First Time on the Summit

Do you remember your first time skiing the summit? If you came to Gore as an advanced skier, it was probably your first time at the mountain. If, like me, you developer as a skier at Gore...you probably remember your first time. I was on leather boots and long skinny skis when I started skiing Gore. All I could really handle was Sunway. As I "upgraded" my gear, I started to hit Showcase. For years my ski buddy was Rand. Rand started to get better and one day he told me he'd "been up top." I was in awe. He said to me..."you know dude...you could totally handle Chatiemac or Hawkeye." He couldn't convince me to go...and I spent my time convincing him to stay at the bottom with me. The next year, at the end of March, it dumped over 2 feet....I can't remember the year... but it was mid to late 90s. The mountain was almost deserted. However... there was this GANG that formed...all ages...from 10 to 50 and varying abilities. Rand says to me...IF YOU CAN'T SKI HAWKEYE TODAY - YOU NEVER WILL. The finality of it all....I went. In those days...it was a commitment to go up top. All the way to the bottom...load the old red Gondi...and take the slow ride up. You didn't want to make that trip more than once a day. By the time we got up there...HUGE cutup bumps were forming and we were basically LEAPING over them. It was so much fun that we were laughing as we skied. We kept a group of 10 SKIERS together for over 2 hours. I'd never skied snow so soft that I'd lost all fear of falling. It's a great feeling to overcome a long held fear. I'll never forget it. Would love to hear your story. Post a comment below.

Aerial of Bear Mtn

Who Likes It Cold?

I do. It's been really nice here in downtown NJ...I don't think we've had temps into the 90s yet. This week the highs are going to be in the 60s and 70s. Sweet. If I could have record cold in every season...I'd take it. Record Cold in the Summer - Highs in the 70s, no humidity. Record Cold in the Fall - Nice days and cold nights by the fire. Record Cold in the Winter - no meltdowns, and great snow preservation. Record Cold in the Spring - A long season of spring skiing. Check. Check. Check. Check.

Mystery Photo #1

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2 Days on Fixed Heels

I always say I've never done any alpine...but it's not true. I alpined 2 days in my life...one at Gore in the old Gondi days- early 90s. I rented gear and conditions were really bad - a sheet of ice and frozen dirt. If you skied Gore before they had access to the Hudson...you know. The second time was actually a fair test. I was at Squaw for the first time. I was definitely still an intermediate on teles. I rented alpine gear and was skiing like an advanced beginner. Tripping on my tails, and frustrated walking in tight boots that were supposed to be excellent.

Back on tele in the afternoon and I was back to being an intermediate. I skied with a client. He was a total bomber, on alpines, on his home mountain. I skied stuff WAY beyond my ability. Anyway he took me up a lift on KT22. It had skull and crossbones on the lift at the bottom. "Expert terrain only." He ASSURED me that an intermediate would be fine up there. We get off the lift and the wind is howling. There is this crack in the headwall with a sign.... TRIPLE black diamonds, a skull, and the words "The Slot." I was too scared to even look over the edge. All you could see through the slot was blue Sierra sky.

He lets me freak for a few secs and then tells me to take my skis off. We walk across a bunch of moon rocks, and get on this cat trail traverse...and somehow end up in a place he called the Enchanted Forest. It was awesome...really widely spaced huge trees. I know the tale isn't totally relevant to the title of the post. And it may not even be totally true. That's just the way I remember it. Somebody who has skied Squaw could tell me if the names match up with the topography up there.

Harvey's Trip Reports

I counted 150" of snow almost exactly this year. That was with almost nothing after Feb 20. While that was an average total, what was below average was the late season - almost no snow. What was better than average was the lack of multiple debilitating rain/meltdown situations. I'd bet that the number of days the trees were skiable this season was above average.

So...on to my reports. I've been accused of being too positive and not giving solid beta on conditions etc. The problem is that when I'm skiing I am usually totally pysched, and I end up having a good time. The average expert alpine skier....might be bored out of his/her mind doing what I do. Driving up the interstate, lighting a fire, waking up before dawn, making coffee, driving over, and skiing as hard as I can all day long. Comin' home for beer and blog. Just typing that out is fun. I'm a teleskier - 800 feet of vertical is fine for me. Slow lifts are great. The Dark Side has even less real vertical and it's probably my favorite part of the mountain. I understand that my lack of any need for variety puts me in the minority.

I completely understand why expert alpiners would choose other mountains. I had a hell of a time keeping up with Patrick and James at Whiteface. The act of skiing for me is magic. I still can't believe that I can even do it. It may have something to do with starting at age 40. Every time I get my skis around that next tree, I smile inside. I'm probably not going to change my style. My reports are probably going to continue to be on the positive side. Let's face it... I'm just a cross country skier who learned to make Pturns and took it over to Gore, to get some early season slidin. Now I'm hooked.

Gore Mountain Summer Aerial

3 Things I Like About Gore Mountain

Dreaming about winter, and pondering some of my favorite things about Gore Mountain:

1 - The runs under the lifts. High Pines, Dark Side, Straightbrook. Now Sagamore. Even Showcase is decent. With those first three...they are just a little beyond me, so the challenge is perfect. Also I like any run where irregular bumps form - the opposite of zipper line. Somehow I'm just more in tune with those runs.

2 - The lack of lift lines. I hope the optimists are right and we'll enjoy that for a long time to come.

3 - The terrain. If you've even been to a mountain like Blue Mtn in PA....it's a straight ridge. Blacks in the middle, Blues next to that, Greens are windy roads on the side. So boring. Gore's got all kinds of convolutions, that set up different areas with different personalities. Ya you've got flats in there. So what. One thing for sure...on teles the flats are no big deal.

And when you're riding the Straightbrook...you get about a 1/3 of the way up and look over to the right. Basically your in a wooded bowl, that you can ski almost all of...trails, glades, and off the map. It's like a big playground. And on how many mountains are the two summit chairs so well protected from the wind? What mountains of Gore's size have that much tree skiing?