Whiteface Conditions (2018 - 2019)

Hows WF holding up through the thaws this week?

I skied yesterday for a couple of hours.  Groomers only.  Wilmington was nice and so was Follies.  Lower angle held up longer but I did Sky a couple of times and it was fine.  Mountain run was probably the worst trail I skied and it wasn't terrible.  Fast and Firm but who knows after this thing comes through and what came through last night.  I definitely had an exciting drive home last night.  I saw a salting truck lose traction and go for a bit of a slide near cascade lakes...we went very slow for a while after that and he was dumping a ton of salt (we can start a thread on off topic about that) We need snow!  We got spoiled for a couple of weeks.

Although the snow report is less accurate than past years, this is a good sign.....

Thinking of heading up Sunday depending on how this storm and Friday's events pan out. Would do Gore Sat/Mon as its a little less driving and little less crowded on Sat.

How are the pres weekends crowds at WF normally? Gore normally handles them OK but wasn't sure about WF. Have normally stuck to Gore or McCauley pres weekend but haven't made it up to WF yet and jonesing to get a day in up there and also mix it up from just Gore/McCauley.

Last year or the year before it was over 6000 Presidents' Saturday, i.e. this Saturday.  Arrive early, leave early.

A bit misleading as of this afternoon. Guns weren’t running on Hoyt’s for pretty much the entire day and they were only running on the top of the run when I left around 3. Most of the run is still pretty bare and has a ways to go before it opens.

Anyone make it out today? Thinking of shooting up to WF tomorrow.

Kleetus wrote

Anyone make it out today? Thinking of shooting up to WF tomorrow.

It was an OK day today ... not great ... not horrible.

Lower Skyward was really good on the left hand side ... not sure where that snow came from!

Overall, it definitely got skied off around mid-day, but if you stayed on the edges, it was ok.

All lifts were running ... Lines at the gondola were what you'd expect for a holiday weekend. Only waited on that line once, and that took about 10 - 15 minutes I'd guess ... Facelift was better ... singles line there was fine. Little Whiteface chair was max 5 minute wait all day ... Summit quad 5 - 10 minutes worst case ... Lookout was less than 2 minutes ...

I think tomorrow's conditions will be better ... we had to deal with warm wet weather on Friday freezing over ... My guess is that the groomers will do a good job tonight getting things in shape for tomorrow.

Most of the traffic was on the blues ... not a lot of people skiing the blacks.

Get there early and get your runs in before the crowds arrive.

Great day today. Hardpack but very carveable groomers. Got skiied off as day went on, but sides stayed great all day. Not a bad crowd on upper mountain which was all I skiied. Guns were on Hoyts as I left TTB.

Apart from the conditions, was absolutely spectacular weather today. No wind. No clouds most of the day. Brilliant sun. Killer views.

Picks of the day were Skyward and Wilderness. Although all the blacks off Little Whiteface skiied great.

The forecast (currently, at least) through the weekend isn’t that bad. Couple inches tomorrow, couple inches Saturday.  Looks to be a bit windy though.  I can only assume the current low trail count is because stuff is just too firm and icy to open?  There isn’t anything open that hasn’t been groomed overnight, so hopefully the tribe kicks ass through the weekend!

Showing a better trail count now, but no U Sky to Niagara.  I’m sure it will get groomed love tonight.  Hope the current forecasts hold, it might actually be a decent weekend if the winds aren’t too bad!

Hoyt’s had been open, right?  Did that lose much last weekend, or do we just need a little natural to get it back?

Not seeing any ❄️ on the trail report.  Done?

Yep.  Done.  

Man, I hope the mountain skis as good as the conditions report.  Everything open but Sugar V, Blazer’s and the Slides.  

I’m be wearing a red/orange Arctryx jacket/black pants if anyone is on the hill.

On the groomed it’s a fast and firm day, but very carveable.  Not a quiet day, lots of scrape-y noise, but it was a bluebird morning, the temps are comfy, and sunny aspects even softening a bit. Mountain is in really good shape.  Seems like there is a lot of snow out there.

But, at the same time....the woods are a bit thin and boney, but mostly soft.



Mostly.  Off the beaten track it’s a hard to figure.  Soft snow in shaded aspects, but even then there is a crust out there in spots, and not necessarily consistent aspects and elevations.  Exposed aspects off piste have a pronounced firm, sometimes breakable crust.

All that said, exploring definitely netted a lot of fun.

The soft...




The not so soft (read: crusty)....




And the beautiful....




Slides looking like they need a couple good storms.

How are things looking for Whiteface this weekend? Haven't been there in a while, and tomorrow looks like a nice clear comfortable day.

Skied at Whiteface Friday conditions were excellent and the visibility from Lookout and the summit spectacular. Wilmington was probably the nicest I have ever skied it. Skyward and the trails off Little Whiteface were in good shape also, only Wilderness has some icy patches.

The only bummer part of the day came when we went to leave. We skied right until 4:00pm went into Bear Den and changed. We were the last people in the lodge when we left 4:30 I noted that my skis were not where i left them but saw them a few racks away. When i went over to get them i realized they were my model of K2's but longer, newer looking and with the wrong poles. I brought them in to the room they sell tickets, they were closing up but she took them and left them in the corner. As of Saturday afternoon the skis I brought into the lodge are still there and I filed a lost & found ticket, BTW  My skis are K2 Impacts they are orange with some yellow trim, mine were either 160cm or the next size up (165/ 165?). They were with black Level 9 poles, which i think are 46".

So it seems like a case of mistaken identity?  A least is wasn't a rip off.

I wonder if we could use social media to fix this.

Hey X, any progress on your skis?
What are you WF guys thoughts on this weekend? Obviously the whole NE has some challenges but what are you seeing up there? Any chance the bad stuff might be good stuff above a certain altitude?

Might be hard for the altitude to work with 50' base temps...but it would be nice.

Maybe overnight drop enough to produce something?  Theres some talk of light snows Saturday...

I'll be up there...prob gonna ski sunday

Thinking the best hope for this weekend could be if temps stay close to/above freezing Friday night, and temps push 40 on Saturday.  That could make for a good day Saturday.  Might be more likely in the Cats than at WF.  Otherwise, I’m sure they will have things groomed to an ok fast and firm on Sunday.

I’m eyeing the following weekend.  Ten day has temps in the mid 40s, so there could be some good spring skiing.