What does it take to put Whiteface on wind hold?

I will most likely be going to Whiteface this weekend and the last I checked the wind was forecasted on Saturday to be WSW 18mph.  It looks like the lifts running would be Facelift, Gondola, Summit Quad, and possible Little Whiteface.  Would this put any one of them on wind hold?  If it is then I will go to Gore Saturday if not Whiteface both Saturday and Sunday.

What it takes is that I go up there with my family on any holiday weekend. I guarantee it will put all lifts on wind hold (I'm 3/3 on this one). Any other day is fine.

Matt very funny - what color x-c klister wax are you going to use on the flats at Gore this weekend?

To answer the 1st question - I look at the below web site which forecasts for the Greens and Daks at the summits.  West winds forecast over 40 mph get me worried.
http://www.erh.noaa.gov/btv/mountain/

Sunday looks to be the perfect closing day - sunny and highs in the 40's with light winds and having gotten below freezing Saturday night.

Coach Z wrote

West winds forecast over 40 mph get me worried.
http://www.erh.noaa.gov/btv/mountain/

Thanks Coach, that's good info.

I think I'd add that higher summit link to the Whiteface Weather Links in The Slide Guide.

The wind forecast is tricky becuase if the wind ends up coming NW or SW it does not funnel thru the notch any where as much as a pure west wind.  That is the one that affects the Gondola the most.

That web site is the best I've found for predicting the winds.  The best true indicator which out actually seeing the Gondi  is the flags on the four way stop in Wilmington as I'm driving to the Mt.  If they are flat out from the west blowing straight thru the notch the Gondi is not running. Would be a good place for a web cam.

 

Coach Z wrote

The wind forecast is tricky because if the wind ends up coming NW or SW it does not funnel thru the notch any where as much as a pure west wind.  That is the one that affects the Gondola the most.

That web site is the best I've found for predicting the winds.  The best true indicator which out actually seeing the Gondi  is the flags on the four way stop in Wilmington as I'm driving to the Mt.  If they are flat out from the west blowing straight thru the notch the Gondi is not running. Would be a good place for a web cam.

Thanks for the information.  They just upped the wind speed on weather.com to 21mph WSW.  Do you know WSW wind have similar effects on the Gondola as a pure west wind?  The flag idea seems very reliable, but I want to have an idea as to if the Gondola will be running before I head out the door on Saturday.

Weather.com's wind forecast as is about as relevant as sticking your finger in the air by where ever you live.  They are not forecasting for mt and elevation

Here is what the new forecast is for Northern ADK summits

SATURDAY...CLOUDY. HIGHS IN THE UPPER 20S AND LOWER 30S. WEST
WINDS 25 TO 40 MPH...INCREASING TO 35 TO 40 MPH IN THE AFTERNOON.
WIND CHILL VALUES IN THE MID TEENS.

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/btv/mountain/

Looks ok.  Check that tommorrow night or saturday morning since its still two days out.  I can not ever recall having the Gondola go down for wind when this site did not predict high winds.  To me its money in the world of weather guessing.

It is super windy right now - sounds like a freight train blowing thru the trees

That cool video showed an east wind blowing directly up and over. How often does that happen and does that shut things down? Would seem that's an anomaly

It was stated a west wind caused issues, but would seem a NW wind would be more of an issue no?

Honestly, you won't know unless you go....

The three lift that are supposed to spin are LWF double, High speed quad, and the Summit chair.  Would not worry much about the gondi.  

skimore wrote

It was stated a west wind caused issues, but would seem a NW wind would be more of an issue no?

When it blows from the NW its is partially blocked by Whiteface itself.  Its worse when the Notch itself acts as a wind tunnel. The Notch itself runs to from the SW from Lake Placid but at the critical mid elevations there is a funnel directly for West winds - you can see this if you look at a topo map.

I skied Whiteface today and the weather definitely reeked havoc on conventional wisdom as it was an ambient air temp in the mid 60's, the wind was howling at probably 30mph + gusts, summit was socked in and the summit skied like frozen ball bearings in the am and stiff corn in the pm. Mt Run as well as the adjacent trails softened nicely as the day went on.

Bottom line: Snoloco, take off your skirt and just ski

Darkside Shaman wrote

Bottom line: Snoloco, take off your skirt and just ski

word to the homey of the boom boom!

ScottyJack wrote

Darkside Shaman wrote

Bottom line: Snoloco, take off your skirt and just ski

word to the homey of the boom boom!

could you please define homey of the boom boom

Darkside Shaman wrote

... an ambient air temp in the mid 60's...

Huh?  Ambinet temp at the base was about 45 and up high it was just above freezing.  It was freaking cold for late April.  Where did you get mid 60's from???  The whole group I was with had to go put on more clothes.

From the web site
Temperature:
Base:37° F / 2.8° C
Mid:25° F / -3.9° C
Summit:19° F / -7.2° C


and no Gondi today

Sunday should be the perfect closing day

oh now I see you slid that one in after midnight and you were talking about Friday - I just saw the date - sorry Darkside

it was damm cold Saturday

No worries Coach
Gore was the same way today, although the snow was fantastic!

Just about to walk out the door on Sunday morn and I just checked the Whiteface web site - its 5 degrees at the summit - going to have another cup of coffee and wait for it to warm up some and put another layer on.  This is crazy - so much for global warming.   I actually want some spring in this spring.