Little Whiteface seen from Upper Skyward.

Yesterday, the visibility was very poor up high at Whiteface. Today was the opposite. The sun was out and there was even an inversion to the South. It was a gorgeous day on the mountain, one that felt well-earned after yesterday’s debacle, in which I went for a slide down Upper Skyward after hitting a patch of ice amid the poor visibility. You can read about that here if you missed it.

Whiteface had 85 of 95 runs open today. For January 8, that’s extremely impressive for this mountain. I’m not sure I’ve seen that many trails open this early in January since I started skiing at Whiteface. All lifts, but the Little Whiteface Double, which wasn’t scheduled to spin, were open. Despite the weather being relatively nice, with temperatures in the 20s and 30s, and the sun out, the mountain didn’t feel too busy.

The snow was really nice everywhere. In fact, today may have been my favorite day of the week thus far. That’s not to say conditions didn’t vary from run to run — they did — but overall, it was great. Runs that were in the shade were a bit firmer. Runs that the sun touched were a little softer, and you could find little pockets of powder on some runs here and there. My runs of the day were probably Upper Parkway and Draper’s Drop. Upper Parkway was packed powder. Draper’s Drop must've been closed for racing in the morning, because I was skiing untouched corduroy at times in the afternoon. It was terrific.

As mentioned, yesterday I had a scary slide down Upper Skyward. Initially, I told myself I’d wait until it was groomed to return to it, but after getting to the mountain I decided I wanted to head up there. Upon getting off the Summit Quad, to ski Upper Skyward, I was treated to an inversion to the South. The clouds were in the valley and the Adirondack High Peaks were poking through, towering over the cloud layer.

My run down Upper Skyward went fine. No issues. I entered the run elsewhere to avoid the ice patch. It also helped that I could actually see! I skied Upper Skyward, which is still covered in whales, and then headed down Lower Skyward, which is also still covered in whales. Both were a lot of fun, and the whales added an extra little challenge. Honestly, though, I still can’t believe that happened yesterday. Scary stuff.

Never Quit Skiing,

Lincoln

SKIING ABOVE THE CLOUDS AT WHITEFACE

IS SKIING IN THE RAIN UNDERRATED?

THE STRANGEST SKI DAY OF THE SEASON SO FAR