First Time to Gore Mountain

[DomB]

Thanks for the replies.

We are skiing monday and tuesday so my guess is that both North quad and BRQ will not be running based on your replies and the fact they were not open this week. I checked the daily snow report each day. I am hoping it is not as busy as weekends so we will not necessarily have to avoid the base area. BRQ does not really affect us as Echo would be the only possible trail we would try. Looks like we will miss out on a bunch of options with NQ closed, but should still have enough to keep us occupied for 2 days of skiing, especially if the runs are long. At holiday valley, most of the runs are short/ shorter and we ski mostly repeat because of our skill level. For example, we did 13 runs last night in about 2.5 of hours of ski time.

SORRY FOR ALL THE CAPS. I DON'T KNOW WHY I DID THIS:

AVOIDING THE BASE AREA SHOULD NOT BE AN ISSUE ON A MONDAY OR TUESDAY. WORST CASE IF THERE IS A GONDI LINE GO TO ADK CHAIR, WHICH MAY BE BETTER FOR YOU FOR REASONS LISTED BELOW ABOUT SKATING BELOW RUBY RUN FROM GONDI

Greens:
-Ruby run and sunway chair area look like the only greens that will be open.

I THINK THIS WILL BE YOUR BEST BET. IF SUNWAY CHAIR IS CLOSED, NEXT BEST BET IS TAKE ADK QUAD TO SUNWAY TO LOWER SUNWAY.
IF YOU HAVE SKATING ISSUES AND YOU TAKE GONDI, YOU WILL HAVE TO TAKE FOX LAIR DOWN OR SKATE BELOW RUBY RUN FOR A BIT (OR MAXIMIZE YOUR SPEED BY THE TURN AND KEEP IT UP TO GLIDE)

Blues:
-Cloud to headwaters to tannery
-Cloud to santorini or little cloud
-Twister
-Foxlair (avoid later in day - what is the reason for this?)

IT IS A STEEPER BLUE THAT IS SOMEWHAT NARROW AND BECAUSE IT AVOIDS FLATS OFF THE GONDI GETS TRAFFIC, MAKING IT SKIED OFF LATER IN THE DAY.

-Pine Knot (avoid if icey/borderline black - we would probably avoid this all together and take the other route to t GIVEN HOW I READ YOUR POST, AVOID PINE KNOT FOR THE REASON YOU SAY. I AM A PRETTY STRONG SKIER (CAN SKI LIES FINE IN CHALLENGING CONDITIONS) AND I DONT ENJOY PINE KNOT WHEN IT GETS ICY.

Ungroomed blues:
- Ward hill, little dipper, twin fawns, upper sleigh ride, crystal, tower 6, 1A, jug handle, woodchuck , upper steilhang, lower uncas, the glen, dell and mic are all ungroomed

SOMEONE WHO DOES NOT SKI GORE SAID TO ME ON LITTLE DIPPER THAT LITTLE DIPPER SHOULD BE MARKED A BLACK. THAT IS OVERKILL, BUT IT IS A DIFFERENT EXPERIENCE ON THOSE UNGROOMED TRAILS THAN AT OTHER MOUNTAINS. I THINK THEY WERE SAYING THAT BECAUSE IT GETS BUMPS AND IS A NATURAL SNOW TRAIL. THAT WILL TYPICALLY MEAN YOU NEED THE ABILITY TO MOVE YOUR CENTER OF GRAVITY UP AND DOWN (TO TRY TO KEEP IT CONSISTENT IN BUMPS) WHILE ALSO MAKE FORE/AFT (FRONT BACK BALANCING) IN THE NORMAL TURNING MOTIONS. THAT CAN BE TRICKY FOR AN INTERMEDIATE ESP ON UNGROOMED BUMPS.

Any more info for the following trails?
- Showcase, especially near the bottom where twister connects?

THIS HAS A SOMEWHAT STEEP PITCH FOR A BEGINNER /INTERMEDIATE. SKIERS RIGHT IS LESS STEEP. SKIERS LEFT STEEPER

- Quicksilver?
- 3B?
- Cutoff?
- Do all of the ungroomed blues noted above have bumps? (being relatively new to skiing, I do not want to assume) If not, maybe you can note trails that definitely have bumps?

I HAVE ALMOST NEVER SEEN BUMPS ON THESE THREE.

Other general questions/comments:
- How much "skating" is necessary? I cannot skate due to hip limitations. Will I still be able to traverse by using poles and walking?

TO AVOID SKATING: TAKE ADK CHAIR TO SUNWAY; GONDI to Ruby Run to Sunway will have a bit of skating or keeping up your speed near a turn.

- We do not have RFID cards. We purchased tickets online. I assume we will need to get a lift ticket on arrival?

I don't know

- We will still get there early because we like to ski some freshly groomed trails. We have yet to experience corduroy because we mainly night ski.

You will have fun.

- We will park in the main lot as suggested.
- Are we able to get ready in the lodge? Sounds covid policies are really strict at gore? Here at Holiday Valley, its basically business as usual. Masks inside except when eating but most people do no have on or have hanging off their faces.

YES YOU CAN; SHOULD BE EMPTY. PEOPLE ARE GOOD ABOUT WEARING MASKS ON MAIN FLOOR. LESS SO ON BOTTOM BELOW GRADE FLOOR

- Does gore have paper trail maps on site?

YES AT THE MAIN DESK NEAR THE FOOD CASHIER

I am not sure if I'll have more questions based on any additional replies. Thanks again for helping us out. We would look forward to checking out Gore!

 

[Hulk0005]

Ungroomed blues:
- Ward hill, little dipper, twin fawns, upper sleigh ride, crystal, tower 6, 1A, jug handle, woodchuck , upper steilhang, lower uncas, the glen, dell and mic are all ungroomed

I do not think my post was clear regarding this.... - Do all of these ungroomed blues have bumps? (being relatively new to skiing, I do not want to assume) If not, maybe you can note trails that definitely have bumps? We have only skied groomed trails thus far.

THIS HAS A SOMEWHAT STEEP PITCH FOR A BEGINNER /INTERMEDIATE. SKIERS RIGHT IS LESS STEEP. SKIERS LEFT STEEPER

Thanks. Do you mean the entire trail for showcase or just the bottom? Also, what is the pitch on twister like?

Then at top of topridge triple you can take ruby run to wood in (some skating) and do it again. Then end your day with twister, maybe quicksilver, and sunway.

What is quicksilver like?

Does anybody know what impact the Saturday-Friday, February 5-11: U.S. Ski & Snowboard Holeshot Cross Tour – on Wild Air, Pot Luck, and The Arena will have on the flow of skiers, especially first timers to Gore? I’m sure there should be good ways get around.

Can anybody shed light on this?


Thanks again to everyone for their replies

 

[not2brite]

THIS HAS A SOMEWHAT STEEP PITCH FOR A BEGINNER /INTERMEDIATE. SKIERS RIGHT IS LESS STEEP. SKIERS LEFT STEEPER

Thanks. Do you mean the entire trail for showcase or just the bottom? Also, what is the pitch on twister like?

Twister dumps into the bottom of Showcase. The last 100 yards or so before the lifts is rather steep but it is very wide and groomed so plenty of room to manuever. First time Gore skier myself earlier this year and have to admit first time I saw it I thought to myself WTF? By my third run was looking forward to it. IMO do not miss Twister it is one of the best runs at the place.

 

[Hulk0005]

Thanks. Do you mean the entire trail for showcase or just the bottom? Also, what is the pitch on twister like?

Twister dumps into the bottom of Showcase. The last 100 yards or so before the lifts is rather steep but it is very wide and groomed so plenty of room to manuever. First time Gore skier myself earlier this year and have to admit first time I saw it I thought to myself WTF? By my third run was looking forward to it. IMO do not miss Twister it is one of the best runs at the place.

If steep part is wide, then i think we should be ok.

How is the rest of showcase ?

 

[DomB]

If steep part is wide, then i think we should be ok.

How is the rest of showcase ?

Steepest part of showcase is the bottom part. Rest is less steep.

 

[tirolski]

How is the rest of showcase ?

Fun.
Go early as it’s smoother then.
There's lift structures in the middle every now and then.
It’s a true blue wider one with some short steeper parts.
Lots of folks ski it cause it’s fun.
During the week it shouldn’t be too crowded, but with the games going on ya might gotta go to know.
If it’s too crowded head somewhere else.

 

[DomB]

Fun.
Go early as it’s smoother then.
There's lift structures in the middle every now and then.
It’s a true blue wider one with some short steeper parts.
Lots of folks ski it cause it’s fun.
During the week it shouldn’t be too crowded, but with the games going on ya might gotta go to know.
If it’s too crowded head somewhere else.

Showcase was also fun at 230 when I skied it. I did hear one 'scrape' sound close to the bottom. My only one on a groomer today : )

 

[tirolski]

Hi there. Will be going to gore mountain for skiing on Feb 7 and 8. It will be our first time there. We consider ourselves to be beginner / intermediates. Ski greens and blues at holiday valley. No bumps, blacks, glades. Can navigate tougher blues or spots if needed. Looking for recommendations/ advice on parking situation, how to navigate the 4 areas at gore mountain and what trails we should ski. I'm sure I'll have more questions as people reply. Thanks in advance.

How’d ya make out with yer skiing @ Gore on Monday?
Ya have good weather and nice snow again today.
Hope ya have some fun.

 

[Andy_ROC]

How's Sagamore been skiing? I think that's one of my favorite black groomers I've skied anywhere.
(sorry I guess I should have asked this in the Gore Conditions thread)

 

[Hulk0005]

My gf and I really enjoyed are 2 days of skiing at gore. We got lucky with the 19 inches of snow prior to our arrival, which made the conditions even better.

Monday - we arrived by 745 since we were new to the resort and wanted extra time to find our way. We were on the AE chair by 830, even though it started 15 mins or so early. We started off with sunway to get our legs warmed up. It was awesome to ski fresh corduroy especially since we never skied it before. We usually night ski at holiday valley. After sunway, we decided to try showcase. The last part was a bit intimidating to look at but we both managed just fine by sticking to the right. Its probably the steepest pitch Ive ever skied.

We hit twister a few times as well. One where we turned off into showcase and the other we turned off into little sister to echo. Twister was a lot of fun and still pretty groomed. Echo was a lot of fun. I would have like to try it from the top but there was no way I was traversing all the way to BRQ, which was open both days.

We headed up top once high peaks was open. We got to talking to a few older gentlemen while in line and they were kind enough to show us cloud to santorini to wood in. That was a lot of fun as well. Santorini was a bit intimidating as well, but not as much as showcase.

Since we were primarily doing long runs, our legs were pretty cooked. We had lunch at restaurant and went back out for one more run. We did sunway to petes to jamboree i think. It was pretty skied out though by then.

Tuesday - were out by 815 and did rubys run to twister a few times then we headed back up top. While up there, we hit cloud to santorini a few times as well as cloud to headwater , and cloud to headwater to tannery. By the time we tried tannery though it was choppy due to snow making . I wish we would have tried cloud to headwater to tannery early on. It would have been a nice run.

North quad wasnt open but im sure we would have enjoyed the 2 blues there.

Foxlair was too intimidating so we did not try that. We forgot about quicksilver and 3b.

All in all, it seems like we hit a good portion of the mountain for both days.

We definitely will be back at gore next year.

Does anyone know how long some of the runs are? such as cloud to headwater to tannery? twister?