Whiteface Conditions (2016 - 2017)

When I was out at Crystal in Dec they showed that movie at a NWAC fund raiser at the Snorting Elk.  I left/passed out before the movie, so I still haven't seen it!  If I'm forced to head up solo this weekend I may just be there.

Going in the right direction....

Good news.  I think.

Weather or not Whiteface decided to make snow was the determining factor for me skiing there this weekend.

Snowmaking symbol has re-entered the Conditions Report!  

It seems like a waste of money to me.  Push it around and put out the pop sticks and let it go.  But who knows they may have a group coming in later in the month.

I think I'll have more fun chainsawing blow down off mtn bike trails this Saturday......  

ScottyJack wrote

I think I'll have more fun chainsawing blow down off mtn bike trails this Saturday......

I was out on a recon mission on our bike trails here at The Ski Bowl today as the lifts were on wind hold, and there is a lot of chainsaw work to be done here.

Imaging the blow down in the glades. I hope there is some serious chain sawing going on this summer and fall.

Skied at Whiteface today. Beautiful sunny day with no wind, it felt a lot warmer than it was. Conditions were far better than we expected given the recent warmups and freezes. They did a great job grooming. Skied mostly the blue runs off the gondola, Excelsior, Northway and Victoria which were all very edgeable, also did a run on Parons and Mountain run to Thruway which were ok, Approach getting to mountain run was slick. Did not ski Skyward but saw folks doing it and it did not look too bad.

Sad to see almost no snow in the woods in early March.

Whiteface today - 2" of fresh on top of semi frozen but edgeable grooming...not too bad actually considering what it could have been!

Snowing hard all morning, still snowing.

Weather outlook appears to be positive for foreseeable future.

ADmiKe wrote

Whiteface today - 2" of fresh on top of semi frozen but edgeable grooming...not too bad actually considering what it could have been!

Snowing hard all morning, still snowing.

Thanks for the report. It was enough to convince me to head to Whiteface today (instead of Gore). Whiteface skied well today. Best run for me was mountain run to whatever blue is to skiers right.Summit not so great at the very top, but got better as you went down.  Snow on and off throughout the day, maybe 1-2 inches.

tom

Tom, glad you enjoyed yourself.  Agreed, Mountain Run was the run of the day, and Lower Parkway was ok as well, once you got that far.  We skied yesterday as well and a day on snow always presents some fun.  As one patroller I talked to in the hill yesterday said....I guess we have to be thankful we at least have something to ski on.

Of course, that patroller and I had been talking about how incredibly good conditions were even two weeks ago.  Three weeks ago the mountain was in as good a shape as it could have been, wall to wall open, woods, Slides, you name it.  It's incredibly sad how horrid conditions are now given how great it was a few short weeks ago.  While some ok turns could be made yesterday, I think yesterday was probably the worst conditions I've skied here, in all my 30 years of skiing here.  Firm and icy just about everywhere, although you could get an edge in much of it, with varying amounts of frozen granular clinging to, more on Mountain Run and Lower Parkway than elsewhere.  Parsons was so bad I didn't even bother wasting the lift ride to check Skyward.  The day as a whole was fun, because I was on slope with my kids and the daughter's boyfriend, wife stayed for Lunch at the Cloudspin, the Bloody Mary, and a decent part of a run here or there, but the turns themselves, for the most part, weren't all that pleasant.  No way I'm heading out in -4 and windy today for those conditions today.

Let's hope this N'or Easter Tuesday delivers a couple feet, like some forecasts say it could.  The mountain desperately needs it.  Sad to see (for the hill from a business perspective) the River Lot open at 10am on a Saturday, in early March, which should be prime season.

Skied WF with my son ADmiKe Yesterday and day before. I can say I enjoyed both days and was glad we decided to show up. I managed to navigate my way through some fairly reasonable snow most of the time. Have been at WF many times with way worse conditions, so even if conditions weren't as stellar as a few weeks back, I wasn't phased negatively with the conditions. The only trail we passed on was Skyward. Parons was fine IMHO. Skyward sounded and looked "sketched" out, so stayed off. Fingers crossed for early next week.

Eh, my pessimism regarding current conditions is definitely colored by my quality over quantity preferences as of late.  Being out with family definitely made the day worthwhile and enjoyable, regardless of how good or bad the conditions were.  IMHO they were kind of terrible, and needing to navigate fairly reasonable (or less) doesn't have the appeal for me it used to, but it's all good.  Glad you guys had a good day!

My opinion on yesterdays conditions are somewhere in between you two guys...I sorta had a little more fun in the 2" on Thursday...even with limited trail count from wind holds...

As horrible as the trip reports above are, lets say this storm delivers the 10" to 12" that it's supposed to.

Does that get everything 100% open and make skiing decent, or was the prior damage just so severe that even 12" isnt going to get Lookout open or the woods in play?

If we get a foot of snow I people will be going where ever they feel like.  

tjf1967 wrote

If we get a foot of snow I people will be going where ever they feel like.

Normally I'd assume that, but the posts above seemed pretty dire.

In my uneducated, non-locals opinion the mountain looked more than a foot away from coming back to 100% open, but what do I know?!  (Not much is the answer, btw).  As someone who did post one of said dire reports......I can only comment on the fast loose and frozen granular pitches I skied.  Everything I skied will be much better with 12 to 18 inches!  I did look down some things (like Empire and the entrance to Cloudsplitter Glades) and as far down as I could see from Approach those aspects looked like the coverage was such that 12 inches might get them open.  There were some other closed trails that looked pretty rough where I'm sure 12 inches won't.  I have no idea how much will actually open with 10 to 12 inches, but a foot or more would put a lot more terrain in play......

Any idea from those with experience on how tomorrow would turn out if we got say 18" or so? Not extremely experienced with Post-major storm skiing. I was hoping to see lookout reopen if they do well enough.