SURPRISE POWDER DAY AT WHITEFACE

Pro Skier Darren White once said, “Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad they make it, but there is nothing like skiing on real snow.” He’s right. It’s one of the greatest feelings in the world. The ski season is full of surprises. It rained a lot yesterday and I was thinking that, even with some fresh snow, today would be on the icy side. There was definitely ice out there, it was just buried under fresh powder.

That powder was coming down hard, by the way, thanks to Lake Ontario. A lake-effect band of snow found its way to Whiteface today and it just parked itself there, supplying the mountain with heavy snow for several hours. I’d estimate snowfall rates were two to three inches per hour at its peak. Now, obviously I love skiing, but I also genuinely love snow. I grew up in Kentucky where it doesn’t snow much, but when it did I was excited and that has carried over to adulthood. You put me in a lake-effect band of snow dropping that much per hour and there’s bound to be a smile on my face no matter what I’m doing.

The snow was coming down so hard today that I was covered in it by the time I reached the ski lift. I even had a full on snow beard going all day. The only downside to the snow was that it made it difficult to see at times, but who cares. It was absolutely worth the experience.

Now, this is a ski report, so I guess I should comment on the conditions. They were spinning the gondola, Summit Quad, Face Lift and Falcon Flyer today. There was fresh powder everywhere. Underneath that powder was an icy layer of snow. Thanks to the powder, the ice wasn’t an issue at all except on Essex and Victoria, which had some really icy spots. There were powder stashes to be found everywhere, too, which delivered many face-shots. It was hard to see where the snow guns were running, but they were definetly cranking out snow on Fox and Lower Valley. There was a groomer out on Lower Valley moving snow around so it’s possible that opens in the next few days. It sounded like they may have also been making snow on Approach down to Draper’s Drop as well.

Today was day 18 of the ski season for me and it’s one I’ll remember going forward.

- Lincoln