Whiteface Conditions (2017 - 2018)

There were plenty of guns going on whiteface today, but none on lookout.

The mountain skied really well today. Great conditions all around.

Finally, a thank you to ski patrol who helped my daughter after an injury on the hill. It's easy to overlook the importance of the job they do until you need their help.

tom

Hope all is ok and it's not serious.

TomCat wrote

There were plenty of guns going on whiteface today, but none on lookout.

It takes a week to finish Wilmington so if it isn't started this weekend it won't be opening for next weekend.  Gore's 90+ percent open is misleading since they open a lot of stuff on natural so it isn't as much of a gauge of how much snow was made.  But they've blown both Burnt Ridge trails and opened Sagamore over a full month before it opened last year, they are setting up to blow at the Ski Bowl, and have already covered at least some trails off of all the other lifts.  Since Whiteface didn't blow Wilderness at the same time as Skyward (as was done last year), they aren't ahead at all of where they were this time last year.  Thank god for the multi mountain ORDA pass and Max Pass because I'm not skiing there again until they get their act together, even if that means next year.

Harvey, we really need a proper roll eyes emoji!

snoloco wrote

TomCat wrote

There were plenty of guns going on whiteface today, but none on lookout.

It takes a week to finish Wilmington so if it isn't started this weekend it won't be opening for next weekend.  Gore's 90+ percent open is misleading since they open a lot of stuff on natural so it isn't as much of a gauge of how much snow was made.  But they've blown both Burnt Ridge trails and opened Sagamore over a full month before it opened last year, they are setting up to blow at the Ski Bowl, and have already covered at least some trails off of all the other lifts.  Since Whiteface didn't blow Wilderness at the same time as Skyward (as was done last year), they aren't ahead at all of where they were this time last year.  Thank god for the multi mountain ORDA pass and Max Pass because I'm not skiing there again until they get their act together, even if that means next year.

Thanks cool sno - keep going to Bell and riding the shiny new Gondi to nowhere because you are having a hissy fit over not getting Lookout open.   W trail is really not that important - we can live without it and no one but you seems to be bothered by that.  I'd rather have everything else open first before they get to Lookout and maybe even blow Hoyts before W trail.  They are blowing Upper Mac today which if we did a poll on here would hands down win over Wilmington trail.

JTG4eva! wrote

Harvey, we really need a proper roll eyes emoji!

  JTG awesome comment - you should make that your signature quote line

On holiday weekends all lifts open is the only thing that matters to me.  And other people that I've spoken to said they're disappointed in Whiteface for not having made snow there yet but they just don't post here.  I'd rather ski Okemo on a holiday weekend if they had all their lifts open and Whiteface didn't and I'm not really a fan of Okemo.

And I'm skiing Belle now because I'm not up north and it's on the same pass.  And their shiny new gondola is great.

Speak for yourself. I would love to see Wilmington open.

I want the Lookout pod opened as much as anybody.  While Wilmington isn’t my favorite trail, Lookout Below and Hoyt’s are great.  

The thing that I don’t get is Sno’s whole ‘bite off his nose to spite his face’ apparent philosophy.  Not ski the great terrain Whiteface does have available because of a couple trails and a lift they don’t have available......or didn’t have available by some “Sno approved” date?  I suppose he thinks he’s striking a blow for ski-kind, when in reality I think.....well, it doesn’t really matter what I think.  One less person on the hill when I’m there works for me!

Why do I feel like we’ve had this convo before.......and why do I feel like I’m going to have to say that line again in a week or so when Sno queues the apology?

Queue my line, Z!

JTG4eva! wrote

I want the Lookout pod opened as much as anybody.  While Wilmington isn’t my favorite trail, Lookout Below and Hoyt’s are great.  

The thing that I don’t get is Sno’s whole ‘bite off his nose to spite his face’ apparent philosophy.  Not ski the great terrain Whiteface does have available because of a couple trails and a lift they don’t have available......or didn’t have available by some “Sno approved” date?  I suppose he thinks he’s striking a blow for ski-kind, when in reality I think.....well, it doesn’t really matter what I think.  One less person on the hill when I’m there works for me!

Why do I feel like we’ve had this convo before.......and why do I feel like I’m going to have to say that line again in a week or so when Sno queues the apology?

Queue my line, Z!

LOL

He's just a spoiled little weenie from JerZey

Sno believes in recycling.  He recycles the Lookout comments every year.

Why should I waste my time with Whiteface which has about the lowest percentage of terrain open in the east when other mountains I can easily get to are 100% or close to it?

Come up with a reasonable answer to that before faulting me for wanting Lookout open by the often busiest weekend of the year.

Last season the weather leading up to MLK Weekend was not the best, so it's understandable why it wasn't open by then, but this year has been about as close to perfect as it gets in the east.  No excuse for not having it open.

I've said this before with regard to Gore.

At a gut level I don't understand the percentage thing.  

Gore has over 100 trails and when they have 50 open lets say they are 50% open. So on that day they have 50 trails open. How does that compare to a smaller mountain with 40 trails that's 75% open?  

Further, if Burnt Ridge and the Ski Bowl has never been added Gore would have a better shot being 100% open by the sno-approved date. Would that make Gore a better place to ski on 12/26?  How would it affect Gore in Feb after a huge dump? I say no, and no, and I say that the same thing applies to Wilmington.

Sno you make posting fun.

snoloco wrote

Come up with a reasonable answer to that.....

Riddle me this, joker.  How about I buy you a burger but only let you eat 75%.....or I can take a big, steaming shit on a bulkie and let you gobble down 100%. Which one you gonna take?

Harvey makes a good point in that there is more than one way to measure terrain performance.

Percentage isn't perfect but it can be a useful measure for determining if a ski area's snowmaking plant is properly sized and if the crew is on their A game.

I also like to compare to previous years as I did here.  And Gore is WAY ahead of where they were last year since Sagamore opened over a full month before it did last season and both Burnt Ridge trails are blown and open for the rest of the year.  Belleayre is also well ahead of where they were last year.  Whiteface isn't really ahead at all and they and they had the same perfect weather that Gore had.

I also put a lot of emphasis on number/percentage of lifts open, especially on holiday weekends.

Fact is in all measures Whiteface is severely lagging behind other mountains in terms of terrain.  There's no denying it.

What's the chance Cloudspin  opens this weekend? any?

snoloco wrote

Why should I waste my time with Whiteface which has about the lowest percentage of terrain open in the east when other mountains I can easily get to are 100% or close to it?

Because Whiteface has tons of awesome terrain to ski. Why not just enjoy it and not obsess over whether or not you approve of their business plan or management decisions or whatever?

snoloco wrote

.....is properly sized and if the crew is on their A game.

I suppose that could apply to more than just snow making!  Could be a lonely place out there for someone so closed minded....

Ah "relax and enjoy it".

Exactly what Marketing told me when I called them out for having 30 minute lift lines on Santa day when they chose not to run LWF chair.

No bigger whiteface homer on here than me, that said, Sno has valid points.  They need the strengthen the snow making system in order to utilize their investment.  
I was daydreaming the other day on the lift and I came up with this idea.  Anyone that slides up here know what we have for snow.  There are ways down Hoyt's and Wilmington just not side to side.  What if they sent up patrol, red and orange and they forage around a couple of ways down.  Find a few good routes.   Then have  guided tours over into that area.  You could sign up for it and have host and ski patrol lead the tour.  Send a group up at a specific time for the whiteface adventure, you would only need to man the lift for whatever time it takes to get customers to the top.  I would certainly be willing to help out. My thought is anyone that did it would have a blast nor necessarily because of the great skiing but because of the experience.  That's what I call lemonade.