Gore Mountain: 03/08/2014

Maybe it was the 5 inches of surprise snow earlier in the week, maybe it was the brief taste of spring while the sun was out for a couple runs, but the skiing at Gore on Saturday seemed a whole lot nicer than a week ago.

Strong sun and blue skies in the morning seemed to promise epic early spring conditions. While the sun was out, the lower mountain surfaces softened to a beautiful dampish packed powder, the kind of snow that peels off under the edges of your skis like the layers of an onion. But by 11am the clouds had moved back in and that was that.

A perfect morning for riding the triple

Wednesday’s new snow brought the glades back to life, and though a few sports were thin and a little scratchy, we expect conditions like that in the trees. Any glades are better than no glades, and it was fun having the woods back in play.

Daniel trying out his telemark skills for the first time in the glades

Even Sylvie likes the adventure of finding untracked snow

Amazingly, three days after the last snowfall, we scored first tracks in one of our tucked-out-of-the-way tree shots. The unskied line was a bit tricky, with a breakable crust under the new snow – anyone who may have followed us in should find that our four sets of tracks improved the skiing there.

Daniel telemarking in the morning's hero snow

Uncas view

There’s been lots of talk about the potential winter storm brewing for the middle part of this week. Gore’s in great shape now to take advantage of the new snow if it materializes. There’s good base everywhere, and the glades are skied in well. A foot of storm snow would deliver the best skiing of the season. Winter ain’t over, not by a long shot.