Harvey's Gore Thread

Hey guess what? I skied Gore today. Bell-to-bell.





Cold in the morning - maybe 5 degrees. It warmed up to about 20 around 10am. It started to snow around 1, and then dumped for a couple hours. We got maybe 5 inches when they were calling for NCP. Two times in a row now we've got some Gore magic. This time we got another dry slot, just at the key moment to avoid anything unfrozen.

It was pure basebuilding stuff. Dense but not icy.

It was a long day. Full TR is here:

Gore Mountain Dec 13, 2009

Just a few runs before I split this am.

After a long day yesterday - 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. Contrary to what all the experts said, we got nothing but snow yesterday. Great, dense basebuilding stuff that was very skiable.

It was warm (!) when I got up this morning - about 28 degrees. Things softened quick, which was good for me, as I was escaping home this afternoon.

Sometimes you find the best snow in the most unlikely places. Under the Sunway Chair:



A short TR is here:

Gore Mountain Dec 14, 2009

The Gore soap opera continues. The parking and all the BS with the website. So far I've managed to stay out of it.

Not sure how to describe today. Surfaces were mixed ... some hard, some unskiabley hard, some soft manmade, some natural in the trees with a light crusty layer under about 7 inches of snow.

Lower mountain had plenty of soft if you knew where to look. Best places I saw on the upper mtn were in the trees. Heard Topridge and lower Open Pit were good but never made it there.

It snowed most of the day but probably did not add up to two inches up top.

Trees were very challenging. I give Gore credit for opening them, but they should have had some kind of thin cover warning. I realize that's hard to do when there are so many entrances.



Jason .... sorry we didn't connect! How was your day?

TR of sorts here:

http://harvey44.blogspot.com/2008/12/go ... 23109.html

We skied today and did have a lot of fun. I seem to be in the minority in that regard.

I was having a great time in the trees skiing stuff that was very tough, at least for me. I'm not saying I looked great doing it.



I was amazed at how little base damage I did today. CB had more and she never left the trails.

Best snow was almost anything on the lower mountain right at opening. Only Wild Air seemed to have enough snow to stand up to the traffic and still be soft and fun at the end of the day. LOVE hitting those kickers on Wild Air.

Twin Fawns was sweet (also closed).

Sorry I missed Fujative again. And Jason. And Matt.

Actually I'm glad I skied alone because I did not want responsibility for anyone following me. PQ taught me that.

Lies headwall was insane. Hawkeye headwall, skiers left at end of day was the hardest thing I skied all day. Much harder than anything in the trees.

BEST runs for me by far were on Double Barrel Junior. I foolishly left it to last, finishing with two runs on it that were killer.

I decided the key to life is stiffer boots. The have changed my life:



If I go to T1s, who knows.

Here's our TR from today:

http://harvey44.blogspot.com/2010/01/go ... 10_01.html

From what I could tell, Gore was probably the only mtn in the whole northeast that didn't get significant snow overnight.

I realized I could be banned from FTO by the No Bull Committee.

Still ... there was actually a lot of good skiing around.

The challenge was accessing it without skiing the Hawkeye or Chatiemac headwalls after about 11:30. Not exactly easy.

Had a fun exchange with patrol that got me into Tahawas, no charge.



Dark Side proper has been hit pretty hard, but still had some decent lines.

KHS was really good last time I got there, around 11am.

Mineshaft had ok coverage. For some reason to me Mineshaft seems like the hardest on the map tree run.

Chatiemac and environs was great. As alluded to above the Hawkeye and Chati headwalls were basically death. The positive result was that everything on skiers right off Chatiemac was nearly untouched. Skied just enough by the boys to break up the crust.

While I was up on Chatiemac, I notice skiers FINALLY coming down UNCAS. It was incredible. If there was a practical way to lap it I could have spent the whole day there.

Put a few pics up on Harvey Road and will try to put some kind of report together later:

http://harvey44.blogspot.com/2010/01/go ... -1210.html

Got to ski with one of the best teleskiers on the hill so that was really exciting.

Mark I need you to give me the gold tour next time i'm up there...

jasoncapecod":24o1hzkb said:

I need you to give me the gold tour next time i'm up there...

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Jason - I was bummed we couldn't connect. I'm not one to enjoy watching skiers load the Gondi while I stand by waiting for my date.

Plus, I would have been reluctant to be any kind of a guide this weekend up here. First, I don't really know the mountain that well. (Actually I learned a ton today.)

Second really is the responsibility factor. Some of the skiers I met felt the trees should not be even be open*. The cover is enough to handle a certain amount of traffic. So you're never quite sure what you are getting into.

I've seen you ski (video) and you can run circles around me. Just not sure I want people relying on my level of expertise in this situation.

Another foot of moderately dense snow and this place will be jammin.

*No question there are a lot of mgmt issues at Gore right now. But I have to say PATROL at Gore is awesome. The amount of personal responsibility they allow skiers is refreshing.

Not sure why we went over to Gore today. Maybe it was for the Egg McBreakfast and a good parking spot. :-D

Actually up here the wind wasn't really that bad maybe 10-15 mph. At Gore it was a hurricane. I may have posted my mobile conditions report before Gore did?

So we hung out listening to the rockin 70s tunes for a while and then headed back home.

First order of business testing out some of Neve's new gear. She was diggin it:



Then the ladies took a well deserved nap, and I headed out into the woods to get some excercise and check out the conditions. Back to my roots, and likely my future.

I did a ski we often do when we only have a few hours. It's got climbing - all at the beginning which I like. It's got hardwoods, history, ponds, beaver dams and sweet views. And it finishes with a nice descent.



More pics and a few words here:

http://harvey44.blogspot.com/2010/01/wi ... -1310.html

I walked into Emily Stanton's (Gore Marketing) office yesterday morning on the way out of town. We talked about a variety of stuff, including a lot of the topics that are important to the Gore hardcore. Mike came in, and sat down for about 30 minutes.

With regard to the lack of snowmaking this week, he didn't seem to be hiding anything. He didn't hesitate ... he just laid it all out without a pause.

He said that on Tuesday night, late, the power went out on the entire mountain. His words were "all 35,000 volts."

He explained that when the power goes out - on the active lines, hoses and nozzles freeze.

Apparently the snowmaking system is 90% gravity drained. Just open up the valves at the bottom and let all the water run out. Even with the late hour of the outage and the extremely cold temps they were able to drain a majority of the system.

If the nozzles, hoses etc don't freeze completely, you can run water through it, and selectively apply torches, and it will eventually clear the lines.

But if the plumbing freezes solid, all the nozzles and hoses have to be brought inside, to let them warm up. It's a huge pain in the posterior and takes a lot of time.

While he didn't say specifically, and I didn't ask, I have to assume these issues affected the summit. The area that needed snow the most and got little snowmaking this week.

He also said that when the wind is as high as it was on Tuesday and again on Sunday... snowmaking accomplishes nothing.

I did ask him if he'd been up on the Hawkeye Headwall. He'd said he'd just come from there and he knew it needed attention immediately.

* * *

There was a lot more. He explained his snowmaking philosophy and his approach to utilizing limited resources. We talked skiing, facebook, parking, lift 14, and a bunch of other stuff.

I'm going to write it up and post it on Harvey Road in the next few days.

http://harvey44.blogspot.com/2010/01/co ... -mike.html

Mark thanks for your time and effort..
Here is my simplistic view of Gore's situation. In the Restaurant business , you can have the nicest dinning room , best waiters etc etc. But if the food sucks nothing else matters..They need to take a look at the kitchen. IMHO nobody gives a rats butt about new lodges and terrain expansion if the skiing is going to suck.In the east it's about 2 things. Snowmaking and grooming, everything else follows..

Harv,
I'm headed to Whiteface this weekend. How has the snow been of late? Is it hard. They are saying they got 9 inches in the last 3 days, and should be getting another 2 or 3 before the week is out. Are the conditions softish? Maybe we can meet on the mountain next saturday or something for a few runs?

I would bet that the conditions are similar to Gore.That 9" blew away in the gale. Conditions are a bit on the icy side..

Bummer... That's the real problem with Whiteface, the trails are too wide for such a windy place. Hopefully, Loookout mountain will have decent snow, as it's a bit more protected. They are getting a bit more snow today and there isn't much wind, but I think they are expecting 25mph winds in a tiny bit. Again, the invitation is out there if anyone wants to meet on the mountain next weekend let me know. I'll be there with my family, but my father and sister like to ski together, and I can get away.

rfarren":2ch1cely said:

Harv, I'm headed to Whiteface this weekend. How has the snow been of late? Is it hard. They are saying they got 9 inches in the last 3 days, and should be getting another 2 or 3 before the week is out. Are the conditions softish? Maybe we can meet on the mountain next saturday or something for a few runs?

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Rob... I'm surprised to see no recent TRs on the WF side of Skiadk. I haven't been to WF since opening day, but I don't think you can count finding that nine inches on the trails. And I don't think the trees are open yet. If the wind stays reasonable they should make good progress this week.

WISH I could get up there. If I can ... it will be a firedrill, and I probably wouldn't spend the extra time to drive up to LP.

Plus ... Gore trees are OPEN. :-D

Well I wasn't expecting powder. I would just like a soft packed powder, as opposed to Ice. I read that thier trees were closed, so that's a bit of a bummer. I don't think I can swing Gore, as my family and I are staying at the mirror lake inn.

rfarren":1ujpfa8y said:

I don't think I can swing Gore, as my family and I are staying at the mirror lake inn.

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Tough life... Whistler for a week and then Mirror Lake Inn the following weekend. Even with sub-par ski conditions, I bet I could figure out a way to have fun while staying there.

jamesdeluxe":2saut68g said:

rfarren":2saut68g said:

I don't think I can swing Gore, as my family and I are staying at the mirror lake inn.

Click to expand...

Tough life... Whistler for a week and then Mirror Lake Inn the following weekend. Even with sub-par ski conditions, I bet I could figure out a way to have fun while staying there.

Click to expand...

Yep, living the tough life lately.

I finished the first part of my piece based on my conversation with Emily Stanton and Mike Pratt.

Part one is with Emily - she's the Marketing Manager. Part two is with Mike - he is the GM.

First part is here:

http://harvey44.blogspot.com/2010/01/co ... anton.html

As always comments on blog are much appreciated.

Hope to have Part 2 up tomorrow or next day.

Happy birthday to AARP Harv, who'll spend it skiing at his favorite place in the world.