David Cronheim
New member
As a continuation of my ski trip yesterday, to Hunter, I skied Gore today, Fri. 12/27. After staying at the Holiday Inn in Lake George (a nice hotel, by the way), we got to Gore fairly early, 9:10 am. We got dropped off, picked up our lift tickets and were on our way. <BR> <BR>For our first run we took up the incredibly nice 8-passenger express gondie, the Northwoods Express. It is just like all of the other new 8-person gondies- like the Skyeship and K1 at K, the Cloudsplitter at Whiteface, the gondie at Stowe, etc. The only difference was that these gondies had a bit more glass, which gave more light to the cabin. Each car has a little story about the Northwoods or Adirondacks. I thought that was a nice touch. After what I figure was about an 8 minute gondie ride, we got to the summit of Bear Mountain. If you look at the trail map, it makes it look like one big mountain. That is not the case. Gore really does have two separate peaks. Some resorts really fudge this stat, claiming 3 mountains when they are really just different faces, but Gore has 2 different mountains. Gore Mountain itself, is recessed behind Bear mountain a long way. From the base of the resort, you cannot even see Gore Mountain. All you can see is Bear Mountain. <BR> <BR>After we got off the gondie, I was happy that Gore’s infamous winds were not howling. The thermometer read 15 degrees. We put our skis on and took Foxlair, the only intermediate way down at that point from Bear Mountain (Pine Knot to the Straightbrook side was not open). The trail was widened for this year, not that I would have noticed as it was my first time at Gore, but I really like the trail. It made a few turns until it cam back under the gondie. The last little section was really a black slope, but it had a run-out if the skier needed it. From there, we took Wild Air, which it looks like Gore can’t figure out if it should be black or blue. The trail map says two different things and the ski report differs from the actual marking on the hill, black. We took that down basically to the base, but cut off left to try the Adirondack Express Triple. <BR> <BR>I was anxious to try this lift because I have never heard of another express triple lift- quads and six-packs, sure, but a triple no. It was a very smooth ride all the way to the top. The loading and unloading is very slow. They really slow the chair down to almost a stop when you get on and off. From there we skied Showcase. We were hoping to ski Tahawus or Sleeping Bear, but both were closed. Showcase was a nice blue that ran almost its entire length, except for the very bottom that was closed. We made the cut off onto 2B and took the gondie up. <BR> <BR>As we boarded the gondie, we noted the sign indicated which trails from Bear Mt. were open had changed. Pine Knot was open. We decided to brave the snow guns and went quickly through this windy and twisty blue to the bottom of the Straightbrook Quad. I was impressed with Pine Knot. It was a nice intermediate run with sections that would have been marked advanced at other resorts. It really kept you off balance and on your toes for the entire length. <BR> <BR>From there, we got on the Straightbrook Quad for the 900 vertical ft. ascent to the summit of Gore Mountain. The lift, as did all of the others, had footrests and padding. I liked that, but this particular lift also had a rolling bar on the safety bar, with a trail map on it. That was a nice touch. As I rode the lift up I noticed that Hawkeye wouldn’t open (even though they said it would). It just didn’t have enough snow on it to open. I also noticed the new “glade” (Double Barrel) that was under the lift line. It was loaded with rocks and I think I would pass on this one. The last thing I noticed was how steep The Rumor and Lies were. Lies had a double fall line, which The Rumor just dropped straight down. In case you were wondering, The Rumor is so named because when locals heard about the new trail being planned on the super-steep peak, it became a rumor, hence the name. And Lies is the natural companion to a Rumor, no? <BR> <BR> I had been forewarned about the winds, but there weren’t any, to my pleasant surprise. As were unloaded from the lift I saw the old gondola summit station, with all of the cars in it and the lift towers and line intact to a degree that I thought it might be feasible to run again if they needed/wanted to. As I got off the lift I poled for what seemed like an eternity, past Rumor and Lies (both closed) to the top of Cloud. I skied down a little section to the top terminal of the High Peaks Double, which stops well under the summit (not clear on the trail map). We skied Cloud to Headwaters and back to the Straightbrook Quad. Again, there was no lift-line. We took the Quad up and followed a similar route, except that instead of turning off onto Headwaters, we continued straight on Cloud. Luckily, one of the locals warned me about how flat the next section of Cloud was, but on the bright side, there is a steep section right before the flat part. I got up enough speed that I didn’t have to pole at all. Cloud dropped me off right at the top of the North Quad and the Adirondack Express. We skied down the gondie base and took it back up. We skied Fairview, which was incredibly icy and was really the only bad run we skied the whole day. If it had better cover, it would have been fine. We stopped for lunch at the Saddle Lodge. I would describe it as slightly seedy and very old. I had a burger (grilled outside) and a soda. Both were fine. <BR> <BR>By this point in the day, I was almost out of skiing time, so we took a few more runs off of the triple and the gondie, such as Sunway, a green that was getting scraped a little bare and 3B, a short connecting blue. <BR> <BR>At that point it was 2:00 pm and I was done. I cannot say enough good things about Gore. It skied a lot bigger that the trail map shows. The trail map makes it look like one huge mountain, but in reality, it is a set of connected areas. You can ski the 2100’ vertical from Gore Mountain all the way down to the base. You can ski a 1700’ vertical from the gondie to the base. You can ski a 1500’ vertical from the express triple. You can ski a 1600’ vertical from Gore Mountain through the High Peaks area and down to the North Quad. Also, several smaller upper mountain areas offer a 750’ vert. (North Face) to a 900’ vert. (Straightbrook Area). <BR> <BR>Gore is fantastic. That’s all I have to say. I give it a solid “A.” The only thing that it could use is an overhaul of some of the lodges and then it would be an “A+.” Plans for the future include more trails and lifts off of Bear Mountain, a new summit lodge and a connection to the North Creek Ski Bowl, the first commercial ski area in the country, that would extend Gore’s vertical to 2500’, placing it among the highest in the East. I would recommend Gore highly to everyone.