In May of 2011, a storm blew into Wilmington, New York, and unleashed a deluge of rain. It wasn’t the magnitude of Superstorm Irene, but it caused flash floods and road closures. At Whiteface, the rainfall wiped out the “key hole” and flushed the krummholz between Slides 2 and 3 creating a new slide that locals call Slide 2B.
This new slide consists of a narrow but modestly sloped first pitch leading to a rock ledge that runs diagonally through the middle section of the slide. The ledge varies in height ranging from approximately 5 feet at its apex to nearly 18 feet at the toe. You can avoid the drop by staying to skier’s right and shooting a gap between the ledge and tree line. The gap zone captures a lot of windblown powder.
Below the ledge, the slope steepens significantly and grows into a broad treeless expanse that encompasses the bottom of Slide 3. One definitely feels exposure on this wide open face which is littered with numerous shelves, some draped with ice. Falling here is not a good idea.
At this point skiers and riders choose between billy-goating down the steep, exhilarating fall line which funnels into bottom of slides or angling to skiers left across the cirque to hook into the more moderately pitched bottom of Slide 3.
Slide 2B holds snow well and even in the low snow levels of 2011-2012, the new slide on Whiteface rode big.
| Slide 1 | Slide 2 | Slide 2B | Slide 3 | Slide 4 | Slide Out |