Gore Mountain Conditions

[tirolski]

Dude take the trip to whiteface.

Maybe someday.

 

[Harvey]

I saw Noreaster's post as I was taking my boots off. On the way out, I stopped in to see Bone.

He was off today, but I spoke to Derrick. I told him I'd be reaching out to Bone, he said he would mention it to him too.

Not sure if he will go for it, but if you have ideas for specific questions post them here. If we are fair with our questions, it will improve the odds of getting a response.

If there is enough input, I'll break it out in another thread.

They need to read this thread.

They do. That was clear after speaking to Derrick.

 

[tirolski]

... that’s not gravel you’re seeing on Tahawus. I skied it three times yesterday and it has consistently had the best snow all season. There are a lot of gravel spots on the mountain, but 98% of what you see on Tahawus is conifer twigs blown out of the trees by the high winds.

Stay Outta There!

 

[tirolski]

Do you think ORDA’s plate is a bit full? They are also running world cups/championships in bobsled and skeleton, ski jumping, aerials and cross country this winter in the Lake Placid area. And after the interconnect is done they will pull the Gore snowmaking back to Wild Air and Arena to build this year’s Holeshot course. To paraphrase Rick in Casablanca “it doesn't take much to see that the problems of some little alpine skiers don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.”

Ya forgot redoing refrigerators for The Ho, zippy coaster-lodge-sewer thingy, & ORDA won the bid to be the backup to host the ’26 sliding events if the contruction of the tirolean track doesn’t pass inspection in March.

 

[Milo Maltbie]

@Harvey Are these the kind of questions you’re looking for?

• What is your vision of Gore? Is it a venue for national and international competitions, or a budget driven local ski area? Does ORDA share your vision?
• Many of us are concerned about snowmaking this year. Conditions seem to be much worse than Belleayre or even Whiteface. As of January 12, less than half of Gore's trails are open. Why?
  • Follow up: Don’t say weather. Belle had more snow but it all melted out and it still came back to 100%.
• For the past few years we’ve seen giant swales built up before trails are opened. Why not this year? Has there been a change in the operating plan?
• Does Gore have adequate staff for snowmaking? IF not, why not?
• Did Howie retire? Does his replacement have extensive experience leading mountain operations? Does he/she have the same authority that Howie had? If not, who holds that authority now?
• Does Gore get adequate budget support from ORDA? How much of the budget is earmarked for NYSEF, Hole Shot and other competitions?
• Recently the gondola was running on diesel while Straightbrook was running half capacity. Was that an electric capacity issue? What is ORDA doing to correct it?
• Does Gore participate in any electric demand response programs, or otherwise curtail electric load at the request of the utility? If so, does Gore or ORDA receive payments for that? If there are payments, how much does Gore depend upon the payments? How much does that affect lift ops and/or snowmaking?
• What can we expect for the remainder of the season? When will the interconnect open? Which trails will open next? Which will open before the interconnect? Uncas? Lower Uncas? Fairview? Lower Steilhang? Lies and Rumor? When will Open Pit open?
• Why haven’t the potable water issues at the Saddle Lodge been resolved? Why hasn’t the water fountain in the base lodge been fixed? (These have been going on for years. The Saddle problem is hard but replacing a water fountain is easy.)
• Why are you allowing people to block cars in in D lot?
• I’ve heard rumors from a couple of sources that there’s tension between Bone and Bruce Transue. Is that true?
• Why was the sausage tortellini soup worse last year than in previous years?

mm

 

[TomCat]

I got to the hill early and conditions were good. Hawkeye was excellent. Top of chatty was rough skiers left, but otherwise good. Headwaters and tahawas were excellent. I left early and there was an attendant at D not allowing any more cars, so the message got through. I hope they do that for the holiday weekend coming up.

Tom

 

[SlowPokePete]

Interesting...I follow Gore Mountain on Instagram and everything they post on there makes it sound like things are great.

I've only been there once this year, and definitely believe the collective knowledge here, tending to head to Belleayre if I'm going to take the trip farther away then my local hill, Catamount, which is a mere 15 minute drive for me.

FWIW, Belle is 1:35 and Gore is a 2 hour trip.

SPP

 

[Milo Maltbie]

Here's some more questions:

Bruce Transue was recently appointed VP of operations for all the ski areas. What authoruty did Bone lose iin that reorganization? Does Gore still have its own operations manager? What authority did the Gore operations manager lose?

mm

 

[Alfredeneumann]

Interesting...I follow Gore Mountain on Instagram and everything they post on there makes it sound like things are great.

I've only been there once this year, and definitely believe the collective knowledge here, tending to head to Belleayre if I'm going to take the trip farther away then my local hill, Catamount, which is a mere 15 minute drive for me.

FWIW, Belle is 1:35 and Gore is a 2 hour trip.

SPP

The daily snow report, FB, IG are all marketing PR. All good news all the time. A daily chorus of Kumbaya.

 

[GoreSkiMom]

I was pleasantly surprised at Gore today. Things that were good:

1. The top was open right away. I was in one of the first Gondola cars and they dropped the rope to Topridge as we were putting on our skis.

2. On our next run, we skied Pine Knot to the Straighbrook chair and that was already loading, before 9. Normally, these areas can take a long time to open up which is frustrating. This allowed us to ski the top from 8:30 to 10 before any crowds arrived.

3. The conditions were good (Remember, I was out early. I am sure it was scraped off later in the day). Hullabaloo was my pick of the day.

4. They have the water fountain working at the Saddle.

5. Parking lot attendants were monitoring Lot D.

6. They blew snow on Sunway under the gondola, so it was not icy.

For all of the misery so far this season, I felt like they had taken some steps to better the situation today.