And now you've got 230 guns.

With most of the lower mountain "hardwired," the Ratnik ground guns can be left on the upper mountain, where they'll be needed.

Also these new guns are as much as 10x more efficient, meaning they use less far less electricity/compressed air to run. This saves money, but also means more guns can be run at one time.

Super Efficient Guns=

Less snow per gun
More snow per dollar
More guns running at once

Every GM in the business wants to use a many fixed guns as possible.  (It's funny because the snowmaking guys LOVE the Ratnik ground guns because they CRANK out more snow. But they are super expensive to run.)

Everyone always talks about the limits on snowmaking. Is it water, is it air, is it pumping capacity, is it pipe/infrastructure?  Hey ... it's money.

Last year Gore spent 1.5 million dollars on ELECTRICITY to compress air.  That's 25% of the total operating budget.  These guns will SAVE a lot of compressed air.  It's good for early season skiing, it good for after a dreaded NCP event, it's good for the environment. This is a win/win situation.

I agree 100% that this is a win/win. Early season snowmaking has been, in my opinion, an area where Gore has been deficient. This upgrade should go a long way in addressing this issue. The payback may even be faster because better early season conditions will bring in more skiers.

tom