THE SNOW IS GETTING DEEP AT WHITEFACE

After yesterday’s powder fest at Smuggler’s Notch, today I was back at Whiteface and once again skiing with Pro Skier Darren White. Whiteface has got a lot of snow over the last few days and the conditions reflected that. Today they reported 3 to 4 inches of fresh snow, and 22 inches in the last 7 days. Great stuff!

They were spinning the gondola, Summit Quad, Face Lift and Falcon Flyer today. For some reason, The Notch wasn’t spinning, but I’m not sure why. It wasn’t crowded and there were no lines for lifts. The mountain has been dropping a lot of ropes lately so the trail count has climbed up to 34 open runs, including several black diamonds off the summit and Little Whiteface, such as Cloudspin, Lower Skyward and Essex. The entirety of the Bear Den Learning Center is open and there’s also several trail options the entire way down the mountain, except for the short stretch of Boreen that everyone must ski to go to the base.

Visibility high up on the mountain was pretty terrible today. That combined with very flat light made for some interesting trips down the terrain. I found both Paron’s Run and The Follies to be pretty wind blown in spots, but all of that snow has to go somewhere so there were some powder stashes here and there on those trails. Over on Little Whiteface, Essex was in a similar shape. Near the top of the run it was a bit firm, but as you descended you’d come across the snow.

The best snow of the day was found on Cloudspin, Niagara and Lower Skyward, as well as the natural snow part of The Follies. Cloudspin is now deep enough that rocks aren’t really a concern and the snow is just nice and powdery. It’s a pleasure to ski. Generally speaking, rocks weren’t too much of a concern on Niagara or Lower Skyward either. Lower Skyward was accessible by way of Yellow Dot, which is a very narrow passage through the woods. While the snow was nice on Lower Skyward, the exit out of Yellow Dot onto Lower Skyward today was kind of nasty thanks to snowmaking pipe. It was avoidable, though.

The call to go to Whiteface today was a tough one, because I really wanted more of Smuggler’s Notch after yesterday, but I had a great time. The snow was good and there was a nice variety of terrain open. Tomorrow is Monday so I’ll be back out there around 1 PM. I’m considering going over to Vermont to ski after work tomorrow, but I’ll likely end up at Whiteface since it’s easiest.

Talk to you tomorrow,

-Lincoln