Gore Press Release

[highpeaksdrifter]

Gore Expands Grooming, Snowmaking, and Terrain for 2005/2006

NORTH CREEK - Four new trails will offer more fun and variety to Gore Mountain's terrain this season. "Woodchuck" is a new intermediate on the High Peaks Side, offering a narrow, winding adventure from the "Wood Lot" trail. "Darby's Woods" for experts is accessible from Lower Cloud near the Lower Darby entrance.

Two new glades accessible from the Bear Mountain summit will include "Pinebrook Glades" and "The Cave Glades." The latter does feature a real cave along the trail! With these newest terrain additions, Gore Mountain will be offering 344 acres of skiing in 2005/2006, the most in New York State.

During the last twelve months, Gore has strengthened the grooming fleet, added 70 new tower guns, four new fan guns, and a new pump for snowmaking. The new pump has provided an additional 800 gallons per minute of pumping capacity.

Behind-the-scenes work can make all the difference to a skier's experience. Infrastructure improvements for more efficient grooming and snowmaking, particularly on the newer Bear Mountain terrain, will pay off significantly for guests during the 2005/2006 season.

 

[kcyanks1]

Interested to see where the new glades on Bear Mountain are, and which side of the mountain they go down. Sounds good though, as does Darby's Woods. They've been doing a very good job of opening up new areas in recent years. Now we just need snow!

 

[highpeaksdrifter]

Interested to see where the new glades on Bear Mountain are, and which side of the mountain they go down. Sounds good though, as does Darby's Woods. They've been doing a very good job of opening up new areas in recent years. Now we just need snow!

Gore has been doing a great job of opening gladed terrain the last couple of years.

 

[takeahike46er]

Interested to see where the new glades on Bear Mountain are, and which side of the mountain they go down.

I think one of them is skiers' left of Fairview. It is a short, steep, hardwood glade that spills out onto Lower Cloud. It faces north so it holds the snow well. I found the glade in March last season. The entrance had lots of tracks and it seemed obvious from from Lower Cloud looking up the Bear Mtn. face.

I think Gore has done an incredible job of improving the mountain in the last five years or so. They are finally capitalizing on all the great terrain that is available to them. I wish Whiteface would utilize more of its terrain because Whiteface has a lot of potential. ORDA has certainly invested lots of money in recent years in the lodge, snowmaking, superpipe, and lifts. I hope that opening some new glades and substantial trails (not connectors) is next on the list.

 

[kcyanks1]

Interested to see where the new glades on Bear Mountain are, and which side of the mountain they go down.

I think one of them is skiers' left of Fairview. It is a short, steep, hardwood glade that spills out onto Lower Cloud. It faces north so it holds the snow well. I found the glade in March last season. The entrance had lots of tracks and it seemed obvious from from Lower Cloud looking up the Bear Mtn. face.

That should be fun. Fairway always gets icy, but I assume that's due to man made snow and probably a lot of skiers sliding down and scraping off the snow (maybe lack of sun as well). A glade there should work well (though it would be short, as you said). I was imagining something more in the direction of the Topridge chair/Straightbrook area, or perhaps something off of Foxlair.

 

[takeahike46er]

Fairway always gets icy, but I assume that's due to man made snow and probably a lot of skiers sliding down and scraping off the snow (maybe lack of sun as well).

I think Fairview gets especially icy because of the amount of traffic it sees. The masses love gondolas. There isn't a whole lot of trails coming off of Bear Mountain, especially when you consider that there is only two runs that put you in the direction of the base. Factor in its steepness and you have lots of skiers scraping off the snow instead of carving their way down.

I just hope that the glade doesn't receive to much traffic now that it is marked.

 

[kcyanks1]

Fairway always gets icy, but I assume that's due to man made snow and probably a lot of skiers sliding down and scraping off the snow (maybe lack of sun as well).

I think Fairview gets especially icy because of the amount of traffic it sees. The masses love gondolas. There isn't a whole lot of trails coming off of Bear Mountain, especially when you consider that there is only two runs that put you in the direction of the base. Factor in its steepness and you have lots of skiers scraping off the snow instead of carving their way down.

I just hope that the glade doesn't receive to much traffic now that it is marked.

Good point about the traffic on Fairview. The triple chair is basically wasted now -- everyone takes the Gondola. I wouldn't think glade traffic would be too high, because most people interested in the glade are expert skiers who are staying on the upper half of the mountain, and taking runs to the base only for lunch and the end of the day. It's a short glade, so there probably won't be much time to spread out, which can lead to it getting skied out quicker than a longer glade, but I think it will be less used than the upper mountain glades.

 

[takeahike46er]

I wouldn't think glade traffic would be too high, because most people interested in the glade are expert skiers...

I wouldn't be too sure about that. Just because it is labeled expert doesn't mean that only experts ski it. I see entire families, barely intermediate skiers going in droves into the glades at Gore as if it is some kind of nature walk. Then they snowplow down the whole thing. Pisses me off!

 

[highpeaksdrifter]

I wish Whiteface would utilize more of its terrain because Whiteface has a lot of potential. ORDA has certainly invested lots of money in recent years in the lodge, snowmaking, superpipe, and lifts. I hope that opening some new glades and substantial trails (not connectors) is next on the list.

I heard from a good source that the WF expansion is going to start this summer. It we take several years to complete.

 

[takeahike46er]

I heard from a good source that the WF expansion is going to start this summer. It we take several years to complete.

That's some good news if it does. Have you seen some of the plans? There are some good diagrams and descriptions here --->www.vinsweb.org/assets/pdf/ORDA2004.pdf.

The majority of the document discusses the Bicknell's Thrush, but there is a lot of information about the proposed pods contained therein. Page 12 of the pdf has a good diagram.

Some highlights:
1)Whiteface Glade-- literally covers the entire area between Cloudspin, Paron's and Excelsior. It would be a huge glade in an area currently referred to as the snowfields.

2) A trail cut in the area between Empire and Upper Mac.

3) Tree Island Pod-- new terrain on the other side of The Slides. Served by a new double starting next to the summit chair. It will be made up of interconnected expert trails and one long intermediate run following a primary ridge towards easy acres. The trails are planned to utilize natural terrain and tree cover to the extent possible. The runs look much narrower than the boulevards found on some parts of the mountain.

4) Lookout Pod-- northeast of Tree Island Pod. No trails or details at this point.

The negative:
There appears to be some trail widening planned for parts of the mountain, notably Empire and Upper Mac. It doesn't look too major but that is sacred terrain. You just don't mess with it.

 

[highpeaksdrifter]

I heard from a good source that the WF expansion is going to start this summer. It we take several years to complete.

That's some good news if it does. Have you seen some of the plans? There are some good diagrams and descriptions here --->www.vinsweb.org/assets/pdf/ORDA2004.pdf.

The majority of the document discusses the Bicknell's Thrush, but there is a lot of information about the proposed pods contained therein. Page 12 of the pdf has a good diagram.

Some highlights:
1)Whiteface Glade-- literally covers the entire area between Cloudspin, Paron's and Excelsior. It would be a huge glade in an area currently referred to as the snowfields.

2) A trail cut in the area between Empire and Upper Mac.

3) Tree Island Pod-- new terrain on the other side of The Slides. Served by a new double starting next to the summit chair. It will be made up of interconnected expert trails and one long intermediate run following a primary ridge towards easy acres. The trails are planned to utilize natural terrain and tree cover to the extent possible. The runs look much narrower than the boulevards found on some parts of the mountain.

4) Lookout Pod-- northeast of Tree Island Pod. No trails or details at this point.

The negative:
There appears to be some trail widening planned for parts of the mountain, notably Empire and Upper Mac. It doesn't look too major but that is sacred terrain. You just don't mess with it.

I have heard the expansion plans, but had not seen those diagrams, thanks.

It's because of the Bicknell Thrush that no work can be done above 2000 ft (or ther abouts) until it's nesting is done. Aug. 1st would be the earlist work could begin.

I also heard of a blue trail that will go in next season off of Little WF. End of approach to the right of Parkway.

Those glads will be sick.

I don't think they would ever mess with Empire.

 

[Tin Woodsman]

Is it me, or does it look like there's a lot of widening planned for the Little WF trails? Also, looks like there's a trail to skier's right of Parkway. And I hadn't heard about the Lookout Pod. From the map, it's hard to tell where it would be. Seems like it's situated on top of the plateau between Whiteface and Lookout Mtn. Interesting....

 

[takeahike46er]

Is it me, or does it look like there's a lot of widening planned for the Little WF trails?

I noticed that too, particularly on Empire and Upper Mac. I hope they don't touch too much.


I can't quite pinpoint what kind of terrain the Lookout Pod would service.

 

[highpeaksdrifter]

Man, that Gore stuff is brutal.

It's a shame that Gore keeps opening trails to the public that previously were known only to a select group of people on the mountain. It will only force us to go deeper into the woods for our fresh snow. I only hope that Hippy and others can continually find lines that no one else will be able to spot.

Why cause you're a member of the select group and only you and you're friends count?

So go deeper into the woods.

I copied it off Gore's web site so I wasn't actually giving away secret information.

 

[freeheelwilly]

Man, that Gore stuff is brutal.

It's a shame that Gore keeps opening trails to the public that previously were known only to a select group of people on the mountain. It will only force us to go deeper into the woods for our fresh snow. I only hope that Hippy and others can continually find lines that no one else will be able to spot.

Why cause you're a member of the select group and only you and you're friends count?

So go deeper into the woods.

I copied it off Gore's web site so I wasn't actually giving away secret information.

I couldn't agree more. If you can access the stuff off of the Gore lifts then it's Gore's stuff and when they get the funds to open it, guess what? It's open. Just because you and your buds were poachin' it doesn't give it some special "off limits" status. If you want to ski BC that will never end up lift accessed that's out there - go get it. The irony is that there is a s**t load of it in the area of Gore. In fact, there's a pile of it all over the north east. There are many BC areas that I ski or want to ski that would piss me off if they ever became lift served but poaching lines accessed from lifts ain't bc skiing. There's stuff I poach at WF that I hope gets opened someday - just makes the area better and I wouldn't have to worry about the guys in the Red Jackets (or those pesky guys in the Yellow Jackets - never trusted those guys :wink: )

 

[takeahike46er]

I was wrong about the location of one of the glades. Looks like I gave away a secret stash.

 

[St. Jerry]

These new glade trails at gore were all (former) Secret stashes.

 

[highpeaksdrifter]

These new glade trails at gore were all (former) Secret stashes.

How do you like them?

 

[St. Jerry]

Liked. but there are still more out there.

 

[takeahike46er]

I don't have a problem with Gore marking some of their unmarked glades, provided they don't go too far; however, little additions like these can help Gore stand out and remain competitive in the future. I'm all for that if it opens up new lifts and new terrain.