powderfreak
New member
When I woke up this morning, I looked out my bedroom window and what did I <BR>see...is that a flake? A couple flakes? Coming down together? No liquid <BR>stuff falling either? In early January in Albany? Yes! An inch of fresh <BR>on the car and driveway. So I was lured to Gore with thoughts of deep <BR>powder snow in the Adirondacks. Well, I knew that conditions would again <BR>border on gnikcus but I got some friends together and we were off. The <BR>drive was painfully slow especially once off the Northway since some yahoo <BR>thought the weather warrented driving 30mph in a 55mph zone for a solid 10 <BR>miles...we were at the back of a lineup that had to have been 20 cars <BR>long. In the slow driver's defense, the snow was wet and real greasy <BR>making it a little slick. It took nearly 2hrs to get there when it can <BR>normally be done on the south side of 1.5hrs. <BR> <BR>Well, even that 1 inch of new snow couldn't hide the horrible sight of <BR>dirt, ice, rocks, stumps, ect. from the base lodge. We skied some runs <BR>off the gondola; nothing new, a little new snow to push around, a lot of <BR>ice that wasn't going anywhere. Then we went up to the top and found more <BR>of the same. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that all over was a thick, <BR>soupy, freezing fog that rimed goggles, helmets, jackets, ect. Visibility <BR>dekcus. So far, the picture that I hoped I have painted is: brown mixed <BR>with fresh wet white stuff, ice, gray, fog, more ice, ect. <BR> <BR>We went in for lunch and rarely do I feel this way, but I wasn't exactly <BR>jumping at the chance to go back out there and ski with ice crusted <BR>goggles, in ypparc conditions on not-to-exciting terrain. I got myself up <BR>anyway. Over at the gondola I noticed a sign that said "Chatimac closed <BR>for snowmaking" was gone. Hmmm...time to check that out. And yes, the <BR>Gore gods smiled down on me. Chatimac was now open, the guns were turned <BR>off, and there were some awesome, soft, powdery, brilliantly white bumps <BR>from side to side. I skied that single run all afternoon, nonstop, just <BR>jumping on the quad for a rest then back to the top for more soft, <BR>powdery, bump action. I'm not sure if people understand how much I needed <BR>that run at that time. This school vacation, conditions have gone from <BR>great, to alright, to bad, to worse. Chatimac was my savior today. <BR> <BR>It turned out to be a great day, and my quads are killing me from going <BR>nuts all afternoon on the soft, powdery, white bumps of Chatimac. <BR> <BR>-Scott
">) <BR> <BR>Here too, they were making snow in several places going down in the Laurentians, this afternoon. I guess those places were the only ones skiable today in thse mountains !!
