Gore Mountain: 02/27/2010

This past week's weather rollercoaster deposited unbelievable amounts of snow in the Catskills, and impressive totals in the Adirondacks as well. I was excited, but anxious about the conditions we'd find at Gore this weekend. Gore had dangerously straddled the line between snow and rain for a couple days, and firsthand accounts of actual snow conditions on the mountain were few and far between.

Light snow was falling as we pulled into a crowded parking lot. Got on the gondi for our traditional warm-up run down Wild Air. That run would be one our of very few runs on the groomers. With our first turns in the trees, it was obvious that we were in for some phenomenal conditions. Three feet of snow had fallen, and any concerns I had about ncp that might have mixed in vanished.


Daniel has become a tree-meister this year, but recent conditions had taken the glades at Gore out of play. Knowing the entire mountain was 100% open, our plan was to sample all the low angle glades. With a pea soup fog and falling snow eliminating visibility, the trees were the place to be. Killkare Glades, followed by a ride up the SB quad to Cloud, Open Pit and Mineshaft Glades.

We took Upper Stielhang to Windy Hill to Twister and the Twister Glades. Twister Glades were "officially" closed due to racing on lower Twister. But, we were invited in, as long as we agreed to exit onto Echo. Twister Glades, with its laid-back grade and widely spaced hardwoods have always been among my favorites, and Beth and Daniel really let their skis fly. Because they were "closed," there were still a lot of untracked lines. Our runs in Twister Glades were some of the funnest of the day.


After a quick lunch break, we skied the Cave Glades, another of my favorites. It's more of a challenge than Twister Glades, but Daniel had been doing so well that I felt he could handle it. And I knew that he would love exploring the cave.

Down to the Topridge Triple, and up to take Ruby Run so that we could hit Twister trees again. We detoured to sample the Tahawus Glades first. By the time we made it all the way back to the base, we only had time for a fast cruiser. We finished off our day the same way we started it: Foxlair to Wild Air.


At the beginning of the season, I couldn't have imagined that just a couple months later I'd have a family ski day that consisted almost entirely of skiing the glades. I couldn't be happier.