First Day

Since there was nothing but grass in central NY last weekend we loaded up about 15 ski racing athletes and 5 coaches or so and headed to Gore. I am not sure what my exact definition of "Small Mountain" is but Gore is usually not in this category. I wouldn't call Gore big but when the mountain is all open there is a lot of skiing there with a lot of variety. I defiantly like skiing at Gore. Last Saturday, Gore skied like a small mountain. There were 2 options off the top of the Gondola and one way down to the bottom. Two thirds the way down there was an area that was full of rocks and mud mixed into the snow that lasted for three turns or so. Other than that, the skiing was pretty good. There was also a short lift running and we wound up skiing there for most of the afternoon because it did not have a particularly thin section of snow.

While it was not a huge day for Gore the open skiing was packed with people. It is interesting that in the spring, there is often really good skiing and no one skiing. Most years, Labrador closes with full coverage of its trails but not enough business to justify remaining open. When the season begins, we all go skiing in pretty bad conditions and are really happy to be there.

As we all know the weather has been almost completely unwinter like so far this season. Well, that is not completely true...I bet the snowfall totals for this winter so far are pretty normal. This issue is that after every snowfall there is a bunch of days that are 50 or 60 degrees. Every area in the east is struggling to get going.

As a result of the small area of marginal skiing and the people density on the available skiing at Gore, the parents of the athletes opted to return home Saturday afternoon instead of staying over and skiing Sunday. As we drove by Labrador going home that evening, the guns were on and they were working hard on the goal of being open next weekend. We will see how bad the weather gets on Thursday as rain is predicted. My daughter and I agreed that while the skiing was not particularly good, and the trails were, kind of, dangerously crowded, we had a great day and can't wait for another trip to Gore (which may be next weekend if Labrador can't get open).