Whiteface Conditions (2010-2011)

The text may help!!

Its game on this weekend for three of the five of us in this somewhat dated pic. Great season to all, ...will see you out there. Pull me over and say hi. Chances are I have rode the lift with a bunch of you, but we never formally met.
Those of you on this blog may remember me from last year. I was the guy with the Billy Bibbit (One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest) avitar. I posted very positive things regarding my forcast for snow at WFM in the 2009-2010 season. Unfortunately things backfired, as most major snow events last season wound up in my driveway at the Jersey shore...4 events close to or beyond 3 ft, and  not at Whiteface. As we can see already, the tables have turned in the ADK region and all is well.

Planning to work and bring my magic to the mountain this year...I can explain during lift ride on the way to the top if I happen to share a ride with any of you. Still call the lift Chair 6, those fortunate to ride 6 back in the day are probably feeling it as they read this.

Lots of lifelong memorable runs from back in the day 'till now. I look forward to tomorrow's rush as we enter the lot for this season's pilgramage to one of the greatest, most powerful place on the earth. This probably sounds a tad strong to most, but believe me, there are natural properties contain within this this mountain that most folks do not know about, such as the high magnetite content. The magnetite content is similar to the composition of the rock formations in Sedona. Ever wonder why you fell so good as you ski there?? Hope this makes everyones day.

See you out there!

Jon

Oh...forgot

This season's Mantra:

Feets don't fail me now!

Got the Mt around 11am after plowing my driveway. I live at almost the exact same elevation at midstation and we  had about 5" of very light and fluffy stuff. I didn't see 12" of anything at WF. I think they are mixing up the english and metric system. There might have been about 6" on the top of Little WF. The whole place was like a mine field. It's 90% sheets of solid ice under random piles of snow. You had to pick you turns and blast thru the piles. I had fun. The place was empty on the MT but the parking lot was like a weekend. Hopefuly it will groom out and be good for the weekend. Anyone coming up this weekend and wants to meet up and ski a few runs give me a shout.

Christmas Week

We ran the gambit weather wise this week, from cold and windy to blue bird to spring conditions. Trails held up very well. We had a lot more terrain open this Xmas week then last. Skyward skied very well as did the Wilmington Trail which is always a wild ride. We had some healthy crowds with several days approaching 5,000. Late arriving crowd for 1/1/11 I’m sure and Sunday is a Super Sunday ($35).

BTW...I didn't have my camera all week..:(

We are looking to visit LP around the second week of March/11 and are looking at skiing at Whiteface.What can we expect generally about the conditions this time of year? Any info would be appreciated.

The others will know more, but to me, March is the best time for Face. More sunshine, longer daylight means even if there's no powder, the hardpack tends to soften up very nicely. I always recommend March to people who have never been there and are apprenhesive. It's tends to be really great!

I always tell people who have never been to Face that it is an absolutely MUST GO trip.

Sounds promising for March then.......we have never been to Whiteface and have 2 people who are so-so skiers and 2 who are pretty good for teenagers.Was worried about some stuff that I read about Whiteface being known for its ice.Thanks.

Yea that's why i wrote what I did, people get hesitant because of the ice reputation Face has. With softer snow even nervous people will be just fine and thoroughly enjoy themselves. True beginners also have 2 or 3 beginners (slow moving)chairlifts serving true beginner's slopes so that makes it MUCH easier for them vs poma lifts, etc.

The great part of Face is it's 3400FT of continous vertical!. Even just skiing off the Gondi from lil Whiteface mtn there's 2500 feet of continous vertical. That alone is more than most resorts total vert !!! The trails just seem to go on and on and on forever. There's easy trails from the Gondi so unless one is a true beginner, they should be able to enjoy skiing from the Gondi. There's also easy trails off the lower mtn lifts.

Don't let the view of the mtn from the parking lot intimadate you.

arlette wrote

We are looking to visit LP around the second week of March/11 and are looking at skiing at Whiteface.What can we expect generally about the conditions this time of year? Any info would be appreciated.

To semi-quote Forest Gump ... "Whiteface is like a box of chocolates ... you never know what you're gonna get!".

That said, mid-March can be really great. Snowmaking will be stopped after President's week, however, we can usually count on at least one decent storm late February or early to mid March.

It's all about the weather between now and then. If it stays generally cold with little or no r*%n between now and the end of February, there should be PLENTY of base left, for March. Also, the weather tends to be a lot more moderate by then, so you won't have to worry about any sub-zero temps or anything like that.

Enjoy!!!

arlette wrote

Sounds promising for March then.......we have never been to Whiteface and have 2 people who are so-so skiers and 2 who are pretty good for teenagers.Was worried about some stuff that I read about Whiteface being known for its ice.Thanks.

Whiteface is a wonderful mountain. Just watch the weather. I was at WF last March 26 and it was 8 degrees at the top. The day before I got there it was in the high 50s.
Here is my icy trip report:http://www.nyskiblog.com/2010/03/whiteface-ny-32610.html

whiteface, yesterday 1/09/11. Howling winds all am, Gondola not spinning, Facelift spinning but brutals winds above mid station lodge made the ride painful. Bear Chair to Racer Lift best way to top of Mountain Run. Mountain Run chair as far as you could go until 2pm. Facelift even shut down from aprox 12:15 - 1:45. Gondy actually opened about 2 pm but the sunny skies we had until 1:30 pm vanished into flat light. The 2 runs worth skiing, Mountain Run and Wilderness were excellent, MR flat, best snow on sides of trail. Wilderness had guns/whales all day but good Manmade stuff made for a fun day. Some of the best snow was behind the gun line, just had to jump over the lines that were showng.

arlette wrote

We are looking to visit LP around the second week of March/11 and are looking at skiing at Whiteface.What can we expect generally about the conditions this time of year? Any info would be appreciated.

Arlette, like pretty much every ski area in the East, March is the best month. Soft snow, warmer remps, more daylight, the whole mt. is usually open, prime time Slides season, then throw in a late season snow fall and it just doesn't get any better then March.

If you were going to stay somewhere in LP. where would it be? I don't want to break the bank but a hot tub would be nice.

Best conditions of the season by far. It will not stop snowing at WF. Another 5 inches or snow fell on top of the 17 from the storm. The WF snow maing arsenal is blasting away. Blowing on Lower Skyward (which opened around 3:00), Look Out Below, various other spots around the mountain, and the sight that made my heart skip a beat, Upper Cloudspin, I can not wait to ski that trail, IMO the best WF has.  

On Sunday we had about 4-5 inches of fresh on top and it was sunny in the morning. LOB opened and skied very well. Again the whole mountain skied great.

On Monday it was bitter cold in the morning, but there wasn't even a slight breeze. Beautiful sunny skis made ti visability fantastic. There was also a temperater inversion so it was warmer on the summits. It was a perfect snowmaking day, the snow was very lite, went straight up and then done right where they wanted it.

Upper Cloudspin opened and it was perfect. Also, people who came for the holiday either wanted to get an early start home, where afraid of the cold or both cause they didn't show. Also, non-holiday passholders where still blacked out so I'll bet we didn't have 1,000 people skiing on Monday. No crowds anywhere.

Skier visit numbers where good sat. and sun., but so much was open there where no lines and everyone was spread out nice.

No glades yet, but it won't take much more.

If you missed this weekend I hope you had something really good to do, cause you missed the best skiing of the season so far at WF.

Whiteface, February 9th, I'll be there for an epic day!

Lower Skyward was awesome. I skied it right after they dropped the ropes. Fun stuff! I wish I went back on Sunday, but it's a bit of a hike for me.

Plus we went for a midnight hike, played on the ice in some old graphite mines, then skied down!

Looking at the man-a-made storm on Cloudspin from summit of LWF



Heading down for the sweetest turns I think I've taken this season.



The man-a-made was really lite. It was like floating on a cloud. later of course it got tracked out, still great conditions, but this first run was the best. we got in right after patrol opened it.



BTW - LOB was just as good and it stayed that way because hardly anyone was skiing it.

Skied all three days this weekend...best weekend of the season so far.  Me and the rest of the group caught 2nd and 3rd chairs to the summit at 9:00am on Sunday...made first tracks in what seemed to be about 6" down the side of skyward, super light.  Lower skyward was awesome as well.  Monday, not one person in line, and it wasn't even as cold as you would think based on the forecast.

Great weekend.

Yep another great day on the big mountain. I don't know the temps 4sure, but it never seemed that cold. Upper Northway was the trail pick of the day. Watching WC bump skiers is humbling.