Today was a top 10 day. Fantastic. Real powder tree skiing doesn’t happen every week at Gore. No surprise, I couldn’t sleep last night. When it’s dumping, I just keep waking up to look out the window. I crashed about midnight and final got out of bed around 4:30.
Conservatively we got 14″ overnight and another inch today. The snow that fell after midnight last night…maybe the last 5 inches was total blower. It snowed lightly all day, even when the sun was out.
It was 10 degrees when I started the car and headed to the mountain. My new plow guy was nowhere to be found, last night or today before I left for the mountain. No problem really I put the car at the top of the hill, and blasted my way down.
The plan was to meet Adk Keith at the Gondi’s opening. Plans were left loose for a possible meeting with PDQ and her friend Amy. Almost hour early, I pulled up into the parking lot and parked right up front. I see a Subie with a woman in a yellow coat herding some doggies. I introduced myself to Powderqueen. We got on the second or third Gondi and went to the top. With the summit roped off we hit Showcase.
Next time up a crowd had gathered at the summit rope…and down it went. As 50 skiers pounded Pine Knot, we hit Uncas which was being ignored for some unknown reason. After controlling my glee, and with a little encouragement, I did conserve some untracked for those who followed. Down to the Straightbrook Chair, Up to Chatiemac into the Glades. It was deluxe. Being in the trees, driving forward, straight down the fall line, without a care in the world. It was a total blast.
We got first tracks on both the Chatiemac Glade and Mineshaft. We did Red Dog and it was great — everything was open.
We met Amy at the saddle for a break. When we headed back out we hit Tahawas trees and rode the North Chair with Amy. We never got to the Dark Side. We did make our way over to Burnt Ridge. From the Saddle…Twister, Twister Glades, Echo to Gully and down (over?) to the lift. It is flat. I walked it in the summer and thought it had some pitch but I guess I really misjudged it. When conditions are normal Eastern fast… it will be fine but today it was a trudge.
Sagamore — the black trail on Burnt Ridge — is epic, long with some nice pitch. It’s like Showcase on steroids with huge steps down, maybe four of them. It was big fluffy cut up bumps. We got to the top again and ran into Jeff the Skipatrol. He’s the guy who gave me a permit to hit Tahawas last weekend. He told us that the coverage in the Cirque glade was thin and there were “rivers” to cross, but we gotta go for the view.
In we went. It is beautiful. I took a few pics, but you really need a wide angle to get it. We did get our skis wet in the crossings and had to take a break to scrape the ice off everything. Down to the bottom and we called it a day around 1:30. There is more powder to slay tomorrow. Maybe my best day ever.