The past 2 years have seen us going up in Chestertown, NY with Bill & Brigitte, spending time at their house on Super Bowl weekend, which has turned out to be our gateway to ski Gore. This year Bill was injured, but we wanted to keep the tradition alive. So we made plans and tossed the idea out to Alex & Mark, who took us up on the offer for Saturday dinner & Sunday Skiing.
But first, basketball on Friday night where we saw Zac’s team move on to the 3rd round of the playoffs before grabbing a quick bite with my parents between the games. They came down to see Zac’s playoff game as well as Simon’s game, with a quick meal between. After dinner we went to see Simon’s team lose to the #1 team on the league. We said our goodbyes then hit the road north.
The drive was uneventful and timely. Just after 11:00 we hit the Albany Red Roof Inn, which for $60 was a really solid deal. Clean, cheap, and easy.
By 8:20 the next morning we were out the door and hit DND for a quick coffee & bagel, then another 1:20 on the road saw us reach our destination, Gore Mountain.
We hopped into the gondola from the bottom and made our way to the top, for a little bit of exploring. We’d been here twice before but had been following Bill both times. This was a bit of a new mountain in that regard. We did our best to navigate but in the end I just followed D around and not much stuck today. All good, we went up then back down.
The snow was pretty solid to ski on, I would say much better than expected given how little snow they’ve gotten up here. While it was thin in spots, there really wasn’t a whole lot of ice in all. Had a really good first half of the day. Still, every time I ski it’s a bit of a remembering experience.
We stopped at the lodge for some soup around lunch time. I got the clam chowder and D got the chili. It was good to get inside for a little because D was getting a tad cold. The soup was actually pretty good. The cornbread was almost good but almost not. I’m still not sure.
We headed back out and kept finding different combinations of runs until we decided that Showcase, Tahawus, and Sleeping Bear are 3 of our favorites to hit tomorrow. We wrap it up at 3:20 which is a pretty solid day.
Strava link can be found here. In total, just under 30 miles, 3:50 moving time, and 15.5k of vertical. Solid day on the slopes.
After the hill we found a small coffee shop in town to grab some coffee & tea and a small bite to eat. Just a mile from the hill we run into Cafe Sarah. Google review:
Nice little place close to Gore for a post-ski coffee (or tea) and a snack. Grabbed an espresso and a coffee and for the location it is a decent little shop. Would hit it up again in the future for sure.
We made our way to the Airbnb which is also known as the Llama House, which you can book separately from Airbnb. Google review of the house:
Place is great, David is a great host. To be clear this is a sort of community house which David lives in. We were 2 of 10 people staying there and 2 of our friends were there also. The vibe was excellent, very comfortable place to hang out in between ski days. On top of that David hooked us up with breakfast which was awesome. Will definitely see if it’s available next time we are in the area.
We showered up then hung out for a few minutes before heading out to dinner to meet Alex & Mark at Barvino, which seemed to be about the only good place to eat inside of 20 miles. David the host said it was really solid. My Google review:
Given the location in the world, this place is excellent. We barely managed to get reservations but they managed to squeeze us in and the food was excellent. The girls ordered a bunch of things that we all split and it was a great meal. Price was totally reasonable for this quality of food. If you’re in the area you have to try this place.
After dinner we hung out at the Llama House and talked with Alex & Mark as we have not had a chance to catch up with them in a while. In all a great day 1 of Super Bowl Weekend.
Traveling Normandy 