Ride Delaware ? Posted April 3, 2014 Report Posted April 3, 2014 When the season started and I made the move to Sugarbush, I had some pretty ambitious plans. My training took significantly longer than I expected so my ambitious plans to check out a bunch of new mountains were put on hold. A fraternity brother of mine has off every Wednesday, and with nothing open midweek in PA, we were looking for a place somewhere between us to get some midweek riding in. I had bought a Fox 44 discount card that had a day to Gore on it, so we decided to head there. I hadn't been to Gore since 2006, which was before they added Burnt Ridge and the North Creek Ski Bowl was rebuilt. I left the Bush after an afternoon session and made it to North Creek in about 2 hours and 20 minutes. We ended up staying at Heads in Beds which is a little hostel style setup a family made above their house. For $35 a head it was clean, affordable, and close. We woke up early, went into town to score a breakfast sandwich, and booted up in the parking lot by 9:30. It was in the mid 30s with a decent retiree crowd on hand. We stepped on the Gondola at 9:45 and headed directly to Twister which is what I consider to be one of the best cruisers in New England. It was firm up top and softened up about halfway down. It was clear that they had groomed yesterday right after closing instead of the morning shift because the cord was very firm. Once the snow softened halfway down, the snow was super soft and fast. Lots of fun. We went back up the gondola and headed over to the High Peaks chair for a couple laps while trying to find our way to the North Quad to get to Burnt Ridge. We eventually found the North Quad and the connector to Burnt Ridge, but the connector was closed. The only route down to Burnt Ridge was the traverse at the bottom off Twister. Unfortunately, the sun had come out, the temperature was rising, and the snow was softening quickly. The traverse was fairly flat and with the snow getting sticky, some pushing was required. It would have been easy during mid winter, but it was just too slow. Because of the shade, most of the glades were closed, so that only left two available runs off the Burnt Ridge Quad, one of which is the trail back to the main base area. We had to avoid some poor drainage to get on the lift, but we lapped Sagamore, the main trail under lift. The snow was soft all over the mountain by this point, and it was no exception. Sagamore is steep and mad technical with lots of fun rollers. After two runs down Sagamore we hit Echo, the connector back. It was pretty much straight down the fall line with some really good steeps. We eventually made it to the Straight Brook Quad to take some runs down Chatiemac, Hawkeye, and Cloud. The snow was starting to clump up and had made the transition from sweet and low into corn. It was the busiest lift of the day, so after several runs we headed behind the lift to the Topridge Triple. We loaded and after about 10 more chairs the lift stopped. After about 25 minutes they were able to get the diesel backup running, but it runs at about 1/5 the original speed, so it took another 25 minutes to unload. The lift wouldn't run the rest of the day. We had gotten a good rest on the lift, but we wanted a little relaxation, so we headed to the parking to to drink a brew before heading back out at 2:45. We rode until closing bell. My legs were shot. We loaded up and headed out at 4:20. It was 51 degrees at the base. Overall, it was a great day. It was great to finally get back there after being away so long. Its definitely a great mountain and the spring conditions didn't hurt. The lift setup is a little wild, and I was bummed that the trees were still too firm, but I'll definitely try to get back there next year midseason. Its worth the trip. 2 Quote
trackbiker Posted April 3, 2014 Report Posted April 3, 2014 Thanks for the report. Gore is a great mountain and doesn't get as crowded as places in VT. Heading up there this weekend. Twister is a great cruiser but it's not in New England. 1 Quote
Ride Delaware ? Posted April 3, 2014 Author Report Posted April 3, 2014 I knew people would say it wasn't in New England. All these regional lines are ridiculous. I think everything north of Albany in New York is New England. Whether that's true or not, I don't know and frankly don't care. I'm sure I can find an old province settled by the English somewhere up there to make my point. 1 Quote
Ride Delaware ? Posted April 3, 2014 Author Report Posted April 3, 2014 Relax Douglas Bubbletrousers. It's not worth getting worked up over and posting a vblog on it... 2 Quote
RidgeRacer Posted April 3, 2014 Report Posted April 3, 2014 I like to consider the ADKs as their own big beautiful territory. 3 Quote
Ride Delaware ? Posted April 3, 2014 Author Report Posted April 3, 2014 I like to consider the ADKs as their own big beautiful territory.I could go for that. The mountains of NY, VT, NH, and ME are all so similar in their beauty and yet so different. I feel at home whenever I'm at any of them. Quote
Ride Delaware ? Posted April 3, 2014 Author Report Posted April 3, 2014 What about Massachusettes...The Berkshires are small. They don't do much for me. I've been to Jiminy and it was ok. Nothing to write home about. Quote
RidgeRacer Posted April 3, 2014 Report Posted April 3, 2014 The ADK High Peaks (and probably the presidentials - never been) feel a lot different than most of the other mountains in the east. Almost western like. 2 Quote
RidgeRacer Posted April 3, 2014 Report Posted April 3, 2014 No it isn't. I'm not talking about the skiing, just the vistas etc. 2 Quote
Ride Delaware ? Posted April 3, 2014 Author Report Posted April 3, 2014 Have you ever seen the Grand Tetons in Wyoming or the Beartooths in Montana? 10,000 feet of prominence from Billings Montana to Granite Peak in about 60 miles. The Grand Teton towers over 7,000 feet over the Jackson Hole valley..oh you really wanna talk prominence how about Mount Rainier and Mount Whitney... You can't compare 14,000 foot mountains to 5 and 6k mountains. There is every bit as much beauty, even if it is different in it's makeup. 1 Quote
RidgeRacer Posted April 3, 2014 Report Posted April 3, 2014 Have you ever seen the Grand Tetons in Wyoming or the Beartooths in Montana? 10,000 feet of prominence from Billings Montana to Granite Peak in about 60 miles. The Grand Teton towers over 7,000 feet over the Jackson Hole valley..oh you really wanna talk prominence how about Mount Rainier and Mount Whitney... What the hell are you going off about? Did I compare the high peaks to the Tetons or the beartooths or some of the biggest mountains in the west? And no I've never seen them but I have seen all of the Wasatch, the front range in CO, North Lake Tahoe, So Cal, Nevada, all of Arizona (including the San Francisco peaks up north) and the high Peaks are beautiful in their own way. (vert wise not elevation wise). Calm the hell down. Quote
RidgeRacer Posted April 3, 2014 Report Posted April 3, 2014 I never compared anything. No one broke out the topo maps. I talked about what I think being in the high Peaks feels like. 1 Quote
guitar73 Posted April 3, 2014 Report Posted April 3, 2014 nice TR and glad to see the coverage is still good. twister is a great trail, but i think i like echo a bit more...not as much skier traffic on it so you can really let it rip on echo. Quote
mbike-ski Posted April 3, 2014 Report Posted April 3, 2014 learned an interesting factoid the other day - the daks are the only east coast mountains not part of the Appalachians. geologically they're part of the Canadian shield 2 Quote
toast21602 Posted April 3, 2014 Report Posted April 3, 2014 Finally something in this thread that is factual and that I can agree with!!!!! What about the Mount Mik comment? Come on Douglas. Quote
trackbiker Posted April 4, 2014 Report Posted April 4, 2014 I never compared anything. No one broke out the topo maps. I talked about what I think being in the high Peaks feels like. Didn't intend to start a controversy. The ADKs are beautiful in their own right and offer as much vertical as most places out west. Personally I think the ADKs and the Whites of NH are much more scenic than the mountains in VT. Not comparing skiing here, just scenery. I know the Greens get more snow and you can't compare the skiing in the east to the skiing in the west. I can say that I prefer Gore to Whiteface (it lived up to it's pseudonym every time I've been there; Iceface). Gore is comparable to almost any place in NE when comparing terrain and glade skiing with less crowds. I hope the WNEP card keeps Gore on it next year. Quote
Ride Delaware ? Posted April 4, 2014 Author Report Posted April 4, 2014 I haven't been to Whiteface, but both times I have been to Gore I have thoroughly enjoyed it. It has a weird lift layout since the mountain was developed in pods with no master plan, but the terrain and trees are pretty enjoyable. The Whites may be the prettiest mountain range in the Northeast. The presidential a are tough to beat, and mountains like Loon and Cannon offer some decent skiing. Cannon is more of a skiers mountain while Loon is definitely more for the newbies. Quote
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