The Gore Mountain Blog

This summer Gore is planning to expand use the mountain’s facilities and terrain to attract more visitors to North Creek. From Memorial Day to Labor Day the Northwoods Gondola will operate from noon to 3pm on weekends. In addition, the gondola will run seven days a week from July 7 through September 3, 2012.

The lift will serve 1700 feet of downhill mountain biking. Gondola hours are structured to allow convenient access for passengers along the Saratoga North Creek railroad. The newly renovated Gear Source on Ordway Lane in North Creek will serve as a primary source of rental mountain bikes in town.

In addition there are plans to offer interpretive hikes, guided hikes from the summit of Bear Mountain, and a climbing wall on the lawn in front of the base lodge. Other base area attractions will include food and entertainment on Friday afternoon/evenings in July and August. A weekly cooking class is being considered, in addition to instruction or camps on mountain biking and photography.

I hadn’t been to North Creek since mid-January and two things surprised me — the lack of snow on our stoop and the extent of cover on open terrain at Gore. It seems clear that management has decided to make snow on open trails, and put aside, for now, thoughts of further terrain expansion. After skiing today, I think it might be the right call.

Underneath everything there’s a very firm base.  Most trails had enough loose snow on them to make turning fun and those with intermediate pitch or recent snowmaking were fairly “quiet.” And then there was Uncas; guns on all day, swales, frozen goggles, a little gak, and some really fun bumps on the steepest sections.

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Our plans for Saturday night B+B stay in the Catskills went south Friday morning when both my wife and daughter woke up with colds. With my two ski days at Plattekill put on hold, I called an audible, and left work for the Adirondacks at 2pm.

When I arrived in the mountains, I heard reports of good conditions at both Whiteface and Gore. I haven’t been to Whiteface this season, and it seemed like a logical choice for Saturday. But a call from a valued ski partner convinced me to ski my “home mountain.” Temps were going to be warm enough to ensure good skiing on primarily manmade snow. And the trail report called for the opening of the Dark Side.

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