SKIING THROUGH THE TREES AT WHITEFACE

With the base getting nice and deep, I’ve been playing around in the trees at Whiteface more and more in the last week or so. I’ve mainly just been sticking to Cloudsplitters and the 10th Mountain Division Glades off Little Whiteface, and this afternoon was no different. I was joined by Wild Bill, yes, THE Wild Bill, in the sticks. On groomers, Wild Bill skis faster than the average person drives, and he lights up the vertical scoreboard like nobody’s business, so you can imagine what slowing down and skiing trees is like for him.

10th Mountain Division Glades.

10th Mountain Division Glades.

While skiing trees at Jay Peak last season, Wild Bill famously said that glade skiing was just a bunch of standing around. When you’re used to ripping down groomers like you’re on the run from the law, I guess that makes some sense.

We spent our lone glade run together in the 10th Mountain Division Glades. It was pretty good, as was the coverage. We also skied Bobcat Glade, which I do believe is a personal favorite of Wild Bill’s, though he may not admit that. Bobcat Glade is really low down on the mountain, and coverage was okay. There are definitely some thin spots to watch out for.

Broadway.

Lower Parkway.

Looking down Upper Parkway and Upper Thruway.

The glades at Whiteface close at 2:30 PM, so the tree fun was short-lived, but the rest of the mountain skied great — well, everything accessible off Little Whiteface at least. I did not go up to the summit or Lookout Mountain today, so I’m not sure how that terrain was.They had around 85 runs open, which included a run or two that were open for the first time this season, such as Lower Parkway. Conditions pretty much everywhere were packed powder or powder, though you could find firm spots here and there as usual, especially on steeper terrain like Victoria and Essex.

Yellow Dot.

Lower Skyward.

They were once again making snow in a lot of places, including Mountain Run, Lower Valley, Danny’s Bridge and more. There were whales in these areas, and the snow skied well, but there were a few times the snow coming out of the guns stuck to my goggles, so I tried to avoid these areas when possible. Fortunately, it was pretty easy to do with so much terrain open.

Never Quit Skiing,

Lincoln