Gore Website Suggestion

Webcams don't do anything for me.  In general they are way too low res and too limited in field of vision for any real insight to current conditions.  WF is a good example - it's good for entertainment (if you're desperate to look at snow), but not much else.  The best argument for a webcam seems to be "everyone else has one," which is a pretty lame argument.  A solid, high quality photo of the day is far better for sharing stoke on social media, imo, than a webcam screenshot.

A big part of my job helping clients get qualified traffic* to their websites. There are all kinds of ways to do this. Many of our clients spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on advertising to drive traffic.  For $500 (my wild ass guess) you could have a sweet webcam on top of Bear Mtn or at the Saddle. Think about the traffic a cam drive during weather events.

Sometimes a webcam will show snow and sometimes it will show rain. But for most customers that cam would show a scene that is much farther north and much higher in elevation than what they are seeing outside their homes. In March when the flowers are popping up in my yard I'd see people rockin the bumps on Lies.

Summits are microclimates.  In the big storm of Feb 2010 the radar showed Gore in the blue/rain for much of the storm. I know, I couldn't sleep and watched ALL NIGHT LONG.  Later the next day when the snow report was posted, Gore had 50 inches of new snow.  I'm a student of weather and I suspected it to be so, but I think I'm a minority in that regard.


*(people who care about or might buy what they are selling)

I use the WF cam to watch my friends sit at mid and drink beer.

Adk Jeff wrote

 A solid, high quality photo of the day is far better for sharing stoke on social media, imo, than a webcam screenshot.

Do you see a lot of those on the Gore site? The pics from the amateurs here on NYSkiBlog are a trillion times better than anything that the website puts up.

The most recent one had a bunch of fan guns (good), but no indication of what was going on. It looked like they were going all the way up Arena. Are they going to blow that before Jamboree this year? Both at the same time? How's the Deck off the bar coming? The picture creates more questions than it answers. If I had a movable camera at the base like Whiteface does at its midstation, I could answer all of those questions. And I could use it to watch my friends party in the Spring.

OK,  Not my  idea, heard around some local establishments. Ski patrol takes Go Pro type video of trail of the day, posts on website or better sends to HR. I'll bet a lot of sponsers could be found for this concept. ie. no cost to Gore. Once found increases HR traffic.

mattchuck2 wrote

Adk Jeff wrote

 A solid, high quality photo of the day is far better for sharing stoke on social media, imo, than a webcam screenshot.

Do you see a lot of those on the Gore site? The pics from the amateurs here on NYSkiBlog are a trillion times better than anything that the website puts up.

Oh, I didn't mean to imply that Gore actually posts lots of high quality photos, just that I'd rather see a great photo - or even just a very good photo - than a boring webcam image.  WF seems to do a pretty good job with the photos.

Adk Jeff wrote

WF seems to do a pretty good job with the photos.

Whiteface has incredibly good photography. They have several people on staff who can ski with and handle a real camera. Take a look at their flickr account and you'll see hundred of professional quality photos.

I used to think it was all Evan Spinosa. Last year I was hunting down some images for a piece on the Slides and I found some great shots. I asked Brandee how Evan would like to be credited. She said.. "oh those are mine, just credit the mountain."

You can always submit a photo to the photo of the day, a few of mine have made it up there.  

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Every website has a million moving parts. It's hard (impossible) to get everything figured out before you launch.

It's really tough to put your ski area website up in November. Ideally you'd do it in July and have time to resolve issues.  I have my fingers crossed big time right now as we are about to launch a new MRG site (same look new CMS).  The thing has so many moving parts (and ecommerce)... may the force be with us.

Noah John wrote

I use the WF cam to watch my friends sit at mid and drink beer.

Me too! I get mad when people take away the cam and look at the trails...I want to see the losers on the deck!

Pants wrote

Noah John wrote

I use the WF cam to watch my friends sit at mid and drink beer.

Me too! I get mad when people take away the cam and look at the trails...I want to see the losers on the deck!

HEY, bite your tongue. I'm a lot of things but a loser I am NOT DAMMMMIIIITTTTTTT!!!!

campgottagopee wrote

HEY, bite your tongue. I'm a lot of things but a loser I am NOT DAMMMMIIIITTTTTTT!!!!

I am there most days..but then again I am a loser.