Whiteface 4/1-4/2 (w/slides!)

Decided to chase the storm with my dad (Jon951), for what might be the closing weekend of our 2017 ski season.  With the weather looking like the last real winter weekend, and a 12"+ forecast for Friday into Saturday, we knew we couldn't pass up the opportunity.  We were going to originally take the weekend off since we had skied several weekends in a row.  Drove up after work Friday and experienced heavy rain all the way up 87.  Figured it would change to snow north of Albany, but it poured all the way until around Warrensburg.  Finally changed to snow and was coming down hard...dumping all the way into Placid on 73 (even passed some guys in a RWD car stopped in the midle of 73 with hazards on couldn't make it up the increasing grade!)...but when we got into Placid it was a mixed precip situation on top of only a few inches.  Started getting kind of worried about the forecast being a bust...but around 11:00pm it changed back to snow right before going to sleep...good thing...

Must have been snowing majority of the time at the mtn:

Not looking like April 1st!




Got on one of the first few chairs, and hit Skyward for first-ish tracks:


Mountain called it 8", I'd say it skied like 8-12"...and not as heavy as I was expecting given the forecast.



Glades were descent...some hidden things under the fresh, but not too bad:


Heavy fog rolled in Saturday afternoon, very similar to the previous Saturday...took a couple more runs to see if it would clear...was pretty smoked from skiing the deeper snow all morning...so we called it a day and headed down to the deck on main lodge bar to drink a couple beers...ran into CoachZ and talked to him a bit, then headed back to town.

Saturday night some snow rolled back in, light, but by Sunday morning a couple inches had fallen and the sun was out.  We were pretty excited to get a real spring feeling day for a change.

Did some summit laps, they had groomed in alot of the snow that had fallen day prior, so the trails were in really good shape early morning.  Caught 2nd chair on summit, so we were able to get a few runs in before the weather got really warm and snow started to get very heavy.  

Saw 3 patrol in Slides, so inquired at the shack to see if it would be worth getting my pack out of the car for a silver status...but was informed they prob weren't going to open.  Took a few more laps keeping an eye on a rope drop, and ran into JTG4eva camping out at patrol shack...he had heard that they were going to likely open them now.  Then we bumped into HPD getting off summit chair, and confirmed they would be dropping the rope, possibly gold status.  Patrol came out the shack and made the call on gold.  Somewhat of a bonus, as I didn't have to waste time getting my pack from the car....but figures I finally buy the equipment and the first time this season I'm there on a slides day you don't even need it. oh well.

JTG and I were 3rd and 4th guys in, followed by HPD.



Slide 1:

Slide2:

Slide 2B:

Slide4 traverse:


Top of Slide4:



Snow was pretty heavy, and patrol had warned that it was sheering off a bit...I broke off this mini slab:

Followed by JTG with the other half:

Scenic shot:

Mandatory huck on Slide4 runout, always a fun one...JTG sendin' it! :

Me on the next section:



Went down for another lap and ran into ScottyJack on the summit chair...so the three of us took a lap on Slide1.  Had quite the NYskiblog crew going...



Went down to mid to enjoy the sun and the deck and have a celebratory beer (even though it was a Mich Ultra (can't complain about free!)) with my dad, for what could possibly be last day of the season for us.  He and I ended the season last year together in April, so it seems to be the trend each year....he's been my most reliable ski partner, well, my whole life really.  Fortunate he's still skiing as hard as he does.  


Couldn't have asked for a better weekend to call it a season on...April POW, sun, and Slides.  2017 was a a big season for me - spent alot of time in the ADKs, hit an all time personal record for ski day count, introduced several new friends to whiteface with great feedback about the mountain and the area in general, and skied a whole lot with my usual crew.  Also, got to do a descent amount of touring and uphill, being the first season I've been into that.

Looking forward to getting out on the MTB this summer, doing some hiking/checking of lines in the high peaks for next winter and then back at it next season!

Very cool!

it was good to see you guys again on the bar deck afterward

glad you had a good time here at the face.  

Congrats on the kid coming

You post one heck of a TR Mike.    Great weather for you. too. Good for you and your Dad !!!

Anyone else noticed that " They're probably not going to open the slides " seems to be the standard " go to " answer from Patrol ?   Then, voila! they're open. Seems most slide TR's include this phenom.