A WINDY DAY SKI DAY AT WHITEFACE
Riding The Notch Lift
Today was my first day skiing at Whiteface since December 20. I spent a few days skiing in Vermont before Christmas and then I was blacked out through the holidays at Whiteface. I was on the fence about skiing at Whiteface today, due to the risk of wind holds, but it ended up working out. No doubt it was a windy day, but the gondola and the Summit Quad were spinning when I got there in the afternoon and that was enough to keep me entertained. I believe the Freeway Lift was spinning, too, but I never went there to check.
The view from the top of Little Whiteface
Since I last skied at Whiteface, they’ve opened quite a bit of terrain, including The Wilmington Trail on Lookout Mountain. However, due to conditions, a fair amount of terrain was closed, including Approach and Essex, and Lookout Mountain itself didn’t open due to wind. The last week or so has been rough in terms of weather. We had warm temperatures settle in across the Northeast, which caused a lot of snow melt even at higher elevations. It also rained some. Then the pattern changed and it became cold, snowy and windy. While the snow was nice, it wasn’t enough to overcome the impacts of a rapid freeze with strong winds. Needless to say, the mountain was fairly icy today from top to bottom.
Looking down Victoria
While the mountain was generally icy, there were some pockets of powder and the edges along trails were decent at times. The best run of the day was definitely skiers left on Victoria, which had a lot of wind blown powder. If you were looking for good snow today, that’s where you would’ve found it.
Excelsior seen from the where you can cut in to Essex
Looking down Paron’s Run
Paron’s Run’s rock garden has returned
It wasn’t just ice that was an issue, there was also thin cover that had developed during the thaw on some trails, including The Follies, Paron’s Run and the very top of Excelsior. The mountain’s snowmaking team has the snow guns cranking out snow in these areas so they shouldn’t be in rough shape for too long. There were also several large patches of loose rocks and small pebbles on trails around the mountain. They were avoidable, but it’s definitely notable.
Snow guns on Lower Skyward
Looking down Lower Northway
I noticed they have set up snow guns, complete with hoses, on Lower Skyward. Looking at the weather pattern for the next 10–14 days, it would appear that Skyward will likely be open by mid-January. I think this is the year we may actually get Hoyt’s High open with snowmaking. I’ve never skied Hoyt’s and everyone has always told me about how great it is, so hopefully this is finally the year.
Talk to you tomorrow,
Lincoln