Gore Mountain Conditions

[Capdistski]

Weather took a turn after I checked it this morning - forecast was for 32-36 all day with part sun starting at around noon. Now it’s starting to snow, not going over 30, and maybe a little sun at 4. Maybe I was reading the wrong location this morning

Mountain is firm and I was hoping for some afternoon sun…

 

[Capdistski]

I think I must have been looking at Queensbury weather…

 

[snoloco]

Harvey keeps mentioning Sagamore. It got snowmaking a year later. The problem is not snowmaking footprint. It's snowmaking capacity. They keep expanding their snowmaking footprint without any improvements to snowmaking capacity. When they eventually do a modest upgrade of snowmaking capacity, they just expand snowmaking footprint again, or sign up for an event that requires a massive early season snowmaking commitment. The cycle repeats and they make the same mistake over and over and over and over again.

 

[tirolski]

BTW I agree 100% about Moxham and Oak Ridge. Original trails created without dynamite, in rolling terrain, are a blast. While other hills in NY do have some similar terrain, those trails are unique at Gore. Maybe parts of Headwaters or Twister have that vibe.

No need to bulldoze or blast at the skiing bumps in CNY.
Glacier going thru and their deposits from the last ice age left some unique smoothish slopes.
They're a bit fragile to erosion cause of the soils and a lot of water, hence the many gorges.

Naturally terrained golf courses are much nicer than fake landscape ones.
If it was up to me, there wouldn’t be sand traps if the soil wasn’t sandy to start with.

 

[Harvey]

North Side, Quicksilver, Dark Side, Chatiemac

I will grant you this, North Side and Chatiemac especially. I love Gore as much as anybody, I think that is probably obvious.

Skiing cord groomers first chair at the bowl gives me an almost pow-ish uncontrollable smile.

 

[Capdistski]

Conditions weren’t as good as I had hoped - clearly rain on already relatively waterlogged snow followed by overnight freeze made for a hard surface. It seemed that runs with corduroy like Hulabaloo and Lower Darby were harder to ski than ones which maybe were maybe groomed Wed - Thu but left alone last night such as Sagamore, Hawkeye, and the front side: twister, showcase, wild air. Lower elevation runs had loosened up by 1-2pm which made for a good end of day.

Lots of slow openings today - I caught the rope being dropped on Top Ridge/Uncas just before 1pm. Don’t know if chatiemac and powder pass/Pete gay/loop ever opened. I was hooing to ski Moxham, Hudson, and Fairview since they are rarely open - only Moxham today.

ROTD was probably Sagamore - it was decent both at top and bottom of the day. And Moxham at end of day.

 

[Alfredeneumann]

One of the things I enjoy most about all three places is the lack of development. Just a lodge snd parking lots. I never feel like I’m skiing in somebody’s back yard. I can’t see the state ever selling them and hope to hell they NEVER decide to put them on any mega pass. Ski3 is a perfect product the way it is. I also don’t mind them hosting all these events. If it keeps the cash flowing for upgrades the minor inconveniences they cause are well worth it.

Among the reasons for the three state ski areas are to provide recreational opportunities for NY’s citizens, give an economic boost to economically depressed areas of the state, and provide venues to bring world class events to NY (see reason #2). That’s working poorly for North Creek (most of the WUG teams/officials were housed in Lake George) and not at all for Wilmington, which is withering on the vine. I haven’t skied Whiteface much, but when our kids were young we did some family ski weekends there, always staying in one of the almost empty mom-and-pop motels In Wilmington. The last time I was there it was down to one restaurant and the only store/gas station had briefly closed and just reopened. The only time the town fills up is for events like Ironman. Why do Whiteface skiers just gotta stay and eat in Lake Placid at triple the price? LP and LG don’t need any more of our money, they are bursting at the seams and real estate prices are through the roof.

 

[NorEaster27]

If that lodge does get built, within a few years after that, there will be more snowmaking and parking at the bowl.

It won't be fast enough for sno, but I bet it happens.

Why if?

 

[tirolski]

Why if?

 

[Harvey]

Why if?

I don't have any insider info, I just think you never know.

Of all the infrastructure proposed for Gore over the years, not counting this most recent round, the only idea that I saw, that never happened, was known to us at the time as "Lift 14." It was to connect the Ski Bowl to the Gore base. As you might imagine, I wasn't in favor of it.