West Mountain Conditions

Danzilla wrote

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.

I chaperoned my daughter's school ski club the other night and will say that the skiing was really good for what was open. I was pleasantly surprised. Hoping that they get the triple chair area open this year. Once the park is going on skier's left and a race is going on skier's right, that leaves a very narrow slice for everyone else on the face. It can get spooky when you're skiing there with kids and all other skiers are funneled to the center of the Face.

As fas as the marketing goes, they won some social media award last year (that they probably nominated themselves for), but I agree with you 100%. Most of the FB posts include a photo of the owner's wife, which is kind of weird. Westmtn.net is a horrible domain name.

Either way, I hope they succeed. It's nice to have a smaller mountain right in our backyard.

U14 states are at West first weekend in March.  Where would they run a Super G there?

I think that was one of the talking points for their new trail ?

Coach Z wrote

U14 states are at West first weekend in March.  Where would they run a Super G there?

Most likely starting off of the "Holy Mackerel" at the bottom of "The Cure". They have blown a bunch of snow there for a race start. The race would run down the looker's left of the "Gnar Wall" (to the left of the Face chair) and onto "The Face".(educated guess) Great view of the finish from the deck. Otherwise it would be run over on the "Mach", but I doubt it since the triple chair hasn't run in a year and a half.

West was great today. Skied from 10 to 2. Groomed to perfection with an inch of snow on top 1/3, skied like velvet. Warmed to soft cream butter. Bright blue skies. Skied with my Grandaughter who’s seven. I’m a happy camper these days.
Giant snow whales being formed into Snowboard park for Saturday’s Rail Jam is interesting to watch the cat guys work on the way up the lift.

Yukon,

Don't do it, man.  Do not commit your daughters to the drudgery of repetitive drills, hiking back up the hill (earn yer turns!) Schlepping from East Cowslop, NH to West Pigstay, PA just so you can grab their skis as soon as their off the course and say "'What did you do to your edges today, lil' darling."

Hm....maybe there is that parallel universe where all joints flex evenly, shoulders never dip and tips never cross.

Other than that, hope we'll see you @ Gore this Sunday, 1/15/17 for the Torchlight Parade/Fireworks Spectacular and Table-Surf-Off.  

Pretty sure You make your Granddads proud.

All the Best.

64ER wrote

Yukon,Don't do it, man.  Do not commit your daughters to the drudgery of repetitive drills, hiking back up the hill (earn yer turns!) Schlepping from East Cowslop, NH to West Pigstay, PA just so you can grab their skis as soon as their off the course and say "'What did you do to your edges today, lil' darling."Hm....maybe there is that parallel universe where all joints flex evenly, shoulders never dip and tips never cross.Other than that, hope we'll see you @ Gore this Sunday, 1/15/17 for the Torchlight Parade/Fireworks Spectacular and Table-Surf-Off.   Pretty sure You make your Granddads proud.All the Best.

Don't worry, 64er. My kids are free skiers all the way! Definitely see you this weekend. And thanks, pretty sure he'd have loved skiing with those two blond rascals of mine.

YUKON CORNELIUS wrote

Coach Z wrote

U14 states are at West first weekend in March.  Where would they run a Super G there?

Most likely starting off of the "Holy Mackerel" at the bottom of "The Cure". They have blown a bunch of snow there for a race start. The race would run down the looker's left of the "Gnar Wall" (to the left of the Face chair) and onto "The Face".(educated guess) Great view of the finish from the deck. Otherwise it would be run over on the "Mach", but I doubt it since the triple chair hasn't run in a year and a half.

I don't think that route would have enough Vert.  They need a full 1000+ so that is every inch of West.  It also needs some flatter gliding sections so starting at the top and going down Mach would be the route I expected.  Wondering if they might move the Super G to Gore as it's on Monday and close enough to be doable.

Are you saying that chair doesn't work?  That cuts a small area in half.  Jeez Sno would blow a gasket over this if he skied there.

Coach Z wrote

Are you saying that chair doesn't work?  That cuts a small area in half.  Jeez Sno would blow a gasket over this if he skied there.

Yeah probably

I think the lift works fine, but didn't open last year because they didn't have the snowmaking capacity to get everything covered.  Is an old lift though, 1972 install.

snoloco wrote

Coach Z wrote

Are you saying that chair doesn't work?  That cuts a small area in half.  Jeez Sno would blow a gasket over this if he skied there.

Yeah probably

I think the lift works fine, but didn't open last year because they didn't have the snowmaking capacity to get everything covered.  Is an old lift though, 1972 install.

Chair should work, but because of weather last year and a this year so far they haven't opened over there. 3 seasons ago, they did open that area, but it was clearly not prioritized at the time.

Last time they ran that chair then is when they had U12 states which is Kandahar Champs at West.  For some reason my son's age group keeps getting rotated back to the same places for Champs.  They try to move them around but I doubt they realize that some birth years keep ending up at the same places.  He has missed WF and Gore for them.  I don't mind West at all - its very viewing friendly especially the SL course right above the bar but I'd like Gore better to ski for 3 days myself comparatively plus it doesn't cost me anything for a lift ticket at Gore.

The old triple was open consistently the season before last when we were regularly getting dumped on. Mach has snow making but I think the other two trails over there are limited in that regard without moving equipment from the face side. They originally were going to take the leftover lift parts from the new west express and replace the old triple in this past off season. The new base lift building is already in. I think between the money they dumped into the gnar wall and the crappy season last year it caused them to postpone the triple replacement. At least they have upgraded the old lift with seat cushions assuming it does run this year.

The main trails over on the old triple side side (mach, midway and aoa) are by far my favorites. They are all pretty much top to bottom fall line trails that take advantage of most of west's vertical. Hopefully they can scrounge the money to replace the old lift, get new lights, upgrade snowmaking, and upgrade the lodge over there. It would be fantastic to ski the entire mountain under the lights.

Actually two seasons ago the triple ran.  Held the USCSA Regionals in mid feb.   so cold and Horriible veiwer experience.  

That chair was running last week,they were skiing the trail with what natural they had,not the case now tho.

yup, the triple was open last week..

K man wrote

yup, the triple was open last week..

I missed that. Cool.

For a change of pace and since my non-holiday pass was not valid at Gore today went up to West for a comparatively inexpensive 4 hour ticket and take advantage of a nice sunny day.   I had not been there in a few years, the new chair lift and the run under it, Gnar Wall, are nice additions to the mountain.

Terrain was limited with about 3 runs open but the snow was surprisingly good especially considering the recent rains. Their snow making seems to have been upgraded since I was there last. They were blowing snow on a few of the Northwest connecting trails, judging by the snow whales i could see on the closed runs those trails should be open soon.  There were basically no lift lines  although the parking lot was fairly full when I left just after 2:00pm.  

Will definitely consider going there again over Presidents week-)

West is claiming to have largest jump in the East.  They have a line of 3 Jumps which that have been sculpting since last week.  3rd jump is reportedly 67' from Lip to Landing.  

Send it!

Chris wrote

West is claiming to have largest jump in the East.  They have a line of 3 Jumps which that have been sculpting since last week.  3rd jump is reportedly 67' from Lip to Landing.  

Send it!

Make it a little bigger and the rescue squad will only need to drive under 87 and pick'em up at Mikey Ds

Did the ski club chaperone thing last night. Most of the open trails are in pretty good condition. The triple chair was running. I had forgotten what a hunk o' shit that thing was, but I love that side of the mountain. The chair runs reaaaalllllly slow, which is fine on a sunny day but not great at night. Only one trail down, but they were aggressively blowing snow on the Mach. They were blowing snow all over the rest of the mountain as well. Skiing with kids really gives you a  special perspective on just how bad and dangerous some people are on ski equipment (human missiles) and they were out in droves. The mountain is in decent shape considering they didn't get the snow that Gore did.