Easy Blacks & Harder Blues

[MICO]

2nd year skiers headed to Gore this weekend. Spent 2 days at Gore last year and loved it -- skied Twister fine, but a little shaky on that last pitch. Have been out 5-days so far this season........skiing Blacks at local mountains. Definite improvement in skills. So, can y'all come up with a short list of harder Blue runs and the easiest Black runs ?? Thanks !!

[Harvey44]

I think the hardest legit blues are Showcase and Echo.

Actually Echo is a blue with one steep borderline black pitch.

Pine Knot is labeled as a blue but really should probably be a black.

Not super hard but Quicksilver is fun.

What am I forgetting? I think the north side is easier than the front.

Easy Blacks? Chatiemac...Lower Darby. Look at what has been groomed..anything groomed will be easier.

[SIAWOL]

I think the hardest legit blues are Showcase and Echo.

Actually Echo is a blue with one steep borderline black pitch.

Pine Knot is labeled as a blue but really should probably be a black.

Not super hard but Quicksilver is fun.

What am I forgetting? I think the north side is easier than the front.

Easy Blacks? Chatiemac...Lower Darby. Look at what has been groomed..anything groomed will be easier.

Laps on Twister or Topridge are my bets. Skiing the same trail over and over again helps build confidence as well. Advanced skiers will ski those trails, but typically won't lap them--they'd be more likely to doing laps on Chatiemac (and could intimidate a developing skier).

My two cents.

[MICO]

Thanks guys. There was separation between the 2 days we skied Gore last winter. Twister was skied over xmas. Then we went back for a day in February. Twister was closed for racing that day. Skied both Quicksilver and Pine Knot -- both fun and pretty easy. They were blasting the snow guns on Pine Knot........pretty cool, but noisy.

So, this weekend we'll hit Echo and Topridge, then try Chatiemac and Lower Darby. Sound right ? Out of the 90 trails, can you add any more to the list ? How difficult is Cloud (Blue) ? Now, the wifey has an issue with lifts. After Pine Knot to Tannery last year, the Topridge Triple gave her fits. Are the chairs to the summit just as or more intense ? Is one closer to the ground and more treed than the other ? Anyone know a good psychotherapist ???

One more thing. We really like trees and ungroomed, manky runs that get all irregular and bumped-up. Stratton (VT) has 3 or 4 Blue tree sections that were just the thing when we skied there before xmas this year. Tree runs are kinda similar to whitewater kayaking. Gotta pick your line and avoid the hazards. Anything like that at Gore ? We're not ready for tough tree runs. Later......... :-)

[Lbtchnlgs]

Thanks guys. There was separation between the 2 days we skied Gore last winter. Twister was skied over xmas. Then we went back for a day in February. Twister was closed for racing that day. Skied both Quicksilver and Pine Knot -- both fun and pretty easy. They were blasting the snow guns on Pine Knot........pretty cool, but noisy.

So, this weekend we'll hit Echo and Topridge, then try Chatiemac and Lower Darby. Sound right ? Out of the 90 trails, can you add any more to the list ? How difficult is Cloud (Blue) ? Now, the wifey has an issue with lifts. After Pine Knot to Tannery last year, the Topridge Triple gave her fits. Are the chairs to the summit just as or more intense ? Is one closer to the ground and more treed than the other ? Anyone know a good psychotherapist ???

One more thing. We really like trees and ungroomed, manky runs that get all irregular and bumped-up. Stratton (VT) has 3 or 4 Blue tree sections that were just the thing when we skied there before xmas this year. Tree runs are kinda similar to whitewater kayaking. Gotta pick your line and avoid the hazards. Anything like that at Gore ? We're not ready for tough tree runs. Later......... :-)

Ditch your wussy wife and hit up twister glades. Easy pitch and spacey trees :shock:

groovy man

[MidnightCarving]

agreed, for easy glades go for twister glades and tahawas glades, tahawas has some accessibility issues, unless you're coming from the top of burnt ridge.... but it's usually worth the walk, one of my favorite glade runs cuz you can really rip through it, kind of like flying through an asteroid field, the trees are spacey enough to get some good speed up and not be in danger.

[Harvey44]

If you thought Pine Knot was easy...you're pretty much good to go on almost the whole mountain IMHO.

[SIAWOL]

We really like trees and ungroomed, manky runs that get all irregular and bumped-up.

Shaky on last pitch on Twister but you're looking for trees and ungroomed, manky runs that get bumped up? Seems contradictory to me... :?

Cloud is not an issue--have at it.

[TomCat]

Open Pit and Uncas are fairly easy blacks.

tom

[mattchuck2]

Blue - Headwaters, Santanoni, Sleeping Bear, Tahawus, Pete Gay, Powder Pass, Echo
Black - Lower Darby, Open Pit, Chati, Hawkeye, Topridge, Uncas, Hullaballoo (they just groomed it)

[MICO]

Hey thanks for all the info ! Just to clear-up: No contradiction SIAWOL. We're 2nd year skiers and did Twister over xmas of 2007, just after a beginner lesson at Snow Ridge. Skied Pine Knot later in the season. That was then, this is now. :-)

Easy Lbtchnlgs........Wifey is not a wuss in the least. She gets her fear of heights from her Dad - he won't go up a 6' step ladder, so she's being a real trooper..........and also a former All-American gymnast.

[SIAWOL]

Hey thanks for all the info ! Just to clear-up: No contradiction SIAWOL. We're 2nd year skiers and did Twister over xmas of 2007, just after a beginner lesson at Snow Ridge. Skied Pine Knot later in the season. That was then, this is now. :-)

Improving skiers--Good to hear!

Study the map, look at the suggestions provided here, and work to just do laps on a particular lift, then work over to another lift--repeat, etc. You'll drive yourself crazy jumping from trail to trail without thinking about the mountain layout. At Gore, you definitely need to think about the lifts first, then pick the trails off that lift to lap. Otherwise you feel like you're traversing and skiing "connector trails" all day.

Also note that the Dark Side is aptly named--it's protected from the sun until about 1030a-11a this time of year, so save that area for mid-day.