A Great Season at Whiteface

Now that spring seems to have arrived, it is safe to say that this will be one of the best of my dozen years skiing Whiteface.

Going into the season it seemed like management had planned to open the summit as early as possible. As in recent years, the peak of the mountain was in play right away with Paron’s Run open from the top. This was several years in the making with snowmaking upgrades that were promised and now delivered.

Cloudspin opened early with good coverage
Cloudspin opened early with good coverage

Sure, there will always be mechanical issues at a ski area, but this year seemed different.

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ORDA’s Ski3 Opens Early

Opening weekend in New York is always a special time. After months of summer heat we anticipate autumn’s first frost. Skiers often get a first glimpse of the winter season once the resorts fire up their snow guns.

Whiteface view from the base

In a typical year, Whiteface works to open on Black Friday. While this fall hasn’t been exactly cold, the temperatures and humidity aligned this past week to allow each of the Ski3 mountains to start making snow on limited terrain.

Whiteface, the tallest of the three, opened up 1.3 miles of trail with 1,840’ of vertical that ran from the top of the Summit Quad from Riva Ridge down through Paron’s Run, over to Lower Northway and finally exiting off of Summit Express.

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Whiteface: Get It While You Can

I’m done talking about the weather this year. Social media proclaimed the season over. The warm up is here and the four horsemen of spring rapidly are approaching. If you’re going to complain when it’s bad then you better get it while it’s good.

hidden summit

As it happened the season wasn’t over, doomsday was averted as a large storm was rolling in last weekend. Forecasts favored northern and higher elevation peaks, so Farah and I set our sights for Whiteface.

On Saturday we headed up Route 28 to the Central Adirondack Trail. After passing through Old Forge, we turn north onto Route 30 at Blue Mountain Lake.

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