Gore Mountain: The Dog Wags Back

At NYSkiBlog, there’s no question that at times, the tail wags the dog. Yes, we’re looking for great conditions and interesting terrain. But we’re also looking for stories from New York and Vermont, at hills we haven’t covered recently, with bonus points for anything old school. It does complicate the search for snow.

Gore's Saddle Lodge

When I’m looking at ski options for the days ahead, I start my research on our NY Weather page. From there, I drill down into any one of our specific National Weather Service Office pages. Information from each of seven NWS eastern offices is the basis for these pages in our weather center.

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Royal Mountain: Get Up and Go

In New York, early season conditions can be fickle, to say the least. The first year I moved to Utica, I remember a lake effect storm dumping 2’ of snow on Tug Hill a week before Thanksgiving.

Royal Mountain lift

This year I felt I would be lucky to get any turns in before Christmas. Saturday’s weather was a bust. I got my booster Friday night so I didn’t feel bad wasting Saturday, while it steadily rained. I had no expectation Sunday would be any better, but it was.

I woke up late on Sunday and saw a seemingly benign share on Facebook by ISKINY. Royal mountain was open, freshly groomed and from the picture it looked like loads of base.

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Gore Mountain Opening Surprise

Gore usually targets Black Friday for opening day and I rarely make it.  This year was no different. Thursday we feasted. Friday morning we bought our Christmas tree and stood it up, ready to decorate. In the afternoon, I drove to our place in the Adirondacks, solo, to ski the weekend. The snowfall forecast was favoring northern zones, and it looked like Whiteface could be the right call for me.

Gore Mountain base lodge
Gore Mountain Nov 27 2021

When I arrived in North River, I was surprised to see 4 inches of new snow on the ground. It was still snowing lightly. Recently my tires have been the subject of scorn, and the driveway wasn’t plowed. I considered walking up to eliminate drama. Instead, I chose to run and gun, and I made it up.

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