North Creek Ski Bowl, NY: 2/27/11

Ski Day 25: Last night I heard reports that the Ski Bowl was skiing exceptionally well. I made plans to meet Darkside Shaman, Chuck and the crew at the base of the new Hudson Chair at 8:30.  Simple right?  It should have been except that I had to drop Neve off at her last day of Mountain Adventure.  Mountain Adventure officially starts at 9:30, but they took Neve early, and gave me a nice smile, at 8:10. I love that ski school.

I digress.  I started the skate over to Burnt Ridge, but it was still roped. I actually considered ducking the rope on Cedars, but I knew there had been an issue with the Burnt Ridge chair on Saturday and didn't want to get stuck down there.

With time running out on my rendezvous, I jumped on the gondola, skied down Fairview and over to the North Side through the Tahawas trees. I worked my way over on Pipeline, and sailed past the intersection which is the entrance to the Ski Bowl...



I was about ten minutes late, and very grateful that the group had waited.  We rode the new lift up, and ran into Adk Keith at the top. For the rest of the morning, I put myself in the hands of North Creek's version of the "Oak Ridge Boys."


Men in Black.

The next three hours really opened my eyes...


Adk Keith

The topography of the bowl is more complex than I imagined. There are several different drainages that come down from the summit ridge, and they make skiing the trees really interesting and fun.










The Boss.


Last run at the Ski Bowl

As noon approached, I had to head back to the Gore Mountain base to pick up Neve.  Adk Keith agreed to ski back with me.  We cruised to Burnt Ridge on Peaceful Valley and Eagles Nest.  On the ride up, we met up with Condor, who agreed to take a run down through the Cirque with us.


Condor in the Cirque

Today was without a doubt the best tree skiing I've done in North Creek this year.  Better than anything I skied yesterday, and the excitement factor was on par with the day I skied at Hickory. If you think the expansion at Gore wasn't a great move, you're just not paying attention.

http://www.facebook.com/1764104381304

Hee Hee!

Wow!!! Great shots! That looks, and sounds, awesome.

I'm really going to have to get over there one day next season.

Harvey44 wrote

If you still think the expansion at Gore wasn't a great move, you're just not paying attention.

I guess I haven't been paying attention!

Looks like some awesome terrain in there. Also looks like it would NEVER get tracked out. I wish I knew about it on Saturday.

we are pretty sure harvey had a goregasm

The little bit that I skied at the Ski Bowl, which was mainly just a couple runs one day earlier this month with Daniel, we were both amazed at how big the place seemed and at how much skiable terrain there appeared to be between the trails.  We just haven't made it back.  I agree that the terrain expansions are great, but I wish they were better interconnected with the rest of the mountain so that it was feasible to ski BR, the Bowl and the main mountain all in a single day.  Sure, that's possible now, but not with a family and only if you are a strong skier.  I think you'll appreciate that perspective more as you start to do more family skiing in the years to come.  

Hi, great article and pics, thanks!  i had the pleasure of skiing the hudson chair area last friday ( day 30 )  during the heavy snow with 6"of fresh powder and snowing hard.  i was the only skier there getting fresh tracks and loving it.  i was not aware those woods were skiable, looked to me like there was alot of trees down.  i will check out those woods this weekend.  i think the new area is great addition to Gore.

Harv, aren't you worried about being put on the black list?  Lots of people know about those trees now!

No, I'm not worried.

tBatt is right, it will never get tracked out. Hell the Cirque was barely tracked.

Hard for me to believe someone wouldn't skate down a few feet down Cedars to score perfect, untracked powder.