Info:      

Gore Mountain
793 Peaceful Valley Rd.
PO Box 470
North Creek NY 12853, 

Web:
www.GoreMountain
.com

Phone:
800-342-1234
518-251-2411

Gore Mountain Region Chamber of Commerce
228 Main Street
PO Box 84
North Creek NY 12853

Web:
www.gorechamber.com

Phone:
518-251-2612

Lift Tickets:
$51-$74 (adult)

Warren County Tourism Bureau
1340 Route 9
Lake George NY, 12845

Web:
www.VisitLakeGeorge
.com

Phone:
518-761-7653

barVino
272 Main Street
North Creek NY, 12853

Web:
www.barvino.net

Phone:
518-251-0199

The Copperfield Inn
Lorenzo’s Restaurant
Trapper’s Tavern
370 Main Street
North Creek NY, 12853

Web:
www.copperfieldinn
.com

Phone:
518-251-2200

 Skiing Gore Mountain & North Creek, NY                                 

An Underrated, Underappreciated Hill & a Town on the Rise

by Phil Johnson
photos courtesy of Gore Mountain
additional photos by Mitch Kaplan

Whenever I think about skiing Gore Mountain in North Creek, New York, the tale of the Tortoise and the Hare comes to mind.

There were ski trains bringing weekenders to this hamlet on the Hudson River 70 miles north of Albany way back in the early 1930s. State-owned Gore Mountain opened in 1964, and shortly afterward one of the first gondola lifts in the country was added.

But as the ski industry surged ahead with area expansion, new technology and upscale comforts, Gore seemed to just poke along, making progress here and there but without much splash and certainly no dash. It has been a near-secret for a long time.

Lately, however, things have changed. The Hares, at least in the East, seem to be taking a breather while the North Creek Tortoise keeps moving forward.

Gore Mountain, almost without notice, has become one of the best ski areas in the East. And the nearby village of North Creek is starting to blossom as a place skiers want to visit and stay.

The Ski Experience                               

A big breakthrough came 10 years ago with the connection of the area’s snowmaking system to the Hudson River, three miles away, giving Gore an almost unlimited supply of water to work with. in The quality and quantity of snow at the mountain have been steadily improved ever since.

Then the old gondola was retired and a new eight-passenger model debuted in 1999, creating a new on mountain hub for skiers. The Northwoods Gondola changed the entire character of the mountain.  The new lift to the top of Bear Mountain is fast and comfortable and drops skiers off in a spot that offers access to a wide variety of terrain from gentle green circle runs to authentic black diamond drops.
 
From the Gondola station atop Bear Mountain:

• do the south facing Topridge or Uncas to Tannery and ride the Topridge triple if you want ski in the sun well into the afternoon;
• head down Pine Knot to the Straightbrook quad chair and pound the advanced terrain on Hawkeye, Chatiemac, Lies, or the uber-steep Rumor all day;
• or, swing around Ruby Run and join up with some of the best long cruiser trails in the northeast: Showcase, Twister, Sleighride, Wild Air or Sunway.

And this is just a part of the Gore menu these days.

The High Peaks chair rarely draws a crowd but offers some very challenging terrain; the North Side has four trails but is generally overlooked by all except area veterans.

Then there is “The New Place”: the Burnt Ridge area which opened last year with Echo, a solid intermediate run, and Sagamore, the longest advanced trail at Gore.

All the while new opportunities were opening on the hill, there was lots of progress in the base area too.

The main lodge, once an elbow-to-elbow experience on weekends, has been brightened up and offers greatly expanded seating (read “comfort”).

What made that possible was the completion two winters ago of the Northwoods Lodge, a modern log building that hosts a bright cheery day care center, the ski school and the ski rental area. This was once the old gondola terminal building. It’s accessed right to/from the parking area and the slopes, thus alleviating much of the crowding that resulted when all of these services were located in the base lodge.  
   
While a lot is happening on the mountain, it is what is coming next that has locals excited.

The Future is Almost Upon Us                                  

Before New York State opened the Gore Mountain Ski Center in 1964, the ski center in town was the North Creek Ski Bowl, set just west of the village. That is where the ski train passengers would go in the 1930s, and where some claim the first ski patrol was formed. After Gore opened, the much smaller Ski Bowl limped along until the mid-1970s then closed . . . until recently.

Trails along the Gore Mountain pipeline to the Hudson River already have been cut and so has a lift line. A chairlift will be installed during summer of 2010 that will allow skiers to use the Ski Bowl base area to access the Burnt Ridge lift and, from there, all of Gore Mountain. This Ski Bowl interconnect will stretch the vertical at Gore to 2300 feet, sixth longest in the Eastern U.S.

More important, it will reconnect skiing at Gore to the Village of North Creek. And already there are strong signs of what that could mean.

Town on the Rise                                        

For years, access roads to the Gore Mountain ski area bypassed the village and, for most of that time, there wasn’t much reason for people to detour into town. The center for lodging and the amenities and the nightlife around Gore was primarily in Lake George, 45 minutes away. Previous efforts to resuscitate the village had failed.

Two years ago there wasn’t a hotel room to rent in North Creek. And, if you wanted to buy a beer in town on a Monday or a Tuesday, you were out of luck.

Then came barVino. Now some will argue that one wine bar and restaurant is too small a change to make much of a difference in a ski town. But, with good food and drink in an uncharacteristically attractive setting, this place brought a previously unknown sense of sophistication to Main Street.

Looking back, barVino may be seen as the tipping point for North Creek.

Also in town now is the revitalized Coperfield Inn, a fine 31 room lodge with two restaurants: Trappers for informal dining and Lorenzo’s where the chef’s credits include the well respected Sagamore on Lake George.

In addition, the Alpine Lodge on Main Street has been totally redone by Greg and Sharon Taylor, who developed the widely respected Friends Lake Inn. Other spots, too, have opened in the past two years, and you can even do some quality shopping now at the Hudson River Trading Company or browse the quirky Bradley Noxon Hardware Store just up the street.

Because North Creek is located alongside the Hudson River, a very active white water rafting business operates in town from April through September. Between the mountain and the river, there is year round outdoor employment in the area. And, local business people are enlisting in the improvement effort through a newly formed North Creek Business Alliance, which is sponsoring a shuttle between the mountain and the village this winter.

These are steps which are taken for granted in many places. But they are new and promising in North Creek.

No one will confuse Gore and North Creek with Vail, or Sun Valley, or Lake Placid. At least not yet. But take notice of this tortoise as it continues to make steady progress towards a place on the roster of top notch ski destinations in the northeast.

It won’t be a secret much longer.