Gore Mountain, NY: 12/31/09

Ski Day 7: I should probably call today Ski Day 1. Some big firsts, for our family. Our daughter Neve had her first real day on skis. Zelda had her first Day on alpine gear and her first day of the season. For us ... it was pretty exciting.

I really don't want this entry to be about paid parking, but I do have a few things to say. Essentially what paid parking has done to our day is move it up by about 45 minutes. We really wanted to have our gear and car close at hand, so we left for the mountain at 7:00 am. To make this possible, we decided to have breakfast at the mountain instead of at home. It was amazing how much I relaxed once we parked around 7:15. In the end it paid to be "upfront." I counted 5 different trips to the car.

We told Neve we were going to a restaurant for breakfast. She said "you don't go to a restaurant for BREAKFAST!" We had two breakfast sandwiches and three OJs for about $20 bucks, Oddly I have no problem paying a hefty premium for food. I'd definitely rather buy breakfast the ten dollars for more convenient parking.

I would recommend to Gore that they open food service earlier. The parking is clearly driving some people to come in earlier, and I wasn't the only one trying to order breakfast before they were open.

We met BJ - Neve's instructor - and all around great person - in front of the Northwood's Lodge at 8:30. Neve got shy, but BJ did a great job bringing her out. I was pretty nervous about the lesson. I kept thinking .. if she likes this ... I'm GOLDEN!

Zelda stayed to watch the lesson and I headed for the Gondi. Gondi had been green for about 15 mins when I got on. Surprised to see no line. Could have been in a cabin by myself.

Foxlair had really good snow. The had the webbing extended so far down Sunway, that there was no way to cruise it up to Showcase. Sunway also had very good coverage. QuickSilver had it's moments of soft manmade and bulletproof.

Zelda and I agreed that I'd do two runs and then reconnect after our daughters "30 minute lesson." Second run, I went straight to the Adirondack Express to save time. Under the chair, some good skiers were ripping the corduroy.

It looked like Twister was open, but no... I was redirected to Sleighride. In all my years at Gore, this was the first time I ever rode Sleighride with no park features on it. I cut over to Wild Air, interested to see the new park and maybe run into Fujative. The best manmade snow on the lower mtn is over there right now. The park looks cool to me, but what do I know. Later in the afternoon I hit the jumps that are next to the rails, and stuck a few landings.

At the bottom of my second run, I headed back over to the Northwoods Lodge and Neve sees me. Daddy! Daddy! You have to watch me! Then if I tried to help ... No! No! I can do it myself! I'm telling you ... the kid has balance. For real.

After her lesson she DID NOT want to go the Bear Cub Den. "I don't WANT to be with the babies. I want to ski!" It was hard leaving her.

Zelda was on her new gear and we did some more lower mountain. On the lower reaches of Sunway we actually found two inches of untracked which I didn't really understand. Last snowfall was at least five inches, maybe more.

I'm ready to admit I'm a bonehead for not putting Zelda on alpine gear sooner. She was immediately a better skier. Her weight was back, she was much more upright and in a much better, vertical body position.

We decided to go up top. Pine Knot was in pretty good shape, but you could tell it would be a tough stuff by lunch. Up the Quad and we hit Chatiemac. The Chatie headwall was borderline between hardpack and something harder. I knew we wouldn't come back.

I recorded the moment of my first entrance in the trees this year.

The trees were really tough. I mean I was DOING IT. Hitting my spots, and skiing without much regard for my bases. If you aren't going to ski that way ... IMO ... you got no business being in there. I feel like I am rockin' on my new stiffer boots.

I give Gore BIG CREDIT for opening the trees... Straightbrook, Cave, Dark Side, KHS. Really made the day more fun. But they should be marked with Double Black Diamonds right now.

We moved over to the Dark Side. Upper Cloud needs more snowmaking asap. The gentle pitch was clogged with crashed and crashing skiers.

CB skied Cloud to Santanoni. I knew Darkside had only one day of skiing on it. I was hoping for better cover than I found in Straightbrook. It was better, but you had to be ready to dance the crustbuster. It was funner than hell.

I hit KHS. It had the best snow, the best coverage, the fewest tracks. One last morning run ... Cloud, Headwaters, Tannery, up the Topridge Chair. The only snowmaking I saw all day was on Uncas.

Into the Saddle for lunch. It's not the same without Vickie. After lunch we did some lower mountain. CB hung it up at 1:30 and I hit the top another time. More DarkSide and KHS. I have to say while there was plenty of bulletproof around, you could ski soft snow if you stuck to the sides and the trees. A lot of the best snow was on the lower mountain.

Summary: Lots of hardpack and ice. Lots of good soft snow down the sides, especially on the lower mountain. Snowmaking on Uncas, and only a few other spots. Even five inches of new snow would really help the trees. One new piece of gear I hadn't noticed before ... a permanently mounted fan gun at the Saddle.

As for my goals and expectations for the day ... it was a home run.

Passholder Mountain

I have some questions.

• What percentage of a mountain's revenue comes from passholders vs other sources? 

• What kinds of mountains get a high percentage of revenue from passholders? What kinds of mountains get a smaller percentage?
  

•  If one mountain gets 50% of revenue or skier visits from passholders how will management differ from a mountain that gets 90% of revenue from single ticket purchases?

• Does it affect midweek lift operation?  Season length?  What else?

I'd love to see a list of North American mountains ranked by percentage of passholder revenue.

I can't totally imagine the implications - and would like to hear what you think.

Skiing and Balance

I actually like work. But during the relatively short winter, I can't focus on anything but skiing.

It's no secret that I was really disappointed in my season last year. On my birthday (Jan 8th) I realized I was probably done for the season. I did actually get to the mountains one more time - for a 4-day weekend in late February. That weekend was like a religious experience for me. I skied primarily alone. I cherished every single turn. I read over the TRs from that weekend a hundred times over the summer.

I learned something. Don't take ANYTHING for granted. On December 20, I had one of the great ski days of my life. At around 1:30, we'd had so many first tracks and we were beat that we called it a day. I knew more snow was coming the next day, so I went into town to pick up some supplies, relax and do a blog entry. I will NEVER do that again. Conditions like that - I'm going BELL-TO-BELL.

Mad River Glen, VT: 12/22/09

Posted by Powderqueen:

After skiing 3 days in the brutally windy cold, riding gondolas and high speed lifts, skiing on man-made with no new natural snow, I wasn't sure if I wanted to venture out another day in the negative wind chills, especially at an old school place like MRG with slow lifts and no snowmaking.

My dear old friend Jim, who lives in the MRV and is the GM of The Bridges Resort, a former snowboarder-turned-MRG-pinhead, who can ski any day, took the day off to ski with me at MRG, regardless of the cold and wind. He said it was going to be sunny and nice and the skiing will be good. I told him that if he was skiing, I was skiing, so out we went to the ski area that is just around the corner.

Wes strolls in the same time as we do. We boot up in the Basebox, layer up and head out. The single wasn't running due to the wind, so we head to the double where we catch up to Bruce Shenker and his friend who just completed their first run.

The wind was ripping, but my morning warmth was trapped in all the layers, that included double base layers and double fleece under a lined parka with "toe heaters" in my boots and "hand warmers" in my gloves. I kept pretty comfortable, except for the wind biting the skin between my goggles and neck gaitor. As we got half-way up the mountain, the wind suddenly died off and we could feel the warmth of the sun under the bluebird sky.

* * *

We started down Panther, noodling our way down the interesting terrain. I don't know the names of all the places we went, but the snow was carveable with ample coverage in most places. Dodging rocks and other terrain obstacles keeps the skiing exciting and fun. I immediately got too warm and had to open my jacket and loosen my neck gaitor. This was a good sign.

Hunter Mountain, NY: 12/20/09

Ski Day 6: Got up at a ridiculous hour, made coffee, and hit the road at 5am. It was still snowing fairly hard and it looked like 14-15" had fallen at our place. The county roads were a disaster, but once I got on to the state and interstate roads things were fine.

Met up with Jamesdeluxe at 6:45 at an A&P in Northern NJ, and got to Hunter at about 8:30. There was no traffic on 87 and the mountain was not nearly as busy as I imagined it would be on a weekend.



We'd planned on Hunter because, it had been COLD and we wanted to take advantage of Hunter's well-known snowmaking capacity. It felt odd to be driving out of a big storm to ski a mountain with no new snow.

I hadn't been to Hunter in years ... and the last time I was there I was definitely not skiing Hunter West or any black terrain. We did a few runs on the front side to warmup ...Hellgate, Upper 7th Avenue, Broadway and Racer's Edge.


James on "Eisenhower"

Gore Mtn, NY: 12/19/09

Saturday and Sunday Pam and I spent skiing with my Adirondack pals at Gore. The skiing was very good there and exceeded our expectations. Even though open trails were limited, what was open was very good. Snowmaking and grooming was commendable. They opened Hawkeye and Chatiemac with ungroomed manmade snow.

The ski patrol warned people of grabby snow, but encouraged us to "ski it in." So we skied it in, including the Straightbrook Glade, which seemed to have enough cover. We ventured into the woods and found plenty of untracked snow that was was about 10-12" deep with a breakable wind crust. Some places were easier to ski than others, but overall, it was a lot of work and we did a lot of picking our way around and over trees and snowmaking pipes that separated the trails from the trees. It was grabby and we all took our share of spills.

What I love about Gore is the community of people whose lives revolve around running the rivers, sailing the lakes and sliding the mountains. There was a potluck dinner at a friend's cabin, with so much delicious food, banjo strummin, singing and a big bonfire where we all gathered after skiing, really topping off the day. In fact we skied and partied so hard, I didn't even feel like going to VT. But that exhausted feeling was fueled by more skiing.

Serious Snowmaking at Hunter Mountain

I can't get to Gore Mountain this weekend. But I've been invited to ski Hunter. Last time I was there, I was definitely an intermediate, so it should be interesting to see what I can do on Hunter West.

This is a perfect time to go to Hunter. It's been incredibly cold, and the mountain is known for it's legendary snowmaking capability. Here's an excerpt from a TR on AlpineZone:



"They are pounding the hell out of the mountain. Clairs has every single gun on, and then some. Highlands is on. Park had all the guns on all day. K27's on, Belt, Broadway, Ike, Gun Hill and Minya all had guns randomly go on and off throughout the day. Racer's needs snow, but I think the wind is probably the reason they aren't making it there. The oscillating Super Polecat on Broadway looks nice, as do the other new Polecats..."

Should be about as good as manmade gets. And who knows ... maybe there'll be some natural on top of that.

* Photo and Quote by millerm227

Cape Cod Lake Effect

Another first for me - Cape Cod Lake Effect.

Gold Parking at Gore Mountain

I skied Gore this past weekend. I had a chance to see the paid parking in action, and I wanted to layout my thoughts. You may or may not know, I was very vocal about this plan last year. I felt that adding fees after the pass deadline wasn't fair. A passholder, unhappy with the new setup, had no option at that point, but to accept it.

I also felt that it was bad timing. The economy was in freefall. People were afraid that their jobs, and their way of life, were in jeopardy.

Finally, the way the pricing was structured - it hit the passholders the hardest. There was no bulk discount or pass, and for a family like us...we were looking at another $300 a year.

I give Gore a lot of credit for backing off the plan last year.

This year at the pass deadline, it was pretty clear that Gold Parking was happening. We went into it with eyes wide open. As property owners, we didn't have much choice. We weren't about to sell our cabin.

* * *

Currently, at the mountain, it's hard to avoid the topic. On every gondola ride I took this past weekend - people were discussing the parking.

It seems that the core Gore customers, who have been coming to the mountain for years, feel betrayed. In my opinion a rise in the pass price, or the cost of cheeseburgers, or ski school, or beer wouldn't be met with nearly the resistance of the paid parking. Why is that?

Skimore on Tug Hill (2009)

Gore Mtn, NY: 12/14/09

Ski Day 5

After a long day yesterday - bell-to-bell - on 4 1/2 hours sleep Saturday night, I wasn't sure I'd ski today. I was going to make my decision based on overnight weather. No NCP fell all night, no crunch on the path in the morning ... who am I kidding. I knew I'd ski. At daybreak, temps were in the upper 20s.



First tracks were all about Topridge. They'd groomed a swath down the middle and the new snow from yesterday didn't take long in the sun to develop some really nice soft loose stuff.

Fuje's advice to focus on skiers left, paid off. All the snow that fell yesterday was still on top, ungroomed and practically trackless. The snow was covering some big big bumps and it was a tele leapfest. I just upgraded to a new pair of Scarpa T2Xs ... bigger burlier boots. I was amazed at the difference they made. I skied aggressively. Almost made me think I should have gone even bigger, to T1s.

Greek Peak, NY: 12/13/09

After a gorgeous sunny and cold Saturday exploring the hills on skinny skis, it was time to slide. Weather was coming in, so I got an early start.

Picked up my friend Peter and we were headed to Virgil, NY home of Greek Peak and the Hope Lake Lodge. Just as we boarded the lift it began to precipitate.

It wasn't snow, nor was it rain...or was it? As it picked up, it was clear that it was freezing rain AND sleet...at the same time. The snow was groomed nicely and skied well. Eventually the weather got to us.

Gore Mtn, NY: 12/13/09

Ski Day 4

I got up at 6:15. It was 5 degrees. Made some coffee, oatmeal, did some shoveling and headed down Harvey Road at about 7:30. Listening to Neil Young's Sugar Mountain. Sun coming up over George's farm on Harvey Road, Gore and Pete Gay in the distance:



The plan was to try to meet Adk Keith somewhere on Topridge in the morning. Normally those kind of loose plans are pipedreams, but with limited terrain, odds were improved.

BearCam: The Dream

How much would it cost to put a webcam on top of the gondi building on Bear Mtn? Same setup as Whiteface.

It'd be HighRes. And you could swivel it TOWARDS the GORE SUMMIT, down onto the top of Bear, or towards Foxlair, Topridge, Pine Knot, or Fairview.

Could a decent unit with internet be installed for ... how much? I have no idea. How hard is it to get an internet connection for the Summit of Bear?

If anyone knows what it would cost... please post a comment.

BearCam would promote skier visits, Gore Awareness and GORE STOKE.

Daily Snow Reports

We'd like to link to maybe SIX or EIGHT ski mountain daily reports. So you could click through the links and get an overview on what an event generated, in terms of snowfall.

Looking for suggestions on which mountains would give the most complete overview of the northeast.

These are the givens. Gore and Whiteface included. At least 2 mountains from VT, one from NH and one from Maine. Mountain needs to update their report religiously, early in the am. (Sadly) Gore is excused from this requirement. Post ideas in comments below.

Gore Mountain, NY: 12/9/09

Gore Mountain groomer on Pine Knot by Lbtchnlgs

Gore Mountain, NY: 12/7/09

Ski Day 3

I took my time packing up this morning, drained the pipes, and headed over to the mountain around 9:30. I decide to check out the progress at the Ski Bowl on the way over. The base for the new lift was in place, and a crew was bangin out the liftie shed:



The Lodge still had it's underwear (Tyvek) showing. Another crew was burying the propane tank that will heat the building.

Whiteface Mtn, NY: 12/6/09

Ski Day 2

I woke up this morning in North River around 6:00 and headed to Whiteface at 7:30. I arrived at 9am, parked in the River Lot, and walked right onto the Gondi.

Whiteface is big. It's really big. You know it. I know it too. But today, I came "face-to-face" with it. For starters the Gondi is big. It crosses a huge exposure before getting to the top:



Even with only ONE trail open Whiteface is big. Excelsior to Summit Express to Upper Valley covers half the Gondi run and maybe 1500 feet of vertical. The mountain's single opening day run just goes on and on.

Gore Mountain, NY: 12/5/09

Ski Day 1: I wasn't going to call today Ski Day 1 when I woke up this morning in downtown NJ. The plan was to have a relaxed drive. Get some lingering pre-season chores done. I had definitely wanted to stop in at Gore, and even take "a run." But I wasn't going to call this opening day. Opening was tomorrow at Whiteface.

On the drive up, it snowed pretty hard at times. I did a successful test of Harvey Road's new mobile posting capability when I posted a pic of a squall from the rest area just south of Albany.

I got to the mountain at 2pm. The improvements to the main lodge looked really good. There's more space, and the bathrooms are all done. So smart to put the Showcase Shop up front. It's really nice inside, with a deluxe view of the mountain.

Goals for the day were to pick up my daughter's daycare pass, ride the Gondi to check on snowmaking, and take my run on Jamboree. Then, back to the cabin to open it up for the winter.

* * *

I started with the Gondi. I took my skis with me purely out of habit. I'm not a rail guy. Actually I was tempted to try the rail when I got up there.... but I thought, why end your season so soon?

I could hear the guns blasting on Quick Silver, but I couldn't see anything. It looked like Wednesday's weather had taken it's toll on Sunway. Looking down from the Gondi:



and looking up:



At the top, Gore had done what they could under very tough conditions. They'd staked out the top of Bear (3200') and hammered it. It looked like Gore took advantage of temps on Monday and Tuesday. They'd hit the top hard and probably worked down Ruby Run and Sunway at night. But they couldn't lay enough down to maintain T2B coverage through the r**n. I think with cold temps tonight, lows in the teens .... they might get down from the Gondi for tomorrow.

I got to the summit of Bear.  Now I understand what a rail is all about. You can use a flat spot, like the summit of Bear...you just need a pile of snow to get a little speed to jump up. I guess I was thinking halfpipe. I haven't been paying attention in jib glass.



They were actually sliding off the Gondi unloading area, which is higher than the surrounding terrain, when there is no snow.

I skated out to check out Foxlair:



Topridge:



Pine Knot was bare:



The top of Ruby Run had the best coverage I saw.  It was sucking people in. They'd ski over and some even skied down, and then walked back up. Love the passion.



I headed down to check out Jamboree. Sunway Chair to the mid-station might be 250 vertical feet. I wasn't expecting too much.

* * *

Once I did a hut trip out in Colorado, and the guides were constantly teaching you stuff. But the only formal "drill" we ever did, was to ski without poles. It really helps you get your upper body together. Anyway... for reasons not worth explaining ... I was without poles today. While it felt weird, it was actually a really good way to start the season.

I did 6 runs on Jamboree. The snow was legitmate manmade mixed with some wet slushy in spots. If the run had been getting more traffic, it would have been icy. But it was pretty sweet. I was facing the fall line, arms forward, and having a blast leaping through the small moguls that had developed. The surface was really nice. I think I hooted once. Hey ... I saw a couple of patrols... teleguys ... they were lapping it too.



After seeing the FIS guys ski on grass with a few inches of natural on top....I'm willing to rethink my notions of proper coverage. Doesn't hurt that I was on my TM22s... now my third string skis.

So I say today was Day 1. Five or six short but sweet runs. A winter feel with snow in the air. And a thousand miles from where I came from this morning. That was enough for me today. I'll be back on Monday.

Opening Day

You've got to give Whiteface credit for understanding exactly what a skier would want to know and pasting it front and center on the homepage:

"Saturday December 5th Snowmakers will be working around the clock all week making snow in anticipation of our new tentative opening date Saturday December 5th. We anticipate opening Excelsior, Summit Express and Upper Valley. These trails will be serviced by the Cloudsplitter Gondola and the Little Whiteface Chair. We will be downloading via the gondola. Lift ticket prices will be $38 for adults, teens and seniors and just $25 for juniors. There will be no beginner terrain available."

Clear information. A stated commitment to goals. This is the kind of information that destination skier can use to make plans. It looks like for the first time ever - I may open my season at Whiteface, on Sunday.



I've only skied there twice, but I'm committed to making the drive from North River, when it makes sense. This looks like one of those times.

Snowmaking Decisions

What happened on Wednesday night was ugly. From what I understand we had between .75 and 1.5 inches of QPF (unfrozen snow). Opinions please...post in the comments section below ...

The QUESTIONS are ... knowing what we knew on Sunday, or what you know now ...

Would you have blown snow the last two nights?

Do you think there will be anything left tomorrow night?

(Pls indicate your home mountain.)

Harvey Mountain TBar

There were some who considered this small, family run ski area as competition to Gore and the Skibowl. Total vertical was about 400' and it was served by a single Tbar:

Harvey Mountain Ski Area was actually on South Mountain in North River - off Barton's Road, just downhill from the hairpin turn. I first noticed it maybe fifteen years ago. I was skiing and exploring the summit and cliffs of Harvey itself ... you could faintly see the old runs illuminated by the difference between the newer and the older growth.

I never knew what I was looking at until I connected with Jeremy Davis of NELSAP a few years ago. With Jeremy's permission I excerpted a piece on Harvey Mountain last fall. There's more on Harvey at nelsap.org too.