Climbing into the loft Saturday night was excruciating. My fall in the Slides Saturday nearly ended my season prematurely. Despite skiing out and finishing the day, I was in pain.
Shuffling to the out house on uneven snow filled me with doubt about my first visit to Gore. My limp was pronounced as I dragged myself into the lodge and slowly got changed. To say I was not “feeling it” would be an understatement.
We boarded the Northwoods Gondola at opening bell and Harvey led the charge down Foxlair to Sunway. I was grimacing the entire way. The pain varied from throbbing to excruciating on a groomed green circle. I tried to hide my frown as we reboarded the gondola. I couldn’t bare to share with Harvey what I was thinking–this next run is going to be it. I can’t go on. Worse than the pain was the thought that I could wreck the post-lift season in a needless masochistic effort.
I thought I could handle a groomers only day. As disappointing as that would be, it was better than the alternative of driving home having only skied two runs at Gore. So we took Uncas and Topridge which further tested my resolve and pain tolerance. With each turn the pain subsided slightly; but I never completely felt in control. I was sliding along desperately trying to get the edges to bite without pressuring my right ankle. It was absurd–but I couldn’t yet push past the pain. We headed for the summit so I could at least see the rest of the mountain before crying mercy.
I started feeling the Gore vibe on Chatiemac, a classic winding old school trail where we found some small soft bumps. I tentatively tried the bumps and successfully hacked down them without too much pain. I had to at least try the trees so we turned left into Straightbook Glades where I continued to hack and struggle lacking any confidence in my turns. But I was surviving. And exploring. Next we cycled back and filled in the figure eight via Hawkeye, another delightful winding old school trail, to Chatiemac Glade. Gore was quickly growing on me.
We skated over to the Darkside next where I continued to push through the pain in the glades. I was delighted by Gore’s often short but very well cut glade and tree system. Similar to many great tree skiing mountains, the trails are primarily used to cut across to the next glade. I lamented that despite feeling better, it was unfortunate that I couldn’t do the mountain justice.
The decision was made to cut back to the Straight Brook Quad via Lies. It was the best decision of the day resulting in my pulling it together. Lies was bumped but soft. I found a rhythm. The pain was sweating out of my body through my pores. I saw an amazing line, my eyes opened wide. I yelped in excitement and tore into it forgetting to breathe. The pain was gone, snow confetti was arcing back past my head. I owned it. When Harv got to the bottom of Lies, I turned to him and announced that “it’s on.”
After skiing the big soft bumps of Rumor, we dropped into Double Barrel where I found my run of the day. The upper section was delightfully thin coverage so line choices were slim. But below Hawkeye, I found a pair of sensational lines. I powdered down tight line after tight line and skied the shit out of that run ending with an aggressive double pole clank and a fist pump. I knew I could ski anything at that point. The pain was gone.
The rest of the afternoon was a blur of bark and bumps. We randomly happened across dozens of tele skiers that Harvey regularly rips with and I was really feeling the strong community vibe of the mountain. It reminded me a lot of Cannon: a tight community brought together by similar passion and a tree skiing culture that continues to push the boundaries. Everyone was only too happy to show the New Hampshire guy around Gore’s finest offerings.
Gore is a really cool mountain. Its bizarre layout is actually a strong point of the mountain as it gives you a lot of looks and aspects. You can move around as various faces ripen and you can follow or avoid the weather as needed. Little tree shots abound everywhere which feature delightful moderately spaced trees on moderate pitches. While lacking in the pucker factor, Gore’s tree lines are clean and well maintained. The moderate angle works to the mountain’s advantage due to its diminutive average seasonal snowfall. Sadly, we were not able to sample Gore’s longer glade offerings since the Burnt Ridge Quad was closed for the season.
Character rich trails are everywhere at Gore including winding moderately pitched sidewinders such as Chatiemac and Hawkeye. I was aghast that the Gore faithful were ducking into the nearby woods when incredible skiing was found on Lower Steilhang and Upper Darby. And the liftline “glades” such as Double Barrel and Darkside were to die for with great bumps amongst interesting and exciting terrain features.
Whereas Whiteface features consistently steep groomer rippers, Gore is limited in that category with only a few equivalents such as Uncas and Topridge. But Gore shines where Whiteface does not with an expansive glade network and kick ass liftline trails (I mean “glades”). Both mountains market vertical stat padding via a waste of a lower mountain. But as with Whiteface, this is a great setup for families and beginners seeking long gentle slopes. Advanced skiers can high speed out of the base area and not return until calling it a day. But unlike Whiteface, the mountain essentially is not skiable top to bottom so it skis significantly shorter than its massive vertical boast might suggest.
This was an awesome awesome day book ended by devastation and redemption. After having shown Harvey my favorite shots at Jay, it was really cool to reverse roles and discover his home turf. Since Harvey tremendously undersold Gore and was concerned about my potential disappointment, I was setup for a stunning over delivery of fun and excitement. Two days in the Dacks was not enough for this New Hampshire skier.
More Trip Reportage from today can be found at the Harvey Road Forums.
10 thoughts on “Dacks Day 2: Gore Mountain”
Sick. Pretty good day @Gore. My highlight was the Snoopy Chute for the last run . . . Solid skiing at the end of a long day (especially for you two guys).
@Matt … seems like the some of best days end with a run down Snoopy. I’m glad we thought of it.
@Steve … I knew you were hurting, but I had no idea it was so bad. I guess I should have suspected something when you were behind me on the first run down Sunway. Your ability to distill the essence of a mountain in one day is incredible. Both your Whiteface and Gore TRs demonstrate it.
With regard to the “underselling” … that’s more about my lack of experience than anything else. I love Gore, but have always assumed that it was very specifically suited to my abilities and style of skiing. Trees, short vert, and slow upper mountain lifts fit my teleboy style. It really is cool to show someone else around, you see it all in a different way. It was great skiing with you.
Harv, I wasn’t just behind you on that first run. You smoked me! You already had your skis off in the gondola line when I was rounding the last bend far behind. That was about as much pain as I have ever been in while skiing. I am glad I didn’t say anything though… I might have started to actually believe myself! Ha!
Now you know how it feels to be skiing with serious pain!
Glad that you dug skiing west of Lake Champlain. We need to get you to Hickory next season.
Hickory is the only other NY area I have on my list right now. At 3.5 hours, it is perhaps one of the closest NY areas to me and the same drive time for me as Saddleback. Looking forward to checking it out!
Sweet weather and helpful tour guides! Looks like a fun weekend.
I’d be interested in your Cannon comparison. As I’ve been getting to know Cannon better I find it has many skiing characteristics of both Gore and Whiteface synthesized into one, in addition to the State run thing. Racing heritage and culture and hard charging steep pitches like Whiteface. Signifigant acreage of off the map, pretty well tended and travelled tree shots and side tours like Gore.Though Cannon’s are far more sustained steep and tight, Gore has a ton of down low open hardwoods along with the steeper upper mountain shots. Whiteface has Lake Placid and the SLides. Hard to argue against those.
And not a slopeside waffle or rollercoater ride to be had:)
I couldn’t help but constantly compare both to Cannon throughout the weekend. Gore compares more due to culture. Gore doesn’t have the pitch or continuous vertical that Cannon has but it has a similar vibe. Especially in terms of a die hard local tree skiing thing. Cannon and Whiteface both have strong racing traditions though it runs a little deeper at Whiteface due to its Olympics.
Whiteface obviously compares better for pitch and consistently steep top to bottom vertical. All three have high speed lifts but Cannon’s Tram is much more functional for lapping than either Gore or Whiteface’s Gondola. All three are in the same ballpark for seasonal snowfall though Gore seems like the worst of the three and Cannon is the most consistent of the three.
Whiteface of course has the Slides. But Cannon’s off piste easily trumps the slides. There is some stuff at Cannon that makes Slide 4 seem like an intermediate run. But it ain’t on the map at Cannon. Whiteface lacks in trees whereas Gore thrives on shots between most on map trails. But Cannon stands head and shoulders above for tight, steep, and sometimes downright nasty tree lines. Where most of Gore’s tree lines are pretty mellow. But that means they will fill in and stay skiable longer than Cannon’s steeper trees.
There are a ton of great comparisons between the mountains, not the least of which involves state management and lack of on mountain development. But they are three very different mountains. Personally, I am biased towards Cannon. But if I lived in NY, I’d probably do something like Gore/Whiteface 75/25 for my preferences due to Gore’s extensive trees and more interesting natural terrain (excepting not having any Slide like terrain, though the Slides are rarely open).
Yeah. Gore does have a lot of horizontal to go along with it’s vertical. And the steep shots are short. I’ve enjoyed Cannon very much this year, though I missed a lot of the mid season powder days. It does have some hair raising off map stuff, and I’m sure there is more than I’ve found thus far.
Cannon feels more crowded both on weekends adn powder days to me. Interstate access and closer to the megalopolis. And man, even the lower intermediates at Cannon are carrying terminal velocity out there!
Your comments about both (Gore/WF) haveing a waste of lower mountain is way off base for Gore. You need to ski the North Creek Ski Bowl and the next pod up – Burnt Ridge. WF below the Bistro is a waste for better skiers but there are tons of great trails and glades on the lower parts of Gore’s vertical. The NC Ski Bowl is 900 vertical feet and the Burnt Ridge HSQ is over 1400 vertical feet. Some of the trails in the Ski Bowl area had been used from the 1930s to the 1970s and are now in use again. That alone makes them special. It is too bad you did not have the chance to try these areas of Gore.
Thanks for the comment, x10003q. I was not counting Burnt Ridge as part of the lower mountain, I should have clarified. I was majorly bummed that we were not able to ski the North Ridge. But as I told everyone else, it is a good reason for me to return so I can check it out. My “waste” sentence seemed to have touched a nerve with many folks. But I also noted in the next sentence after that both Gore and Whiteface’s lower mountains are excellent beginner and family areas. Probably two of the better areas I have seen for the beginning and developing skier. I know Harvey is a big fan of the ski bowl. To me, that development makes no sense. I am a bit of a history buff. But I don’t see a need to bring areas back just for historical reasons.