Gore Mountain Conditions

[tirolski]

Another good day today. It was a good surface everywhere until almost noon, when it was starting to get scrapy in spots, and the snow guns on the terrain park started to get wetter.
It looks like Sunway is almost ready to ski.
I think they'll do Topridge before Uncas, just because you can ski that without Tannery.

mm

Bear webcam shows clouds from snowguns going on.
Not sure what trail(s) that would be at.

 

[Cork]

Sunway to Pete's and Jamboree opened today. It was early season base snow, so best bet was one and done, and wait for it to get groomed out again tonight. Upper Sunway and Wild Air were superb in the sun this morning!!

 

[Cork]

Word from the janitor is no Gondi or lift 2 until Sunday?? We'll see how Mother Nature reacts to that..think postive, think cold!!??

 

[snoloco]

Never underestimate Gore's ability to piece together super thin trails just so they can say they opened the trail or brought an extra lift on line.

 

[Harvey]

Never underestimate Gore's ability to piece together super thin trails just so they can say they opened the trail or brought an extra lift on line.

Did you ski Gore this weekend?

 

[snoloco]

Did you ski Gore this weekend?

No I didn't, but that's irrelevant to my point. My point is that there are two snowmaking strategies when it comes to terrain expansion. I call them deep-to-keep and thin-to-win. A resort using the deep-to-keep strategy will start by making about a 2 foot base of snow on a trail, and then move on and not come back to that trail. A resort using the thin-to-win strategy will start with about a 10 inch base on a trail and then move on, but will have to come back and resurface it frequently.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both. With deep-to-keep, you have a slower initial terrain expansion, but because you don't have to resurface trails, you can maintain a steady pace right up until you're 100% open. The thin-to-win strategy is a way to open a lot of terrain quickly, like if a holiday weekend is coming and you need all lifts open. The disadvantage is that eventually you're going to have to go back and resurface, putting other terrain expansion on-hold. Also, for resorts that like to resurface frequently, there is no point starting with a deep base, since they know they will come back to certain trails anyways.

Gore, from my experience has always landed firmly in the thin-to-win category, sometimes taking things to the extreme. They usually won't wait an extra day or two to get a deeper base, and rather will groom out an open a trail as soon as they have enough snow to piece it together.

 

[Face4Me]

My point is that there are two snowmaking strategies when it comes to terrain expansion. I call them deep-to-keep and thin-to-win.

We refer to "thin-to-win" as "paint it white".

Before Pratt took over as CEO, Whiteface generally followed a "deep-to-keep" approach. It definitely took much longer to expand terrain, but, at least when a trail opened, it was generally well covered. Since Pratt took over, things have changed a lot. There was no better example of that than last season ... anyone who skied Whiteface last year knows how much rock was caught up in the snow through most of January, particularly on Excelsior and Boreen. We were tossing rocks to the sides of the trails on every run. The problem was that the tillers kept cycling the stones back to the top, because there wasn't enough base to begin with.

 

[Harvey]

No I didn't, but that's irrelevant to my point. My point is that there are two snowmaking strategies when it comes to terrain expansion. I call them deep-to-keep and thin-to-win. A resort using the deep-to-keep strategy will start by making about a 2 foot base of snow on a trail, and then move on and not come back to that trail. A resort using the thin-to-win strategy will start with about a 10 inch base on a trail and then move on, but will have to come back and resurface it frequently.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both. With deep-to-keep, you have a slower initial terrain expansion, but because you don't have to resurface trails, you can maintain a steady pace right up until you're 100% open. The thin-to-win strategy is a way to open a lot of terrain quickly, like if a holiday weekend is coming and you need all lifts open. The disadvantage is that eventually you're going to have to go back and resurface, putting other terrain expansion on-hold. Also, for resorts that like to resurface frequently, there is no point starting with a deep base, since they know they will come back to certain trails anyways.

Gore, from my experience has always landed firmly in the thin-to-win category, sometimes taking things to the extreme. They usually won't wait an extra day or two to get a deeper base, and rather will groom out an open a trail as soon as they have enough snow to piece it together.

I skied this Gore weekend. What was open was surprisingly deep. Deeper than I've seen at Gore for opening weekend. I'd like to hear what others who were there thought.

 

[Cork]

SL will never be satisfied, and the fact that he has never worked at ski area, just shows he has no idea on the intricacies of snow making.
Kudos to the snow makers, groomers, lift mechanics, electricians, lifties, patrol, and all of the others that come to work everyday to provide us with the ability to ski!??⛷

 

[Brownski]

he has never worked at ski area, just shows he has no idea on the intricacies of snow making.

He’s a fan and I give him credit for all the reading/research he’s done and the passion he brings but you’re right. All the operational parts of running a mountain are hard- snowmaking chief amongst them.