Quick update from Gore as of Saturday. Obviously things have changed with the 7 inches of snow reported the next day and another storm bearing down on us as I type.
Gore's been through some ups and downs since our last visit over New Year's weekend, and we were pretty pleased with the conditions we found on Saturday. We hit the summit terrain first and stayed there until our lunch break, mostly skiing under the guns on Hawkeye but checking out the other open terrain as well. My photos don't capture the crowds, but at times it seemed like everyone decided to ski Hawkeye at the same time. A Mountain Host even skied into me, knocking me over. Despite all that Hawkeye was run-of-the-day, with Lies a close second.
Snowmaking crews were at work on Rumor, and Gore just announced it will open tomorrow (Wednesday). Glades were obviously not in play as of Saturday although that has now changed. Front side trails were a bit scraped down by the time we hit them after lunch although Wild Air was in good shape after recent snowmaking.
It's a good indication of just how big and spread out Gore is when I think about all the terrain that we didn't ski on Saturday. We never got over to Burnt Ridge, the North or the Dark Side, didn't hit Top Ridge. It's looking like we'll be back this weekend, so we'll make a point of hitting those areas.
I've said before how nice the new Saddle Lodge and Straightbrook Lodge are. They improve the skiing experience far more than I thought any lodge upgrade could. One thing that still needs to be worked out however is the food service at the Saddle Lodge. The line was a good 20-25 minutes at around 12:45, and Gore wasn't even particularly crowded on Saturday. I'm sure things will improve (may need to change some of the menu selections) but for now the food service counter doesn't seem to be able to accommodate the huge increase in seating capacity (seating space more than doubled). Best to eat lunch on the off-hours, or BYO.
Anyone who's skiing the storm tomorrow or the day after is in for a treat. I'd expect ropes to be dropping on much of the natural snow trails and glades that aren't already open. We're looking forward to being back up on Saturday.
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