Gore Mountain, NY: 11/24/12

It’s only opening day if you’re there right?  We’d missed Gore’s spring skiing bumpfest yesterday. And as I checked the weather last night, a week of warm inversion, followed by rain, and a cold front…well, I wasn’t expecting much.

Gore Mountain NY

It started spitting frozen precip last night and eventually it turned to a light snow. It actually snowed on and off most of the night and day on the hill, and I’m recording an inch for the top of Bear.  Much of what fell on bare ground vanished, but you could see it was sticking to the trails.

Zelda, Neve and I all made cautious first turns.  While it seemed kind of crazy to get Neve a lesson when she was only likely to get one run in off the Gondola, I was glad that her first turns were handled by Erin, not me.

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Skiing the Whiteface Slides

The Slides at Whiteface are some of the most exciting sidecountry in the northeast. The steep, ungroomed terrain, the all natural conditions and the fact they’re open only a few days a year, heighten the mystique and generate a lot of curiosity about what first time skiers can expect. We’re often asked for information by those who haven’t had the opportunity to ski the Slides.

skiing Whiteface Slides
The Slides before 2011 (photo by Mike White)

In August of 2010, Highpeaksdrifter penned our first guide to skiing the Whiteface Slides. It provided insight for the uninitiated and pure stoke for those who’ve been into the cirque and long to return.

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Whiteface Opening Day 2012

Thursday night I arrived home to find an email from Whiteface’s snow sports school director saying the mountain was opening Saturday. Work flew by during the day on Friday in anticipation of skiing. Friday night we conducted our family ritual of tuning skis and digging through closets to collect our gear.

This morning we took it slow. We’ve learned not to hurry on opening day as things often start slowly as crews deal with last minute grooming or lift issues. There was none of that today as the new management team pulled it off without a hitch.

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