I’m not sure if it’s ever happened, or when the last time it happened was, but in 2024, Gore was the last ski area open in New York, for the weekend of April 20th and 21st.
I skied at Gore the previous weekend and coverage was starting to get thin. Still, after every other ski area in New York State had called it quits, Gore held on to the hope of reopening.
Watching the webcams during the week, I saw Cloud getting very thin, so I wasn’t sure how they’d do it, but sure enough, on Thursday, it was announced that they would be reopening for one final weekend.
With high elevation terrain, snow in the right places, and some work by the groomers to patch things together, they were able to pull it off, opening 19 trails and running 5 lifts. There were multiple trail options off the North Quad, High Peaks Quad and Straightbrook Quad, with Tannery open to the Topridge lift so that one could return to the gondola for downloading.
The day got off too a slow start. Five minutes after opening, the gondola broke down. The line needed to be cleared so that lift maintenance could fix the problem. With the Adirondack Express and Burnt Ridge closed for the season, the gondola was the only way up the mountain. For everyone stuck at the bottom, including myself, the mountain was effectively closed.
As I was contemplating whether to wait for the gondola to reopen, hike up, or give up and ski somewhere else. I noticed that the employees started using UTVs to shuttle skiers to the upper mountain. I was on the second ride up. They took us up the Tannery work road to ride the Topridge lift the rest of the way.
This was a new experience that offered unique views of the former ski trail, the mountain’s boneyard, and the Straight Brook itself. I was glad the employees came up with a different way to get people to the upper mountain when they could’ve just as easily said there was nothing they could do until the gondola reopened. Ultimately, the gondola did reopen about an hour later.
Once I got to the top of the Topridge lift, I dropped down Fairview to The Saddle, and began to make my way through every open trail. I started on the North Side, then I moved to High Peaks chair, then to Straightbrook, and finally, I took Tannery down to the Topridge lift.
Since the Saddle Lodge was closed, I downloaded to the base to have lunch. The conditions were consistent on all open trails. Everything was soft, and while there were some thin or bare spots, they were easily avoided.
After lunch, I rode the gondola back up, and started to cycle through all the trails again, beginning with the North Side. I rode up the High Peaks Quad, where I was surprised to find Lies open. After a thin entrance, the trail opened up into deep spring corn. A trail that I hadn’t expected to open, just became the run of the day. I spent most of the afternoon lapping the various trails off the summit.
Soon, it was time to end the day. With the downloading situation, my last run was on Cloud to Headwaters to Tannery. It felt so weird to finish skiing at the bottom of Toridge. After riding the gondola back down, my season at Gore was officially over.
I had many great days at Gore this year. Now that ski season is over, work has begun on the next capital improvement projects. This includes a new lift at the ski bowl, and new cabins for the gondola. I look forward to seeing those projects completed, and will be back next year to see the result.
Thanks for the post, wish I could have gotten up there for one of the days last weekend.
As for last open – I assume Gore was also last in NY when I skied May 1, 2022.
Nice conditions for final days at Gore. Wish that I could have gone up. Good of the team to improvise while the gondola was being repaired.
Glad I got a couple days in with you this season!
Have a great summer and lets do it again next year.
Were you on the first shuttle that Howie was driving and didn’t make it up the last pitch before topridge? We were on the 1st one to actually make it to the lift. So we probably chatted while we were waiting. I don’t seek out others on this blog but it is nice to know when you are talking or skiing with. Saturday was awesome. Sunday was not.
Great post, thanks for the photos and updates all season long!
Nice read. I enjoyed the last day of the season with my sons . The effort by Gore staff to keep things going even when many skiers seem to have put their skis away for the season was tremendous. My sons and I loaded into the gondola at 8:35am and stopped many times on a slow ride up. We were glad we didn’t get stuck for a substantial amount of time! We packed our lunch up to straight brook lodge and hit every trail once. We downloaded at 1pm. A great close to the season!
Great that you had the opportunity for one last day, and the novel lift experience. Sounds like fun. Nice write up and photos!
According to our records both Gore and Whiteface closed on May 1 2022.
This was the first time in our memory that Gore was the last mountain standing.
They decided (thankfully) to replace more than the cabins on the Gondola.
That was a great day! It actually was drizzling while I waited in line and then later beautiful sun. I was happy when the gondi started up again after stopping on the way up. And hardly anyone was there… heaven!
Looks like a great day. Thanks for the write up and pics, Sno. I admire your dedication. Hopefully you get a couple more days at Killington.
UTV ride up, what a unique experience!