EPIC DAY, WHITEFACE: way back in the day

Since this visit to Whiteface happened before the advent of digital cameras, you will have to be content with my lurid prose. Feel free to disqualify this entry due to the complete lack of photographic evidence.

I'm ashamed to admit it on this forum but my one and only visit to Whiteface was in or around 1989, over 20 years ago. Nevertheless, it was epic and is burned in my memory. Let me set the scene. At the time, I was living near Ottawa, Ontario, and was quite involved in the telemark ski scene of the day. You remember those days, don't you? Peruvian earflap hats, skinny skis, leather boots, Rottefella Super Telemark bindings and hanging on for dear life. Crazy dual-slalom tele races with no safety equipment. Free your heel - free your mind! And, man, were we cool. I had ordered a pair of Karhu Extremes, the most desirable ski of the day, but since they hadn't arrived, I was still skiing on a pair of 70s vintage 207 cm Hexcel Slalom skis that I bought at the Salvation Army Thrift Shop for $5. Hexcel is still in business, making composite products but sadly the skis are long gone. Their skis were revolutionary at the time. Extremely lightweight, with an aluminum honeycomb core, and very responsive. In theory, they made great tele skis. Unfortunately the floppy leather boots of the day did not have the power to drive the skis with much effectiveness, so I generally found myself going really fast in a kind of tele-downhill racer style when I used those boards. Do you get the sense of foreboding I am trying to create?

After a New Year's visit my brother in southern Quebec, I decided to take advantage of the fact that he lives less than two hours from Whiteface and pay a visit to the famous ski hill. Whiteface did not have the extensive snowmaking of today and the unfortunate nickname of Iceface was a little more deserved at the time. I was fortunate to ski there on a pretty good snow day, so my big Hexcels were in their glory. The epicness of the day came from several factors. First of all, I was skiing by myself at a large ski resort I had never visited before. This in itself was pretty exciting, especially since the cold and wind made reading the trail map rather difficult. So I used a more "experiential" approach and simply looked at trail signs and went down whichever one looked inviting or had a cool name. After warming up on easier runs on the lower mountain, I decided that I should go up to the top, so I found my way to the the summit lift, which, back then, was a single chair. I had been on a single chair before (there used to be one old one on the north side of Mt. Tremblant) but never on as sketchy a lift as this. The green paint was flaking off and the chair ride was made especially epic by the fact that the "safety bar" was a frayed piece of yellow polypropelene rope, secured with a rusty metal loop on a hook. I remember feeling very alone on that chairlift.

My memory is that all the runs off the summit chair were rated black diamond, although this seems to have changed today. The final epic moment came when I was skiing off that chair. I have no idea what run I was on, looking at the trail map today, I would guess Cloudspin, Niagara or Victoria. All I recall is that it was pretty steep, wide and straight down the fall line. So there I was, minding my own business, ripping down the beautifully groomed trail on my 207s, when I tripped over the fall line and everything went into slow motion. I found myself sliding out of control, on my side. This is a bad position for a telemarker with non-releasable bindings, so I went into survival mode, rolled over onto my stomach and lifted my skis off the snow. At this point I was going head-first down the hill. As fuzzy as my memory is of most of that day, I remember this like it was yesterday. I even remember looking around in my slow-motion state and seeing other skiers standing on the side of the run, watching incredulously as a hippie pinhead in a pink jacket went careening by them, headfirst on his stomach at Mach 10. I knew this wouldn't do. I must have read about self-arrest technique somewhere, because I unstrapped my poles, somehow turned around and dug the pole tips into the snow and  finally came to a stop, much to my (and probably the onlookers) relief. After emptying the snow out my jacket, I skied slowly down to the base, took my skis off and went home. Two days later, when my shiny new Karhu Extremes arrived, I unscrewed the bindings from the Hexcels and never skied on them again.

I think I need to re-visit Whiteface and have a better kind of Epic Day.

Ha! Great story!

Sick Bird Rider wrote

Peruvian earflap hats, skinny skis, leather boots, Rottefella Super Telemark bindings and hanging on for dear life. Crazy dual-slalom tele races with no safety equipment.

A photo of this alone would merit a special prize.

Sick Bird Rider wrote

The green paint was flaking off and the chair ride was made especially epic by the fact that the "safety bar" was a frayed piece of yellow polypropelene rope, secured with a rusty metal loop on a hook.

EPIC!  Somehow this reminds me of the old days of the Gore East Chair. On a cold windy day they'd hand you a blanket because the odds of the chair breaking down in "the windy spot" were about 50/50 and you were sure to perish without the blankie.

Sick Bird Rider wrote

I found myself sliding out of control, on my side. This is a bad position for a telemarker with non-releasable bindings, so I went into survival mode, rolled over onto my stomach and lifted my skis off the snow. At this point I was going head-first down the hill.

At least this was 20 years ago for you. This happen to me last weekend.

Sick Bird Rider wrote

I think I need to re-visit Whiteface and have a better kind of Epic Day.

Let's set this up.

Your complete disregard for the rules and subsequent disqualification, gives me the freedom to say....

AWESOME TR SBR.

Someone please jog my memory.....

Back in the mid-70's I recall a surface lift beyond the chair to the summit.  Please confirm if this surface lift truly existed or if my imagination ran wild one night while dreaming about my favorite mountain. Something tells me it was used on a limited basis for customers, and during scheduled race events. I am curious to know.

Also, if someone could scan and post or send me an image of the trail map from the mid-70's, I would love to see it. I have been collecting the WRM and Gore trail maps for some 15-20 yrs now, but did not collect them back in the 70's - 90's. I vividly remember the lift ticked being stapled to the wickets with the big ole' stapler back in the day! Another blast from the past compared to todays ticket fixation scheme. Oh how things change!

Sick Bird Rider wrote

Since this visit to Whiteface happened before the advent of digital cameras, you will have to be content with my lurid prose. Feel free to disqualify this entry due to the complete lack of photographic evidence.

The rules have been rewritten.

You are no longer disqualified.

And I take back all the nice things I said about this TR.

Harvey44 wrote

The rules have been rewritten.

You are no longer disqualified.

Well, thank you, I am honoured. It was a story that needed to be told, and then magically, a forum appeared for it! If it helps, I still have the pink jacket. It is a Patagonia Guide Parka of that time period, obtained when I was instructing for Ski Telemark. Holly and Steve of Ski Tele are the Hinterlandian versions of Dickie Hall, and have been tele-vangelizing for almost as long as him. They got a great deal on the coats, no doubt due to the colour.

CONTENTS DELETED

Ha, never did illegal drugs, but drank plenty of booze with my GF Gina who worked at the Homestead. Nursed my hangovers at the mid-station lodge sippin' the Hawaiian Punch sold there back then in the large tank waterfall type thing. I still refer to Hawaiian Punch as the "drink of champions", however these days I have banned myself from drinking it as I have to watch my sugar intake.

How about those parking lot guys having to staple 50 tickets per bus to the tour visitor/skiers under the most severe of weather conditions? I am sure any of them around when the transition to adhesive lift ticket came about, were so happy. I recall seeing them reload their staplers at lightning speed to keep things moving along, as back in the day, weekend tours to the Face were quite common. I worked for Green Mountain Tours (owned by Billy and Roberta Schmidt), for those around at the time. Every weekend was a giant party, with entertainment at the Lakeside Inn Annex, former Hilton, now High Peaks resort. We would have an Apres ski hot Gluwein and cheese party, then eat, and head back to the Annex for live entertainment by a local band. I forgot the name, but I recall them playing a lot of Boston tunes. Those were the days!

Traveling up with 50 folks partying their brains out was the norm every Friday night. It was interesting to see the condition of those folks at breakfast the next morning, not to mention how they would react to the low morning temps as they stepped out the door to board the bus. Just about everyone loved the mountain, and looked forward to returning in the future. I have a few shots taken from back in the day and will try to scan and post then soon. When the Lakeside Inn and Homestead was maxed to capacity, the tour staff would inhabit the Town and Country Motor Inn, the place above Bazzi's pizza, and the house (forgot the name), up by the Mirror Lake Inn, up by Dr. Bergamini's house. Jimmy Vise was with us, then relocated from Jersey to LP, worked at Jimmy's 21, and the last I knew, the Charcoal Pit. Many of the tour staff continue to ski/ride the mountain to this day.

Every time I pull into the Village, I find myself transformed back into the magic of the day. I make it a point to share as much of the experience as possible with my family. My three sons all learned to ski at WF at the ages of 3, 3.5, and 4. I feel LP/WFM is without a doubt, the best all around winter sports area on the East Coast. I am heading up Sunday with my wife and will be skiing Monday and Tuesday. As always, I look forward to the pilgrimage back to the mountain for the second trip there this season.

Sick Bird Rider wrote

You remember those days, don't you? Peruvian earflap hats, skinny skis, leather boots, Rottefella Super Telemark bindings and hanging on for dear life.

What... They're over?

Sick Bird Rider wrote

And, man, were we cool.

Dude, WE STILL ARE!