Friday, February 8, 2013

Gore Mountain: 02/07/2013

Skiing manmade pow on Hawkeye, Thursday afternoon at Gore Mountain, 02/17/2013.

The Saratoga Skier and Hiker, first-hand accounts of adventures in the Adirondacks and beyond, and Gore Mountain ski blog.

I guess I’m a typical Weekend Warrior. I do ninety-plus percent of my skiing on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, so it’s something of a novelty when I get to ski mid-week. Empty slopes, corduroy that lasts all day, and a parking spot 50’ from the lodge is something I could get used to.

I spent Thursday with a group of strong alpine skiers, so we covered a lot of terrain. Consequently I don’t have a ton of photos, but here are a few.

Looking down at Hawkeye from the Straightbrook quad chair

Nice surface on Cloud, viewed through the snowmaking haze

Snowmaking operations were concentrated on the upper mountain, with guns on Hawkeye, Rumor and Cloud. Hawkeye skied great under the guns in the morning and even better in the afternoon when the guns were shut off. I think everyone in our group agreed Hawkeye was the pick of the day. Lies was sweet too, especially the steep upper section where a snowmaking gun or two kept the headwall coated with dry, chalky powder. Rumor was closed, but looks ready to go and should be great this weekend.

Running the guns on Hawkeye...

...and a bunch more laps after the guns were shut off

Topridge was a ton of fun on Sunday and was still in great shape with squeaky, edgeable snow and moderate bumps. All of the lower mountain trails that we skied – Twister, Showcase, Wild Air, Sunway - were in terrific shape for high-speed cruising, having benefited from recent snowmaking and grooming.

Open Pit

Summit snowmaking on Thursday: Hawkeye, Rumor, Cloud

Glades were still closed as of Thursday, but the anticipated snow from Winter Storm Nemo should put some if not all of the woods back into play, along with Burnt Ridge, the North Side and maybe the Ski Bowl as well. Since it’s been basically a month since we’ve been able to ski the glades, this storm is most welcome. Timing couldn’t be better for Gore’s Glades & Glory tree skiing clinic this weekend.

No comments:

Post a Comment