Gore Mountain: 04/05/2014

Sunny, soft spring skiing remained elusive at Gore on Saturday. Occasional glimpses of the sun and short breaks of blue sky failed to get temperatures out of the 20s on the upper mountain.

Mid-mountain down remained above freezing, so gondi laps on the front side trails were the place to be. Snow progressively softened from the top of the gondi down, with nice spring corn conditions from around the saddle lodge down on Showcase, Twister, Sleighride, Wild Air, Sunway and Quicksilver.

Frosted gondi cabins and frosted trees

Twister

Chipping away at the ice

From the top of the gondi down past the saddle lodge all of the trees were encased in a quarter to a half inch of ice, which was at least beautiful to look at. And as if to prove that winter hasn’t given up yet, a snow squall blew through at lunch time dropping a half inch of snow in about 15 minutes.

Beth skiing Sunway

Cool ice-encrusted trees along Sunway

Lunchtime squall

One run down Uncas towards the Straightbrook chair was enough to confirm our suspicions that the summit trails wouldn’t be worth skiing today. Uncas transitioned from frozen hard at the top to death chunks in the middle and finally to corn at the very bottom. The Straightbrook and High Peaks chairs were spinning though, and we could see a few brave skiers on Hawkeye and Lies, so I’d be curious to hear firsthand what conditions like up there.

Summit view from Ruby Run

We always shoot to end our season with one of those classic days of spring skiing under bluebird skies, but it may not come to pass this year. Family obligations kept us home on Sunday (which was bluebird), and we will be away on vacation the next two weekends. Coverage on the mountain looks great for early April, and I’ve been told that the next two weekends are “no-brainers,” so perhaps there’s an outside chance for the last weekend in April at Whiteface if not Gore.