Whiteface Mountain Improvements 2014

Whiteface MountainAs the summer comes to a close Whiteface is wrapping up a busy off-season making a variety of improvements and changes to snowmaking, trails and lodges.

Snowmaking and Grooming

This summer Whiteface made it’s biggest investment to date in efficient fan and tower guns. Working with NYSERDA and NYSEG grants and incentives the mountain will be adding a variety of hardware to the arsenal.

Fan guns by HKD and TechnoAlpin will be placed in key locations on Summit Express, Victoria, and the top of Boreen chute. Further management is currently working out the final details on the purchase of over 100 new HKD Impulse guns to be placed around the mountain.

TechnoAlpin-TF10
TechnoAlpin TF10

In addition a new Pisten Bully PB 400 Park Pro will be added to the fleet of groomers.  The Park Pro is essentially a standard snow cat that can articulate tillers and blades more than a standard groomer.  It will be used in the park and across the mountain.

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Easter at Whiteface 2014

At its best, spring skiing means sunny skies, warm temps and light clothing, soft snow, and for those over 21, lots of beer.  However, it also means that the end is near.

Whiteface-Summit

I’m primarily a downstate skier and my home mountains, Mountain Creek and Hunter, are closed.  At this time of year, my options are north. This year my family headed to Whiteface for Easter.

It’s an awesome mountain in the springtime.  With tons of sustained vertical, no cat tracks to get stuck in, and High Peaks views, it doesn’t get any better.  I had an amazing Easter weekend skiing The Face.

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The Ski Season in Photos #13

The season was supposed to end, save Tuckerman Ravine, at the end of May, when Killington finally cashed in the chips. But, as she often does, mother nature had something else in mind.

Whiteface Toll Road
Toll Road photo courtesy Whiteface

In between commercial breaks, Lionel Hutz was tweeting about big Memorial Day snow in northern Vermont as early as May 22 and posted an animated GFS forecast map of the storm on May 23.

On Saturday May 25, at lower elevations in the Adirondacks, it snowed on and off for most of the day. Rafting guides, and other hardcore skiers who hold down off season jobs, navigated through the channels of life, while dreams of skiing danced on their heads.

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