Whiteface Conditions (2018 - 2019)

Snowing hard

it is nuking snow at my house
I have a big lab and he was having to bound thru the snow this morning

Going to be a good start to the season.  its been really cold so they should be able to make a ton of snow compared to the marginal temps they make in early season normally.  I have no idea about this indecision thing where they didn't think they were going to open though. AK is normally aggressive than Bruce or Jay were so I don't know what the heck that was about.

Could be best early season since 2007-08 season when Empire was open in mid December

A soild 8” in town.  Must be close to two feet up high!!

 wF asking that people not skin through the weekend.   Look for new uphill policy on the WF ski patrol fb page and the Whiteface Uphill fb page next week.  

Need to give them mtn op crews time and space

How was it!?!

Yesterday was pretty crowded in the morning and there were a lot of frozen golf balls

After being groomed again it was much better today.  Guns are going full blast today on Essex, Lower NW, Broadway.  Those should be good to go for Friday.  I think they could add Victoria as well then start on Boreen.  Just speculation on my part but seems possible.  There were a lot of tracks on Vicky.

Much less crowded today.

Excellent coverage on excelsior - summit express - valley to base.  Snow tribe laid a lot down in a short time.

Some closed trails from saturday opened on sunday on 100% natural snow.  Drapper’s Drop was excellent on the natural.  

Snow making was going again on Sunday with an expansion to Essex, lower northway and brookside.  

Outstanding snowmaking weather this week.  I expect all the above plus victoria open by this friday.

Great effort to get the bonus weekend in.  Huge thx to ORDA staff

Hearing rumors about a policy change to the uphill program.  Uphill allowed from 6am - 10am.  But only allowed to ski down the designated uphill route until patrol clears trails.  

If this happens there will be daily confrontations.  

ScottyJack wrote

Hearing rumors about a policy change to the uphill program.  Uphill allowed from 6am - 10am.  But only allowed to ski down the designated uphill route until patrol clears trails.  

If this happens there will be daily confrontations.

Should be interesting to see what that's all about...so I'm thinking what happens from like 8-10am...uphill route on a open trail?

So how was this weekend?

Friday was very cold to start and kept the crowds away.  Skiing was better Saturday after another grooming cycle but more crowded.  Definately a backyard effect going on as lessons looked busy and way more lower level skiers than we normally see on the hill this early in the season.

Opened the Facelift but still lots of people walking down the steeper spots like tower 10 hill.

Picked up terrain Essex, Lower Northway, Broadway, and Easy street.  Doing a great job getting things rolling with one exception.  Brookside was blown and even groomed and park features built but not open.  IMO they need to move all that snow to cover the whole thing and open a second route down the lower Mt as a priority over not opening a terrain park especially since this is a second park since there already was a decent sized one on Broadway.  Someone has some screwed up priorities it seems.  Orda is spending all this money on lodges and family oriented amenities and then they prioritize the terrain park over terrain that was badly needed for an easier route to the base.  

Anybody ski yesterday or today?  Do tell!

Wonder if we will see a lot of ropes drop during the day today.  Whiteface reporting 3 lifts and 24% of terrain open (20 trails)......whereas Vermont areas (Magic, Mad, Kton, ‘Bush), on roughly the same YTD snowfall, have 100% of terrain (or close to it) open off of all operating lifts.

Much evidence of earned turns on the summit?

May be able to eek out a day tomorrow.  Leaning toward Magic, but I always like earning turns at Whiteface.....

I cracked a rib so on the DL.  We have 12-20 inches of good density on the ground since Sunday.  Great base building.  

Im hearing skiing is good.  

Be advised new uphill policy in effect.  It’s posted on Whiteface Uphill FB page.  Being strictly enforced.

There is a new sheriff in town.  He’s very “risk” adverse.  The storm troopers of the ski patrol will be in their glory this year....  

Sorry to hear about the rib, hope it heals quick!

That’s unfortunate, if things truly get much more restrictive.

Just talking out loud here, not looking for answers.

As for the new policy, the key differences from the old policy are:

Check in at Medical Services Area, and Designated descent routes.

Other than that they key components for Uphill Climbing before the lifts open is the same, the key items being:

No climbing permitted during daytime lift operations, and Adherence to all closures.

I get the Policy, as stated.  It’s intended to apply to what climbers are allowed to do between 6am and 8:30am.  I even get the descent routes, because perhaps they will refrain from grooming on those routes during those hours.

The real question is, will the “unofficial policy” change?  What happens early season (like now with the Summit not yet open), in the spring (after the Summit shuts down), and on storm days (when the Summit can’t run), when peeps go rogue?  It seems in the past they didn’t really go out of their way to keep people from skinning or hiking to the summit during operating hours when the Summit Quad wasn’t operating.  Technically that was “during daytime lift operations” and on “closed terrain”, but lots of people did it, without hassle, especially in the spring.

So from a policy perspective not much has really changed, as to what technically applies during the day when the Summit Quad isn’t running.  What will be interesting to see is if the application of the policy during those times changes significantly.

Not like that is something that will be talked about and reported on in general, so I appreciate any local observations from boots on the ground as the season progresses!

I would let other people go first. Or if you do stay out of site.  If you do an in your face you will be in front of the video machine.  Be a Jedi, the storm troopers are looking.

I just heard about the have to sit through a saftey video first to get your pass back if caught poaching.  Holy Chit!  

Hmmm...times for Super Ninja Stealth mode!  In front of the video machine makes more sense now....

ScottyJack wrote

I just heard about the have to sit through a saftey video first to get your pass back if caught poaching.  Holy Chit!

Long, long time ago when I was probably like 6 or so years old, me, my dad, and middle brother poached a trail at Shawnee in the Poconos.  Patrol stood at the bottom and watched us ski the whole thing.  They gave us a ride on a snowmobile (Bonus!) to their office and made us watch a safety video.  It was our last run of the night (night skiing).  Guess I should have learned my lesson 20-some years ago and not do any poaching or video watching at WF!

WF is decidedly going NO FUN this year.  Besides the more restrictive enforcement due to the new sheriff being on a power trip - and this guy really likes being in power.  They are now also cracking down on the BYO culture at mid.  This will affect the tons of locals that packed up their own spreads and grills.  If they extend to the spring deck traditions this place is really going to lose its culture that makes it what it is.  Paging Grillman - what say you on this?

The fancification of Whiteface ultimately is bad for the locals that have made it what it is.  We are losing the soul of the mountain.

From a conditions standpoint I have not skied since Saturday but my son said it was great yesterday but that there were considerable power issues limiting things and the Gondi had to run on diesel.  He is not home from school yet so I don't know how it was today.

ScottyJack wrote

There is a new sheriff in town.  He’s very “risk” adverse.  The storm troopers of the ski patrol will be in their glory this year....

Whiteface is the only mountain I've ever been yelled (2 separate occasions) at for anything (going too fast) in my 30 years of skiing, so getting "worse", would not be a good thing.

  FWIW, neither time did I think I was going exceptionally fast.