WF lifts and wind

You cant ski shit that will scare u at gore

WF is scary?

Pants wrote

You cant ski shit that will scare u at gore

False.

Skied at Whiteface for only the 2nd time on Saturday.  

Question) Does Victoria (I think that's where I was) always have moguls on it?

I ask because my gf is a lower to midling intermediate skier, but she handles all the intermediate trails at Smuggs and Jay Peak fine, etc... so I figured we'd take the intermediate path on the map down from the gondala.

 It was very icy, and windswept, but she can handle that.  But we came to a spot with some fairly decent steepness, no escape route, and rather large moguls.  Without moguls it would be no big deal, but with them it was definitely skiing at a black diamond level, or even a double-black at one of those places that "BS's" their trail map to squeak out extra DDs.

Needless to say, I felt positively awful, genuinely bad really.   But whatever that trail was skied awesome I must say.....

BenedictGomez wrote

Question) Does Victoria (I think that's where I was) always have moguls on it?

Generally speaking, no ... no moguls.

It's usually groomed, however, if there's been fresh snow, or they're making snow on it, then they'll leave it "au natural".

The "icy and windswept" description is the norm. Victoria gets a LOT of traffic, from skiers coming off the Gondola as well as skiers coming down either Skyward or Upper Cloudspin. On most weekends, by 11:00, it's pretty well skied off.

Face4Me wrote

The "icy and windswept" description is the norm. Victoria gets a LOT of traffic, from skiers coming off the Gondola as well as skiers coming down either Skyward or Upper Cloudspin. On most weekends, by 11:00, it's pretty well skied off.

By "icy and windswept" I was actually referring to the path down to (what I think was) Victoria, the Excelsior trail, and that trail was icy and windswept last year when I went to Whiteface too.

johns bypass.  its a roller rink most o f the time

BenedictGomez wrote

I ask because my gf is a lower to midling intermediate skier, but she handles all the intermediate trails at Smuggs and Jay Peak fine, etc... so I figured we'd take the intermediate path on the map down from the gondala.

 Needless to say, I felt positively awful, genuinely bad really.   But whatever that trail was skied awesome I must say.....

Victoria would be a Black at just about any other eastern ski area

I'd have to say your experience is pretty common - I'd guess that Victoria plus the low intermediate GF = the #1 cause of not getting laid for guys tourists in Lake Placid  

Temperatures, winds, and windchill values are shaping up to traditional WF holiday expectations.

When skiing at WF alone or with friends on day-trips, typically mid-week, not only crowds are non-existent, but weather is always great (of course, because I choose the day based on how the forecast looks). Never had a less-than-great day on these occasions.
 
On the other hand, during holiday periods, in the past few years, including 1 pres day, 2 X-mas breaks (and one March visit last year with hardly any snow on the slopes), I never had a lucky break with family-friendly weather. Not only skiing was bad or non-existent (sometimes with essentially all lifts down), but typically led to multiple near-divorce situations in the course of dragging my 2 daughters and wife out into subzero windchills. (The best scenario was 1 ok day out 3 of during this X-mas, awesome!).

As someone posted on another thread today, with kids (and family) "You need a different mindset". Very true. Especially in typical WF holiday weather.

btw, WF is my favorite mountain on the east coast, by far. It's just never worked out for my family trips.

Very funny that someone else dug up this old post as I just logged on and was about to search for it.

Today again proves WF absolutely needs to do something about the lift issues and wind.  The Gondi goes down around 20-25% of ski days and its almost a given it will go down on a major holiday.  How much longer can you think people will keep coming back with massive lines due to wind issues.  Wind blows every where but it affect WF way more than other ski areas due to the unique topography of WF.  They need another lift that is not wind prone out of the base area.  This needs to be priority one going forward!

We were there today and were in the next to the last Gondola that loaded before they shut it down due to wind.  We thought - Oh gee we are so lucky to get on!  As we took off we saw all the pissed people turning around and scrambling to get to another lift.  Well….that was a gondola ride I will NEVER forget.  That thing was swinging side it side and we were all bumping into each other inside.   I was never so glad to get off a lift!  We stayed up top as long as we could stand the cold.  Lifts were shutting down making the lines too long.  We quit, had an adult beverage on the deck, and headed to Keene for pie at the Noon Mark Diner.  We are at the point if we can’t ski we drink and eat so it’s all good.

The last few times at WF we have noticed that there is much more spacing between the cabins than at Gore, anybody know how come?  Seems like the lines for the gondola are much longer at WF as a result.

ausable skier wrote

Very funny that someone else dug up this old post as I just logged on and was about to search for it.

Today again proves WF absolutely needs to do something about the lift issues and wind.  The Gondi goes down around 20-25% of ski days

false.  again you are wrong.

ausable skier wrote

Very funny that someone else dug up this old post as I just logged on and was about to search for it.

They need another lift that is not wind prone out of the base area.  This needs to be priority one going forward!

Hey jackarse - it's called the racer chair.  AKA Lift I, aka lift 7.  Rode it Saturday and ripped awesome carving snow on Parkway.  

ausable skier wrote

Very funny that someone else dug up this old post as I just logged on and was about to search for it.

Wind blows every where but it affect WF way more than other ski areas due to the unique topography of WF.  

Bullshit.  Checked websites yesterday and upper mtn lifts were shut down all over NE.  Same is true right now.

BigDogMom wrote

Well….that was a gondola ride I will NEVER forget.  That thing was swinging side it side and we were all bumping into each other inside.   I was never so glad to get off a lift!  

AS - this is reality.  And a smart person.  

winds are rippin over 50 mph @ summits right now and w/ the temp it is almost -75F.....  

The curse continues, it’s a holiday, and the entire place is on wind hold. This sort of total shutdown only happens a couple of times a year, but without fail, every single one of those times it will be a holiday.(Not saying it was the wrong decision, I know someone that’s up there right now and she said the wind is absolutely howling right now...)

(It’s not just them, Jay, Sugarbush, Killington, Sugarloaf, Sunday River, and more all have a significant number of their lifts on hold as of 9:00 AM.)
-skisheep

President Week should be moved to the second week of March!!!!  

I agree that it's really never the wrong decision to shut lifts for wind.  Could you imagine the fallout if any Gondola went offline during a holiday week, because it was damaged in the wind?  Or even worse what if an open lift, like Gore's Adk Express was damaged, and could operate, leaving skiers in howling winds at pole 24?

As stated, most of the northeast is on windhold. This isn't a Whiteface thing.

skisheep wrote

(It’s not just them, Jay, Sugarbush, Killington, Sugarloaf, Sunday River, and more all have a significant number of their lifts on hold as of 9:00 AM.)
-skisheep

but still able to reach some of the upper mtn portions of these places