Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Gore Mountain: Christmas Eve, 12/24/2016

Northwoods gondola at Gore, Christmas Eve 2016.

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

It may have been raining down in the lowlands, but Santa showed up a day early at Gore, bringing a couple inches of new snow with him. It didn't matter if you were naughty or nice (we had skiers from both lists in our group), everyone was treated to one of the best early season days so far this winter.

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Gore Mountain: 12/17/2016

A nice snowfall arrived with perfect timing Friday night and Saturday morning, setting up one of the best ski days so far this season. We left Saratoga intending to head up to Whiteface, but after being stuck behind snowplows for 10 miles with no sign they were going to pull over, we bailed at Warrensburg and headed up to Gore instead. I guess that's one of the benefits of our dual-mountain ORDA passes.

A view of Gore's summit trails from Uncas, Saturday morning 12/17/2016.

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

Thursday, December 15, 2016

Whiteface: 12/14/2016

A lone skier on Essex, Whiteface Mountain, Wednesday 12/14/2016.

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

We had the opportunity to enjoy great mid-winter conditions for ORDA's annual Media Day event showcasing Whiteface Mountain on Wednesday. Cloudy skies with on-and-off snow made for difficult picture taking, but I'll happily trade photo ops for ski conditions.

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Gore Mountain: 12/10/2016

Gore Mountain, Saturday, Dec 10, 2016.

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

If you spend any time at all in the lodge, on a chairlift or in line to buy a lift ticket, you can't avoid the conversations comparing the ski season to previous years. It's a topic that comes up most frequently in the early weeks of the season, when every bit of progress is measured against the snowfall and trail counts of winters gone by. Every skier has a slightly different take on how 2016-17 is shaping up, but one thing is unanimous: we're off to a way better start than last year.

Friday, December 9, 2016

Killington, VT: 12/08/2016

I don’t do too many reports from Vermont, but I had the opportunity to ski mid-week at Killington yesterday. I’ve skied at Killington many times over the years, but for some unknown reason it always seemed to be in marginal conditions. This time, thanks to recent natural snowfall plus an expansion of Killington’s already massive snowmaking operations (dividends from last month’s World Cup event), I got to see the mountain at its early season best.

Killington, Thursday 12/09/2016.

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