Whiteface versus Gore

[SKIdds]

Well, my brother and I did take a day to ski last Thursday. After much deliberation, we decided to save a little drive time and explore a new mountain, and we went to Gore. We hadn't been since we were teenagers some 20 years ago. Now it seems silly to me that we haven't been there in that long, as Gore is a great mountain. Oh, and conditions were AMAZING. 100% open, tons of powder to be found in the woods, lots of steep and ungroomed terrain. Here are some pics from our adventures in some of the glades.

http://forums.skiadk.com/modules.php?set_albumName=album40&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php

Now we are big LP/Whiteface fans and I get up there four or five times a season, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to compare Whiteface and Gore. Let me start by saying that both resorts get an A in my book.....but that is where the similarities end.

I'll start with Whiteface. Whiteface is quite simply a great big mountain experience. It's got great sustained vertical, a wonderful and efficient lift system, some nice steep terrain, some decent glades, and an incredible backcountry experience when The Slides are open. There are some nooks and crannies to explore that aren't on the map (not that I condone such a thing ;)), along with nice long intermediate terrain and good beginner trails. One would be remiss in grading Whiteface if you didn't consider the Olympic history of the mountain, the world class World Cup events the mountain draws, and the town of Lake Placid which contributes to Whiteface being one of the top ranked mountains in the country year after year. What's not to like? Well, there are a few things I suppose. Too much grooming for my taste, not enough moguls allowed to develop, and some tempting terrain that can't be skied because Whiteface is limited in the miles of trails it is allowed to maintain under the terms of their use of the land, and possibly a little bit of a conservative attitude on terrain (notwithstanding The Slides of course). But the very good far outweighs the little drawbacks, and the combination of Whiteface and Lake Placid serves to make the area our destination of choice, with the town being a large part of the equation.

So what about Gore? Well, let me start by throwing out the things it will never have compared to it's sibling farther up in the Adirondacks. Gore doesn't have the pure sustained vertical, top to bottom kind of experience you get at Whiteface. While Gore's gondola is nice, it is somewhat less useful than Whiteface's. Much, heck most, of the great advanced terrain can't be accessed from the gondola, such that my brother and I hardly used it. Getting the negatives out of the way, there are a lot of flats and runouts around the mountain as well. Of course it will never have the town and off hill activities that Lake Placid offers. But that's it. Now for the accolades. The terrain is simply incredible. The place is a vertiable playground for the advanced skier, and it's got some great, uncrowded beginner and intermediate terrain that is ripe for carving and learning, even more than Whiteface. From this expert skier's perspective, one who has skied Whiteface a lot and loves it, Gore's terrain is simply more challenging and more fun. In the Staightbrook Area it's got more steeps than the big mountain up the Northway offers. The Rumor is the real deal. Then there are the glades. Tons of them all over the mountain. Steep and technical, as well as some with widely spaced trees, whatever suits your taste. There are just so many places to explore on the mountain, and while not official, you can explore unlimited nooks, crannies and tree shots between trails within boundaries. My brother and I explored the whole day and still didn't get to at least a quarter of the mountain. But it's not just the steeps and the glades that make the mountain fun, it's the very nature of the topography and geology itself. The place is a rocky, craggy piece of stone and dirt that provides endless dropoffs, waterfalls, boulders and little cliffs to launch from and play on. And not just in the glades. Many of the liftlines are open trails, providing interesting terrain, lots of obstacles, and an audience to boot. A lot of Gore's terrain reminded me of Mad River Glen, Castlerock at Sugarbush, Stowe and it's plentiful woods........simply some of the best advanced terrain in the east. And much of it goes ungroomed, with plenty of bumps to be found throughout the mountain. And then there is the now unofficial backcountry terrain which we can't talk about.......

So to sumit all up, Whiteface is a quintessential big mountain experience with a great town to boot, while Gore is a quintessential New England skiing experience with super terrain. So I've added a new mountain which will become part of my regular repertoire in Gore. Overnight trips with the family will continue to be Whiteface/Lake Placid due to the incredible town and the wonderful terrain. If I were to take an overnight trip just for me, which means ski hard, crash early, wake up sore the next day and repeat, I'd do so at Gore. Day trips in the late spring when The Slides open will be to Whiteface due to that wonderful backcountry experience. But other day trips and apres snowfall skiing sicknesses will be to Gore by nature of it's extremely fun, interesting and challenging terrain.

Oh, and thanks to some of the Gore regulars who have showed me around and provided me with some great info. I've skied with a number of Whiteface regulars on these boards, now I look forward to doing the same with some of the Gore contingent.

[St. Jerry]

I'm not sure how you can compare anything at Gore to the Slides. I remember back in 2003 when they opened them for 20 minutes it was the greatest skiing ever.

[SKIdds]

I'm not sure how you can compare anything at Gore to the Slides. I remember back in 2003 when they opened them for 20 minutes it was the greatest skiing ever.
You can't, and I didn't. The Slides are a very unique experience. They are very challenging and very technical. Unfortunately, they open infrequently and usually for a short time. As for the rest of Whiteface versus Gore's terrain, Gore offers more challenge.

[takeahike46er]

Don't feed the trolls.

[St. Jerry]

I'm not sure how you can compare anything at Gore to the Slides. I remember back in 2003 when they opened them for 20 minutes it was the greatest skiing ever.
You can't, and I didn't. The Slides are a very unique experience. They are very challenging and very technical. Unfortunately, they open infrequently and usually for a short time. As for the rest of Whiteface versus Gore's terrain, Gore offers more challenge.

I have to disagree. There is nothing more challenging than negative 20 temps. and 40 mph gusts in your face as you're sliding sideways on blue ice down Upper Excelsior. The powder and trees at Gore can never compare.

[highpeaksdrifter]

and some tempting terrain that can't be skied because Whiteface is limited in the miles of trails it is allowed to maintain under the terms of their use of the land.

It's not just WF that is held to the 25 mile limit. A friend who works for the APA told me the law covers any ski area in the ADK Park, Gore included.




Many of the liftlines are open trails, providing interesting terrain, lots of obstacles, and an audience to boot.


I like Gore alot, I just like WF better so I disagree with some of what you wrote. I'm not going to do a counter comparison to what you wrote with my opinions because they are our brother mountain in ORDA and it would probably come across as Gore bashing to our friends on the other side of the forum and that would not be my intent.

There's one point that you make that I agree with wholeheartedly, if you are lucky enough to be at Gore when they have enough snow to have their liftlines open they are an absolute blast. Even though they have some great glades when those liftlines are open I can't bring myself to ski anything else. I have not been to Gore this season yet, but I will be there March 16th, I hope there is enough snow to keep them open then.

[SKIdds]

Yeah, I tried not to come across as bashing anything and recognize the positives and negatives of both resorts because no resort is perfect. Also, one of the guys I was talking to when we were there said the 25 mile limit also applies to Gore, and that the Burnt Ridge expansion will pretty much max them out. We skied some great stuff within bounds that wasn't officially on the map. I think there is more of that at Gore than there is at Whiteface. Is one mountain more likely to pull your pass if you venture into such areas? As for who likes what better, it's all a matter of personal preference. Depending upon those preferences one mountian is sure to shine over the other for any number of reasons. For me, given what I like (it's no coincidink that all my pics seem to be taken in the woods ;)), the nature of the terrain and the skiing itself makes me lean toward Gore just for the pure making of turns, but with the whole package of terrain and the off hill activities I lean toward Whiteface for extended trips. I do have to see how things seem after I ski Gore a bit more, as my comparison basically assumes perfect conditions and everything (except for the Slides) open. I've skied Whiteface plenty of times under less than optimal conditions and the mountain does a great job all things considered. I'll have to see if the same holds true for Gore. Since I've skied with you I would be interested for your perspective on the two mountains and anything I might be missing. Send your bash-potential comments to me in a PM.

On our day there we didn't repeat many runs as there was just no time but we did hit some of the liftlines a second time, along with The Rumor.

[SKIdds]

and some tempting terrain that can't be skied because Whiteface is limited in the miles of trails it is allowed to maintain under the terms of their use of the land.

It's not just WF that is held to the 25 mile limit. A friend who works for the APA told me the law covers any ski area in the ADK Park, Gore included.
On this subject, I think one of the things that makes Whiteface so great, the sustained vertical, serves to make the 25 mile limit have a greater impact. With the vertical Whiteface has so much of those 25 miles is taken up in fewer long trails. Gore's trails are shorter, so they can fit more of them within their 25 miles.

I've always thought that the liftline under the Summit Quad should be fair game. I've even seen people ski it in my day. But that would add a lot of mileage, and my somewhat uneducated sense of the two mountains makes think Whiteface is a little more conservative on terrain, but I could be wrong.

I'm curious as to how The Slides figure into the whole limit discussion. Certainly mountain management isn't conservative there in even opening them. How can they officially be "on the map" but not count toward mileage limits?

[Face4Me]

and some tempting terrain that can't be skied because Whiteface is limited in the miles of trails it is allowed to maintain under the terms of their use of the land.

It's not just WF that is held to the 25 mile limit. A friend who works for the APA told me the law covers any ski area in the ADK Park, Gore included.
On this subject, I think one of the things that makes Whiteface so great, the sustained vertical, serves to make the 25 mile limit have a greater impact. With the vertical Whiteface has so much of those 25 miles is taken up in fewer long trails. Gore's trails are shorter, so they can fit more of them within their 25 miles.

I've always thought that the liftline under the Summit Quad should be fair game. I've even seen people ski it in my day. But that would add a lot of mileage, and my somewhat uneducated sense of the two mountains makes think Whiteface is a little more conservative on terrain, but I could be wrong.

I'm curious as to how The Slides figure into the whole limit discussion. Certainly mountain management isn't conservative there in even opening them. How can they officially be "on the map" but not count toward mileage limits?
The following, taken from the New York State Constitution's Article XIV, Section 1, seems to address your question ...

"Nothing herein contained shall prevent the state from constructing ... nor from constructing and maintaining not more than twenty-five miles of ski trails thirty to two hundred feet wide, together with appurtenances thereto, provided that no more than five miles of such trails shall be in excess of one hundred twenty feet wide, on the north, east and northwest slopes of Whiteface Mountain in Essex county, nor from constructing and maintaining not more than twenty-five miles of ski trails thirty to two hundred feet wide, together with appurtenances thereto, provided that no more than two miles of such trails shall be in excess of one hundred twenty feet wide, on the slopes of Belleayre Mountain in Ulster and Delaware counties and not more than forty miles of ski trails thirty to two hundred feet wide, together with appurtenances thereto, provided that no more than eight miles of such trails shall be in excess of one hundred twenty feet wide, on the slopes of Gore and Pete Gay mountains in Warren county ..."

Since the Slides were neither constructed by the State, and are not "maintained" by the State, I guess they don't count!

By the way, according to this, there seems to be a forty mile limit for Gore and Pete Gay Mountains ... Is Pete Gay Mountain currently part of the Gore Mountain Ski Area, or is this a separate mountain altogether? Anyone have an answer to this one?

[tjf67]

I agree with everything you say. Gore is a fun hill. St Jerry is a tool

[SKIdds]

I have not been to Gore this season yet, but I will be there March 16th, I hope there is enough snow to keep them open then.
HPD, I'd love to join you for Walt's Bump Contest. Who else is going? Unfortunately, at this point I'm tentatively going to be on a plane to Taiwan at the time......but if the work plans change we'll be head up for the day.

I'm planning on being up at WF for the Apple Butter.

[highpeaksdrifter]

I have not been to Gore this season yet, but I will be there March 16th, I hope there is enough snow to keep them open then.
HPD, I'd love to join you for Walt's Bump Contest. Who else is going? Unfortunately, at this point I'm tentatively going to be on a plane to Taiwan at the time......but if the work plans change we'll be head up for the day.

I'm planning on being up at WF for the Apple Butter.

S4L, and 2 other guys I don't think you know. Maybe some others. It's a good event.

[Harvey44]

While Gore's gondola is nice, it is somewhat less useful than Whiteface's. Much, heck most, of the great advanced terrain can't be accessed from the gondola, such that my brother and I hardly used it. Getting the negatives out of the way, there are a lot of flats and runouts around the mountain as well. Of course it will never have the town and off hill activities that Lake Placid offers.

I disagree. These are attributes.

[SKIdds]

I suppose they could be viewed as that in that they might keep traffic down in certain areas.

[JC7727]

While Gore's gondola is nice, it is somewhat less useful than Whiteface's. Much, heck most, of the great advanced terrain can't be accessed from the gondola, such that my brother and I hardly used it. Getting the negatives out of the way, there are a lot of flats and runouts around the mountain as well. Of course it will never have the town and off hill activities that Lake Placid offers.

I disagree. These are attributes.

Agreed, I only need to take the gondi up at the begining of the day. With all the great runs up on top some days I don't even make it down to ski the rest of the moutain.

[Denison]

I like Gore as well, not as much as Whiteface though. Whiteface's vertical makes me drive additional 40-something minutes. Gore is a worthy one-weekend-a-season destination though.