Whiteface Conditions (2012-2013)

Honestly there really is not much of a story, had a childhood love of sheep and needed a screenname :)

-skisheep

skisheep wrote

So assuming that the rain on tuesday does not do too much damage, and that we get some snow thursday-friday, what will the outlook for right after christmas be like? Is there usually a pattern to the trails that they make snow on, after the main routes are covered? Last year we had the summit open on the 28th, assuming no more rain after tuesday, what are the odds of it opening before new years? Will be there the 28th-31st and was wondering what might be open.

They're working on Approach, Mountain Run, Upper Parkway & Thruway right now. Should be done with that in the next day or two. Was told today that they're going to move to The Follies & Parons Run next. After that, probably Skyward. I also asked whether they'd blow on Hoyt's High before the Wilmington Trail, and the answer was that they can't. They can't take Sno-Cats up Hoyt's High ... it's too steep, so they have to get the Wilmington Trail done first.

As for the timing, I guess that will be up to Mother Nature.

I really hope it doesn't rain on Tuesday. That would be a big bummer.

Thanks!

-skisheep

Making snow on Follies and Parrons! Surprised they moved over there before Approach, Mountain Run and Thruway were done but I'm guessing those are pretty close to done.

-skisheep

two inches over night.  upper elevation received more.  very little mixing.  snowmaking pounding upper mtn!  Tomorrow's storm is key.  we're real close to the 12-18 inch pattern...  fingersX!  

Temperatures have been favorable in the higher elevations the past few days.

We fired up the guns on Parons run, Follies, and Riva Ridge early in the week. We hope to have these trails open in the very near future then hop over to Skyward and Niagara. We will head over to lookout mountain once Skyward is done.

Right now we are also making snow on mountain run Thruway and calamity lane. We got a jump on these trails last week but had to shift gears to the Summit due to the change in weather patterns. Once mountain run is done we will start making snow on the upper parkway and drapers drop and we anticipate having these trails open around Christmas. With this cold weather we will be using our efficient guns on the lower mountain to open Bear and Wolf while beefing up our terrain parks.

It looks like mother nature may actually help us with some natural snow. Happy Holidays and see you on the slopes.

So right now for X-mas week(26th-1st) looks like everything that is open now plus Approach, Mountain Run, Thruway, Parkway, Drapers, Calamity Lane, Follies, Parrons plus some lower mountain stuff. Got to say with the temps that we've been having that's pretty impressive for what they have had to work with! And, hopefully we can get some snow tonight into tomorrow morning and something on saturday, which would help quite a bit!

Had to use a vacation half day up so I skied this afternoon.  It was pretty firm and is thin but considering everything they are doing the best they can.  It was only cold at the summit yesterday  so they are pounding Parons.  Some guns on Upper Parkway so it seems that that will come on line before Mt run which is a departure from past norms but seems to make sense.

Snow staring tonigh but big time winds Friday - NOAA mountain rec forecast is calling for serious wind.  No Gondi for sure but maybe not much else either.  Check before heading there Friday.

FRIDAY...SUMMITS OBSCURED IN CLOUDS. PERIODS OF RAIN OR SLEET.
HIGHS IN THE LOWER TO MID 30S. SOUTHEAST WINDS 65 TO 80 MPH. WIND
CHILL VALUES IN THE MID TEENS.

Winter is back!

Very cold and very windy so no Gondi.  The summit opened and Paron's was a double black with huge whales and almost zero visability.  I'd estimate about 4-5 inches fell on the upper mountain - it got pretty soft in spots in the afternoon.

Looks like Mt Run should be open Sunday.  Bundle up its going to be another cold and windy one

SUNDAY...MOSTLY CLOUDY IN THE MORNING...THEN SUMMITS BECOMING
OBSCURED IN CLOUDS. A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SNOW SHOWERS IN THE MORNING...
THEN A CHANCE OF SNOW SHOWERS IN THE AFTERNOON. HIGHS IN THE UPPER
TEENS. WEST WINDS 35 TO 50 MPH...DECREASING TO 20 TO 35 MPH IN THE
AFTERNOON. WIND CHILL VALUES IN THE SINGLE DIGITS BELOW ZERO IN THE
MORNING.

So lets say that the storm verifies on wednesday/thursday and gives Whiteface a foot of snow. Combined with the totals from this weekend, does that put a lot more terrain into play than what has been covered with snowmaking? Obviously no trees but potentially some trails on natural? Or is it just a nice layer to what we already have open?

Thanks

-skisheep

Any reports from this weekend?  Is the mountain wind blown?

Mountain Run is a lot of fun today. Ungroomed and nice soft snow. Too bad the little whiteface lift isn't spinning.

Paron's was a windswept mess.

Between the 6" today, the 4" yesterday, and the other snow throughout the season, how close are some trails to being opened on natrual? If they picked up a foot of snow from the upcoming storm, does that put more in play?

-skisheep

Was at the face today, it was ok for the most part didnt know where that 6 inches of snow went from overnight.  The summit was wind blown with low vis and not much fun.  Essex was an icy mess.  Mountain run had some nice bumps on it but the lift wasnt running.  The main runs were pretty good, hard packed.

An additional foot of snow should open up some new terrain. For instance, Wilderness and L. Mac were being poached today and I would think could be in play with a good snowfall. Whether ski patrol would open them up is a different story.

They look pretty nice! My guess would be with the x-mas break coming up and places in north VT 60%+ open(Stowe, Jay, sugarbush near 100%), and an additional foot of snow, that they would want to open them to get the trail count up but who knows.
-skisheep

Best day of the season so far, for me.

Today was the first day that I didn't call it quits at lunchtime, and had a smile on my face all day.

The upper mountain wasn't very good, and certainly wasn't worth the lift ride, but there was lots of other good stuff to be had. Upper Parkway was the run of the day ... soft, dry man-made piled high and smooth ... was like floating.

The VERY top of Mountain Run was awful, but if you stayed way left, it was fine. Then you just had to cut across to get to Upper Parkway. The rest of Mt. Run was great. Huge soft bumps on the top, above the intersection with Thruway, and nice soft stuff piled up the rest of the way down. Skier's left was definitely the place to be, as all of the snow gun "drift" made its way over there, and I guess the natural stuff was mixed in nicely with that. Even Approach held up fairly well for most of the day.

Essex was a joke ... they need to groom it ... I'm guessing they're just waiting until after Christmas Day to try to preserve the snow that's on it. Victoria pretty rough too.

The cruisers were really good, and held up pretty well through most of the day ... Excelsior, Lower Northway, Upper Valley, Lower Valley & Boreen had the best snow I've seen on them all season to date.

All in all, a really good day ... looking forward to tomorrow!

Upper Parkway was indeed a ton of fun. That and skier's left of Mountain Run were the best conditions on the hill.

POWDER Baby!!!!!!

Wind was high so we could not get above Mt run but the snow was so much fun.  I had to teach in the morning so I mostly got crud but it still was nice.  The wind definately did a job on the usual exposed spots on upper Mt run but once you got below that it was sweet.  Best that I skied was Parkway which was great below the connection to Thruway and the bottom of Wilderness.