Recently we had the chance to see the progress that’s been made on Gore’s big summer project: the replacement of the Adirondack Express. What impressed us was the amount of work that’s required to complete a job of this size.
The original lift required twenty-eight towers to cover the 7000 foot expanse from Gore’s base to the saddle on Bear Mountain. The new express will require twenty free-standing lift towers to do the same.
Each one of those twenty towers will sit on a deep footing that will rest below grade on a surface that was blasted out of bedrock. Within each of these craters a form is being built that will contain the rebar, concrete and bolt configuration needed to hold up the massive towers.
The full lineup of these forms should be in place and ready for concrete by early or mid-August. The pour will then cure for two weeks. In the interim, grading and grass seed with be replaced. Sometime after Labor Day the waiting game for chopper availability should begin.
In other news, the pipe on Twister is being replaced in it’s entirety. It’s old and was problematic last year, requiring field repairs during the season.
In addition twenty-two HKD Impulse tower guns will be installed down skiers right on Topridge, along the steepest part of the pitch. The goal is to get the trail online as quickly as possible in the early season.
While discussing plans for the High Peaks lift we learned that the current Unit Management Plan includes a provision to straighten access to Lower Steilhang to allow more fall line skiing and trail grooming. The existing trail would still be used to access the trees on the Dark Side.
The skiing should improve with the removal of 6 towers, it’s kind of like decluttering the slope.
Uh oh. That Steilhang news doesn’t sound good…
Grooming on Stielhang is a great thing. That trail with no grooming was a ski destroying death trap with boilerplate ice and rocks everywhere you went. Grooming will imporove that trail drastically. It can still be left ungroomed on powder days when it would actually be skiable with no grooming. I would much rather have a groomed trail than a closed or dangerous trail.
Lower Steilhang is old school cool !
Leave Steil alone, I can’t ski it well but I love watching people rip it. Groom everything and trails loose character. Hit it late last season in the morning, it was rock hard, taught my little son how to side slip on the sides. Later on that sunny spring day, he hit it again and this time he skied it.
Lower Steil is a tough one. I personally like it as is. IMO it’s a double black because the combo of a blue pitch with irregular bumps that makes a 90 degree turn right at the headwall. The bumps that form are irregular to say the least.
It’s narrow (yes!) and has to be blasted with a ratnik ground gun to get the headwall covered. If it gets straightened, widened and often groomed it might end up as a single black.
I haven’t skied a ton of places but a decent amount of NY, VT and NH. Some out west, a little Switzerland. I’ve never seen another trail like Lower Steilhang. The closest thing to it I’ve skied is probably Upper Darby. Trail straightening may (or may not) IMPROVE the skiing on that trail; it could diminish the diversity of Gore.
I love Gore and my kneejerk is biased against change, especially when trail widening is a possibility. On the pro side, the new trail has fall line skiing, and could be open more often. The con side is more groomed terrain, less ungroomed.
Hey, whatever, just replace that damn chair. Scary old.
Lower Steilhang is one of the best trails on the mt., the way it is. Don’t change it. If you can’t ski it, DON’T
I’d recommend a groomer wide path to the left of the headwall for those that don’t want to play on the 90 degree steep. Two groomers wide if needed. Let’s some trees live between the two. Left to go around, right for old school.
My 6 yr old yelled at me for the first time on the headwall. “you should not have brought me here.” After 3rd run on same day, she was rolling nonstop and slipping the blue ice, “this is easy.” Love that trail.
this work sounds great…might have to leave wf and ski gore next season
Rick is correct on this issue!
I’m with Rick also. LEAVE IT ALONE! Steilhang is one of the few old school trails left on the mountain. Soon it too will be gone and with it you are taking away the history of Gore Mountain! Believe it or not “Gore Management” there are actually skiers out there that don’t like the groomers, in fact we would rather they not be groomed and we are willing to wait for those days when you can open up the old school magic. Steilhang has a great lead in that when LEFT ALONE gets beautifully bumped up and is a great lead in to the head wall, so what if it’s a icy death trap, it’s old school technical skiing at its best, and some of us live for that. There are more than enough novice slopes on the mountain to groom.
What’s next? Knocking the headwall off The Rumor? Why does every trail on the mountain have to be dumbed down so every novice can ski it?
I never recommend that anyone ski Steilhang unless you hate your skis, it’s one of the deepest days of the year, or you REALLY know what you are doing. A groomed Steilhang would be a much better experience to all and could easily be left to bump up when there was fresh snow. Before exclaiming “I’M AGAINST GROOMING” ask yourself “On non-powder days, would you like to ski Steilhang groomed, or not at all since it will often be closed due to boilerplate.” I will take it groomed. Gore grooms a ton of its trails already which make for an amazing experience for intermediate skiers who make up the greatest portion of the market. Improving grooming by expanding it will only make things better.
“On non-powder days, would you like to ski Steilhang groomed, or not at all since it will often be closed due to boilerplate.”
At the risk of losing the way it is now? I take “not at all” for that situation.
It’s labeled a double black for a reason. Expanding it is simply unnecessary. The mountain does not need “Lies 2.0”
All trails should be groomed and straightened out making skiable for all. In the event someone should hit a rock free tuning vouchers should be available at customer service
One detail we left out: the top terminal of the new Adirondack Express will be roughly in the same spot, but about five feet lower, reducing the pitch of the exit ramp.
snoloco says:
July 21, 2014 at 9:28 am
“I never recommend that anyone ski Steilhang unless you hate your skis, it’s one of the deepest days of the year, or you REALLY know what you are doing. A groomed Steilhang would be a much better experience to all and could easily be left to bump up when there was fresh snow. Before exclaiming “I’M AGAINST GROOMING” ask yourself “On non-powder days, would you like to ski Steilhang groomed, or not at all since it will often be closed due to boilerplate.” I will take it groomed. Gore grooms a ton of its trails already which make for an amazing experience for intermediate skiers who make up the greatest portion of the market. Improving grooming by expanding it will only make things better.”
WRONG.WRONG.WRONG.
Glad to hear improvements to Lower Steilhang. It’s time for it to become a more skier friendly double diamond.