ANOTHER VERY COLD DAY AT WHITEFACE
It was another very cold day at Whiteface. Fortunately, it wasn’t too windy so while it was cold, it wasn’t unbearable. The sun was out and the views were great all around the mountain.
Riding the Summit Quad.
I met and skied with Collin, who I’ve interacted with on Facebook many times over the last year or two. Today was Collin’s birthday and he chose to spend it skiing. At the end of the day he told me he skied more than 53,000 ft. of vertical. That’s a great way to spend a birthday!
Entrance to River Run.
All of the usual lifts that spin at Whiteface were spinning today, except the Little Whiteface Double. They had around 70 runs open, including River Run, which we noticed was open near the end of the day. This intermediate run is located just below the Legacy Lodge at mid-mountain, to the left of Lower Valley. It’s a fun alternative to Lower Valley. There are weeds poking through River Run, but I didn’t come across any rocks or anything. The racing trails (Upper Thruway and Draper’s Drop) were closed for racing.
The top of Mountain Run.
Looking down Upper Skyward.
Lookout Loop.
Overall, conditions around the mountain this afternoon were generally packed powder. Wilderness was a bit firm for the majority of the run, as was Lower Skyward, which received its first groom of the season last night. Both of those trails were in the shade when I skied them. My favorite runs today were Upper Skyward and Mountain Run. Both were in excellent shape this afternoon and you could carve right through them. Victoria was also stellar. There was a lot of powder near the trees on skiers left.
Looking down Wilderness.
They were making snow in a few places around the mountain, including Upper Valley, Boreen, Lower Valley, Easy Street and AuSable Run. If a trail had snow being made on it then it was likely covered in whales, some of which were quite large. These large mounds of snow were a lot of fun to ski over and around.
I will likely ski at Whiteface tomorrow, but I could end up in Vermont. As I mentioned yesterday, I have a gift that I need to return to a store in Burlington, which gives me a great reason to ski in Vermont after work. However, I’m planning to ski in New Hampshire and Maine for the first time ever this weekend, so I may stick to Whiteface to keep it easy since I’ll be driving a lot in the coming days. We shall see.
Talk to you tomorrow,
Lincoln