Gore Mountain, NY: 1/9/10

It was colder then a bear at daybreak so morning pictures are limited — every shot was a set back for fingertip warmth. Temps were below zero when I left the cabin, but it warmed up nicely later.

Gore Mtn

Gondi had brake trouble this morning, so I gave up first place in Gondi line and went over to the triple. First run on Showcase, ok but not great. Hit the natural north. Tawahas was decent skiers left, Sleeping Bear was probably better with snowmaking on it.

Took Wood Lot over to Lift 6 to access the summit. When the Gondi goes down it takes the masses a while to figure out they should get over to the High Peaks Chair. The result is if you push it to get there quick, you get first shot at a lot of stuff.

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Gore Mountain Snowmaking Capacity

I skied with Mike Pratt this afternoon. I asked him several questions about snowmaking. What follows is a breakdown on snowmaking capacity at Gore Mountain.

snowmaking on Lies

Ten years ago Gore used 80 million gallons of water per season. Last season Gore water consumption was over 300 million gallons.

The limit on the system is the ability to pump water uphill. There are two pump systems currently. Upgrading means more than adding pumps. When operating at full capacity the current “plumbing” is also maxed out. New systems are a big expense. Both Gore systems, cranking at full production can put out 7 million gallons in 24 hours.

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Gore Mountain, NY: 1/8/10

Today was an “interesting” day. I had some serious equipment setbacks. I’m not going to detail them, because I have a ton to post tonight, and that’s the least interesting or fun part. But suffice it to say, it took a positive attitude to shake it off and have a good time.

Pine Brook entrance

BUT, I did have a good day. I know you’re shocked right. Borderline great really. Had a bit of a love/hate thing going on with PineBrook today. But it wasn’t because of the surfaces. The constant drip drip of days of flurries seems to be adding up.

The mountain has made big progress on surfaces. Clearly Hawkeye had been pounded. On a scale of 1-to-10 Hawkeye went from a 2 last Saturday, to a 7 today. Lots of nice manmade in big piles across most of the trail above the ChatieHawk cutover. The headwall still had some tough spots, but it was certainly skiable by an expert. I did ok too.

Pine Brook Glades

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