|
Scott Dillman
from Ballston Spa
|
Jan 24, 2008 |
|
Overall Rating: 4.8   |
|
There is terrain for everyone at Gore. There are nice long easy cruisers for new skiers, stuff that will scare the pants off you, and everything in between. The snowmaking and grooming is as good as it gets. No matter what Mother Nature does, there is something good to ski on. Even on a busy day, the lift lines are only a few minutes. Many lift lines are shorter.
The base area renovations have opened up lots more table space in the Base Lodge. The new Northwoods Lodge is beautiful. It now has the rental shop, ski school desk, kids club, and kids adventure center. It is closer to the ski school meeting area and instructional trails.
The opening of the ski bowl in North Creek has increased activities with terrain park features, half pipe, and snow tubing.
Gore is a good value with introductory packages for new skiers. Give Gore a try.
|
Darryl K. Lewis
from Jamaica, New York
|
Mar 2, 2007 |
|
| Overall Rating: 3.6 |
|
Skitown Review
Ski resort reviews can be helpful only if you know the skill level and skiing perspective of the person authoring the review. My perspective is focused on the actual skiing experience (Terrain/Crowd/snow/factors), and not so much on the ancillary aspects surrounding skiing. I am a middle-age advanced skier with no interest in jumping off cornices or cliffs. I will often at high speeds hit a small lip in the terrain and get a little air, but thats about the extent of it. I venture in and out of moderate mogul fields in an attempt to become a better all-around skier, but I tend not to spend a majority of my ski day dealing with the bumps. If I had to describe the type of skier with which I most closely identify, it would be a high speed cruiser who enjoys medium to giant slalom turns. With grandkids in tow during the Presidents Day week, we spent two days skiing Gore Mountain (Gore) and two days skiing Whiteface Mountain (Whiteface). With that said, here are my impressions of Gore.
Terrain Rated 4.0:
Often when I start to develop a skiing swelled-head, I need a mountain like Gore to tell me that I am not such the hot shot skier that I think I am. With regard to terrain, Gore has everything a skier of any level may need with the exception of backcountry and above the tree line skiing. While riding the High Peaks Lift, I looked down over a trail called "Darkside Glades." It was relatively narrow, and to negotiate the trail successfully, you had to leap off an out-cropping boulder onto a smaller boulder while dealing with some good sized moguls. You regularly see such trails out west, but rarely encounter them on the east coast. I had arrived at Gore a week behind a 38" snowfall and the weather had remained cold. With such an abundant amount of snow, I therefore had visions of experiencing Gore's two signature double diamonds named "Rumors" and "Lies." But when I saw that they were side-by-side steep trails of at least 200 yards of constant mayhem, with humongous moguls and no escape routes, I decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and chickened-out. Especially when I read the sign that said, "Experts only!! Falls will result in uncontrollable slides!
For me, Gore turned out to be pure heaven. It is truly a cruiser's delight. Trails like "Twister" and "Showcase" are the ultimate in cruising and give the skier almost a western experience. They were wide trails with multiple dips and turns and ran approximately one half of the mountains 2,100 feet of vertical. Terrain-wise, Gore has definitely something for everybody.
Service Rated 5.0:
Gore is owned and operated by New York State, and being a State employee and giving good customer service tends to be an oxymoron. The Gore staff members have done a great deal to dispel that state-employee perception. Our lodging was booked through Adirondack Pines Bed & Breakfast and Vacation Rentals (I recommend them highly and you can google them to get their web address) who provided us with discounted lift ticket vouchers to be picked up at the Gore marketing office. When we arrived at the marketing office, our vouchers were not there. That is when Emily Stanton, the
Gore Marketing Manager, and Tori Ricketson went into action. They attempted to contact Adirondack Pines for verification but were initially unsuccessful. They then took me at my word and processed my four days of discounted lift tickets. They not only processed my discounted tickets (which would have really put them in a hole if I werent telling the truth), but they did it with a smile and as if I had known them for 20 years. Emily eventually verified our presence and vouchers with Nancy Lindsley-Freebern, the proprietor of Adirondack Pines, and everything worked out fine.
The lodge cafeteria personnel addressed customers with a smile and extremely prompt service. I tried their chili for lunch and it was pretty good. There were chunks of meat, lots of shredded cheese, and a tasty flavor.
Crowds Rating 3.0:
The crowds for a holiday period actually weren't too bad. At precisely 12:00 noon the meal time crowd in the lodge was quite dense, but by 1:45 pm things had thinned out considerably. The crowds on the hill weren't too bad either. You could actually cruise and do some pretty wide GS turns without the fear of running someone over.
Activities Rating 2.0:
Gore, located in North Creek, NY, is definitely in boonieville. My grandson wanted to rent a snowmobile, but with all that snow, there didn't appear to be any such recreational services that catered to snowmobile renting in the nearby vicinity. North Creek appears to be a small, quaint, and somewhat sleepy town, with no great choices of restaurants and not too many ancillary activities.
Value: - Rating 4.0:
If you walk up to the lift ticket window without any pre-planning, you will pay in the mid $60's for an adult lift ticket on weekends or major holidays. To me, that doesn't sound like such a bargain. Through Adirondack Pines I booked pleasant, comfortable, but inexpensive lodging, and saved one third off the lift ticket prices. The fact that multi-day Gore lift tickets are also good at Whiteface is an added bonus. You are getting two great ski hills for the discounted price of one.
In summary, Gore is truly a keeper and will provide you with an extremely rewarding ski vacation. I plan to return next year. As a native New Yorker, I did not realize what ski gems we have in our own backyard. Gore and Whiteface can hold their own with any of the major resorts in the east. With that in mind, I tend to favor Gore over Whiteface, especially if the snow coverage has been sketchy. Whiteface is a bigger mountain, and skis tougher than Gore (notice I said tougher, and not more challenging). The more challenging aspect of Whiteface applies only to the intermediate trails and The Slides area. With the same amount of snowfall, Gore appears to maintain a better consistency of surface conditions over Whitefaces efforts. Whiteface is larger and has some pretty good cruising trails, but they just cant match the flat-out cruising at Gore. If it strikes your fancy, take a look at my review of Whiteface.
|
Greg K.
from Cleveland, Ohio
|
Feb 16, 2007 |
|
| Overall Rating: 4.4 |
|
Since my forty years of skiing experience has been mostly out west, in February 07 I decided to set out to Whiteface and Gore to explore some eastern mountains. Who would have thought that a western ski experience could be found within a manageable driving distance of Cleveland Ohio!
Terrain:
Gore Mountain was a delightful surprise and based on my research is probably one of the best under-used gems in eastern skiing. It has been accurately described in other reviews as an intermediate mountain, but truly there is something for everyone on this mountain. For starters this mountain falls into the medium high mountain category. With a published vertical of 2100 and a usable vertical of 1900 there are lots of nice long runs that are comparable to the west. It may not be as tall as Aspen Mountain but sections of Gore are certainly comparable to sections of Copper Mountain. Many of the trails twist and turn in a classic New England way but not obnoxiously so. The trails are interesting, and one really gets the feeling that they are exploring a good-sized mountain. The views are serenely beautiful. It would take a good two or maybe three days to cover all of the trails. Generally speaking, the trails are well marked and the ranking levels are equal to or slightly easier when compared to similar rankings out west. Some of the single black diamonds are more like difficult western groomed blues (e.g. Topridge). Quite a few of the blues along the Sunway lift are more like western greens (e.g. 3B).
The top of the mountain is for expert and solid intermediate skiers. Rumors and Lies are as challenging as anything out west and are true double diamonds. They would be considered short to medium length western expert runs. Chatemac and Hawkeye are nice runs that can be handled by a strong intermediate skier. Cloud is a good escape if one finds themselves in over their head. The Topridge triple and the Highpeaks double also offer enjoyable and reasonably long runs for experts and intermediate skiers. The top of the mountain is no place for any level of beginner. An advanced beginner could probably handle Cloud and Lower Cloud to get down but the rub lies in getting to the top. The easiest way would be to take Pine Knot from the Gondola down to the Sraightbrook quad. The problem is that Pine Knot is just outside of the range of an advanced beginners general scope.
The bottom of the mountain is the place for advanced beginners or experts and intermediate skiers who love to cruise. In fact, Gore has a collection of some of the finest long cruisers anywhere that I have skied. The entire Gondola section of the mountain is cruiser heaven. Having just opened Ruby Run for the 06-07 season, the Gondola is now also accessible to advanced beginners. A fellow skiing partner, who is an advanced beginner just in the second season of skiing, had no trouble with Sunway or the blues off of the Sunway lift. The Sunway lift is perfect for young children who have some skiing under their belt. The layout of the bottom half creates a nice division in skier levels. When viewing the trail map, advanced beginners will stay to the left of the gondola while the intermediate cruisers will run down the middle or to the right of the gondola. Although the North Quad was closed, it appears that this area would support advanced beginner to intermediate skiers and offer a nice change of pace from the Sunway lift area.
Seeing as this is an eastern mountain, something must be said of the snow conditions. The 06-07 season has had the least amount of snowfall on record for a beginning season in decades. Every eastern ski area has suffered a drastic lack of snow. With that said, the snow conditions were surprisingly good. There was very little crust or ice. The snow was soft packed, easy to carve and reasonably fast. Even though the weather conditions were identical to the previous two days at Whiteface, which was 0 degrees and a wind chill of -20, the snow at Gore was definitely superior to Whiteface. After tracking most of the eastern resorts this year, Gore was one of the slowest to get its runs open. This may be due to its snow making philosophy or methods. Gore seems to limit its snow making to closed runs and was not blasting snow on open ones like at Whiteface. This certainly made skiing more pleasurable. With 50 of 73 runs open, I did not feel as if my skiing options were greatly curtailed. But it is advisable to check the snow reports before going to Gore. As far as the glades are concerned, nothing was open, and it is doubtable that Gore realistically offers any frequent glade skiing opportunities. It just does not get enough snow.
There are three areas of terrain that were negative. The top of the Gondola was pretty flat requiring some work to get to Ruby Run. It was annoying but not terrible. There is also a flat spot on Lower Cloud going from the upper mountain to the lower mountain that requires some shushing to get through. If these spots where annoying but manageable, the top of the Straightbrook Quad was a real pain. To get to Cloud or Upper Steilhang required some real effort and should be corrected.
Service:
The service seemed fine. All the lifts seemed in good shape and reasonably modern. The operators were polite and guided the chairs well at loading. The lodges were clean and serviceable. The base lodge was reasonably large and two levels. There was a store and a good sized bar. There were lockers on the lower level. The mid mountain lodge was small (seating 50-60) but comfortable and offered a big stone fireplace and beautiful views. I suspect that the main lodge could get somewhat crowded on the weekends. The food was ski food consisting of chili, hot dogs, hamburgers and other typical affair. It was average tasting and typically expensive like most ski places. Figure about ten bucks for a drink, burger and chips.
Crowds:
It is a little unfair to rate crowds when skiing on a Wednesday and Thursday. Even though the base lodge had more activity in it than expected, the lines were zero at all lifts. After quizzing quite a few locals regarding weekend skiing, the consensus was that the parking lot is full (they might need more parking) and the gondola line is a maximum of 10 minutes or less while other lifts are a few minutes or less. It is humorous that locals describe this as a zoo. Last year on Saturday at Copper Mountain the wait was 20-30 minutes at main lifts and at least 10 minutes at all lifts. If the locals weekend assessment is correct, it seems that Gore does not get very crowded at all.
Activities:
Gore is serviced by the small rustic town of Northcreek. It is a nice enough town but is definitely quite. There is a very nice, small upscale inn called the Copperfield that is comparable to any nice Hilton. The dining room has a fine dining décor and a diverse and upscale menu. The prime rib with scampi was excellent. The inn also has a grill-bar-room that is cozy and serves sandwich type bar food. Also in town there are two diners, a take out pizza shop, a grocery store, a pharmacy, a health-medical center and a hardware store. There are two other restaurants within a five minute drive of town and Gore. The Black Mountain Ski Lodge has a nice menu from huge sandwiches to a tasty glazed pork tenderloin. The décor is Adirondack and comfortably charming. The rooms are clean and basic and have recently received new carpeting and furniture. A Red Roof inn room done in mountain browns is a good comparison. Caseys restaurant is also available and is a sandwich and rib place.
Needless to say, Northcreek is not a party town but does offer enough amenities that if you rented a townhouse at the Summit at Gore or the Village near Caseys there are at least a few places to unwind or get basic supplies. The townhouses are very nicely appointed and furnished but not extravagant and would be good for families. We stayed at the only bed and breakfast, the Goose Pond Inn, which was clean, homey, a minute from Gore, a walk to town, comfortable and decorated in a very feminine Laura Ashley motif. If you like B&Bs, the Goose Pond offers nice accommodations. There are a few other places to stay around Northcreek, but I did not get the chance to see them or they looked run down. There are not many places to stay that are close to Gore so make your reservations early. The places already mentioned are about it. Both Chestertown and Pottersville are a good 20 minute drive or more and these towns struck me as even smaller than Northcreek.
Value:
Especially for the budget minded, Gore is a very good value and is a hidden gem in the Adirondacks. The tickets are inexpensively priced for a very fine mountain. Even though the town is small and quiet, there are enough restaurants for a three or four day ski trip. At an eight and a half hour drive from Cleveland or Pittsburgh, and given the quality of the mountain, there is very little reason to drive an extra two hours east into Vermont. If you cannot afford to fly the family out west, Gore gives you western skiing at half the price of a western trip and within a manageable drive of Cleveland or Pittsburgh. At four hours from New York City and if the après ski scene is not a must, Gore is certainly worth a visit as an alternative to Stratton and is most assuredly less expensive. I will be back.
|
Katie
from Albany, NY
|
Feb 8, 2007 |
|
| Overall Rating: 5.0 |
|
Honestly, I think this is the best mountain the northeast. I have been skiing there for about 15 years now and I never get tired of it. The people are wonderful and the Ski Patrol is always nice. If you ask any one of them a question, they aren't afraid to answer. About the ski code - there realy isn't much more you can do about it, because when people buy 1 day passes, if you look on the back, all the stuff is there. Also, on the season passes it is also written - look for where it talks about Artice 18. The Ski Patrol even does crowd control on the trails that have the heaviest amount of people which are usually on Saturdays and Sundays when school and tour buses come in. Overall, I think this is the best mountain and the best thing about it is that it is state owned land, because then there can be more snow making and better lodging and more trails to ski on. MORE GORE!!
|
richard
from cleveland ohio
|
Jan 6, 2006 |
|
| Overall Rating: 3.0 |
|
this mountain has decent skiing overall. in fact it is one of the best in the east coast. the one problem is that it unlike hunter is like lots of eastern ski areas in that it needs a lot of snow to fall in order to get truly good skiing. this is a good mountain to use as a prep for a vacation at a place like killington or vail. sunway is a good run to work on cruising and carving skills that can be further developed on blue runs like sleeping bear,twister,showcase,wild air and quicksilver. when your ready for more advanced developement topridge and fairview are good black daimonds to start with. after those two hawkeye and uncas are two more black runs that are fun to ski and aren,t a lot harder to ski than a good blue run. those looking for adrenaline thrills can take on the double black combo of lies and rumour. rumour offers a taste of extreme skiing. there is a sign by the rumour that warns skiers that a fall will result in an uncontrollable slide. in summary, gore is one of the best in the east but before going check the ski report to make sure good trails are open
|
DeeDee
from Schroon Lake, Adirondacks
|
Nov 4, 2005 |
|
| Overall Rating: 4.6 |
|
A wonderful place for family skiing! Gore has an intimate feel about it. There is the sense of an outing with friends and neighbors. The antithesis of a "Vail".
