At 10:20 on Sunday, Gore Mountain dropped the rope on Topridge, the first expert terrain of the season. There were some water bars to manage, and a few other irregularities.
The temperature/humidity was right on the borderline for snowmaking, so surfaces weren’t silk you get when you make snow at 5 degrees. But it was the right kind of snow to be laying down as a base. No one was complaining and it was a blast skiing it. Pitch, swales and a very carvable surface.
Temps never got as low as predicted, but it snowed an inch overnight. It was still flurrying in the morning, so we were pretty excited as we headed over to the hill. The gondola went green right on time, and I was amazed that there was no line on opening day.
It seems like opening days are crowded and filled with technical difficulty for both mountain and skier. But today was pretty smooth. And when I walked through the parking lot, but for the lack of natural snow, it could have been a midwinter Wednesday.
One thing that was very opening day — with one way down, and all the usual suspects skiing, you were going to run into them: Matt and Ace, Kirby, Zach, Nick, James, CJ, Perilous Paul, Jay and Russ to name a few.
I recently had a chance to tour the North Creek Depot Museum on Railroad Place. I ran into Michelle San Antonio — director of the museum — at the Farmers Market Organic Brunch, and she graciously agreed to fit me into her schedule.
I was especially interested in the new exhibit that focuses on the history of the snow trains and the development of skiing at Gore Mountain. I’m fascinated by the 1930s and 1940s when lift assisted skiing was born.
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