Gore Mountain, NY: 3/1/08

Straightbrook Glade EntranceA great day, but first a pet peeve. Zelda and I have serious cash invested into two full passes, and a pass for the day care, the Bear Cub den, for our daughter. My complaint… you can’t drop your child off until 8:15, but the lifts run as early as 7:45. I know the lifts aren’t supposed to spin until 8:30. But it’s a lot of cash to invest in a mountain to then be at a disadvantage on days with fresh snow. Ok got that out of the way.

Since I was up in mid-February it did that warm wet thing, then there was 4 inches at some point, 16” on this past Weds, and 5 or 6 last night into today. As we were loading into the Gondi, things looked great on Showcase and everything at the bottom. It looked like all the snow that fell was on top of the corduroy.

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Harvey Mountain, NY: 2/17/08

Inspired by the conditions I found in the Siamese yesterday, and deterred by the holiday going on at Gore, I decided to “sleep in” and see what I could dig up in the woods for a second day in a row. I got up at 7am and by 7:45 was walking down Harvey Road with my BC skis on my shoulder. I jumped onto Garnet Hill’s trail system, and took Old Faithful to 4H towards the Garnet Hill ski shop.

view from Hooper Mine

I was the first one on the trails, after the groomer, so I guess you could call it first tracks. The trails were in good shape. While skiing 4H, Mark and Julie, a couple of tele instructors from the area, popped out of a chute known as the “elevator shaft.”

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Gore and the Siamese Ponds Wilderness: 2/16/08

I got to the mountain at the same time as yesterday. Instead of being totally alone in the base lodge, there were maybe 50 people inside. The holiday was on. At the top of the Gondi, there was no waiting at the rope – for the second day in a row, I was first down Pine Knot.

Mineshaft Glade at Gore Mountain

I hit the Pine Brook glade on the way down – as good as yesterday really, except for a few spots you had to jump over. When I got to the Straightbrook chair it wasn’t open. I waited.

Marc, the head of ski patrol, and Howie another patroller, ski up and wait with me. On the way up he “recommends Chatiemac” all the way down. I told him I was headed for the Straightbrook glades, and he repeats… “all the way down.”

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