tarponhead
New member
Dec-27 to Dec-29:
Whiteface:
spring snow to bullet proof:
Trip Report: Hi all. Just got back from our annual Christmas trip up to Whiteface. Long report so apologies in advance. We left 26-Dec a bit later to avoid any ice accumulation the weather dudes were predicting. Drove in a steady rain from central jerzy to Albany, then light rain or light snow from there on. No ice, travel time was the usual 5 hours+. Nice. Ate at Lisa G's and early to bed.
27-Dec : Woke up to steady rain. OK, been there done that at Blue's opening. Wanted to avoid the Christmas week ticket lines so caught the early shuttle over there with my boys in tow. 3rd in line - no problem there. Lifts started loading at 8:30 and off we go. Temps were in the mis 30s (estimate). Whiteface proper was still closed so only little whiteface and (according to the predicted openings at the ticket gate) Willy's on Lookout mountain were open. The rain made for some fantastic spring like snow. We skied Essex and approuch to Mountain run on down, easy to set your edge. Rain stopped by 10:30 or 11. We circled back through Excelsior a few times but Lookout mpountain lift for Willy was not loading yet. Ate lunch around noon, temps dropped as the day went on and the steeper stuff (i.e., Mountain run, Essex) were not as much fun as the morning. Downright tiring actually. Poked around Excelsior for a while and called it quits by 2:30. Spoke to a local guy on the shuttle back and they did end up opening Willy's for a little while after lunch (how did we miss that?). He said it was bullet proof, not fun. All in all, a very fun day.
28-Dec : Temps were in the mid 20's for most of th day. Woke up to a steady snow fall that did not abate until evening. Wonderful stuff. Also, way more crowded (as expected) then yesterday; packing 8 to the gondi on the ride up. Again, Essex was brillient in the AM. Approuch and Mountain run were fun too but with the high skier traffic did not hold up as well as the lower angle stuff like Excelsior and lower Vally. Draper was still surprisingly fun though. Anyhoo, I think it was around 10 or 10:30 when they started to load the Lookout mountain lift for Willy. We grabbed that and were booted up to what I think will be one of my favorate trails. Willy had 4-6" of fresh and my wateas just ate that stuff up. We lapped it twice before I set my boys free and I hooked up with the Mrs on Bear and Fox for her half day ticket. The last time she skied was on straight boards so it was kinda cool showing her how easy it is to turn. Boys had fun at me expense, calling me on my cell telling me how much fun they were having on willy while I was on the lower valley. Yeah okay, see what desert I spring for you guys tonight....
Leslie set me free after 2:30 and I ran Willy again, then Essex. Essex had huge piles of fresh interspaced by bullet proof stuff. Some people could still carve that stuff, not me. Finished the day running blue trails. Another great day.
29-Dec : Son #2 and I went to the Downtown diner at 7AM. Car thermometer reads 1F. Winds were howling. Get to the mountain at 8:30 and all lifts but Bear are on windhold. Lap the lower valley and see they start spinning Freeway around 9:30 or 10. Ride up to a absolutely bullet proof, wind-swept Mountain run. Not fun. Boys say this is no fun so arrange for Mom to pick them up so they can take advantage of the other fun stuff LP has to offer (they had a great day). Me on the otherhand decides to keep at it since I already dropped considerable $ for the day. The Freeway lift keeps spinning but now there is a mandatory off-loading at the midstation. Patrolers said enough was enough on Mountain run. You could traverse to drapers, lower throughway and burtons to lower valley. By noon the snow guns were going strong and despite the winds the WF crew had enjoyable fresh pow that was an absolute blast to carve in. Leslie said the car thermometer read -1F when she picked up the boys at the lodge late morning. Mid station had to be well below that. I spoke to a patroller I shared a ride up with and he said it was minus 16 F at the summit of lookout, plus 30 mph winds. It was friggin cold. I stepped into the midstation lodge to take a break from the weather around 2. Someone says they are loading the Mountain run lift and sure enough they were. A dozen people quaff their respective beverages and sprint out to get booted up to Upper Wilderness. There are atleast 10 guns blowing and 4" of fresh man-made that was a hoot to ski in. At times you could not even see what your were skiing due to the guns. After several laps, between the steep terrain (at least for me) and the temps I called it quites.
Hats off to the crew at WF. How they can manufacter fun days for people like me (intermediate) in a climate that can be challenging to say the least speaks well their skill.
WF is so friggin fun. Even without the main summit opened we had a blast. Looking forward to next Christmas break ther. This place rocks.
Whiteface:
spring snow to bullet proof:
Trip Report: Hi all. Just got back from our annual Christmas trip up to Whiteface. Long report so apologies in advance. We left 26-Dec a bit later to avoid any ice accumulation the weather dudes were predicting. Drove in a steady rain from central jerzy to Albany, then light rain or light snow from there on. No ice, travel time was the usual 5 hours+. Nice. Ate at Lisa G's and early to bed.
27-Dec : Woke up to steady rain. OK, been there done that at Blue's opening. Wanted to avoid the Christmas week ticket lines so caught the early shuttle over there with my boys in tow. 3rd in line - no problem there. Lifts started loading at 8:30 and off we go. Temps were in the mis 30s (estimate). Whiteface proper was still closed so only little whiteface and (according to the predicted openings at the ticket gate) Willy's on Lookout mountain were open. The rain made for some fantastic spring like snow. We skied Essex and approuch to Mountain run on down, easy to set your edge. Rain stopped by 10:30 or 11. We circled back through Excelsior a few times but Lookout mpountain lift for Willy was not loading yet. Ate lunch around noon, temps dropped as the day went on and the steeper stuff (i.e., Mountain run, Essex) were not as much fun as the morning. Downright tiring actually. Poked around Excelsior for a while and called it quits by 2:30. Spoke to a local guy on the shuttle back and they did end up opening Willy's for a little while after lunch (how did we miss that?). He said it was bullet proof, not fun. All in all, a very fun day.
28-Dec : Temps were in the mid 20's for most of th day. Woke up to a steady snow fall that did not abate until evening. Wonderful stuff. Also, way more crowded (as expected) then yesterday; packing 8 to the gondi on the ride up. Again, Essex was brillient in the AM. Approuch and Mountain run were fun too but with the high skier traffic did not hold up as well as the lower angle stuff like Excelsior and lower Vally. Draper was still surprisingly fun though. Anyhoo, I think it was around 10 or 10:30 when they started to load the Lookout mountain lift for Willy. We grabbed that and were booted up to what I think will be one of my favorate trails. Willy had 4-6" of fresh and my wateas just ate that stuff up. We lapped it twice before I set my boys free and I hooked up with the Mrs on Bear and Fox for her half day ticket. The last time she skied was on straight boards so it was kinda cool showing her how easy it is to turn. Boys had fun at me expense, calling me on my cell telling me how much fun they were having on willy while I was on the lower valley. Yeah okay, see what desert I spring for you guys tonight....
Leslie set me free after 2:30 and I ran Willy again, then Essex. Essex had huge piles of fresh interspaced by bullet proof stuff. Some people could still carve that stuff, not me. Finished the day running blue trails. Another great day.
29-Dec : Son #2 and I went to the Downtown diner at 7AM. Car thermometer reads 1F. Winds were howling. Get to the mountain at 8:30 and all lifts but Bear are on windhold. Lap the lower valley and see they start spinning Freeway around 9:30 or 10. Ride up to a absolutely bullet proof, wind-swept Mountain run. Not fun. Boys say this is no fun so arrange for Mom to pick them up so they can take advantage of the other fun stuff LP has to offer (they had a great day). Me on the otherhand decides to keep at it since I already dropped considerable $ for the day. The Freeway lift keeps spinning but now there is a mandatory off-loading at the midstation. Patrolers said enough was enough on Mountain run. You could traverse to drapers, lower throughway and burtons to lower valley. By noon the snow guns were going strong and despite the winds the WF crew had enjoyable fresh pow that was an absolute blast to carve in. Leslie said the car thermometer read -1F when she picked up the boys at the lodge late morning. Mid station had to be well below that. I spoke to a patroller I shared a ride up with and he said it was minus 16 F at the summit of lookout, plus 30 mph winds. It was friggin cold. I stepped into the midstation lodge to take a break from the weather around 2. Someone says they are loading the Mountain run lift and sure enough they were. A dozen people quaff their respective beverages and sprint out to get booted up to Upper Wilderness. There are atleast 10 guns blowing and 4" of fresh man-made that was a hoot to ski in. At times you could not even see what your were skiing due to the guns. After several laps, between the steep terrain (at least for me) and the temps I called it quites.
Hats off to the crew at WF. How they can manufacter fun days for people like me (intermediate) in a climate that can be challenging to say the least speaks well their skill.
WF is so friggin fun. Even without the main summit opened we had a blast. Looking forward to next Christmas break ther. This place rocks.
