Whiteface After the Storm - We Survived!!

Skied from 11:30 to 1:30. Coverage was way, way, way better than I expected after this 3 day storm of rain, freezing rain and warmth. Pics follow:

I mean, obviously WF and Gore were going to "survive".

But let's not act like everything looks remotely as good as it looked last week...

Sad, but it's only going to get better.

 I'm glad to hear you made it through okay! The areas to the south didn't..

mattchuck2 wrote

I mean, obviously WF and Gore were going to "survive".

But let's not act like everything looks remotely as good as it looked last week...

Sad, but it's only going to get better.

Obviously it's not as good as things were a week ago, but I have to agree with WNY-ADK-Skier ... things were MUCH better today than I had anticipated.

I pulled into the lot at 8:00 this morning to drop my daughter off for work, expecting to see bare patches everywhere. To my surprise, all of the main trails were covered, at least from the view from the main access road. I dropped her off and headed to Saranac Lake to take care of some things. When I got back home, I saw that the Face Lift was running and from the webcam, it looked like they were getting ready to load the Little Whiteface chair. I really wasn't planning to ski, but based on what I saw when I dropped by daughter off, I decided to head back over to check things out. The Gondola wasn't running so I got on the Face Lift at around 10:15 or so. I skied Upper Valley to Lower Valley all the way done. The coverage was actually quite good. The snow had a sugary consistency to it, but all in all, I was pretty surprised. The coverage on Tower 10 hill, which is usually one of the first spots to go, was excellent ... amazing actually.

Did a second run down, this time taking Upper Valley to Boreen. A few questionable spots on Boreen, but they were easily avoided.

On my third time up, I took the Little Whiteface chair. The mid-station was closed, as were all the trails on that part of the mountain. Mountain Run was pretty ugly looking, however, there still appeared to be A LOT of snow on it. It may just take some TLG (Tender Loving Grooming) to get it back into shape ... we'll see.

The top of Excelsior was a little rough ... pretty much boiler plate until the split with Lower Northway. From there down, it was fine, with good coverage. Essex was closed, and it looked awful.

Took another ride up Little Whiteface and made my way over to Victoria this time. It was ... EXCELLENT ... better than it was last Sunday morning, and that's just a fact. There was no one on it, and I was able to make some nice GS turns down, without hitting a single bare spot or ice patch ... there have not been many times that I've been able to ski that trail in such good shape. I took two more runs down it before I took a lunch break, and then one more after lunch, and it was still holding up quite well.

With the expected cold weather over the next two days, things may get a little messier, as everything freezes up. Hopefully, they'll be able to get some decent snowmaking down to get things in shape for the busy weekend.

To sum it all up ... Whiteface really did dodge a bullet on this one ... definitely a lot of snow lost, and things aren't what they were a week ago, but it really wasn't anywhere near as bad as I expected. I was expecting to find the mountain in need of a complete rebuild, but I don't think that's the case. Others may disagree, but that's my take on things.

It doesn't look too bad ! Nice thing about an ORDA pass you can always go to the other mtns if conditions warrant it. Road Trip !

I skied Whiteface on 12/24 and they are well on their way to an excellent recovery. Very edge able everywhere, but sharp edges recommended. Once down Mountain Run was enough, but other trails were worth multiple runs. The Face is well ahead of Gore in terms of recovery. I skied Gore today and really enjoyed Whiteface more yesterday.