West Mountain Conditions

Took a family day at West yesterday. The mountain was as busy as I've seen it in years, but never in a truly overcrowded way. Lots of families. There was a college race on the Mach.  Freshies to be found on certain parts of the mountain and nice carveable snow everywhere else. The Cure skied great. It's always fun when you get enough snow to ski it.

Skied WEST from 10 to 2 today. With my daughter and grand daughter. Excellent conditions totally packed powder or fluffy bumps where left to mogul up abit. Temps great, teens to low 20 actually snow squalled for about 30 minutes. People you should go to WEST it’s in Best shape skiing wise in along time. Also now that Prez week is over it’s quiet and easy going. Just would like the triple to open earlier than 3pm.  

West was great last night. Got there around 5:45, there was about an inch of fresh down on the ground and it was snowing at a decent clip the whole time I was there. Mach was is great condition and there were really nice, soft bumps on that little trail that cuts over from Mach back to the main base area. Spent most of my time there. No pics (sorry), my phone was dead.

ON3P was there with ski demos. They look like super burly skis (thick edges, heavy, bomber construction).

Skied until about 8:00. When I got to the parking lot, there was 2 inches of nice soft pow on my car that had fallen while I was skiing. Didn't turn to freezing rain until I got to exit 14 or so.

mattchuck2 wrote

Skied until about 8:00. When I got to the parking lot, there was 2 inches of nice soft pow on my car that had fallen while I was skiing. Didn't turn to freezing rain until I got to exit 14 or so.

I can see West from my back yard. It never really changed to full-on rain here, thankfully. The snow has a little more water content (hey, it's March), but all in all it was a positive storm.

Don't miss this monumental event with FIREWORKS
co-sponsored by Better Than New Painting!

This Friday,December 4th the Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce (ARCC) will be at the mountain helping us to celebrate the unveiling of the new "West Express" triple chair lift with a ribbon cutting ceremony on at 4:30pm. (ARCC will be equipped with X-LARGE scissors and ribbon!)  

The event is  FREE to attend!

Live Music by the Silver Arrow Band  @ 5pm in the Main Lodge
ZORBING: $5pp (Ages 5 & Older)

Large Bonfire with complimentary s'mores & hot chocolate station

Silent Auction*
Drink and Dinner Specials**
Bounce House free to use
AND DID WE SAY FIREWORKS @ 8pm , an always exciting display put on by Santore's World Famous Fireworks !!!

*Silent Auction items include:  a rare pewter handcrafted West Mountain belt buckle gift cards to some of your favorite restaurants and local businesses and a FULL PRIVILEGE Season Pass!

Went to West after Gore yesterday. A little scratchy, but they were pounding the place with guns - really nice fan guns that blew silky smooth snow. Skinned up for fun (and a little exercise), then rode the lifts (mostly just skiing a nice line under the guns on the face and sessioning the flat rail in the terrain park). It's gonna be good in a couple of weeks with more snowmaking. Pics:

Took some lunch turns today. They are still blasting snow. It's pretty itchy where there isn't any fresh man made. It's going to set up and be boilerplate for anyone skiing there tonight. The new lift is a big improvement. Looks like there's a college race this weekend.

The two current ways down are Frolic to Face or Holy Mackerel to Gnar Wall to Face. They have blown huge piles at the top of the alley, coydog, etc. I'm sure they plan to groom those out soon. They need to blow a bit more snow to make the entire Gnar Wall (wall to wall) skiable for the masses. Otherwise, there will be any icy funnel at the top of the face lift b/c of race courses and orange fencing which could prove to be a design problem. The triple is essentially abandoned for now.

Lunch and 2 hours for $24 is a great deal!

Skied last night.  Very nice groomed PP conditions.  Really about as good as it gets for night skiing unless it's a powder night.  Looks like they are giving up on opening the northwest (the old triple chair) terrain for this season, probably a good decision given the winter we have and the fact that the old triple is due to (hopefully!) be replaced next season.  The lighting improvements are really noticeable.  $5 burger special (and beers) was tasty too.

I like that side, what a shame. Maybe with the snow things will change. Lunch special sounds real good, could use that right now.

I was at West today. Was super. Blowing snow all over. Groomed to perfection. No crowds. Racers on new trail Gnar for practice today and race tomorrow. Blowing snow all day on Banister towards Northwest triple and on Northwest Passage from the triple, They started to break and groom the whales about 2 pm. Thinking opening late tomorrow. Lot of good vibes now from WEST.  Go ski there.

Have to be at West fir my sons race Sunday

How crowded will it be?  Will it be worth skiing or should I just spectate and drink beer?  It's a SL so it will be right in front of the lodge

A bunch of us parents were wondering today if ski team parents get a ski pass or not as part of their traveling deal. Does your traveling team get you guys passes coach or at least discounted passes?

Great to know HH - I had figured they were going to give up on the Northwest side for this winter.  One last chance to ride the old slow triple!

You have to buy a pass
Most places offer a discount somewhere between $40-50.  
Decided I'm not skiing today after being so cold yesterday.  West has a nice bar to hang out in and the SL is usually right in front of the lodge.

Went to West for an hour today.  Was spring like...plenty of snow still, but yeah...

Who is gonna come hit the airbag with me tonight?!

Fixed and I were there Sat late aftnoon, fairly busy which was nice to see. Conditions were very slippery. We were both ready to leave after 2 runs but her coworker who hadnt been out in 20 yrs (amazing what free passes bring out) was really enjoying himself. Considering the season coverage was dscent, add some sun and or warm temps could make for some good fun. Beer and food was good,

Hit West last night with the kiddos for the $20 for 4 hour lift ticket special. Conditions were really good IMO. A few patches of ice here and there but really nice considering the warmth and rain/freeze on Sunday.

Only really 1 1/2 ways down from the top. Upper Holy Mackeral to Gnar Wall to Face or Upper Holy Mackeral to Lower Holy Mackeral to Face. A bunch of the new HKD Fan guns were blowing nice light fluff all over the place. Those things are quiet and pump out a ton of snow. Best snow was down right side of Gnar Wall.

I didn't make it to West last year so it was our first time on the triple. Really like the lift and the new arrangement with holy mackeral/gnar wall lit. Nice pitch and variety even with just those trails. The chair rarely stopped and unlike years past it ran until 9pm. They used to run the shorter race chair till 9pm and close the longer lift at 8:30-8:40. Last night is was the opposite. We got there a little after 6 and were able to get 10+- runs in before calling it around 8:50. It was nice too in that the after school craziness isn't in full swing yet. That doesn't happen till 2nd week of January. A great night out.

On a side note West could really use some help on their website. There are dead links and it is just generally clunky and feels like it needs some love. The snow report is a dead link and the trails/conditions report doesn't indicate the last time it was updated. Also no verbiage to go along with the report.

West opened Frolic about 1pm today. We went down right after the groomers got off and patrol dropped the rope. It was OK, what was groomed was good but there is a lot of chunks and pits right at the edges. It needs another good night of snowmaking and grooming then it’d be fine. The Holy Mackerel and Gnar was good. Gnar will be great when they get it grromed just a bit wider and more even. Good day warm day. Merry Christmas to all Ski well!

Hit west for the $20 deal with my oldest daughter last night. It was snowing when we arrived and the lodge was still a little crazy with the after school crowd. We took advantage of the $5 personal pizza deal in the restaurant and then booted up and got on the triple before 7. They now have 2 1/2 runs open with Upper Holy Mackerel/Gnar Wall/Face, Upper/Lower Holy Mackerel/Face and Meadows/Frolic/Face. Everything was good. It was fresh snow on top of very carveable cord/cutup. They were still working on the terrain park when we got there. They were moving snow all day and have built up some huge jumps including a 55 footer. The park should open in the next day or two. Another fun night at west.

They have fixed a few of the dead links on the site but the snow report still said monday on it when I checked at 4pm yesterday. They really could improve the site and social media presence with a minimal amount of effort.