(Not So) Old Gore Trail Map

Found this 1994 map in Google images when I was searching on my phone last night to show someone the current trail map.  
(Web site is SkiMap.org if anyone is interested.)  What immediately struck me as a Gore newbie (going since 2012/13 season) was that Tannery used to go all the way down to base lodge.  Seems like it would be a great long trail, and a shame that it is no longer there.  Anyone who used to ski it want to chime in on what it was like?  Similar to Twister?



Petronio

I have never skied it but I've heard it gets flat.

There's already a thread on this that I started a while back.  

I hear that trail is very flat and makes the pipeline traverse seem like Olympic downhill.  No matter how fast you get going, you'll get stuck and have to hike out.  It was amputated to save mileage in 2002 when the Topridge Triple was installed and Uncas and Topridge cut.

I've skied it many times, (including once about 4 years ago when I was late for lineup and the Topridge Triple line was too long). It's fine. Really, not a whole lot worse than cedars. They should open up on good snow years.

Definitely not like Twister. More like a long version of that trail that comes in to the ski bowl from Burnt Ridge.

Tannery about 1.3 miles long and 700 vertical feet. It is not as bad as the Cedars Traverse to the Burnt Ridge HSQ - .7 mile and about 200 vertical feet.

Pretty sure they closed it because of the whining.

According to Mike Pratt, most of the vertical on Lower Tannery comes just below the Topridge Triple.  The very bottom was the problem area.  Cedars is 5-6% grade and and the very bottom of Tannery is less than 4%.

I identify with Whiteface more as my home mountain, but my pass is good at Gore as well, so I'll be there on Whiteface wind hold days, or if I want to have an easier ski day.  Whiteface is 1:45 from Potsdam and Gore is 2:15.

If it's so flat that even The Gore faithful complain about it it's got to be really flat.  Did it have snow making on it?

Sno that is a hell of a long twisty drive to Gore from Potsdam

The faithful do not complain.

Harvey wrote

The faithful do not complain.

Oh please. They probably didn't ski it either.

Kind of a waste of trail mileage anyway considering Gore's almost maxed out.

Coach Z wrote

If it's so flat that even The Gore faithful complain about it it's got to be really flat.  Did it have snow making on it?

Sno that is a hell of a long twisty drive to Gore from Potsdam

I've hiked it many times, even skinned up it, it is very flat. No snow making on it. It connects the cross country trails which are really nice snow shoe trails. Last year the couple of times I was at Gore I skied in the AM and snow shoed over there after things were skied off.

Back when the little red gondola was the primary means of reaching the summit, tannery was the most direct way to the bottom. Plus, it gave teenagers a way to get into a racing tuck ( paging carbone) and schuss to the bottom without stopping. Without the aid of the goretex, etc it was a mighty cold, long run. Often you couldn't release the grip on your ski poles at the bottom because your hands were frozen. I saw more than a few teenagers briefly cry with frostbite pain upon stopping.

Coach Z wrote

Sno that is a hell of a long twisty drive to Gore from Potsdam

 It's not really a big deal.  I've driven it before as I go that way to get to Clarkson when coming up from the South.

The portion of Tannery that exists today is a 17% grade.  The entire route of the Adk Express is 21% just to have something to compare it to.

I calculated the percent grade in 100 foot vertical increments on lower Tannery.

2200-2100:  11%
2100-2000:  26%
2000-1900:  10%
1900-1800:  16%
1800-1700:  4.7%
1700-1600:  5.8%

Basically, it starts out as an easier blue, has one steeper section, and then ends in a long flat runout.  It's also a very long trail at low elevation, so letting natural snow cover it is unreliable, and snowmaking is expensive to add and you don't gain a very good trail out of it.  

Some other flat spots at Gore:

Lower Cloud (from Little Cloud to Saddle Lodge):  5.4%
Cedars (from entrance at main base to Gully):  2.9%
Cedars (below Gully to Burnt Ridge Quad:  6.1%
Pipeline (North Quad to North Creek Reservoir):  7.1%

Looks like the worst part is trying to get down Cedars from the main base because it is almost flat as a pancake, and you don't get to a significantly steeper portion to compensate.  Coming in from Gully isn't too bad because as long as you're at least going a moderate speed, the slope is enough to keep you going.  Pipeline alternates between spots you can cruise on and spots where you have to skate, but you usually can't carry enough speed past the North Quad to make it through.  The addition of Peace Pipe off of Tahawus allows one to bypass the North Quad area and hopefully carry more speed.  I'll have to test it out this coming winter.  Really they still need to get a real connection to the ski bowl right off Burnt Ridge and I don't see why they keep delaying it and putting in more useless glades.  They have the snowmaking pipe at the top of the lift ready to go in on the connector.  Cut the trail!!

haha! useless glades. F-in Loco. :D

If you ran the leaf cruncher 5k at gore today , you would swear that cedars is 10% grade the entire way back to the main lodge .

I'm curious Sno, how much vert can you ski non stop on natural (not groomed) ski surfaces?

Totally agree SNo , we go to both places each season , the drive. To GORE from the St Lawrence Valley is no worse than the drive going to Whiteface from up here .

snoloco wrote

Coach Z wrote

Sno that is a hell of a long twisty drive to Gore from Potsdam

 It's not really a big deal.  I've driven it before as I go that way to get to Clarkson when coming up from the South.

Sno, Your drive time estimates for WF & Gore are for bare roads and minimal traffic. If you go on a storm day you will see significant increases in time and frustration trying to get there.

endoftheline wrote

snoloco wrote

Coach Z wrote

Sno that is a hell of a long twisty drive to Gore from Potsdam

 It's not really a big deal.  I've driven it before as I go that way to get to Clarkson when coming up from the South.

Sno, Your drive time estimates for WF & Gore are for bare roads and minimal traffic. If you go on a storm day you will see significant increases in time and frustration trying to get there.

You are correct endo! No worries about him getting freshies anyways as he (and his sidekick coach z) only ski groomers