Gore Mtn, NY: 2/20/09 - 2/23/09

[Harvey]

Admin...if you let me slide this weekend, I promise I won't cross post the rest of the season. :roll:

Today's pics: http://harvey44.blogspot.com/2009/02/go ... 22009.html

 

[jamesdeluxe]

Welcome back... did anyone up there ask where you've been?

Nice pic of Straightbrook.

 

[Harvey]

Ski Day 17

Woke up to a Winter Storm Watch for all of the North Country starting early am tomorrow and going into Monday. For those of you who doubt my long range forecasting...I took this Monday off last Monday.

Maybe an inch overnight, and enough wind to load it into certain spots, without blowing it away. It wasn't the pukefest going on over in the Greens, but I'll take it. Conditions this morning were significantly better than end of day yesterday. It's amazing what a few inches can do for early am surfaces.

Gondi went green again at 8:05. I was still booting up so I skipped breakfast.

The Bottom was WAY better than yesterday. Foxlair, Sunway, Fairview and Twister all had soft loose snow on them. You can get away with a Mach 1 run in the Slow Zone on Sunway for one run...first thing in the morning.

Pine Knot and Uncas were getting snowmaking. I got first tracks on Chatiemac, Straightbrook Trees, and Double Barrel below the chair. And good stuff in Chatiemac Glade.

Today was a better for skiing than it was for picture taking. For some reason, half of all my photos were washed out. I can't explain it. The best photos of the day were the above runs and they were a bust.

I got one pic of KHS which was again sweet:

I went into Tahawas trees after a quick lunch in the Saddle. Snow was much softer and quieter than yesterday. And it was getting pounded. I saw more skiers in one run today than I have all season. there must have been 15 skiers come through in direct succession.

The only deadly run of the day was the bump field on Lower Steilhang:

With the snow predicted for tomorrow and Monday, and an appointment with a plumber late in the day, I wanted to keep the day short. I headed over to Burnt Ridge to close out the day. Sagamore is one long hard run when...you're tired, you're on teles, and the whole darn thing is bumped up. It whipped me.

BUT..I MUST SAY...for the first time in my career...I actually zippered about 7 bumps in a row. Not my usual schmere..where I take one line of bumps and go OVER each bump.

This was taking a line in between two rows of bumps and slapping my skis on alternating bump backs. Joeg woulda been proud I think.

I took wise advice and headed out through Hedges for one last shot at Tahawas and back home on Quicksilver.

I'm gunna light a fire, drink a beer, read about all the skiing in VT and wait for the snow.

 

[Harvey]

Ski Day 18

It started snowing around midnight last night. Two inches fell overnight, and it snowed all day. As of now - 4pm - Gore's posting 7" - I'll use that as my number. Still snowing although the radar seems to be showing the end of it. NWS is still calling for more 2-4 more.

It was warmer this morning...in the 20s. I set off even earlier as the Gondi went live at 8:05 yesterday. Today it went even earlier at 7:50. Soft snow and no skiers yet.

My second Gondi run at 8:15...I was all alone in the cabin. It was the cabin that claims Gore had the first ski patrol in the US. Photo evidence of said claim available here.

* * * *

Glades were great. Same as yesterday but better. I was first in Straightbrook trees again, second in Chatiemac.

DS Liftline was primo:

Lower Steilhang...

...to the trees...

The whole day was snowy and sweet.

 

[flyover]

Looks great. Nice TRs.

When I lived on the EC a gazillion years ago, I never did any skiing in the Dacks. It looks like there's some pretty nice tree skiing at Gore.

Sagamore is one long hard run when...you're tired, you're on teles, and the whole darn thing is bumped up. It whipped me.

I get that. I really like good bumps. I like them to the extent that I even kind of miss them sometimes when I'm skiing in Utah. However, a mandatory run out through huge bumps, near the end of long day, when what I really need is a couple of warmdown cruisers, can be just brutal with a free heel. When I get tired, I often get sloppy about putting enough weight on the back ski - a very good recipe for a hard faceplant. Parallel seems the obvious solution, and I often parallel just fine through meaty bumps with free heels, but when I'm beat, its A LOT harder to keep balanced on that sweet spot on the center of my skis - also a good recipe for a faceplant.

It has been about a decade, but I've fractured my left thumb 3 times skiing firm conditions in the East (my only real injuries in 35+ years of skiing). Each time, it was my last run of the day. #-o

 

[Harvey]

Ski Day 19

It snowed lightly all night. I couldn't figure out how it was snowing, as the stars were out, but it did. We got about another two inches. Gore called it an inch.

* * * *

Now on a weekday...I've seen this at 7:45:

...and I've seen this at 7:50:

But I've never seen this at 7:55:

That's the Gondi...with the light green and no one in line. It took me 5 mins to get ready...I was the first one on, all by myself. Completely alone for two runs at the bottom.

Everything was groomed out and again the wind was loading up the sides of the lower mountain trails with anywhere from 2 - 6" on the sides. Aside from the occasional trek from one side of a trail to the other....conditions were carvy.

Across the entire summit, bump troughs were loaded with dense but skiable snow.

When the sun was out it was a pleasure. When the light went flat...the sledding was tougher.

Trails at the top were like those at the bottom...with a nice layer on top.

I stayed in the trees the whole time. On the Monday after Presidents Week you'd expect less skier traffic. But this was insane. I was first in Straightbrook, Double Barrel, Chatiemac, Dark Side and KHS. If anyone is wondering where all the snow from the Hullabaloo Headwall went...I found it in the Dark Side where it had blown in thigh deep.

On my last run....I hit Twister and hugged the racing gates along the side. There was untracked left from Thursday and it was the best groomer run of the day.

Extremely grateful to be back on skis. If just for a few days.

 

[Harvey]

I really like good bumps. I like them to the extent that I even kind of miss them sometimes ... However, a mandatory run out through huge bumps, near the end of long day, when what I really need is a couple of warmdown cruisers, can be just brutal with a free heel. When I get tired, I often get sloppy about putting enough weight on the back ski ... Parallel seems the obvious solution, and I often parallel just fine through meaty bumps with free heels, but when I'm beat, its A LOT harder to keep balanced on that sweet spot on the center of my skis...

...I've fractured my left thumb...

This man is my brotha.

Flyover..not sure if you know this but thumb breakage...it's a tele thing. Been there.

 

[Admin]

Flyover..not sure if you know this but thumb breakage...it's a tele thing. Been there.

No, but it's a skiing thing. Been there.

 

[Harvey]

My only broken bone ever was a Bennett fracture in a fall over the handlebars. My thumb was crunched between my pole handle and a firm surface.

The ortho that I saw told me that a broken thumb was the second most common injury to telemarkers after knee stuff related to non-releasable bindings. I didn't know it was an alpine thing too.

 

[Admin]

I didn't know it was an alpine thing too.

Falling on an outstretched hand while holding a pole is universal, no matter what kind of bindings you're using.

 

[Tony Crocker]

Overall, FTO reports from Gore convey a favorable impression, unlike some other eastern areas.

But I have to ask: today's report says "58 of 90 trails open." All through January Gore reported usually ~60% open, with a max of 72% on 1/28. So what isn't open and why when conditions are as good as these pics show now?

 

[jamesdeluxe]

Overall, FTO reports from Gore convey a favorable impression, unlike some other eastern areas.

Other than the usual suspects (Loon, Hunter, etc), which Eastern areas convey an especially unfavorable impression from across the country?

 

[Harvey]

I have to ask: today's report says "58 of 90 trails open." All through January Gore reported usually ~60% open, with a max of 72% on 1/28. So what isn't open and why when conditions are as good as these pics show now?

In the last week or so Gore stopped including glade count in "% open" numbers. In January the mountain was over 90% open most of the month and that included glades. Your numbers surprise me - did you look every day? I'm pretty sure by 1/10 every thing was going again.

To open all the terrain requires running all the lifts. I think there are 14. After presidents week there's no money in running those lifts. Look at my report from yesterday. The place was absolutely deserted. And they ran maybe 9 lifts. The only thing I really missed yesterday was the Tahawas trees.

It's very interesting that they shut down the new HS Quad today. It seems like tacit acknowledgment that it's not a critical chair. Which, in my opinion, is reality.

Overall, FTO reports from Gore convey a favorable impression, unlike some other eastern areas.

Tony...if you're accusing me of be a "homer" ... most would probably agree. I like Gore for a lot of reasons...and one is just because I want to.

 

[Tony Crocker]

I use http://www.snocountry.com/ for most of the eastern trail counts. This is the first season I've looked up Gore at all:
12/1: 11%
12/7: 19%
12/15: 27%
12/22: 54%
12/26: 58%
12/31: 48%
1/8: 59%
1/14: 56%
1/28: 72%
2/12: 59%
today 64%
These stats are puzzling compared to Harvey's reports.

Other than the usual suspects (Loon, Hunter, etc), which Eastern areas convey an especially unfavorable impression from across the country?

FTO eastern skiers are knowledgeable and usually make the best of what they have. Thus there is judicious choice and timing of which areas to ski, and few consistently bad reports here other than joegm's from Loon. So I don't see a lot of negativity for the same reason you don't see many crappy Mt. Baldy reports from me. If I know it's bad I stay home or go somewhere else.

There are eastern areas popular with the masses (Hunter, Stratton, Okemo, Waterville, Tremblant, etc.) for which we see very few reports on FTO. Killington reports are down precipitously except from Geoff who has a place there. Sunday River would be in this group except for icelantic's recent reports, some of which may require a few grains of salt.

There are also the places like Cannon, Whiteface, Sugarloaf that have great terrain but very unreliable surface conditions that must be cherry-picked by flexible locals to yield a positive experience. These areas interest me, but I would have to be exceedingly lucky to get a good day at one of them on a trip planned in advance. Close cousins to Mt. Baldy IMHO.

 

[Harvey]

Tony...those January dates are midweek. That's reality...they don't run all the chairs midweek. Drive the locals with mid-week passes nuts. Especially when it's the dark side that isn't running. From a weekenders point of view it can be good. Freshies in the trees on Saturday when it snowed on Weds.

Maybe Gore removed the glades from the trail percentage for exactly this reason. A few minutes of drizzle and a drop below freezing and 35% of your terrain is closed. Gore may have felt that they were getting penalized for having so much of their terrain in the trees.

 

[Tony Crocker]

they don't run all the chairs midweek.

That's not uncommon. But limiting terrain access midweek is unusual except for small and remote areas, and Gore is what, #2 or #3 in the state for skier visits?

 

[jamesdeluxe]

Sounds like dollars and cents.

The state's broke and trying to save money, no one's there midweek, and the ones who show up are people like Harvey who've already paid their money and aren't buying stuff in the lodge. Sucks for the skiers, but them's the facts... probably.

 

[Harvey]

Gore is probably second in skier visits after Whiteface, maybe Hunter would be third? (James?)

Are you comparing Gore to the other state run areas WF and Bell? Or to other areas in Vermont? Also how do you open terrain without lifts? Actually Gore does do that. There are some workarounds, but in general more lifts means more terrain.

Truth is most of the people who CARE about mid-week are the hardcore. All they really want are the two summit chairs running, and a way to get up there. Gondola, snowmobile, dog sled.

I think that Gore has returned money to the state in almost all of the last 10 years, so it's revenue positive. It's not exactly like they couldn't afford it. It's just that unlike a private business they can't make decisions on how much to spend...that comes down from the state.

Tickets are still cheaper than Vermont. My season pass, no restrictions (plus Whiteface) was $650. I'm pretty sure that most Vermont areas are more than that. If the tix costs were the same as places with more snow...could they sell them? I don't know.

If you've skied Gore forever, it seems like so much progress has been made. But while it is a state run operation....you'll probably never get a customer satisfaction at all costs outlook like you might at Okemo.

Remember it's the gov'mint.

EDIT: I just checked the Gore site for tomorrow - they are showing 77% open. I couldn't find the percent open number on snow country. One thing is funny - Snocountry has a season total on snow for Gore - 149 inches. Gore doesn't publish this info so I've kept it myself this year and I've got 137. Wonder how they got that and I wonder what I missed?

 

[Harvey]

people like Harvey who've already paid their money and aren't buying stuff in the lodge.

James just what are you saying?

Ok I wasn't going to share this and I didn't put it in my TR.

On Saturday I was getting off the Straightbrook chair...and... my pants basically fell down.

The side zipper thing was shot. I skied all the way down as modestly as I could and bought a brand new pair of gore-tex pants. $240 ...marked down 20%. I offered $75 and they went for it.

Who says I'm cheap?

 

[Sharon]

people like Harvey who've already paid their money and aren't buying stuff in the lodge.

James just what are you saying?

Ok I wasn't going to share this and I didn't put it in my TR.

On Saturday I was getting off the Straightbrook chair...and... my pants basically fell down.

The side zipper thing was shot. I skied all the way down as modestly as I could and bought a brand new pair of gore-tex pants. $240 ...marked down 20%. I offered $75 and they went for it.

Who says I'm cheap?

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

no wonder they need to keep the lifts closed during the week. It's all Harvey's fault.