Gore Mountain: 01/12/2014

Carousel. Yo-yo. Call it what you want, the up-and-down weather cycles we've had so far this winter have been playing havoc with ski conditions in the Northeast. We've had some good ski conditions, but right now... not so much.

Mid-day gondola non-line

The good news is that bases have held up well on snowmaking trails following Saturday's Big Thaw (aka Thaw #3). The bad news is that the natural snow trails are shot, the woods are shot, and surfaces are coarse frozen granular with some icy patches. If that sounds pretty grim, it is. But with a gradual return to more seasonable weather over the coming week, snowmaking and grooming crews should at least be able to restore the surfaces of many of the currently open trails in time for the MLK weekend.

West Mountain: 01/08/2014

Not only was last night my first visit to West Mountain this winter, it was also my first visit under the mountain’s new management. The Post-Star has done an excellent job covering Apex Capital’s plans for managing the mountain out of bankruptcy, you can read about it here, here, and here. I was anxious to see whatever sprucing up has been done so far at the mountain, and to see what the skiing would be like after rain and warm temperatures Sunday night and Monday followed by the arrival of the over-hyped polar vortex.

14 Deals and Discounts for 2014

If you have flexibility in your schedule, there’s no need to pay full rate for lift tickets. Listed below are the top deals and discounts I’ve found for 2014. All information is accurate at the time of publication, but be sure to check each ski area’s website for additional details. One more tip: “like” each ski area’s Facebook page to stay up to date on additional promotions that may be announced during the season.

#14 – Price Chopper Ski Any 3 coupon books – The $149 Big Mountain passbook gets you 3 full day lift tickets good at Gore, Whiteface, Bromley, Smuggler’s Notch, Jiminy Peak and Windham. There’s also a $119 Family Mountain passbook for West Mountain, Plattekill, Belleayre and several others. These coupons are good Sunday through Friday, non-holiday.

#13 – Take Your Kids to Gore Weeks - Kids 19 and under ski and ride free with a full paying parent all week, Tuesday, January 21 through Sunday, January 26. If you miss that, there’s a second week scheduled for Monday, March 17 through Sunday, March 23. A family of 4 can ski for $150 on the weekend, $120 mid-week (note: Thursdays and Fridays are weekend rate). This is one of the very few ski discounts available on a Saturday.

Gore Mountain: 01/04/2014

With a foot of cold, dry powder from Thursday's storm, conditions were virtually guaranteed to be superb at Gore this weekend. I spent a good part of Thursday at work thinking about how I could be "sick" the next day, but the boss knows there's no such thing as me being legitimately ill the day after a storm. So I had to settle for the day after the day after, which turned out to be pretty good anyway.

Straightbrook looking a lot better than a week ago

Gore Mountain: New Year's Day 01/01/2014

What a surprise to arrive at Gore late (10am) on a holiday and find the main parking lot still half empty. Actually that shouldn’t have been much of a surprise because New Year’s Day hardly ever brings out the crowds. That’s too bad because it happened to be one of the nicest ski days so far this year.

Foxlair