Adirondack Ski Lodging: Whiteface and Gore Mountain Compared

Whiteface Mountain is in Wilmington, about 20 minutes northeast of Lake Placid on Route 86, and its terrain leans toward intermediate and expert skiers. There is no lodging at the base, so most skiers stay in Lake Placid or along Route 86, and the drive to the lifts is the main thing to plan around on a ski day.

Mirror Lake Inn, on Mirror Lake in the village, has a spa and a MICHELIN Key (2024), and Whiteface Lodge is an all-suite resort with full kitchens, an ice rink and several pools, within walking distance of the village. Smaller inns are in the village and in nearby Keene and Keene Valley. The surrounding Forest Preserve, managed by the state Department of Environmental Conservation, has cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, and there is skating on Mirror Lake.

Gore Mountain, near North Creek in Warren County, has more than 100 trails and a gondola, and its terrain suits intermediate skiers. It draws fewer destination skiers than Whiteface, so lines are often shorter on non-holiday weekends.

North Creek is a small Adirondack town without a resort strip, and much of the lodging for Gore is spread through the surrounding towns at lower prices than in Lake Placid. Garnet Hill Lodge in North River, a 1936 lodge above Thirteenth Lake with 50 kilometers of groomed cross-country trails, is a short drive from Gore, and The Fern Lodge in Chestertown has 5 rooms above Friends Lake.

Neither Whiteface nor Gore has ski-in/ski-out lodging of the kind found at Stowe or Killington in Vermont. Both base areas are lodges, lifts and parking lots, so all Adirondack ski lodging is in a town or along the access roads, a short drive from the mountain: about 20 minutes from Lake Placid to Whiteface.

That makes the base town the main choice. Lake Placid has more lodging, restaurants and things to do off the slopes than any other Adirondack ski town, while the area around Gore costs less and is quieter, deep in the southern Adirondacks and away from the High Peaks traffic.

The Adirondack ski season runs from December through March at both mountains, with snowmaking on the main trails from early December. Holiday weeks are the busiest times for Lake Placid lodging in winter, and the Ironman Lake Placid weekend in July is the busiest in summer.

Winter here is not only for skiers. Skating on Mirror Lake, snowshoeing in the High Peaks Wilderness and the Olympic venues in Lake Placid, with bobsled rides and public skating, draw non-skiers too, which keeps midweek winter rooms easier to find.