SKIING NEWLY OPENED TERRAIN AT WHITEFACE

I’ve skied a lot over the last few weeks and I was on the fence about skiing today, but I’m glad I did. I got to the mountain at my usual time after work, which is about 1 PM. Conditions were great and I skied with multiple people, which was unexpected — well, it wasn’t totally unexpected, because I did ski with Wild Bill, who I regularly ski with in the afternoons. But, I also skied with Pat, who works on the marketing team at Whiteface, as well as someone he was taking photos of for Whiteface’s social media, etc. We came across each other on the mountain, one thing led to another and I ended up on the Summit Quad with them. Pat captured the pictures below. I ski all the time, but aside from selfies, I have very few photos of myself on the hill so it’s pretty cool to have these. Thank you, Pat!

Following yesterday’s surprise powder day, conditions on the mountain were really nice this afternoon, especially when factoring in the fact that it poured rain just 48 hours ago. Yes, there were some icy patches here and there, but when are there not in the East? The gondola, Summit Quad, Face Lift, Falcon Flyer and The Notch were spinning today. The mountain opened up some new terrain in Lower Valley and Fox, adding a new route down to the base. Essex and Lower Northway were closed for racing.

Off the summit, I skied The Follies and the lower part of Paron’s Run and that was it. They both skied well. Cloudspin was open and I had heard it was just okay. With Essex and Lower Northway closed for racing, the options to get down to the middle part of the mountain were Victoria and Excelsior. Victoria was finally groomed for the first time this season last night and it was incredibly icy. It was a one-and-done for me. Excelsior, however, was fantastic. The entire run was packed powder. It was very enjoyable.

Like I said, they opened Lower Valley and Fox today. While it was nice to have a new way to the base, they were making snow on these runs and in general they were just very slow going. The other route down to the base from mid-mountain, Boreen, was the better choice and that’s what we stuck with. They were also making snow on Approach, Mountain Run (only half), Thruway and Draper’s Drop, so hopefully we get those trails in the next few days.

I’m not sure where I’m skiing tomorrow, but it will likely be in Vermont.

- Lincoln