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Gore 3-23 & 24-19: a tale of 2 seasons

legalskier

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So we left Belle on Friday while it was still snowing (wow, they ended up with 18"! I added some pics to my TR) & headed up to North Creek. Saturday morning we got to Gore early but the parking lot already was jammed- unknown to us they were hosting a large NYSEF event so there were racers everywhere. Temp read 18F and the gondi was on wind hold so we took the Adirondack Express up to mid-mountain. The wind was extremely strong- the final 300 yards was brutal. Seemed like a bad day in the middle of February. Ugh- why didn't we stay at Belle?! Sought refuge in the Saddle Lodge to warm up & decided to take some runs in the North Side which is in a valley protected from the winds. Gore picked up 6"-8" up top, while the lower mtn got a mix of snow/rain:
g1.jpg
^North Side trail. After a bunch of runs there, we took Pipeline Traverse to Paradox to get to the Burnt Ridge Quad which also was protected from the winds- that is, until the very top. Sagamore skied great- flat & groomed- inviting us to open the throttle. But best of all were the glades, like Barkeater where the snow was sweet:
g2.jpg
^That pic doesn't do it justice- this middle section is steep, tight & bumped up. Abenaki & Boreas glades had the same great conditions. We then heard that the gondi was running so took our time to give the inevitable crowds boarding it some time to thin out, so we headed down Echo past its sheer cliffs to the base lodge for lunch. Took the gondi up, got off getting blasted by the wind again & headed down into Top Ridge which was skiing really well, protected from the winds:
g3.jpg
Made our way towards Straight Brook Area, with Rumor looming in the distance:
g4.jpg
Took the quad to the top of Hawkeye & took a couple of runs- we were saving Rumor til the end. Unfortunately, we didn't know that they start shutting down Straight Brook early, even on the weekend, e.g. they roped off Chatiemac at 3:15 & the chair closes at 3:30. Seriously?? Started heading down Cloud, got a run down Tahawus before it too was roped, then back up the North Quad for a final run down Twister. The winds were still as strong as ever, and Twister was an absolute sheet of ice, with ppl falling everywhere. I doubt I've ever seen one trail with so much ice. Still, we didn't let it ruin what turned out to be an otherwise very fine mid-winter type day.

***Continue post below***
 
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legalskier

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On Sunday we got there early- again with the racing crowds. The temp was much milder, predicted to reach the 40s...with no wind. Spring skiing had arrived! Had a big breakfast & headed up to Straight Brook. Lies was just awesome:
g5.jpg
So was Chatiemac which was basking in the sun. In fact, everything up there was awesome. It was a clear beautiful day with the High Peaks visible in the distance- lots of ppl on Cloud stopping to take pics. We did all the open glades like Chatiemac glades, which are tight & steep up top and open up nicely further down:
g7.jpg
Straight Brook glades were sweet:
g6.jpg
Back to Chatiemac:
g9.jpg
Rumor softened up nicely except the top which always has ice patches. Conditions were so good that we stayed up in Straight Brook and Top Ridge all day not even breaking for lunch. Our only disappointment was that the High Peaks chair was down both Sat. & Sun.- never found out why either. As we headed back down late in the day through MacIntyre Glades we noticed that they had opened one trail in the High Peaks Area- Hullabaloo- so we took that down past the motionless double chair, then traversed Wood Out to North Chair, back up to Saddle Lodge. Took our last run down Twister, which unlike yesterday had no ice and had softened up very well. A nice way to end the best day of my season so far.
 
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Kleetus

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Oct 6, 2013
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Baldwinsville, Ny
On Sunday we got there early- again with the racing crowds. The temp was much milder, predicted to reach the 40s...with no wind. Spring skiing had arrived! Had a big breakfast & headed up to Straight Brook. Lies was just awesome:
View attachment 24870
So was Chatiemac which was basking in the sun. In fact, everything up there was awesome. It was a clear beautiful day with the High Peaks visible in the distance- lots of ppl on Cloud stopping to take pics. We did all the open glades like Chatiemac glades, which are tight & steep up top and open up nicely further down:
View attachment 24871
Straight Brook glades were sweet:
View attachment 24876
Back to Chatiemac:
View attachment 24877
Rumor softened up nicely except the top which always has ice patches. Conditions were so good that we stayed up in Straight Brook and Top Ridge all day not even breaking for lunch. Our only disappointment was that the High Peaks chair was down both Sat. & Sun.- never found out why either. As we headed back down late in the day through MacIntyre Glades we noticed that they had opened one trail in the High Peaks Area- Hullabaloo- so we took that down past the motionless double chair, then traversed Wood Out to North Chair, back up to Saddle Lodge. Took our last run down Twister, which unlike yesterday had no ice and had softened up very well. A nice way to end the best day of my season so far.
Rumor is with High Peaks it's a drive issue. Heard conflicting reports ranging from it'll be fixed soon, to it's done for the season, to it's done for good.

Oldest chair on the mountain and due to be replaced but apparently not this season as no order was placed and believe all the lift manufacturers are booked out for lift installs for next season.

Sent from my SM-G892A using AlpineZone mobile app
 
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