First Time to Gore Mountain

[Hulk0005]

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.

 

[Harvey]

As admin of this place, I'm really interested in getting more skiers here from Western NY. Welcome.

Gore has some good terrain for blue and green skiers. Park at the main base. Since you are going to be at Gore on a weekday, arriving super early not critical. Almost all of the East Side and North Side should be right in your wheelhouse. The North doesn't always run, on weekdays so you might not get it. Twister, Showcase, Wildair, Sleighride, Sunway, there are no blacks.

If you are going to be there 2 days you might check out the summit. There is almost no green and blue up there but it might be worth checking out.

You could take the gondola to the top of bear and take Pine Knot down to the Straightbrook Chair. Pine Knot is rate blue but it is borderline black, so maybe only consider it if the snow is really good. If it's ICY choose the other way > take the Adirondack Express and make the traverse over to the High Peaks Chair.

Either way from the summit ski Cloud to Headwaters to Tannery to the Topridge chair and head back down from there.

What am I missing? There are a lot of Gore skiers here.

Again, welcome. And post in Holiday Valley Conditions when you ski there!

 

[Cornhead]

I think you'd like the North Quad pod, Sleeping Bear, Tahawus are really nice mellow trails. Gore is an awesome mountain, first big mountain I ever skied. As Harvey said, lots of blues and greens on the lower mountain, enjoy!

 

[tirolski]

As admin of this place, I'm really interested in getting more skiers here from Western NY. Welcome.

Gore has some good terrain for blue and green skiers. Park at the main base. Since you are going to be at Gore on a weekday, arriving super early not critical. Almost all of the East Side and North Side should be right in your wheelhouse. The North doesn't always run, on weekdays so you might not get it. Twister, Showcase, Wildair, Sleighride, Sunway, there are no blacks.

If you are going to be there 2 days you might check out the summit. There is almost no green and blue up there but it might be worth checking out.

You could take the gondola to the top of bear and take Pine Knot down to the Straightbrook Chair. Pine Knot is rate blue but it is borderline black, so maybe only consider it if the snow is really good. If it's ICY choose the other way > take the Adirondack Express and make the traverse over to the High Peaks Chair.

Either way from the summit ski Cloud to Headwaters to Tannery to the Topridge chair and head back down from there.

What am I missing? There are a lot of Gore skiers here.

Again, welcome. And post in Holiday Valley Conditions when you ski there!

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.

 

[TomCat]

What am I missing? There are a lot of Gore skiers here.

I'll suggest the high peaks chair, which will be running. Cloud to Santonini and cloud to little cloud are nice intermediate runs. You can also take cloud to headwaters, which will get you to the summit quad without having to go down pine knot (pine knot should be fine early in the day but like Harvey said it gets icy quick. Going to the high peaks chair when the base is busy (10:30-12) would be a good diversion.

Echo is a great trail if BR is running but make sure you are comfortable with the bottom of showcase before going over there. There is a pretty steep section.

There are a couple of blues off sunway near the bottom, ward hill and twin fawns, I think. They rarely get groomed so if you don't want bumps, beware.

tom

 

[Milo Maltbie]

The easy route to the summit is the Adirondack Expess quad to Wood In to the High Peaks. Pine Knot goes to the Straightbrook quad to the summit but you’ll need to skate across the top to avoid black trails. Skating is a big part of the Gore experience. Pine Knot to Tannery to the Topridge triple is nice intermediate lap especially on sunny days. Avoid Foxlair late in the day.
Look for sausage tortellini soup in the base cafeteria.

mm

 

[DomB]

For beginner/intermediate, I would suggest checking out the sunway chair. Lower Sunway, Pete's paradise and jamboree are the easier greens. All the runs off that chair.

If you don't like crowds as others have said here, check out the north quad.

It also looks like they opened or are opening a green off ski bowl. Have not skied that.

 

[Capdistski]

Agree with others who said start on sunway chair, then assuming you’re there on a weekend get away from the crowded base by taking adk express chair to north quad and ski those runs. Then wood in to high peaks chair, which takes you to summit and your longest blue: cloud to headwaters to tannery. 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.

 

[Milo Maltbie]

Those are all good suggestions, but the OP asked about Monday and Tuesday. This week, Burnt Ridge, the interrconnect, North quad and Sunway haven't run any Monday or Tuesday this year.
Also, why all the Lake George hate? The Olde Log Inn is a good locals bar with good food and Quickdraw away from the tourist trap area, and Log Jam may be the only restaurant in Warren County that's open on Monday.

mm

 

[Hulk0005]

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.

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

Blues:
-Cloud to headwaters to tannery
-Cloud to santorini or little cloud
-Twister
-Foxlair (avoid later in day - what is the reason for this?)
-Pine Knot (avoid if icey/borderline black - we would probably avoid this all together and take the other route to top)

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

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

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


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!