West Mountain - 2/18/10

[ChileMass]

Location: West Mountain - Glens Falls, NY

Date - Thursday, Feb 18, 2010

Conditions - 38*F, sun in and out, fabulous grooming

Summary - Great day at a small hill


Skied at West Mountain for the first time since probably 1982 and it has improved! The new restaurant and bar upstairs is nice, and the grooming is unbelievable. I am told West hired away a grooming guru from Hunter or Bellayre. Whoever he is, he's doing a great job and they obviously have bought some new equipment and are putting it to good use.

West offered a $125 group rate for 5 of us (4-hour tickets), which made the day a bit more affordable. My wife needed rental skis and the 150 cm Rossignols worked out very nicely. The only bummer was that there was a New York State junior race going on, so the connecting trails to the NW triple chair were cut off. We got stuck over there and had to take a haywagon shuttle back to the base. We skied Frolic and GoGo pretty much the rest of the day and it got a little boring, but the surface was so good we stayed happy. West needs to update their lifts next - the old double and triple chairs are probably the same ones I used to ride when I was a kid. Still, West gets a thumbs up.

 

[Warp Daddy]

Location: West Mountain - Glens Falls, NY

Date - Thursday, Feb 18, 2010

Conditions - 38*F, sun in and out, fabulous grooming

Summary - Great day at a small hill


Skied at West Mountain for the first time since probably 1982 and it has improved! The new restaurant and bar upstairs is nice, and the grooming is unbelievable. I am told West hired away a grooming guru from Hunter or Bellayre. Whoever he is, he's doing a great job and they obviously have bought some new equipment and are putting it to good use.

West offered a $125 group rate for 5 of us (4-hour tickets), which made the day a bit more affordable. My wife needed rental skis and the 150 cm Rossignols worked out very nicely. The only bummer was that there was a New York State junior race going on, so the connecting trails to the NW triple chair were cut off. We got stuck over there and had to take a haywagon shuttle back to the base. We skied Frolic and GoGo pretty much the rest of the day and it got a little boring, but the surface was so good we stayed happy. West needs to update their lifts next - the old double and triple chairs are probably the same ones I used to ride when I was a kid. Still, West gets a thumbs up.

3 of us were there THE NEXT DAY Friday the 19th -- IT SIMPLY SUCKED !!!! The worst day this season abso;utely no grooming to be found anywhere the hill was in terrible condition i'm not usually a bitcher but IF THEY HAD a grooming guru the bastid must have died thursday !! It was rutted up crap and we were there at 8:30 , the race NY stae jrs were theer then and we did ski under the other lift and that was totally screwed up and I USED TO LOVE THAT mtn but frankly it'll be a cold day in hell before we ski it again . Lifts are slow , ancient and while i can live with THAT the damn lack of anything remotely skiable was a MAJOR disappointment >

Now the next 2 days Yesterdaqy and today we skied GORE -- that was awesome !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gore has great steeps and nice long pitch worthy cruisers . yesterday my 15 yr old grandson , my son and i skied Gore for 7 hrs . We love the Topridge Area and spent the first 2 hrs there off the Gondi . The blacks there Uncas and Top Ridge are partularly scenic have a steep steady pitch .

Then we also did and The High Peaks areas for couple hrs it too was super fun there too . The 2 young guns were bombing LIES a double Black and Rumor nother double black which was really bumped up while me the old fart did did the Cloud? Headwaters combo several runs


In the afternoon after lunch the grandson and his dad went back up top the Hich Peaks area while i hit the cruisers on The North Side and The Bear Mtn Side I enjoyed several brisk rides down Twister and the Sunway /3b or Quicksilver combo . One of my favs Sleeping Bear was crowded and scraped off so was not up to snuff but all in all a great day not sure but i'd guess we did in the neighborhood of 28 - 30 k of vert yesterday.

Today wash rinse repeat EXCEPT we reeled it back considerably and we quit at 1:30 to travel back home -- they to Manhattan me back to the St Lawrence River

Too bad bout West ah hell i'll give it another shot and see if we just hit it on the WRONG day But i'm feeling great @ 66 and after the triple bypass after 3 days of it --------------and 8 days so far in February

 

[ChileMass]

WarpDaddy -

I can't believe you had such a different experience!! I swear we skied on corduroy for almost the entire day and it was perfect. And - we went to Gore on Friday and it was so windy at the base the gondola was closed and it was COLD! So we blew it off and went out to breakfast. Glad you had fun Sat and Sun up there.

Try West again sometime - my father in law in Saratoga skis there twice a week and he loves it. Good luck!

 

[Warp Daddy]

WarpDaddy -

I can't believe you had such a different experience!! I swear we skied on corduroy for almost the entire day and it was perfect. And - we went to Gore on Friday and it was so windy at the base the gondola was closed and it was COLD! So we blew it off and went out to breakfast. Glad you had fun Sat and Sun up there.

Try West again sometime - my father in law in Saratoga skis there twice a week and he loves it. Good luck!

Chile : We were amazed too the previous trip there a couple yrs ago was super ---maybe we just caught a bad day - i'm sure we'll do it again BUT NOT PREZ week again

 

[thetrailboss]

I drove by there today and it looked like a legit mountain. I wish the new owners luck. I've been getting mixed reviews, but sounds like they want to turn it around. I say invest in it slowly, get something like Pat's Peak's model (night racing leagues, friendly family service, and decent clean place to go) and you have a winner. Must say that they have a great location.

 

[Warp Daddy]

West has the potential . with couple of nice broad headwalls with some interconnecting trails and good pitch on the one side, then the other side has a couple of very nice GS trails that spill directly down the mtn with decent rollers and u get the full vert about 1050 there in one shot.

They need lift upgrade . One double has a pole between the seats , while the triple on the GS side is a real hard ass breaker i. e.no chair pads just an old cold thin plastic molded seats -- breaks yer ass bone .

Great location , decent vert , some serious snow making and lifts would do wonders

 

[zinger3000]

I have mixed feelings about West Mountain. My first time there, my wife and I needed rentals. After about 5-10 minutes of waiting in line, it was my turn, and then my wife would have been next, but one of the teenage punks working there let one of his friends cut in line ahead of her. Snow can be sketchy there sometimes. And the triple life takes forever to get to the top.

 

[drjeff]

West has the potential . with couple of nice broad headwalls with some interconnecting trails and good pitch on the one side, then the other side has a couple of very nice GS trails that spill directly down the mtn with decent rollers and u get the full vert about 1050 there in one shot.

They need lift upgrade . One double has a pole between the seats , while the triple on the GS side is a real hard ass breaker i. e.no chair pads just an old cold thin plastic molded seats -- breaks yer ass bone .

Great location , decent vert , some serious snow making and lifts would do wonders

Warp, to put the lifts at West into perspective, I thought the exact same thing (right down to the a$$ breaker plastic seats on the triple) the 1st time I skied there, and that was in 1980!

In a sense, it's kind of like functioning ski museum ala Mad River or Magic, except with some solid snowmaking power (having the Hudson River nearby as the water source doesn't suck in that respect )

 

[Warp Daddy]

Warp, to put the lifts at West into perspective, I thought the exact same thing (right down to the a$$ breaker plastic seats on the triple) the 1st time I skied there, and that was in 1980!

In a sense, it's kind of like functioning ski museum ala Mad River or Magic, except with some solid snowmaking power (having the Hudson River nearby as the water source doesn't suck in that respect )

Doc like i said i can handle the lifts, hard ass as they are , but the absolute lack on anything even resembling decent conditions was seriously disappointing . I frankly in all my yrs in this sport never saw worse conditions . I don't need perfect cord but rutted up uneven crap on double fault line stuff gets old fast with me .

That said we will give another shot and hope for the best -- it is convienient and a good alternative after a couple of long days skiing hard at Gore