Gore Mountain, NY: 11/26/11

Ski Day 2: You might reasonably question the prudence of driving five hours from the flatlands to Gore this weekend. I did question it, but ultimately for us, the decision to ski paid off.

We arrived at Gore at 8 am, had breakfast and booted up. Part of our motivation to come north was our desire to get Neve back on skis early in the season. Kindergarteners have a very busy schedule in December and we wanted to get her back in the groove before we arrived for Christmas break. At 8:30 we left her with her instructor Erin and headed to the Gondi.

Patrol was talking to everyone in the gondi loading zone. "Do you know conditions are very thin up top?" Zelda thought twice about the warning, and decided to lap the Sunway chair, to start. I boarded the gondola alone and very jazzed, to be riding a lift.

Ode to a Plow Guy

I had a plow guy once, and I have to admit I took him for granted. When it snowed, he plowed. When it snowed hard, he plowed twice.

Roger cleans up after the Valentine's Day Storm

His name was Roger. During the mega storm of February 2007, he backdragged enough of our drive in the middle of the night to allow me to get safely off the road. Then he came back in the morning with his tractor. He dug it all out, and then came back again with the plow to clean it up — all included in his price of $35 per storm.

Once he pulled me out of a jam with his truck and a chain, and wouldn't take a dime. He said "I'm pulling you out of the snowbank because you're my neighbor, not because I'm your plow guy."

New Tree Lines at Plattekill

by ml242

Last Sunday's work day at Plattekill may have been the start of something beautiful. I don't think I've ever met anyone who's skied the mountain and wants it to change, much. But over beers, I wondered aloud about enhancing it, and to my surprise, ownership agreed.

Even more surprising was the unexpected and overwhelmingly positive response from the skiers who ski volunteered to give up a Sunday to work together to clear some new lines.

It was weird being on the mountain in "stick season," having just skied lift-served pow at Plattekill three weeks ago. But the mountain was abuzz with bikers flying downhill and through the trees, and over immense jumps that are hard to fathom until you see an armor clad rider fly off them.

Ski Coach Z: Dave Zientko

Ski instructor Dave Zientko will be joining NYSkiBlog as the author of a multi-part series on how to get more out of skiing. Dave is a PSIA Level 3 certified instructor who has been teaching at Whiteface since 2000. He has been teaching skiing for 24 years. Before coming to Whiteface, Dave worked at Killington after starting out at Vernon Valley. He's also had staff training roles in both the Whiteface and Killington Snowsport Schools.

Early on Dave taught adults, but after his son Zach was born, he widened his focus to include working with children. He has extensive experience with advanced level kids in all-mountain skiing and has coached in Whiteface’s acclaimed Cloudsplitter Club program for the last eight years.

Dave has experience skiing across Europe and the West including France, Switzerland, Austria and Italy as well was most of Colorado, Utah and British Columbia. Dave has logged several cat skiing days out West and has attended two PSIA National Academy’s including one in Chamonix in 2006.

This season Dave is teaching private lessons and groups through Whiteface’s Snow Sports School on weekends and holidays. His focus is helping intermediates enjoy more of the mountain and advanced skiers ski more efficiently and tactically in all conditions.

Anticipating the Start of Ski Season

This November has been quite warm, but that's not all that unusual. Eastern skiers often fret about the possible postponement of opening day, scheduled for Black Friday at many mountains. I looked back through early season posts to see what I was thinking in years past.

A forecast from a different year.

In November of 2009, while skiers in the western US were enjoying cold temps and fresh snow, eastern skiers were sweating it out. On November 22, I posted a 6-10 day temperature outlook from the National Weather Service that promised colder air for the east.

That year opening day at Gore featured only 250 feet of vertical. As usual, I had a good time, even though pickins were slim. The next day at Whiteface also opened a single run, but in true Whiteface style, that run featured 1500 feet of vertical.

A Ski Mountain's Ad Jingle: "Getaway to Gore"

by 70s Gore Kid

In 1974, Gore Mountain was a major Eastern ski area with just about everything that skiers wanted — 2,000 feet of vertical, trails spread out over several mountains, and the only gondola in New York State.

As a member of the elite Gondola Club, Gore joined Stowe, Killington, Sugarbush, Sugarloaf, and a handful of New Hampshire resorts in offering true big mountain skiing to the masses.

There was only one problem: the masses weren't coming. Why not? Because Gore Mountain had no snowmaking. In the 60s, chairs, gondolas and vertical were all you needed. But that wasn't enough to compete in the 1970s.

Sondre Norheim: Inspiration, Dreams, Challenges

by witch hobble

It's hard to figure out exactly where the legend and the facts merge and diverge when it comes to Sondre Norheim. He is generally credited with innovations — like side-cut and willow heel straps for bindings — that helped propel the nascent recreational pursuit of skiing even further into the consciousness and culture of Norway.

I have no idea exactly what was involved in a ski competition or exhibition in 1868 but, as a 42 year-old tenant farmer from his own hinterland, he seems to have blown people's minds in the big city with his grace and style. He is revered by many modern day freeheelers, but he should be celebrated by anyone who is thrilled by the feeling of skis turning on snow, as his creations in the shop and on the hill lead to further developments in design and technique that we enjoy today.

This video isn't necessarily made for a skiing audience, making it all the more powerful, in my opinion. It speaks not only to his skiing passion, but to the powerful lure, and harsh reality of the American dream.

Plattekill Work Day: 11/20/11

by ml242

After an initial dose of amazing, but not unprecedented, early-season powder skiing in the Catskills, it looks like warmer and drier temps will be the norm for the next few days. While we await what we hope will be a bountiful winter, there's a golden window of opportunity to put in a day making Plattekill an even better mountain.

Laszlo and Danielle Vajtay, the progressive co-owners of the mountain, are on-board with our proposal to do some trimming to get the trees going sooner and safer this season. We've identified a couple of zones that catch and hold snow well but currently don't get much skier traffic. We're recruiting volunteers to head to Roxbury with loppers and saws to clear out some choice lines by trimming the brush and removing the deadfall and other snow snakes.

Big Tupper Pre-Season Tour

by miker92

It was an exciting Halloween weekend for a few lucky New York skiers. I didn’t share in the early pow slashing in the Catskills, but I did get a healthy dose of preseason stoke a little further north. I spent a day exploring Big Tupper with lift operations manager Cliff Levers.

Driving through the town of Tupper Lake in the morning, I saw the mountain in the distance, across the lake. Like a tourist, I pulled over to the side of the road to take a picture — the slopes glistened with a fresh dusting of October snow.

I parked in front of the ticket window, where I found Cliff waiting for me. Although we had never met, we both a lot to say. It was like catching up with an old friend. Some of that may be the atmosphere at Big Tupper. After ten years of silent slopes, the two-year resurgence has generated some excitement. Walking through the empty lodge, I couldn’t help but imagine the ghosts of skiers past and future.