Gore Mountain: Christmas Week 2006

Gore Mountain snowmakingI skied Gore all week. In the past I haven’t always understood how Gore chooses to allocate snowmaking resources. But I have to say that this past week, Gore went all out. They blew on everything that was open, every night. They blew all day long on the days when it was cold enough. And while Hawkeye’s opening was a bit of a frustration, they opened up something new everyday.

On the 28th it went down to 10 degrees at our cabin and the mountain made huge progress overnight. If you got there for first tracks — especially on the 29th — the skiing was excellent. It was cloudy, but up top you were actually above the clouds.

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My First Winter Solo

beaver damI didn’t plan a solo trip. It was early March in 1998. There had been a lot of snow that season but in the last 10 days a front had come through. Rain had fallen before the frontal passage and brutal cold had followed. All that snow was locked in, beneath an tough crusty layer.

My regular ski partner and I had been watching the weather, hoping for some new snow, so we could get back into the woods. The plan was for a two or three night overnight in the Siamese Ponds Wilderness. Made to order, early in the week, a low came across the southern tier of the US, turned north off the coast and headed towards nor’easter land. The call was for a lot of snow, starting to fall Friday morning.

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