Whitey
Member
Ordinarily Whiteface wouldn't be on my radar (why drive past a dozen major ski areas to get there?), but I have an old high school friend who has a place near there and that put it back on the radar for me this past weekend.
Conditions: Powder, windblown, broken up powder, packed. Temps stayed around 15 degrees all day both days. No real wind those days (that’s rare for WF). Snowed lightly the entire weekend.
Day 1: Got there and only 1 lift is running (Facelift). They say it’s due to “power issues”. The lift line is huge. Takes an hour to complete 1 lower mountain run. Lookout lift opens on diesel power a little later. I lapped Hoyts High from that lift. Good run but a few too many icy spots in between the goodness. Finally in the PM the lifts come back. Whole mtn opens up but most people have left because of the lines and lack of lifts. Skied the rest of the day with no lift lines. Mackenzie was probably ROTD. Little Whiteface skied the best and we found a lot of untouched or lightly touched snow on the runs off of that.
Day 2: Crowds very minimal. Skyward off of the top of the mountain was excellent with lots of loosely tracked moguls & snow (after you got past the icy headwall at the top). But ROTD was definitely Wilderness. Lots of fluffy bumps that skied really well. Not much was open for glades, I did some turns in High Country glades and they were OK but a little bony still.
Overall impressions: This was the 1[SUP]st[/SUP] time I've ever hit WF when it was “good”. The steepness and size of the mountain is what always strikes me first. Even the groomed runs give you a workout as you have to check your speed so much/aggressively. The area does live up to its nickname (“Iceface”) as even on a weekend with a lot of snow – you had to watch out for the icy patches. But the runs are long and challenging. Otherwise the area fells a little run down. The lodge has seen better days, the lift are older and showing rust, the snowmaking and grooming couldn’t seem to do much about some of the icy spots.
Overall it was a great weekend there I just can’t say that with mountains like Sugarbush, Stowe, Killington, Sugarloaf, SR, Cannon, etc. available that I would ever pick Whiteface over them. Definitely not a lot of other Bostonians there with me that weekend.
Hoyts High:
Mackenzie:
Lower Wilderness:
Conditions: Powder, windblown, broken up powder, packed. Temps stayed around 15 degrees all day both days. No real wind those days (that’s rare for WF). Snowed lightly the entire weekend.
Day 1: Got there and only 1 lift is running (Facelift). They say it’s due to “power issues”. The lift line is huge. Takes an hour to complete 1 lower mountain run. Lookout lift opens on diesel power a little later. I lapped Hoyts High from that lift. Good run but a few too many icy spots in between the goodness. Finally in the PM the lifts come back. Whole mtn opens up but most people have left because of the lines and lack of lifts. Skied the rest of the day with no lift lines. Mackenzie was probably ROTD. Little Whiteface skied the best and we found a lot of untouched or lightly touched snow on the runs off of that.
Day 2: Crowds very minimal. Skyward off of the top of the mountain was excellent with lots of loosely tracked moguls & snow (after you got past the icy headwall at the top). But ROTD was definitely Wilderness. Lots of fluffy bumps that skied really well. Not much was open for glades, I did some turns in High Country glades and they were OK but a little bony still.
Overall impressions: This was the 1[SUP]st[/SUP] time I've ever hit WF when it was “good”. The steepness and size of the mountain is what always strikes me first. Even the groomed runs give you a workout as you have to check your speed so much/aggressively. The area does live up to its nickname (“Iceface”) as even on a weekend with a lot of snow – you had to watch out for the icy patches. But the runs are long and challenging. Otherwise the area fells a little run down. The lodge has seen better days, the lift are older and showing rust, the snowmaking and grooming couldn’t seem to do much about some of the icy spots.
Overall it was a great weekend there I just can’t say that with mountains like Sugarbush, Stowe, Killington, Sugarloaf, SR, Cannon, etc. available that I would ever pick Whiteface over them. Definitely not a lot of other Bostonians there with me that weekend.
Hoyts High:
Mackenzie:
Lower Wilderness:
