A SUNNY DAY OF SKIING at WHITEFACE
Today was day 40 for me on the ski season. Whether it be snowing or the mountain is just in the clouds, there have been ample low visibility days this ski season. Sunny days have been few and far between. Today, I got one at Whiteface and it was glorious. Not only is it nice to see all the views, it’s also great to be able to see where you’re skiing!
Whiteface Mountain seen from Little Whiteface.
Looking down Mountain Run.
The mountain was spinning all the main lifts, except Freeway Lift and the Little Whiteface Double. I skied with Wild Bill for the first time since before Christmas. We went up Lookout Mountain once, but aside from that we stuck to the gondola all afternoon. It was a fairly chilly day on the mountain, but there wasn’t much in the way of wind so the cold wasn’t too impactful. With it being a Monday, the mountain was empty and there were no lift lines.
The start of the Wilmington Trail.
Snow conditions were pretty good on the terrain we skied. Generally, most runs were packed powder, but you could find some firm trails around the mountain. The Wilmington Trail was nice up high, but a little more slick down low. Approach, a trail right off the summit of Little Whiteface, was icy for its entirety. Mountain Run was firm down the middle, but both sides had some snow. Victoria was slick down the middle, but skiers left once again had some nice snow.
Looking down Upper Thruway.
Later in the day we realized that the trails that had been closed for racing, Upper Thruway and Draper’s Drop, were open. We skied them once and thought they were so good that we went right back and skied them again. Another run that I personally thought skied well today was Excelsior. With no crowds and great snow, you really could just cruise right through it.
There were snow guns running on Lower Thruway, Ladies Bridge, Danny’s Bridge, Lower Valley and Fox. The whales are getting pretty big on a few of those runs so I’d imagine they’ll be moving on to something else soon. A few days ago I noted that there were snow guns on Skyward and over the weekend they made some snow on the headwall, so maybe that’s where they’re headed after they finish up some work on trails like Essex and Wilderness. We will just have to wait and see.
Whales on Danny’s Bridge.
Like I said, today was day 40 for me. Whiteface is my home mountain and I’ve spent 25 of those days skiing there. In total, I’ve skied at 8 different ski areas so far in New York and Vermont. At some point I plan to ski in New Hampshire and Maine as well.
Talk to you tomorrow,
- Lincoln