Today's Ski Report

[CUskibum]

Another good day! Wind was mainly an issue only atop Bear but in the afternoon it started working it's way down the hill. The trail had several inches of loose on it all day. Only later did it get somewhat blown off in front of the Saddle Lodge with the sides keeping some powder.

Even without bombing it, I did not have to pole once at the bottom of Ruby. The snow was actually kinda fast, The place was rather empty. Once again, i rode the gondi solo all day.

People are starting to duck ropes.... Fairview, Showcase and Wild Air. Patrol actually sorta opened Wild Air about 2pm. They didn't drop the rope, but they did post a " thin cover, some walking necessary, Black Diamond " sign.

Rumor is we lost our resident party animals. Chummer moved to Colorado. Jackie is in Florida.

Guns were going on Headwaters and the trails Jimmer mentioned.

It got a lot better when they dropped the ropes on Wild Air. Some of it had crusted over, but a lot of it was just right. It was really good to get out after being cooped up while studying for exams all week.

The Northern ADK got hammered this morning as well. We drove to Gore today from Potsdam and it was pretty bad, it took us 3 hours. A tractor trailer jackknifed on RT 56. Pretty much a whiteout from Potsdam to south of Tupper Lake. Got a tad bit better after Blue Mountain Lake. It was pretty much the same on the way back. I think that weather system is moving south slowly, so it'll be interesting to see how much snow Gore gets out of this storm.

[Snowballs]

Hard & Scratchy. A few lower mtn runs to scope it out then......Topridge-Watch out for the brown spots. Watch out for the yellow spots, not from the Huskies, just Mr Ice. There was some wildlife at the hill today. A couple of gondi cabins were skunked. Skied TR center>right side for 2.5 hours. Good fun. Thank God they built this trail. Left side had mini moguls made out of Ready Mix concrete. Snow lightly fell most of the day. When i returned to the Gondi, Sunway had enough new snow to "soften" it up a tad and made for pretty good fast cruising. Bomb it. QS, OS, 3B> Jamboree was fun. A good wind blew atop all day providing an excellent wind chill. Later it moved on down the hill. Refreshing. Showcase>lower sleigh hard & scratchy, there on down thru Stokes>Arena sucked.

A few guns were going here and there. NOT ONE ON TOP! JFTJ told me they been having mechanical problems with the system this season. This AM the water intake pump shut down. It was restarted at some point.

Skied for a good awhile with Tom Cunningham of the Ski Barn family. Care to guess what brand skis he runs on? He regaled me nonstop with Gore Tales of Old. Anyone with an interest in the area's ski history would do well to chat him up. He has 65 years of skiing at the mtn. The annual Garnet Trophy Race. 25 cent lift ticket packets, one to be punched for each day at the Ski Bowl...." Alot of times he wouldn't punch ours so we got extra days!" "Some days we got 30 runs!" Down South mtn to North River. Pete Gay skiing. Grandpa driving them up to the mines then meet them at the bottom to do it again. Hike from the mine to Gore's summit, down Cloud, hike up over something then ski on down. He descibed so many trails over that side of the hill that he confused me. He knew Betty, Doc and a bunch of others i forget. Chummer? making the Betty sign, carving Backwoods club pins etc,etc. Is there a Chummer Sr and JR? We exchanged contact info so we could hook up again. At his age, he can still make his SuperSports rip good! I had a great day.

[Harvey44]

Skied for a good awhile with Tom Cunningham of the Ski Barn family.... He regaled me nonstop with Gore Tales of Old. Anyone with an interest in the area's ski history would do well to chat him up. He has 65 years of skiing at the mtn. The annual Garnet Trophy Race. ... Down South mtn to North River. Pete Gay skiing. Grandpa driving them up to the mines then meet them at the bottom to do it again. Hike from the mine to Gore's summit, down Cloud, hike up over something then ski on down. He descibed so many trails over that side of the hill that he confused me. ...

YOWZA. I would be fascinated to talk to TC. Actually I'd love to interview him and do a piece for Harvey Road.

Sounds like a few different things going on.

Not positive but I think the Garnet Trophy was given out at Harvey/Garnet Mtn (which was really South Mtn). The story of the trophy is buried in this NELSAP piece:

http://www.nelsap.org/ny/garnet.html

Here's the old ride and slide map:

http://nyskiblog.com/2008/11/precise...-creek-ny.html

It would be great to buy that guy a beer.

[fujative.]

YOWZA. I would be fascinated to talk to TC. Actually I'd love to interview him and do a piece for Harvey Road.

One of my media arts projects this year is an interview, maybe I could set something up with him? If I got a collection of questions from people on this site for him that could help the project come along quickly. I'd be glad to do that for a solid grade AND to contribute to Harvey Road.

[Harvey44]

One of my media arts projects this year is an interview, maybe I could set something up with him? If I got a collection of questions from people on this site for him that could help the project come along quickly. I'd be glad to do that for a solid grade AND to contribute to Harvey Road.

This could be so cool.

What's the deadline for the project? Are you skiing Christmas week? That's one time when I'm definitely up in NC regardless of the weather. It's your project, so you'd be lead, but I would love to be involved.

Snowballs ... could you set up an introduction?

There is so much history at Gore, and it's one of my goals to get as much of it down as I can.

It would be key to get our hands on old photos for scanning.

Fuje .... PM me for contact info or send yours to harveyblogger@gmail.com.

PS - HR will be back to regularly scheduled programming tomorrow. Any constructive comments on today's entry would be greatly appreciated, and may actually do some good, if you understand what I mean.

[Snowballs]

I know Harv. You're why i got his contact info. BUT you and Fuj will have to share or slug it out.....cuz Fuj Rocks, He mah main man. I can't speak for the TC, but I'll see if he's game. I don't imagine you'ld have much trouble getting him to open up. No doubt he would enjoy your Gore stories as well....but be prepared to listen. Maybe you and yours would become friends with he and his. Then when you're in NR and Mrs. H doesn't wanna ski all day/weekend, she could possibly hang with Mrs. C and spend yo money shopping, dining etc, ya know girl stuff. Girls like that! Could maybe work out very well. TC doesn't work at the Ski Barn, his brother runs it, but maybe they'ld also let you crawl around in their cranium. A solution maybe for Fuj and you to go together and interview TC or you both, so to speak, if it even happens. Worth a try. i'm interested in the story. I love those old " Norman Rockwell " type stories.

Be a good Elf Harv. Santa's been trying to arrange another present for you. No promises there either but if it works out, you won't need the little blue pill.

[Snowballs]

Great Day! The icing on the cake was .......Gold Parking flopped Big Time! All the complimentary parking in the Upper lot,C lot, D lot, and part of E lot had cars but Gold Parking had only a mere 13 cars in it at 11:15!!! Vitually empty. It's was a dramatic statement. Rejected!

The Snowmaking crew did an excellent job on the hill. It is way different than just a mere 3 days ago. Trails that were mostly bare are now covered well side to side plus they have a few inches of MM powder laying around. While it was scratchy, it was edgeable and in some areas a good amount of Powder was to be had! Hawkeye was open with good cover and guns blazin. Chati opened with ankle deep powder but few skiers. The rest was good too with my favorite run being Foxlair at Day's end. There were soft powder moguls over it and few skiers. These, IMO, can be some of the nicests moguls at Gore when it's like this. They were good sized, nice spaced, piles of powder that started at the Dog leg and from the Gondi line down. Fun! Sunway had lots of powder laying around it's sides. This combo made a nice way to spend the last 3 runs.

I saw a brand new portable Snow Cannon being hauled thru Warrensburg. Hopefully it was heading to Hickory.

[Harvey44]

Chati opened with ankle deep powder but few skiers.

Great report SB ... sounds awesome. Very cool that they got Chatie open.

At this point in the season skiers can actually help break up the death cookies.

Way to take one for the team.

May be some surprising terrain additions in the next week.

[rossi]

today was definatly a fun day. a little on the chilly side but thats mainly becuase i didnt dress warm enough. the snow on foxliar was very nice and while both times i went down it there was some traffic, the conditions were still good. topridge was groomed and in spots slick but had the same conditions as all the other lower mt trails, fast and hard, and tree line was nice soft snow. wildair was probably the best lower mountain trail, edgible (sp?) and easy to get a good carve. now for the upper mountain. ducked the rope on pinebrokk glades and that sucked. few ppl had already been in there and some areas had hard crusty MM snow. hawkeye was very fun before the top got skied to hell. nice soft snow and some soft MM in spots. the headwall was a little sketchy. pretty slick with some soft bumps. lower half skiers left was easily the best. nice line going all the way down with small bumps that you could eaither go through or around and a few to jump off of. lower chati was easily my favorite trail open. i didnt get it early but still had some good freshies. a few rollers that you could fly off of and get a nice soft landing. i never hit bottom on the trail. all in all a good day. and i counted 15 cars or so in paid parking. only complaints i have is too many ppl on chati and hawkeye who should NOT have been there, and the 2 guys that came out of cave who couldnt answer a simple yes or no question. and i laughed histerically when you got caught poaching straightbrook glades. or atleast looked like you got nailed. its ppl like you that get all the fun taken away from the rest of us. if you are going to poach do it right.

[Harvey44]

PDQ phoned it in:

http://harvey44.blogspot.com/2009/12...ny-121909.html