Harvey's Gore Thread

Thank you James. :-D

Admin .... I admit it ... I am not worthy to post on the No Bull Forum. I had a great time today. Either I'm :bs:ing or I'm insane. Against all odds, I had a day that was larger than life. Larger than my life anyway. Subtitle on today's TR could be something like schmoozin for freshies.

It all started here:

PineBrookEntrance.jpg


It went here:

Lies.jpg


And ended here:

Mike on Twister.jpg


TR and a few more pics here:

http://harvey44.blogspot.com/2010/01/go ... -1810.html
 
I met with my Uncle and Cousine here in LP last night. They said the snow was fine at gore yesterday. They said it was a bit hard, but certainly edge-able.
 
rfarren":21h46rpm said:
I met with my Uncle and Cousine here in LP last night. They said the snow was fine at gore yesterday. They said it was a bit hard, but certainly edge-able.
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Sounds like an accurate description of the trails.

We spent a lot of time on Lies early in the morning. It was again primo all day.

Lies3.jpg


Lies2.jpg


We spent the late morning and the whole afternoon in the trees.

Trees have been very good the last two days, especially when you consider we've only had 45 inches of snow this year (at the Gore base). Last night the wind put another 4 inches into many parts of the trees with no actual new snow.

Ran into Powderqueens crew today. 13 of em, plus me makes 14. We stayed together amazingly well in the morning.

I finally got to meet EddyO. PQ has been pushing the issue with me, and now I am kicking myself for not doing it sooner. The guy knows Gore as well as Chucky and his gang, but he SKIS WEEKENDS and is super friendly and knowledgeable. He taught me a ton today.

In the afternoon, It was just EddyO, me and another protege. Fantastic.

More here:

http://harvey44.blogspot.com/2010/01/go ... -1910.html
 
Harvey44":3ulff7s7 said:
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

Hope to have Part 2 up tomorrow or next day.
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I finally got the second part of my piece posted - the conversation with Mike. It took so long because there was so much to blog about over the weekend ... skiing TRs, snowmaking and other stuff. Plus ... I was at a party Saturday night and a hockey game broke out.

Special thanks this weekend to Powderqueen and her incredibly warm and welcoming gang of ninja tree skiers.

Anyway ... here's the conversation with Mike Pratt, GM of Gore Mtn:

http://harvey44.blogspot.com/2009/01/co ... pratt.html

I'd be curious to know what you think. Bonus points for comments on Harvey Road. :-D
 
For anyone cares about the ongoing drama at Gore ... parking, snowmaking, passholder issues etc....

As posted above, I had met with Emily and Mike of Gore management earlier this month. I asked them a bunch of questions, about the issues of the day and posted it all on Harvey Road.

The Gore Core as I call them, hang out on the Gore side of SkiAdk. Some were appreciative of the effort I made, and others called me out for being a tool, for putting out Gore's message.

Like many of us, I've spent my share of time on the Group W bench. So I decided to give equal time and reach out to the leader of the anti-parking movement - Jmokes himself.

He agreed to be interviewed. If you have any interest in Gore, you might find it interesting or entertaining. Jmokes doesn't hold back:

http://harvey44.blogspot.com/2010/01/co ... eckel.html
 
Today was the opening of Sagamore ... the new monster of Gore. A monster for Gore anyway. Maybe a mile long and 1400 of vertical.

SagamoreBumps.jpg


The trail came online last year without snowmaking, and we definitely had some serious fun over there last year. But it was obviously open inconsistently.

There's a lot of talk around the mountain about how they never should have expanded the terrain at Gore without the major snowmaking upgrades. It's probably true. But man that trail is fun.

Today it opened after days of snowmaking. Whales, bumps, small cliffs, manmade packed pow. Love that first days after snowmaking ends... nothing close to ice to be found.

It's easy to get tired over there, as the lift ride up is under nine minutes too. I'm bushed.

The pics really don't do it justice. And I didn't get very good ones.

But we had a hell of time.

Can't ever remember having so much fun on a day when I never got on the Straightbrook Chair.

A few more pics:

http://harvey44.blogspot.com/2010/01/go ... 12310.html
 
I've convinced a few others to join me in this project, including a long time FTO lurker Jeff.

Maybe it's the water up on Harvey Road, not sure. But now HE is having fun on the hill, when others are leaving in disgust.

Even I'M suspicious when someone says the conditions on Pine Knot were good! 8)

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I'm hoping this call out will get him to register, so I won't have to face the NO BULL music alone.

Jeff's report from Saturday:

http://harvey44.blogspot.com/2010/01/go ... 13010.html
 
Gore skied like late December .... firm mostly, but good under the guns.

They were blowing on Rumor, Open Pit and Lower Steilhang.

If you don't mind lapping the same trail over and over (I don't) today was really nice. I think I did 12 laps on Rumor.

I'd maybe done Rumor 12 laps my entire life before today.

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Snow on Open Pit was basically just as good, but when it's that soft, why not go as steep as possible.

Lower Steilhang never opened.

The plan was for an afternoon opening, but I talked to one of the crew and he said it just wasn't ready.

CB was way cool.... lapping Open Pit to Headwaters, while I had my fun on Rumor.

We rode chairs together all day but only took one run together on Twister:

phpk1ZQ1qPM.jpg


Interesting about Rumor ... still no guns on the headwall. I know they are being cautious after the slide last month.

I stopped in on mgmt at the end of the day to ask about it. They want to get it open, but haven't made the call yet.

More here on Harvey Road:

http://harvey44.blogspot.com/2010/02/go ... 21310.html
 
I thought today was killer. IMO better than yesterday.

Had a chance to ski with new FTO member and Harvey Road author Adk_Jeff. We are really well suited as partners. Also got to ski with EDeO, Powderqueen's ski sister Pam, and the troops. What a gang to ski with. Jason has said repeatedly he needs to ski with me at Gore the get the best stuff. Jason ... just make sure I'm with EDeO.

Rumor and Open Pit were still really good. Not over top, under the guns good like yesterday, but really good in this lean year.

In the afternoon, on the Dark Side, and other places, things got really great. I can't exactly explain it. A lot of the groomed manmade got really skiable. Snow has been falling on and off for a full day now, but it's hard to believe that small amount has mattered that much?

Groomed run of the day might have been Lower Darby. Lower Steilhang was really good.

phpw9i2x5PM.jpg


Skied two days bell to bell, and haven't done Topridge or anything on Burnt.

Onpiste pics from today here:

http://harvey44.blogspot.com/2010/02/go ... 21410.html

EDIT: Iceman... I finally got off my butt and took my World's in for a badly needed tune. Shop didn't have them early enough, so I finally had to give the RT86 a real rock out. It's a killer ski. It's the ski I should be on, no more pussy footing around.
 
Rumor, in the right conditions, is a great trail. The half dozen or so times that we lapped it yesterday, with soft well-formed bumps, were among the best runs of the season to date for me. And, as Harv said, the Dark Side got great in the afternoon. There is finally just enough accumulated natural and manmade blow-in that some of the shots between the trails are becoming skiable again. If we can squeeze 4-to-6 out of tomorrow's storm [-o<, some more of the trees will finally be back in play.

Had a great time skiing with you and the gang, Harv!
 
Jeff ... great to ski with you too. Pretty good skiing together for such a large group.

I keep asking myself ... how could that be a such a great day with no natural snow?

Skied half a day today. Conditions definitely weren't what they were yesterday. Overnight wind may have had something to do with it. I was actually amazed at the lack of wind on the hill today after the racket in the trees last night.


phpTiykZiAM.jpg


I skied with MikeZ (Zach) and his family. They are all rippers all they way down to Sophie who is eight. She was juking on Rumor and you could barely see her helmet popping up above the bumps.

Because he doesn't even know FTO exists ... I can come clean. Zach is my telehero. He's an old man like me and he totally rips.

Today I almost kept up. One cool thing was that I got some great pics of him because he was "family skiing."

http://harvey44.blogspot.com/2010/02/go ... 21510.html
 
Gore news... Gore announced on FB and the website that they are blowing on the Rumor Headwall.

Very interesting. Sunday is the traditional end of snowmaking at Gore, and after what I saw last weekend it will probably take 2 solid days of blowing, or more, to get it going.

I stopped into the marketing office at the end of the day last Saturday and asked Emily Stanton about the status of the headwall. She gave a carefully worded answer: " We very much want to open our signature trail from the top. But we'll do whatever it takes to avoid another slide."

I took that at face value. Earlier in the season the headwall slid, damaging a bunch of equipment, and scaring the hell out of a member of the crew.

But when they were blowing all last weekend on the whole run except the headwall, everyone pretty much accepted that Gore's "signature trail", was never going to open from the top in 09/10.

Well ... looks like we were wrong. I think it lends some credence to the idea that management (read Mike Pratt) really does want Gore to be a skier's mountain.
 
She slid again today.

Sounds like nothing too major - no injuries or equipment damage - but has to make people nervous.
 
Last week’s weather at Gore sure was wild. We started out the week last Monday (Feb 22) with beautiful bluebird skies, calm winds, and snow conditions that softened just to the early stages of corn.
Davie-Chati 3.JPG

Davie-trees 2.JPG

By the next morning, all of that sunshine was forgotten as round one of last week’s mega-storm was underway. By the weekend, 3 feet of new snow had fallen, transforming the woods and glades from barely skiable to wide open.
Eric in glades.JPG

Saturday was “family day” for me, skiing with my wife and 5-year-old son (he turns 6 tomorrow). We spent virtually the entire day in the trees, loving every minute of it.
Daniel-Mineshaft.JPG

Beth-Cave Glades.JPG

Sunday was “Jeff day,” and I connected with some of my ski pals to explore the woods seeking out fresh lines.
Mark in glades.JPG

What great weekend of skiing, certainly in my top 10.

More pictures and full trip report are on (no surprise) Harvey Road:

Monday, 2/22:http://saratogaskier.blogspot.com/2010/02/gore-mountain-022210.html

Saturday, 2/27:http://saratogaskier.blogspot.com/2010/02/gore-mountain-02272010.html

Sunday, 2/28:http://saratogaskier.blogspot.com/2010/02/gore-mountain-02282010.html
 
Nice Jeff.

Got some good input from someone with intimate knowledge of the multiple Search and Rescue efforts that took place up on the Gore south side on Sunday afternoon and Sunday night:

http://harvey44.blogspot.com/2010/03/nc ... kiers.html

It's in the comments under the thread. If I get some time I may pull it out and post above to make it easier to read.
 
Harvey44":84v2zin6 said:
Nice Jeff.

Got some good input from someone with intimate knowledge of the multiple Search and Rescue efforts that took place up on the Gore south side on Sunday afternoon and Sunday night:

http://harvey44.blogspot.com/2010/03/nc ... kiers.html

It's in the comments under the thread. If I get some time I may pull it out and post above to make it easier to read.
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I saw your posts about the Angel slide. My buddies were in the area a couple weeks ago and found only a couple inches of fluff on top of mostly blue ice. Easy to see where this new heavy snow could be problematic

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