Despite a mixed bag of winter precipitation that impacted the Adirondacks on Saturday, I was able to enjoy two of the nicest ski days of the season so far on Friday and Sunday at Gore. Friday was a “professional development” day for me – a rare chance to hit the slopes rather than report to the office.
Friday started out crisp and sunny, with temperatures around 10 degrees as we pulled into the parking lot. Grooming crews put a nice surface of corduroy on the open trails, and with light skier traffic the conditions remained loose and edgeable all day. Mid-week ski days can be a dangerous thing – it’s hard not to look out across the snow covered Adirondacks from the empty slopes and wonder why not do this every day? I guess I missed my calling as a professional ski bum.
With Saturday’s dismal forecast, we pushed our family ski day to Sunday and rolled the dice with snow conditions. We expected the trails to be more like a tilted ice rink, but the grooming crews did a great job getting the slopes back into shape. A mix of freezing rain and several inches of wet snow on Saturday put a nice coating of white on the mountain. Showcase was the pick of the day with carvable snow that invites opening up the throttle for wide, high-speed turns.
With basically four routes down the mountain – Foxlair or Ruby from the top of the gondi leading to Sunway, Quicksilver, Showcase and Sleighride – there’s a decent amount of terrain for this early in the season. Snowmakers have been working on adding Topridge and Pine Knot off the gondi along with some summit trails, hopefully by this weekend. Of course all eyes are focused on the pending storm for Tuesday / Wednesday. With a decent base already building on the trails and in the woods, a foot or more of snow could lead to a significant jump in open terrain.
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