Whiteface Conditions (2011-2012)

Sounds like tomorrow will be the same but bitter cold thanks for the review helped me make up my mind!

ausable skier wrote

Well I'll start my report with what my mom taught me that if you can't say something nice - don't say anything at all

They did as good a job of grooming as possible.  There is frozen gran groomed over the ice so its not horrible and was holding up well on a week day.  This weekend may be another thing altogether.  They claim 2" new but that was no where to be seen.  I did only 2 gondi runs 1) approach to Mt run to valley and the 2nd time Mt run to thruway to drapers.  Avoid drapers its much worse then valley now.  Normally i do more than 2 runs for my lunch skiing but it was not worth it today.

The Summit blacks are closed because the wind blasted them and they are lets just say a little firm.

Big crowds for WF.  a big GS race, bump comp, and Chevy gave away 4000 lift tickets to those who bought cars.  Given my report of yesterday when i pulled in at my regular time and the river lot was already full i knew things would be rough.

Not terrible first thing in the am but by 1pm my freshly tuned skis felt round. On Skyward I think I litterally slid about 100 vert on one turn.  It was as icy as I've ever seen it.  Managed to stay upright all day but it felt like crap.  Lower Skyward opened and had fresh blown bumps but you had to risk life and limb to get to it.

It did snow 1-2 inch late morning - I can't imagine how bad it would have been without that to help.

Another Chevy day and race is on tap for today.  Not looking forward to it.

Id post in conditions but theres to many posts there. I felt the skiing was great yesterday. I had freshly sharpened skis so i could handle the ice. Runs of the day were lower mac & lower sky. The crowds were holiday like & two events taking up two trails doesnt help the over crowded slopes. No one was skiing lower mac. I skied it several times & often was the only one on tHe trail. Unless the conditions are superior I dont stay after noon. It did get scraped off but there were no lines at chair 6

The groomers did a super job and conditions were better than saturday.  Lower skyward bumps were the run of the day again and upper skyward was not pant wetting as saturday.  This was a day where it paid big dividends to have a narrow ski under foot.  Ski companies advertising that say you can ski a 90mm+ ski in any condition must not have ever been to WF.  A 67mm waist race was the proper tool for today.

WT opened in the afternoon but I did not find out about it until too late but I heard it had huge whales on it and was fun according to my son.

Forecast looks dire so keep them race skis tuned up because after it all refreezes post rain - you are going need them.

ausable skier wrote

... and upper skyward was not pant wetting as saturday ...

ausable skier wrote

Lower Skyward opened and had fresh blown bumps but you had to risk life and limb to get to it.

yellow dot

If he doesn't know - don't tell  him.   Let him wet his pants someplace else.  

AAAAAAAHHHHHHH ... Current Whiteface conditions report is UGLY!!!!

I hope they can turn things around for the weekend!

WT was mad fun. Swail nailing fun.

Pretty mixed bag out there today at WF

Where they are blowing or have recently is was quite good.  Essex was a nice as I can ever remember it being compared to its usual slickness.  Lower Northway had also been blown so it was nice.  Blowing on Mt Run and that was fun.

The recent rain really did a number on skyward and they have not yet groomed it all out as you can see from these photos.  Not sure why they didn't do the sides as its only groomed right up the middle.  It was slick and chattery - not as bad as last Saturday mind you but it was a weekday.  I was told the sun was on it in the morning and it was softer but by the time i got to in in the shade - not fun at all.  Lower Skyward is closed and has not been groomed.  My thought is that they are waiting until after the wet storm to groom it because they likely won't be able to blow it agian this season.





You can see in the above where the grooming ends and the face of the moon begins

Wilmington trail is narrower since its not blown all the way to the sides in spots and very thin in many spots - best advice is to totally avoid this during the upcoming weekend.  Lots of rocks are already showing and they just opened it last Sunday.  Any rain on WT at all and this will be toast.  I'm really questioning the decision to blow on this - it too 6 days of blowing full out and this trail is marginal at best at this point.  That snow could have been used elsewhere.

We need SNOW and no more rain from this next system coming thru.

If any WF regulars could give a shout how conditions are after skiing saturday that would be appreciated....my bud ATSD is heading up with the family for a quick visit.

Ok ... you know things must be bad when the daily photos on the Whiteface Facebook page are pictures of the Kids Kampus rental area, cafeteria and nursery!!!

Was decent today. Better than I expected.  Most of the mountain is open and you can set an edge on most of it.  Better in the am but the sun came out in the afternoon and it was a beautiful day.  No wind 30/35.  

tjf1967 wrote

Was decent today. Better than I expected.  Most of the mountain is open and you can set an edge on most of it.  Better in the am but the sun came out in the afternoon and it was a beautiful day.  No wind 30/35.

+1

Overall, I'd agree ... conditions were somewhat better than I had expected. The gondola opened a bit late because they had taken the cabins inside, and didn't start putting them back on the cable until about 8:30. Riding the Face Lift up, it looked like it was going to be REALLY bad ... there appeared to be "glare ice" everywhere. The reality turned out to be somewhere in between.

You definitely had to pick your way down carefully, as there definitely was a lot of ice. That said, you could also find snow that was soft enough to turn on. They were making snow on Victoria and Parons Run. Victoria was actually pretty good. There was a lot of ice, but the snow they were making was pretty "wet and sticky", so it wasn't being put around and piled up ... it was kind of staying where it fell. If you stayed close to the guns, you were probably having a good time.

Took two runs down Skyward & Niagara early. The first was better than the second, and I didn't bother to try a third. Mountain Run definitely had some decent snow, but you had to look for it. It wasn't just a matter of point them down and not worrying about it. I took one run down Wilderness ... that was enough!

The Wilmington Trail had good coverage, but it was very firm and slick. One run was enough on that too.

Given the recent weather, I'd have to say, it wasn't too bad. In some ways, I thought today was actually better than last Saturday.

Depending upon the overnight grooming, and any additional snowmaking they may be able to do overnight, tomorrow should be OK ... not great, but OK.
My glass is half-full ... time for a refill!!!

boy am i ever tired of skiing either on ice or ground up ice also know as frozen granular. I'd rate today as a 1.5 or 2 on a 1 to 10 scale

I rate the worst conditions of the year Saturday Jan 21 with the Chevy masses so this wasn't the worst day - looking for a rainbow here.

it did snow about 2 inches so once that is groomed it it may help

I do have to admit that I was wrong about WT.  Somehow they managed to move snow around to cover the rocks in the narrow spots.  It is very slick in the flatter spots about 1/3 down where the rain pooled.

Ausable Skier are you talking about Saturday being the second worst day or yesterday?  I thought yesterday was pretty darn good.  Not great but pretty grippy and fun.

Not sure it was the 2nd worst.  The chevy saturday was the worst day by far.  Like I said i would give it a 2 out of 10.  I'm so tired of skiing on ice or ground up ice.  This is not a dis of snowmaking or grooming they are doing best they can with a crappy hand ma nature is dealing them.

The first couple of runs in the am are ok but by 11 am everything seems so skied out and it was not busy by any means.

I agree Chevy Saturday was the worst - at least that I've seen so far this year.  But I didn't even get to the mountain yesterday until noon and I thought everything was pretty good - but it started snowing around noon and I think that helped because people who had been there all day said it just got better as the day went on.

I hope this mid-week "thing" doesn't do too much damage.  Storm in the picture for late next weekend?  Long way off.

I'll bet it was pretty good over there today.

ausable skier wrote

boy am i ever tired of skiing either on ice or ground up ice also know as frozen granular. I'd rate today as a 1.5 or 2 on a 1 to 10 scale

I rate the worst conditions of the year Saturday Jan 21 with the Chevy masses so this wasn't the worst day - looking for a rainbow here.

it did snow about 2 inches so once that is groomed it it may help

I do have to admit that I was wrong about WT.  Somehow they managed to move snow around to cover the rocks in the narrow spots.  It is very slick in the flatter spots about 1/3 down where the rain pooled.

 
Take a drive East. Looked pretty good at Stowe today

I don't ski weekdays, but I thought Sunday was the best weekend ski day of the season. I know this season's "bar" is very low, but conditions could be improving.  The summit was NG, but my 12-year old daughter didn't want to stop skiing Mountain Run, Lower Mac, etc.