A quick update from Saturday at Gore. The weekend may have featured winter's last full grip on the mountain, as spring conditions have taken hold since then. Despite a lack of recent snowfall, the mountain skied well with generally edgeable hardpack conditions on the steeper expert trails and packed powder on the lower mountain cruisers.
Sometimes when the mountain's fully open, we zero in on the summit trails & glades and spend the whole day there, never even seeing the rest of the mountain. But today we explored around, hitting Burnt Ridge, the North Side, the Dark Side as well as the summit.
Hawkeye, Chati and Open Pit were firm, fast & fun. Rumor had some icy patches that were easily avoided. Bases look deep, setting the stage for what could be some excellent spring skiing in the coming weeks.
Coverage is also good in the trees, but showing the combined effects of traffic and lack of recent snow. We did find some very nice snow conditions in some of the out-of-the way stashes that merited a return visit. Darby Woods, Birch Bark Alley and Mineshaft were also in decent shape.
Over at Burnt Ridge, Echo was closed for racing, but Sagamore had excellent packed powder on the upper two thirds. The final pitch was more edgeable hardpack, but still quite skiable.
It's hard to believe that we've reached the end of the weeks-long pattern of snow and cold that gripped the northeast. But March can be full of surprises, and I would bet that we haven't seen the last of winter.
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