Gore Mtn, NY: 3/01 and 3/02/08

[Harvey44]

Ski Day 23

A great day, but first a pet peeve. CB and I have serious cash invested into two full passes, and a pass for the day care, the Bear Cub den, for our daughter. My complaint…you can’t drop your child off until 8:15, but the lifts run as early as 7:45. I know the lifts aren’t supposed to spin until 8:30. But it’s a lot of cash to invest in a mountain to then be at a disadvantage on days with fresh snow. Ok got that out of the way.

Since I was up last time (2/17) …it did that warm wet thing, then there was 4 inches at some point, 16” on this past Weds, and 5 or 6 Friday nite. As we were loading into the Gondi, things looked great on Showcase and everything at the bottom. It looked like all the snow that fell was on top of the corduroy. By the number of expert skiers coming down, we knew that the top must still be roped off.

We took Pine Knot… it was pretty cut up by 8:30 when we got to it, and the Pine Brook glades were still closed, so we went right to the Straightbrook chair. CB hit Chatiemac and I ducked into the SB Glades. Did two in a row and they were probably my two best runs in there this year. There are lines in there that are too much for me, on a normal day. Tight, steep and when they are packed out… no can do. Today, I was first or second man through on the lines I chose… and it was definitely hero snow.

We hit the Dark Side… CB taking Cloud to Santanoni or Little Cloud…me improvising on the options… Steilhang and Hullabaloo, ultimately ending in the trees before getting to the High Peaks chair. It’s a new twist for CB and I …she beats me to the bottom now, or waits for me at the run out to whatever glade I’m in. I do my best to showoff when she's watching. I never got to Lower Darby or Darby Woods. One new development - the entrance into the Dark Side from Lower Steilhang is now marked with a sign.

We crossed back over to Straightbrook…CB on Headwaters…I did Upper Darby to the Mineshaft. In my mind, you have to go after Upper Darby or Lower Steilhang when they are open. The never get groomed and get little or no snowmaking. If they are open…like today, you gotta hit em. Upper Darby was bullet proof ice on it’s “headwall” and I basically slid on my a$$ on the steepest part. Actually today was something new for me in terms of crashes. I went down maybe 4 times…but each time was more of a choice then a mistake. I must be the only guy on the internet who crashes or admits it.

Down to Topridge…CB hit Uncas…and I did High Pines. It was one of the best things Saturday. Soft and great for tele.

We took a lunch break at the Saddle. Surprisingly uncrowded, we walked right up to a window seat. After lunch we hit the North Side….another great situation for us…CB skis Sleeping Bear and Tahawas…and I’m in the Tahawas glades. One of the great things about the Tahawas glades…there’s about 40 vertical feet of herringbone, and just that little impediment…which is no problem on Teles…really keep the traffic down. I ran into some snowboarders in there really struggling with the small climbs.

On to Twister and Twister glades. Today it was fast. A low angle sprint. Nice and soft until the very bottom, where it got a little scratchy.

We finished by splitting up for about an hour and a half. CB skied the bottom…I hit Double Barrel…another one of my crashes…then I headed to the Chatiemac Glades to see what all the fuss was about with the signs and the outabounds and pass pulling. In the Chatiemac glades, there are a bunch of signs indicating the “ski area boundary.” If you honor the signs it definitely limits your lines over on that side. Since everything was open and excellent, and the crackdown seemed real…I went legal all the way today.

At about 2:30…it started to dump big time. I was coming down the hill pretty tired, but went into the Otter slide glades…it was an out of body experience. I couldn’t see more than a few trees ahead. It was a 30 minute squall. I swear we got an inch of snow in 30 minutes.

Overall Saturday was probably a top 5 best day this year for me. Highlights were the Straightbrook glades, Dark Side, Chatiemac Glades, High Pines, Twister Glades and Otter Slide. I'll get some pics up as soon as I can.

Sunday was looking good.










Ski Day 24

Gore was really good again on Sunday. It snowed another 2 inches at our place, and probably more at the top. Plus, the wind had filled in the troughs of the bumps in the trees and on the trails. Not sure why "wind-blown" has such a bad rap. It guess it can be tough, but not on this day.

Conditions included everything imaginable except maybe crud. Dense powder and lighter powder, cut-up, wind blown and some mank down lower towards the end of the day.

Pine Brook was first...I was second man in, and there were options. It's so deep now that new lines are opening up as the snow covers everything. Skiing over obstacles that you don't even know are there.

I found the best snow/lines in Pine Brook, Straightbrook, Darby Woods, Tahawas, High Pines and Twister. There was a bit of a conga line doing the climb into Tahawas.

Twister Glades were again - very fast. It's one of the only runs on that mountain that I can basically sprint through, skiing and reacting without really thinking too hard. And off at skiers right, I followed a snowboarders track...to avoid the death funnel at the end of the glade...I found deep untracked.

And a funny thing happened. Twister the trail, had been fenced for racing...that orange web fencing. When I got back to the trail I was basically on the trail but behind the fence. So I was ripping all this untracked...untracked since Wed's storm...behind this fence, with the folks "on piste" kinda starring...how did he get there?












And a shout out to Mr. Tree. Nice to meet ya. We should make some turns!

Harv

[Lbtchnlgs]

Nice report, nice pics. Looks like everyone enjoyed the weekend

[mrtree]

Sat. was an absolute delight!

It was good to meet you Harvey44, how about some help with this weather situation.

[megatron]

"Think positive and good things will come " (Darkside handbook page 2 paragraph 11)

[Harvey44]

I appreciate you guys keeping the negative juju out of my weather thread. I know it SEEMS like I'm an awesome weatherman, and that I actually control the weather, but really I'm just another stokemeister.

Hey Megatron if JC hasn't claimed his Weather Thread Prize within 7 days, it goes to you. I was trying to figure out what it might be...maybe a cheese burger from the Saddle Lodge.

Harv

[megatron]

Thanks Harv, but I believe that my cohorts would probably want to make sure that there was bacon on that
I am no where near ready to throw in the towel yet. I have been seeing some rather unusual behavior out of crystal ball lately. and I have a very good feeling in my right knee that the big one is yet to come

[skiguy14]

sunday was great....1st time ive been to the mt an u darby was open....great trail...the woods in between wild air and quicksilver were amazing

[JC7727]

Is there really a prize? I thought it was a joke, lol.

[Harvey44]

Jimmy - there's a prize if YOU BELIEVE there is a prize. Looks like it is going to be a cheese burger, with bacon and blue cheese, in honor of our dear "de-parted" brotha, Big Jim. While it's not exactly on the menu, I think we have connections up there in Saddleland.

If you see me in the Saddle... snag me...I'm the crazy looking teley guy with snow in his hair, and a crazed look in his eye.

Harv

[Adk Keith]

...I'm the crazy looking teley guy with snow in his hair, and a crazed look in his eye.

Harv

Unless he has a green coat, That's me. :P