Why Are Most of the Glades Closed Today?

[Spongeworthy]

The glades were in beautiful shape this past weekend. From the pics on Harvey's web site taken yesterday, they look even better.

WTF :?:

[Snowballs]

maybe it's a Patrol issue. not enough Ski Patrollers?

since we can't always trust their web site, were any glades open today?

[SKIdds]

Once again I'll say this for the benefit of mountain management. This is why I decide against skiing Gore. Yesterday I thought today might be a good day for a trip up, but concern that lifts and terrain wouldn't be accessible made me drop the idea quickly. According to the conditions report some of the glades are open. However, terrain closed midweek because they either aren't turning lifts or don't have the staff to provide patrol is just unacceptable (to me at least).

[SIAWOL]

I don't think there's a lot to it. It's midweek, so they're not turning BRQ or North Quad--so no Tawahus, Cirque, or Sagamore. Pine Brook and Cave were closed over the weekend--coverage is an issue. Kill Kare stinks so who cares, plus coverage is probably an issue. High Pines was closed over the weekend--coverage. Otter Slide was open this weekend, but deteriorating fast. Sunday traffic probably killed it. Twister was closed this weekend and for good reason--coverage for "advanced" skiers was ok but not for intermediates or lower, who like to ski that glade a lot.

So in my mind, only curious one is Chatty. That one must have gotten beaten to heck on Sunday. Coverage was pretty good on Saturday, especially Skier's left where the manmade blew in.

[luv2cruz]

the glades were great today although most we skied were not open. i guess they're saving them for the weekend. the dark side was awesome. think snow !!!

[GoofyRider]

i always thought, and this is based on no facts at all, that maybe they closed some of the glades on weekdays in an effort to save any remaining good conditions in them, in an effort to be able to advertise them for the bigger weekend crowds to generate more sales. the glades all seem to open for the weekends, I check the trail report almost daily. just a thought.

it does stink though that if i want to take off a weekday to ride gore, i'm probably going to have to duck ropes to hit glades.

[Lbtchnlgs]

it does stink though that if i want to take off a weekday to ride gore, i'm probably going to have to duck ropes to hit glades.

That's a good thing, you've got them all to yourself

[jimmer]

ropes-what ropes

[twinplanx]

ropes-what ropes

+1 find another way if possible, or if no one is looking...

[Harvey44]

Chatiemac Glades were in fine shape yesterday, so that's not why they were closed. I don't know why but I doubt the idea of "saving" terrain. Does anyone know if they really do this?

Like this week...there may be some NCP late week, so why wouldn't they open it up? I bet it's more of a patrol thing. Yesterday I only saw one patrol the whole day.

I never saw conditions improve so much with 2 inches of snow. The wind blew it all in between the bumps. Some very deep spots here and there.

I think it's interesting that they are closing the BRQ now. Love to hear what people think that means.

Hey SW thanks for reading.

[Snowballs]

closing BRQ ? that's too bad. the lounge there had ample seating and a sous chief. it was great.

maybe it's because it didn't have a liquor license.

[Jason in CP]

I'm new here, so excuse my ignorance ahead of time. If staffing is the issue, can someone help me understand the logic of running the Sunway lift instead of Burnt Ridge or North Side and expanding open terrain? Gore is advertising the new BRQ all over and it seems as though it's never open.....

[Snowballs]

sunway cuz they have to have a chair open for kids and newbies, both of which seldom have the stamina/skill to go further up.

[Jeff]

I have to echo what Skidds says. The issue of mid-week trail and lift closures gives the appearance that mountain management lacks in committment to its customers. This practice is generally not followed by competing (i.e. VT) areas. How can mountain management expect skiers to commit to spending their time & money at Gore when the mountain is not committed to delivering the product its customers expect? As a passholder, this is frustrating to me because I would like to ski mid-week occassionally and I'd like the mountain to deliver the product I thought I was getting when I bought my pass. I think Harv is correct about lack of patrol being the issue behind terrain closure -- that's pretty lame when they've already got a significant chunk of the mountain shut down because mgt isn't willing to commit the resources to run the lifts (i.e., North Quad & BRQ). It's somewhat of a catch-22 situation: mgt doesn't run the lifts because skiers don't come, skiers don't come because of lift & terrain closures. If that cycle is going to break it's going to require the mountain to make a decision to break the cycle and deliver the product skiers want. What's the marginal cost of operating a lift for the day: a guy at the top, a guy at the bottom from 8:30 to 4:30, that's 16 man-hours at say $15/hr, so $240 labor costs plus utilities to run the electric motor. Probably not a significant cost increase relative to the overall operating budget when one takes into account the benefit that accrues to the mountain from being able to offer their full product to the public. It doesn't take a whole lot of additional lift ticket sales to pay for that lift. Don't get me wrong, I love skiing at Gore but their mgt practices sometimes come off as a bit lame.

[Cliff]

Ya know, I posted this past fall that I was hoping for more terain opening midweek, (North, etc), and got crapped all over by some on the board. Now that the season is wearing on and only a portion of the mt is open midweek I guess most people are getting tired of it! I've said it before, Gore is a good-old-boys club and if you disagree then you're screwed! No matter that we paid early for our passes and gave them working capital, to hell with the customer! I can only imaging how many customers the company I work for would have if our management had this attitude. Great mountain...pp mgt.

[x10003q]

My sister is at Stratton today and the all the trails are available but the Shooting Star lift above the Sun Bowl is not running and the Snow Bowl Quad is not running. The Stratton gondola covers the Snow bowl but you have a long run out to get to the Gondola and you then have to use the stupid Gondola. Shooting Star is covered by the Ursa 6. Gore's closed lifts remove the trails unless you want to hike.

This has been going on for years and is not the result of the current financial issues in NYS. Now that Gore (midweek 1 day $62 vs Stratton midweek $72 at the window and $65 online)is almost charging what Stratton is charging they need to keep the whole place open. I only used Stratton as an example because there used to be a 30-40% difference (with Gore) between lift ticket prices and Stratton is always considered to be The expensive Eastern luxury/upscale cruiser "resort village" place. I know for me the skiing is way better at Gore. But for most people more terrain, 2 HS6, 2HSQ, a gondola and other lifts, tons of ski in/ski out beds, a lot more apres ski choice for similar lift ticket prices means people are going to VT. I am glad Gore is not Stratton, but they are starting to charge like Stratton while not even providing the full Gore experience.

[Powderqueen]

No one is skiing the glades at Gore today because it snowed 70" in VT the last few days and it is skiing like this
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_rGrUd5r_LO4/SaU9JI1Ko6I/AAAAAAAAFZc/m8MZgaZl1ok/IMG_2713a.jpg

Gore just can't compete with VT. I feel badly for the pass-holders who go on weekdays and expect more. People just aren't spending to ski as much, and if they do spend, they are going to go to where there's more snow.

[mattchuck2]

I don't really have anything to say on this topic anymore. . . . i like Gore the way it is . . .

[Jeff]

Maybe Gore mgt is reading this thread because the report for tomorrow (using the crystal ball of course) is showing a significant increase in terrain and 10 lifts including the North Quad and BRQ! Even the previously-closed-for-no-apparent-reason Chatiemac Glades is listed as open. If in fact that is a reaction to what they've read here, kudos to the Gore mgt for stepping up the effort. Thanks! Maybe I'll take tomorrow off, ski, and spend some $$ in the cafeteria and bar as well. And by the way, I'm thankful too that Gore ain't Stratton.


Uh, edited a few minutes later: I see now that what they've done is take away the High Peaks chair in order to give us the North Quad. Not good. While that does technically make more terrain accessible, it makes Dark Side access problematic. If it's a choice between the two, I'll take DS any day. So c'mon guys, I appreciate the effort but don't pull a bait-and-switch on us.

[Snowballs]

i skied today and the only lifts not turning were north quad and bq, no big loss. today was reciprocal day for McCauley Mtn, and a few folks were down from there and Titus. they were bummed BQ wasn't going, but they loved Gore, although the long runs had some of them spanked by midafternoon.

[jimmer]

i wonder if you all are bitchin cause this lift or that lift isnt running or your just bummed that your not out there,the skiing was fantastic today,didnt miss the brq one bit,and if it was open youd be gripping that you had to walk to get there,the woods are good the trails r good(i think)so get out there and ski,there were alot of people there today,and i didnt hear anyone complaining.so please just go ski somewhere, anywhere,and all will b good

[x10003q]

I am happy you figured it out jimmer.
Job + 14 year old + 3 year old + wife = rare to ski midweek.
I was trying to get to Belleayre to ski free today and my boss changed a meeting from tomorrow to today. When I finally get to Gore for some midweek skiing I want it all open.

[Spongeworthy]

If it's a shortage of ski patrollers during the week, aren't they just inviting us to ski Top Secret and Highline? :D

[evantrentful]

You know every year this seems to get brought up, the lack of midweek lifts running, and it makes me wonder why they built the burnt ridge expansion (atleast the logic behind it).
I was up at Gore over Presidents Day, on monday I was able to get over to the BRQ .... and wow was I surprised. I got to the lift and no one was insight. There had to be atleast 50 chairs in front of me with not a person on them, and about 15 chairs back before I saw another single person load on.
I hope in the years coming they work on connector trails, because I feel like thats what alot of these pods need, solid connectors that bring the mountain together more and help funnel more people over to the other areas (even if we dont like it).

[Jeff]

Interesting discussion of this exact topic can be found at First Tracks Online. The thread is Harv's tr from last weekend (I always enjoy his tr's), but page down about halfway through the thread and past his tr for the discussion regarding open terrain / lifts. I beleive this link should bring you to the correct spot. Sorry for the cross-post, but I think it adds to the discussion.

http://www.firsttracksonline.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7718#p42925

And Harv, glad to see you had such a great weekend of skiing after a pretty long absence. Great pics & tr. I couldn't be at Gore this past weekend because my pass is non-Hol, but I'm looking forward to being back soon.