Gore or Windham (Driving from NJ)

I have been going to Gore for 4 years now and most likely going to make this my 5th. A buddy of mine got me thinking that I should look at Windham. We goto Gore every weekend about a 4 hour drive which is not easy to do 9 weeks in a row. Windham is only 2.5 hours. Here is why I don't think it is worth it. Windham is much more expensive and the mountain is not as large nor as challenging. Also only 1600 vert vs. 2300 at Gore Windham has not much in the Glades area, more crowded, the kids program does not include seasons pass and still costs more then Gore. I can go on and on. However, that 2.5 hour ride does stay in my mind it would be so much easier to pull off. My kids are 8 and 6 both love Gore, but my wife does not ski she comes up and does stay at my rental that is 20 mins from the slopes I am an expert skier. If you have an opinion do not be afraid to express it. Thanks. Sir Skier

Dumb question.

Why would anyone want to ski Gore ?

No brainier

Drive a little further

Hats off to the people who endure those long drives to ski !

As an NJ resident who knows that drive you speak of, if you're not making the drive to Gore (4 hours from where I am in Central NJ), take your Catskill day trip to Plattekill. 3 hours from CNJ, nowhere near as expensive as Windham, not overrun by a resort project or massive corporate infrastructure.

If you're into heated lifts, hot chocolate, and indoor waterparks, Plattekill is not your place. But if you fancy good skiing at a good price AND closer to NJ, then you've got a winner.

Snowballs wrote

Hats off to the people who endure those long drives to ski !

Before I moved to the Adks I taught skiing at Pico and then Whiteface driving 3 to 4 hours each way every weekend of the Winter for 12 years. I totally understand that commitment and give my props to those that do so.  It's totally worth the extra time in car to get the longer season and better snow and experience.

Platty is a good mountain, but I have two kids and like the all season Mountain Adventure program at Gore.  I am about 4 hours from Gore and 3 from Platakill.  Also,  the Drive to Gore is far but straight highway the entire way.

My ski bill for my rental, season pass, kids all day mountain adventure is around $5000 for Jan/Feb   that same set up at windham would be about $10k

Agreed. When I first started, it was about getting to the "nearest good hill." But I learned quickly that when you live in the most densely populated state in the nation, that means many other people from your state and neighboring states are off to the same hill. Absolutely worth the drive to the bigger and less crowded hills, where the crowds are spread out over larger areas (or in the case of Platty, no crowds to really speak of).

sirskier wrote

My ski bill for my rental, season pass, kids all day mountain adventure is around $5000 for Jan/Feb   that same set up at windham would be about $10k

Ouch! Well, it's about 100 miles from Exit 21 on the Thruway to Warrensburg, IIRC. Would you make the trip enough times each winter to the point where not driving the extra 200 miles round trip to Gore would make you break even with the 5K increase at Windham? If you do, congratulations! (Doing some quick math, assuming you get 30MPG on the highway and gas is $4 a gallon, you'd have to visit Windham 187 times to break even on the $5K cost difference with gas alone, not including tolls), But if not, that's how I would look at it. Of course, I'm just the guy posting here with no kids trying to save for his wedding next year, so I tend to think with my wallet first...

I have never skied Windham, and many others here could espouse the pros and cons of each mountain, but I think you already addressed that in your first post.

sirskier wrote

Platty is a good mountain, but I have two kids and like the all season Mountain Adventure program at Gore.  I am about 4 hours from Gore and 3 from Platakill.  Also,  the Drive to Gore is far but straight highway the entire way.

My ski bill for my rental, season pass, kids all day mountain adventure is around $5000 for Jan/Feb   that same set up at windham would be about $10k

Take the money you are saving from driving past Windham and extend your lease to cover March.  IMO March is consistently the best skiing month of the season.  If I had to choose between Jan and March that would be a no brainer to pick March.  You have NFL playoffs in Jan and the temps in Jan can be brutal.  

$5K for the season, one adult and two kids in Mtn Adventure + season passes and a seasonal rental. A buddy of mine pays more than that for just the seasonal rental in one of those Goredominiums. 20 minutes from Gore - where you stay'n in a Warrensburg trailer park?

I love March it is the best month I do make it up there.  Last March I skied Hirckory one Saturday and it was my favorite ski day of the year.  Late March gets tricky with baseball creep.

My pad is 20 mins away in chestertown, small one bedroom simple.  We spend very little time there.  Not too expensive at 1000 per month.  

I don't understand why there is no more 2 bedroom rentals available around the Gore area.  

I would do Windham.  The drive saves you 3 hours each weekend.  That's more time on the slopes or at home and less time sitting in a car.  Windham is also close enough to day trip as I day trip Hunter every weekend.  I have done Windham the same way.  Gore is 3.5 hours away and not an easy day trip.  For 9 weeks, you would spend 27 less hours driving which is over a complete day.  Imagine gas costs as well.  Also, while Gore is way bigger and who wouldn't say that it is better than Windham, Windham opens up for the season much quicker.  Rarely is most of the mountain not open for Christmas while at Gore, it isn't uncommon for half the mountain to be closed.  I know most people on here worship the Adirondacks like gods, but my perspective comes from someone who skis further south most of the time and has experience with Windham and the rest of the Catskill mountains.  I would also consider Hunter.  They have the same vertical as Windham, but the trails are slightly harder.  They do have better snowmaking than Windham does which means that they open up the fastest of anyone in the state.  I would say that they have the best conditions in the state as well.  However, Windham caters more to overnight visitors than Hunter does and is more for those who prefer an upscale resort experience.  Lodging near Windham should be easier than Hunter and a whole lot easier than Gore.  I never overnight Windham or Hunter because I am less than 2 hours away.  I don't go to either one for anything more than single day trips and will go further for overnights, but for someone who does overnights for 9 weeks in a row, being closer can only be viewed as a positive.  That driving time really adds up.

He's got a point there. How often is a good bit of Gore not open, possibly negating it's size advantage ? Seems like it;s a common complaint on here. Is it possible that Gore's terrain closure actually makes it smaller when compared to areas who's terrain is mostly open regularly ?

While Gore has 2300 vert it's not skiable all at once for the most part. When it is, much of it is lame-ish for some people.Those Catskill hills....is their total vert more skiable all at once ?

Long drives after skiing raises the risk factor considerably. Falling asleep on the way home is an ever present danger.

snoloco wrote

 Gore is 3.5 hours away and not an easy day trip.  For 9 weeks, you would spend 27 less hours driving which is over a complete day.  Imagine gas costs as well.

See my previous post regarding gas prices versus increased cost. With the increase in cost at Windham, Sirskier would have to make the trip to Windham 187 times to simply break even from what he's paying for his family to ski at Gore.

Assuming your car gets 30 mpg highway, and knowing it's about 100 miles one way/200 miles round trip from Exit 21 on the Thruway (Windham) to Exit 23 on the Northway (Warrensburg), round trip between those two points would use 6.66666 gallons of gas. Multiply that by $4/gallon, and that comes to $26.67 extra per trip you would spend on gas going to Gore versus Windham. Take the extra $5K it would cost him for his family to ski at Windham and divide it by $26.67, and you get 187.47.

Many people here can and will discuss the merits of Gore vs. Windham as two different mountains, but since the OP also made a point about the cost difference between the two hills, I think it deserves some discussion. Drive time may be an issue for some people (I'll drive 3 hours to Platty over 1.5 hours to Blue Mountain ANY day of the week), but is it really worth an extra $5K?

Here's the breakdown on Gore's vertical.  They claim and advertise 2,537.  However, it skis like this.  I'm not saying that Gore is a bad mountain, it is actually my #3 favorite mountain which only ranks behind #2 which is Whiteface, and #1 which is Killington.  However, advertising vertical is false and misleading.  You don't go to Gore for sustained vertical, that is what Whiteface is for.

The bottom 200 feet is seldom open, poorly connected to the rest of the mountain, and is a ski destroyer when it is open because there is usually insufficient coverage due to minimal snowmaking.

The next 200 feet are more consistently open, but are part of a completely separate mountain area called Burnt Ridge which is my favorite trail section.  It is skied on it's own and not as part of a run that starts higher up.

The next section is the main mountain. The gondola serves 1,700 feet which is more than Windham, but who wants to take their skis off every run.  Those who don't use the Adirondack Express which serves up 1,500 feet of groomers similar to Windham's.  The old lift there was a piece of junk and was scary to ride because it was so unreliable.  However, the new one will be much safer and more reliable.

The top section is a separate section that is about 800 vertical feet and disconnected from the main mountain.  The only way to get back down is a lift ride, or a flat boring trail.

If, as sno postulates, natural snow is obsolete, then there is far less motivation to drive north.  I live for natural snow and find the southern Adk a good choice.  In my world it ain't all about lifts.

 Get over the vert measurement.  You cant expect gore to add new terrain and not measure vert the way every other mountain in the world does it.  Plus who remembers spring two years ago when it was cold in march and the only snow that softened was at the bowl and in burnt.  Sure made that vert useful then.

If you are used to Gore you will find Windham crowded and boring. Windham might be more crowded than Hunter at this point on weekends.  No matter what anybody says here a fully open Windham cannot hold a candle to a half open Gore. Gore's snowmaking has greatly improved in the past few years and I doubt that at any point during the early season Windham holds any real edge in getting trails open. Gore averages 150" of snow vs Windham's average of 110" of snow. Gore has a large amount of outstanding glades, Windham has 1 small glade.

The driving distance is a big advantage for Windham, and the money is a big disadvantage.

I would stick with Gore.

I have no problem with Gore's vertical increasing when they add terrain.  I do have a problem with it being falsely advertised which they do quite frequently.  Gore needs their own unique marketing point, not a poorly adapted version of Whiteface's.  Whiteface should advertise their vertical because it is the biggest in the east and unlike most mountains, it can be skied all at once.  To access the full vertical at Whiteface, you take the Facelift, and after getting off that, get right on the Summit Quad.  At Gore, the next lift you need to ride to reach the summit from the ski bowl starts only a little higher than the last one starts requiring you to make a full run to reach the next lift.  It takes minimum of an hour to reach the summit from the ski bowl.  At Whiteface, a greater vertical can be accessed in 20 minutes.  Gore is an awesome mountain (takes my #3 spot), but their layout and topography do not warrant the hard advertising of vertical like Whiteface does.  They have something for everyone while Whiteface is best suited for experts only.  Where else can you ski miles of perfectly groomed cruisers, the 2nd largest tree skiing acreage in the east, one of the steepest trails in the east, a large terrain park, and old school all natural trails all on the same mountain.  That would be a much better thing to advertise.

For sustained vertical, Stowe is the best. Easily 30% more exciting vert than whiteface. maybe 50%

That's way better than Stratton, which is about 0% interesting vertical.