Gore surviving without natural snow


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Corporate Sponsors	Gore surviving without natural snow By Julia Rosenblatt Poughkeepsie Journal We have passed the Winter Solstice, but await snow. It’s a big topic of conversation and news articles. Late winters are nothing new, of course. And for all the talk about the lack of snow, the ski areas have been doing something about it. We have had cold enough nights for snowmaking and warm enough days for pleasant outdoor activity. If not for the occasional rainy day, we would have great skiing around here. The amount of snow may be limited, but ski areas are well open. We started our personal ski season a couple weeks ago at Gore Mountain in North Creek, Warren County. We found top to bottom snow riding and a selection of trails for all levels. Everyone seemed to agree that conditions were pretty good, considering the weather. Would we wish for more coverage? Of course, but we heard few complaints. General Manager Mike Pratt remarked, “This was a good year for Gore to have invested in improved snowmaking.” And invest they did, to the tune $700,000, including 130 new snow guns mounted on 30-foot towers. The investment allows Gore to “make more snow, make it faster, and make it for less money than before,” Pratt said. The overhaul placed the new guns at the most strategic locations and moved the old ones to other spots. Gore gets its water for snowmaking from the Hudson River, with a permit to draw 5,000 gallons a day. It also has a large reservoir. Water supply is not a problem. When Pratt first started working at Gore 22 years ago, “snowmaking was minuscule and lift lines were long.” Now Gore can handle up to 7,000 snow riders a day when all trails are open, “but you don’t feel it,” he said. Seldom, according to Pratt, are lift lines longer than 10 minutes. Gore has some new trails as well. Had snow come early, we might have been able to sample them. That will have to await a further visit. Ski areas are important to the Warren County economy, not only at Gore Mountain, but also at Hickory Ski Area in Warrensburg and West Mountain in Queensbury. Cross country skiing and snowshoeing draw visitors to the region to centers like Friends Lake in Chestertown, Garnet Hill in North River, and any number of parks. The region is not wholly dependent on winter sports. The Adirondacks draw people for a host of outdoor summer activities and for autumn foliage. Kevin Ouellette, innkeeper at the Copperfield Inn in North Creek where we stayed, said, “We like to start our winter season at Thanksgiving.” But, he observed, winter bookings depend on snow. “Last year it began Dec. 27 or 28,” after the memorable post-Christmas snowstorm. This year, too, people were holding off on making Christmas week reservations, awaiting snow. Considering the capacity of Gore Mountain, North Creek does not have a large number of hostelries. There is the elegant Copperfield Inn, the well-appointed Alpine Lodge across the street from Copperfield, and a scattering of other accommodations, but many Gore snow riders stay in places as far off as Lake George or Saratoga. The scarcity of beds is about to change. A group of developers named Front Street Mountain Development bought the former North Creek ski bowl, a historic ski area and its surrounding land adjacent to Gore. They donated the historic trails to the town, adding some 49 skiable acres to Gore and extending its vertical. On the remaining 400 acres, the developers have begun construction of ski-in/ski-out townhouses, with a view to completing a four-season community that will eventually include hotels and sports facilities, such as a golf course. These things will not take place quickly, but in carefully planned phases over the next several years. http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201112290600/SPORTS06/312290028

Corporate Sponsors

Gore surviving without natural snow

By Julia Rosenblatt
Poughkeepsie Journal

We have passed the Winter Solstice, but await snow.

It’s a big topic of conversation and news articles. Late winters are nothing new, of course. And for all the talk about the lack of snow, the ski areas have been doing something about it. We have had cold enough nights for snowmaking and warm enough days for pleasant outdoor activity.

If not for the occasional rainy day, we would have great skiing around here. The amount of snow may be limited, but ski areas are well open.

We started our personal ski season a couple weeks ago at Gore Mountain in North Creek, Warren County. We found top to bottom snow riding and a selection of trails for all levels. Everyone seemed to agree that conditions were pretty good, considering the weather.

Would we wish for more coverage?

Of course, but we heard few complaints.

General Manager Mike Pratt remarked, “This was a good year for Gore to have invested in improved snowmaking.” And invest they did, to the tune $700,000, including 130 new snow guns mounted on 30-foot towers. The investment allows Gore to “make more snow, make it faster, and make it for less money than before,” Pratt said.

The overhaul placed the new guns at the most strategic locations and moved the old ones to other spots. Gore gets its water for snowmaking from the Hudson River, with a permit to draw 5,000 gallons a day. It also has a large reservoir. Water supply is not a problem.

When Pratt first started working at Gore 22 years ago, “snowmaking was minuscule and lift lines were long.” Now Gore can handle up to 7,000 snow riders a day when all trails are open, “but you don’t feel it,” he said. Seldom, according to Pratt, are lift lines longer than 10 minutes.

Gore has some new trails as well. Had snow come early, we might have been able to sample them. That will have to await a further visit.

Ski areas are important to the Warren County economy, not only at Gore Mountain, but also at Hickory Ski Area in Warrensburg and West Mountain in Queensbury. Cross country skiing and snowshoeing draw visitors to the region to centers like Friends Lake in Chestertown, Garnet Hill in North River, and any number of parks.

The region is not wholly dependent on winter sports. The Adirondacks draw people for a host of outdoor summer activities and for autumn foliage.

Kevin Ouellette, innkeeper at the Copperfield Inn in North Creek where we stayed, said, “We like to start our winter season at Thanksgiving.” But, he observed, winter bookings depend on snow. “Last year it began Dec. 27 or 28,” after the memorable post-Christmas snowstorm. This year, too, people were holding off on making Christmas week reservations, awaiting snow.

Considering the capacity of Gore Mountain, North Creek does not have a large number of hostelries. There is the elegant Copperfield Inn, the well-appointed Alpine Lodge across the street from Copperfield, and a scattering of other accommodations, but many Gore snow riders stay in places as far off as Lake George or Saratoga. The scarcity of beds is about to change.

A group of developers named Front Street Mountain Development bought the former North Creek ski bowl, a historic ski area and its surrounding land adjacent to Gore.

They donated the historic trails to the town, adding some 49 skiable acres to Gore and extending its vertical.

On the remaining 400 acres, the developers have begun construction of ski-in/ski-out townhouses, with a view to completing a four-season community that will eventually include hotels and sports facilities, such as a golf course. These things will not take place quickly, but in carefully planned phases over the next several years.

http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201112290600/SPORTS06/312290028