Approaching Gore Mountain from the North

I’ve recently spent a lot of time to the south of Gore Mountain; downstate, the Catskills and Hickory. I hadn’t skied in North Creek in over a month, and wanted to return to base in the Adirondacks.

North-Side-of-Gore-Mountain
Gore from the North

It’s been a different kind of month for me. The last several weeks I had limited experience with groomed trails, manmade snow or liftlines for that matter. I’ve been approaching things from a different angle.

We drove to North River Saturday morning and skied in the woods in the afternoon. Sunday was forecast to be a cold one, but as planned we headed off to Gore.

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Hickory Ski Center: Back to the Future

Things change. The world is in constant motion and almost nothing can escape the forces of change. Eventually it seems that all of us have to choose which side of the moving line we want to be on.

Top-Notch

I started in our sport as a nordic skier who didn’t own a pair of plastic boots. As I grew more fanatical about sliding on snow I found myself dying to make turns by Thanksgiving before there was any snow in the woods.

So I began skiing the early season at Gore Mountain, in my leather boots on 210 cm skis. At the time I didn’t realize it, but the agents of change were acting upon me.

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Tuxedo Ridge: The Ultimate Playdate

Ever since I first met my buddy “X” at Gore in 2010, we’ve been plotting to get our daughters together on the slopes. Two girls the same age, whose fathers love to ski: what more do you need?

Two-Girls-in-Front-of-Lodge

It turned out to be much easier said than done.  Getting the stars to align took almost four years. Sunday was a perfect day for it downstate, if you look past the recent nuclear meltdown of the snowpack by rainstorm.

We woke just before dawn to gear up, eat breakfast and drive up to Tuxedo Ridge Ski Center.

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