The Gore Mountain Blog

I’m starting to realize that it almost always makes sense to ski. In the last five seasons, I can’t remember a ski day I regret. And I work for my days. I’m 52, married, a dad, with a child in school, from the distant flatlands. Five powder days in a season is good for me.

Planning a ski trip over Christmas holiday is always a crap shoot. But, like a lot of guys, I do it for all the reasons listed above, plus there really is nothing we’d rather be doing that week. It’s winter vacation and we want to ski.

Continue reading →

After our Thanksgiving ski weekend, Zelda gave me some sobering news — our odds for returning to Adirondacks before Christmas were slim. Indeed, our December weekends were packed with events, but closer scrutiny on my part led to the discovery that it was really only Saturdays that were jammed up. So I pledged to be the man on each Saturday this month in exchange for the freedom to disappear before dawn on Sundays to daytrip the Catskills.

As I watched another ugly midweek weather event sweep across the northeast last week, I noted that the coldest air of the season was to be ushered in behind the front. Temps were forecast to be near zero in the Adirondacks, so I considered a novel idea: daytripping Gore.

It wasn’t really a day trip. After cheering for an inspiring performance of The Nutcracker, and then celebrating a Taekwondo birthday, I bid goodbye to my girls and drove to the mountains Saturday night. As predicted, a clear night delivered overnight temps close to zero.

Continue reading →

You might reasonably question the prudence of driving five hours from the flatlands to Gore this weekend. I did question it, but ultimately for us, the decision to ski paid off.

We arrived at Gore at 8 am, had breakfast and booted up. Part of our motivation to come north was our desire to get Neve back on skis early in the season. Kindergarteners have a very busy schedule in December and we wanted to get her back in the groove before we arrived for Christmas break. At 8:30 we left her with her instructor Erin and headed to the Gondi.

Patrol was talking to everyone in the gondi loading zone. “Do you know conditions are very thin up top?” Zelda thought twice about the warning, and decided to lap the Sunway chair, to start. I boarded the gondola alone and very jazzed, to be riding a lift.

Continue reading →