Whiteface Conditions (2016 - 2017)

Let's hope a sunny, gorgeous weekend after a 44 inch dump entices a lot of Patrol to come out!

So the decision to make WF tomorrow or Gore tomorrow? Decisions decisions. Definitely going to Gore on Sunday either way.

I often wonder this.  Even in the best of conditions, why is Cloudspin Cut hardly ever open?  I guess it because Cloudspin needs to be open from the top entrance for Cut to be open??

To keep it fresh for the people that do go in.  

Hey, I'm not saying I want them to open it more, just wondering why Patrol rarely drops the rope.  I think it must be because of all the huge snow snakes and bottomless pits that will surely swallow you whole if you venture in, so be afraid, very afraid, and keep out!

tjf1967 wrote

To keep it fresh for the people that do go in.

Thach - it's those Bogarts again.

My brother and I will be skiing Whiteface without the kids tomorrow, in case anyone is around and wants to take a few runs.  We'll also likely do a dawn patrol on Sunday morning.

Cool. Get Bogey and run the Cloudspin Cut !  

What we have here, you see, is a serious mis-allocation of resources.

No Slides today.

So, sources have it that there are 4 patrollers who can run a sled in the Slides.  Only three are here today. Two are stationed somewhere other than the Summit.  No patrol staff to facilitate a Slides open, a resource issue entirely.

Disappointing......but it's such a good day it was easy to get over it.  Maybe tomorrow.....

Soooo......foiled by bad intel?

After getting some bad info (see above), from two patrollers no less (thanks, guys who shall remain nameless ), we have lunch and leave the packs in the lodge.

F@#%

On the lift we see they are open.  Grabbed the packs, headed up, fingers crossed....

Only one run, and we missed the untracked, but it was fun to get in the Slides.

Conditions all over the mountain are fabulous.  Soft piles of powder, lots of soft moguls, wonderful packed powder.  Yeah, some rocks here or there, and there's grass visible in spots here or there, even after 40 , and some ice here or there (Skyward Headwall, and some other spots)......but overall just a great day.  MacKenzie was a run of the day.  Hoyt's had so much snow.  Wilmington opened late in the day.  It's going to be a good spring!

Awesome at WF today and glad I made the choice to head up there over Gore, which I'm sure was great too, but WF was awesome. Lapped pretty much Skyward and Hoyt's most of the day and got freshies (kinda) on Hoyt's right when they opened it. Epic day. Wish I had avy gear, if I did, would have been in the slides.  

Best tree line on the hill, knee deep, soft (protected), untouched powder.
Entrance turns...




.....to exit.

Leads past....




....and nobody.

Oh, and it leads to...




Yeah, a couple other people made their way to .5, but so nice.

The mountain is skiing really well right now.

Yes, packed powder is alive and well!  Sure, Stella's winds did some funky things and even after 44 inches there are bare and icy spots to be found, but much more soft snow and packed powder.  The sun is strong!  Things were getting grippy down low, and cold and shadow is making some things firm late.  Unprotected powder is getting a little crusty with the sun and cold cycle.  Typical spring, time to cook the corn!  Nice to see the deck hopping!  What a weekend.

Slides were super fun today. I did a bunch of laps...really settled on just doing 1 over and over, as I thought it had the coldest snow.  Really fun!!

To me slide 1 is the best slide of the bunch.  Good Pitch fun features all the way down.  I get a kick going through the falls every time.  Over the weekend it skied the best as well.  It was deep and heavy in all of the slides you had to work a little bit to get things going.  

JTG4eva! wrote

 MacKenzie was a run of the day.  Hoyt's had so much snow.  Wilmington opened late in the day.  It's going to be a good spring!

I was on the lucky 13th chair up once Hoyt's High opened with untracked lines.  It was a lot of fun, but heavy on the legs.  People were going down all over the place, from all the snow lol.   Definitely will be memorable as my favorite run of this entire ski season.

As for Wilmington, I heard it was basically a diamond with the conditions on it and that it was absolutely no fun. A patroller told me if it was up to him it should be closed.   Very disappointed that after 44" of snow they could only gets Hoyt's open for about 1/2 of one day, and Wilmington open for a few hours, then all of Lookout was closed on Sunday.

   So in terms of that "good spring", it's pretty obvious to me Whiteface brass has zero intentions to put time/money into grooming Wilmington or running Lookout lift.  Yeah, there were some things poking through on Hoyt's, but it's a diamond for heavent's sake, there's no reason IMO it couldn't have remained open.

Kleetus wrote

 Wish I had avy gear, if I did, would have been in the slides.

Ditto.  

Here's another thing to (legitimately) bitch about.  There's no way in hell with that heavy, wet, snow, which had been massively cut up and tracked by late Saturday, that there was any avalanche risk yesterday, yet they kept it beacon & probe all day.   If people mock the NFL as the "No Fun League", Whiteface is becoming the No Fun Mountain with their excessive regulations and needless closures.  For instance, all the woods were closed yesterday, and it was pretty obvious not all of them should have been.