FAST, FIRM AND A LITTLE MUSHY AT WHITEFACE
Yesterday was a warm day in the North Country. Temperatures were in the 50s, and then it rained last night. After that, it got cold. Put that all together and you’ve got the recipe for a fast and firm ski day. Fortunately, Whiteface re-groomed some terrain this morning, which made for some pretty decent skiing today despite the weather over the last 24 hours.
Approach was closed.
Lower Northway.
The Follies.
They couldn’t re-groom everything this morning, though, so there was a significant amount of terrain closed. Basically all of the expert terrain off Little Whiteface, aside from the lower part of Essex, was off limits. You could access Lower Mackenzie via On Ramp, and Lower Thruway via Burton’s Cut. Lower Skyward was closed, as was Hoyt’s High and Lookout Below. I expected worse, however, so I was pretty happy with the terrain offering today. In fact, I was even surprised to see Upper Skyward and Niagara were open.
Upper Skyward.
Niagara.
Essex.
From the top of the mountain until probably around mid-mountain, generally, the top snow surface was a little soft and the secondary snow surface was firm. It got a little softer at mid, and then the base of the mountain was full on spring mush. Some runs had little cookies on them, others didn't. Some runs were firmer than others, such as the lower part of Essex, and some runs up high had random mushy spots, like Excelsior, which had a turn or two that were particularly mushy.
The first signs of the Paron’s Run rock garden in months.
The first signs of the Paron’s Run rock garden in months.
Just below the area with loose rocks on The Wilmington Trail.
Coverage is still good on all of the open terrain, though I did notice the Paron’s Run rock garden is coming out of winter hibernation. Fortunately, there’s not much poking through yet, but it is only a matter of time. There’s also some loose rocks on the right side of The Wilmington Trail near the bottom of the run that I got caught up in. You’ll want to avoid that if you see it coming.
Wolf Run.
It was honestly kind of wild how mushy the base was compared to the rest of the mountain. It’s not like it was well above freezing down there, as the temperature was in the 20s, but I guess that’s just the spring sun at work. Nevertheless, it was still fun to ski through. The mushiest trails were probably the lower part of Boreen, Brookside and Wolf Run. I skied in the afternoon, after work, and Wolf Run had barely been skied through when I went down it. With how soft the snow was, it honestly was amazing.
Never Quit Skiing,
Lincoln