User Reviews

Gore is definitely underappreciated outside New York.  The mountain has a couple of reasonably steep trails (Rumor, Lies), a couple of tight, twisty, ungroomed double-diamonds (Upper Darby and Lower Steilhang) and lots of nice glades that range from beginner (Otter Slide), to intermediate (Tahawus-very pretty), to reasonably challenging (Mine Shaft and others), to never open (Kill Kare--complete with notice that they'll yank your pass if you poach it).  There are a couple of bump runs on trails that rely on natural snow (Double/Single Barrel), but Gore could really use a  dedicated bump run that has snowmaking.  If Sagamore trail with 1400+ feet of vertical (and newly added snow making capability) is left ungroomed, Gore will move up to 5 stars for me. 

The spring skiing at Gore (particularly on the upper mountain) is very good.  Lower Steilhang and the nearby glades are particularly fun in the spring.  Closing date is usually around April 20 or 21 and there is still plenty of snow on the upper mountain at that point.

Like everywhere else, holidays and Saturdays can be crowded.  The good news is that the parking lot and lodge are usually far more crowded than the mountain is because there are enough trails for the crowds to spread out.

Gore is a reasonable value in the East if you get your season pass early ($690/full adult season pass).  We have also had a good experience with the Mountain Adventure program at Gore.  If you sign your kid up for the 10 week program there probably won't be more than two kids in the class for the last 4 sessions (after the 6 week program lets out), and our experience with the instructors has been very good.

STE

Gore is the closest decent ski mountain  to me. The snow is pretty good a majority of the time. There's 3 peaks to ski off from. This adds quite a bit of variety to your skiing experience. The trails are rarely crowded with a 10 minute lift wait being the longest I've experienced.  NY state for some odd reason, is doing some major expansion work on Gore with new lifts and trails. Strange it's happening in the middle of a recession ( Upstate NY has been in a recession for 6 years, Manhattan just got into it in the fall of 2008).