SKIING WIND-BLOWN POWDER STASHES AT WHITEFACE

Wild Bill shredding down Victoria.

Today I skied with Wild Bill. When I got to Whiteface this afternoon he told me conditions in the morning were better and things were starting to get a bit windblown. He was right. Conditions this afternoon at Whiteface were a mixed bag. Some runs were very firm, but they also had powder stashes, while other runs were simply packed powder. One trail even had a big ol’ section of ice. Needless to say, it was the kind of day where you never really knew what to expect on each trail, but you were likely to find a little bit of everything.

Looking down Upper Thruway. Note the powder mixed in with firmer conditions.

Looking down Paron’s Run at Little Whiteface.

All the lifts that usually spin were spinning today, except the Little Whiteface Double. That wasn’t really an issue, though, because the mountain was relatively empty. There were 57 runs open. Draper’s Drop was closed for racing and the mountain reported a fresh inch of snow overnight.

Looking down Wilderness. Skiers left had some snow. The entrance and skiers middle/right were very icy.

Mountain Run, Thruway and Wilderness were all pretty firm. Each trail had powder stashes, though. At times, they were in the middle of the run, but generally you could find some powder along the edges. Wilderness was particularly rough today, especially its entrance, which was very slick.

Another ‘slick’ run was the cliff area of the Wilmington Trail. This area had a large section of ice. Aside from that, the Wilmington Trail was mostly packed powder with a few firm spots. We skied The Follies off the summit and it was in similar shape — some sections of ice, but also packed powder.

Lower Thruway.

Riding the Summit Quad.

To me, the best runs of the day were Excelsior, Lower Northway and Victoria. Excelsior and Lower Northway were packed powder and you could just cruise right through them. Victoria was a surprise. It seemed to have collected snow from the snow guns running on Niagara and so it was nice and soft to ski through. Typically, wind can make Victoria pretty icy, but that wasn’t the case today.

The snow guns are still going on Upper and Lower Skyward and Niagara. As the day came to a close, they were making snow on Boreen, Lower Valley and maybe another spot or two around the mountain.

Talk to you tomorrow,

Lincoln