West Mtn Clear Cut The Face

Rode past West today, pile of brush and logs in the parking lot,,,,, they clear cut from the top of Face, up to ????? It's cut all the way across from the Summit lift line over to the skier's right edge of " Old Face ". Couldn't see how far up it went as it went over top of the mtn bench, but the Cure is still " just a trail ".

i don't get it, did they cut to the left of The Cure?

No. It's hard to tell from the bottom, but it looks like they stopped short of the last elevation rise the Cure is on. I suppose it's cleared up to whatever trail that runs under the summit lift or maybe more but not the slope that the Cure is on.

It's pretty wide.

Would be interested to see a pic of this, maybe I'll stop by and check it out if I'm in the area.  The bottom of the new lift will be located closer to the lodge building, so cutting a new lift line would be required for much of the distance. Hope they cut only what was necessary.

I was driving the Northway yesterday, after reading this I remember thinking that something over there looked different but I think I was too busy texting and driving to give it much thought.  I'll have to put the phone down next trip up that way

Wow. I'll have to check this out, thanks for the reconnaissance

They cut from The Cure back through to the liftline for sure. Making it all one trail. So the woods where the old "Don't Eat The Yellow Snow" sign used to be are gone.

Dropped Paige a note asking what up. She was vague but promised to send some photos.

The new lift is being installed up the center of the "face", so it is nearer the lodge.  I'm not sure where it will top out in relation to the cure.  

Caught a glimpse today appears they just cut the lift line to accommodate new lift location, also widened the current lift line

Wish I could find a reference online, but I recall reading something to the effect of the old double lift line possibly becoming an official trail with the removal of the old towers.  Sounds like that what they're doing there.

Excited to see all this come together, hope that they have no delays and they get everything buttoned up well before winter arrives.

That would completely change the way the mountain skis. In a really good way.

Yea yea. If they get snowmaking over there and blow it early, it could be good. Daytime, West gets boring cause they don't open the triple till 3.

It will be odd having the new lift up the middle of the Face. I wonder how they will place it considering the tower guns are already in that vicinity....could be crowded there, structure wise.

Maybe Paige has some info for Dad.

Snowballs wrote

Yea yea. If they get snowmaking over there

That's gonna be the key.  The new management has really transformed the mountain.  Those 2 new lifts are going to breathe new life into the ski area.

Adk Jeff wrote

Snowballs wrote

Yea yea. If they get snowmaking over there

That's gonna be the key.  The new management has really transformed the mountain.  Those 2 new lifts are going to breathe new life into the ski area.

Are they? Unlike snoloco, I'm skeptical of a lift's ability to alter a mountain's character THAT much (unless it accesses an entirely new area like the lift upgrades at Gore or is a colossal clusterfuck creator like the Gondy at WF).

mattchuck2 wrote

I'm skeptical of a lift's ability to alter a mountain's character THAT much

Though they both still ran, at 40 - 50 years old the summit double and northwest triple were beyond their life expectancy.  They've both been on life support for years, so the new lifts literally breathe new life into the ski area.  

But it's more than just moving skiers from the bottom of the mountain to the top.  When you talk to the general skiing public (by which I mean 90% of skiers, not the freaks like us who are posting on a ski forum in mid-July) about West Mountain, the first thing those people say almost without exception is "OMG those lifts!" I think the new lifts will bring a lot of people back to the mountain who had felt West had become run-down over the last decade. The old lifts were a tangible symbol of the decline that had set in.  The lodge has already been upgraded, and snowmaking & grooming dramatically improved. All that was left was those old lifts, and now they're gone too.

Adk Jeff wrote

When you talk to the general skiing public (by which I mean 90% of skiers, not the freaks like us who are posting on a ski forum in mid-July)

Off topic, I know, but this is a great observation... although, I think the ski forum freaks are 1 percenters.

To the fellow freaks who can't wait for the first snowfall... I salute you.

Photo courtesy Yukon Cornelius

The better have snow making and a high speed bubble quad to the top of that run or Sno is gonna be piiiissed

So it appears that The Cure and the woods around it are still intact. What was cleared starts on the Holy Mackerel and down after the exit for the Cure.