Gore

January 5, 2007

Today I drove up to Gore Mountain. I was pretty excited to go. I had not been there in about 7 years and knew that they had made some major upgrades since then. Also, it had not been above freezing since the last major storm so I was hopeful there would be some powder around in places.

New gondola was real nice. It now goes to the peak of Bear Mountain, not Gore Mountain. This way it serves more intermediate trails. Also, from the summit you can now ride to the new Topridge Triple which also goes to the top of Bear Mountain. From this point you can hit Foxlair or Fairview to the lower mountain without hitting the old flat connecting trail between upper and lower mountains. The whole Topridge service area is new, with about 6 new trails and 4 new glade areas in this area alone. There are also several other glade areas on the mountain which is something they apparently put a lot of effort into recently.

Today my game plan was to explore the new areas and hit the new glades. Took the gondola to the peak of Bear Mountain and headed toward the new Topridge area. First run was thru the Pinebrook glades. These were pretty well skied off and tight, but I was pretty impressed with the fact that they felt like legitimate glades. Deep in the woods, could not see the regular trails from within, no underbrush, it felt like a backcountry glade. Here is a pic of the Pinebrook Glades. I hit these on the second run also, hoping to find other areas I could branch off too, but did not find any.

After talking to a guy on the lift, I hit the Cave Glades next. These were better, way better. You had to hike a little ways to get there so I think that detracts lots of people. These were also pretty well skied off, but there were definitely a few spots you could go off the main glade and find some clean snow! With the exception of two summit runs thru the Straightbrook Glades, I rode the Cave glades all day. It was great snow in there in the spots that I found. Here are one, two, three pics of the Cave Glades. Probably about 1ft of powder on top with a good amount of packed powder underneath. Each run thru these glades was awesome. There were a few spots I would have liked to try some drops but I was not confident enough yet and the trees were pretty tight.. next time.

Overall a great day. I'll try to stay in shape for next time.