Whiteface Conditions

[Deez]

They are closed for the fall. Usually when they are closed, they close the gate at the beginning of the bridge. Meaning you can't drive right in - not sure what would happen if you walked around. I would send an email or call ahead to be sure - I have to imagine the front desk is open as people can still purchase season passes.

 

[capecodbeach]

Thank you. Kind of what I expected.
They have more important work to do than watching me so I don't get in the way.

 

[MarzNC]

Walking around the base when there weren't active operations open has never been a problem for me. I used to wander over when in Lake Placid at various times when my daughter was a student at North Country School (2013-16).

@capecodbeach : if you go, I suggest you also drive over to the secondary base. Assuming the access road is open.

 

[capecodbeach]

I am pretty sure the open or closed gate will make my decision for me. I might call on the way up as well. Only one Whiteface web cam operating today so that gave me little help. Gore web cams looked like a ghost town. But I do think the old gondolas had been pulled. BTW the 2nd base area (Bear Cub Den?) was the area I was most interested in. A season pass holder, but at age 75 I need to scout areas first to know what the terrain looks like. But equally important is the accessibility factor. I use the new Bear Cub Quad a lot at Gore. Decent run and short enough my stamina is not stressed. The only downside.... it is a beastly hike from the base Lodge! That 2nd Lodge at WF with parking, a real chairlift, and green runs close by is very tempting for a roadtrip. Thank you.

 

[MarzNC]

BTW the 2nd base area (Bear Cub Den?) was the area I was most interested in. A season pass holder, but at age 75 I need to scout areas first to know what the terrain looks like. But equally important is the accessibility factor. I use the new Bear Cub Quad a lot at Gore. Decent run and short enough my stamina is not stressed. The only downside.... it is a beastly hike from the base Lodge! That 2nd Lodge at WF with parking, a real chairlift, and green runs close by is very tempting for a roadtrip. Thank you.

At Bear Den, you can see the green trails pretty well. Not sure that looking up the mountain at the base lodge will be that useful. Whiteface is a steep mountain. You can't see the Bear Den (or whatever it's called now) trails from the entrance road.

I took my nieces (different sides of the family, early 20s) who were intermediates down from the top on the blue trail. Parents were invited to an open house at North Country School before Thanksgiving holidays began for the students (mostly a boarding school). My nieces each came one time. They skied very little growing up but remember enough to make parallel turns. It's a long run from the top, but it was worth it for them to see the view.

Looking up from base chairlift, mid-week, late Jan 2014

Whiteface base, midweek, early Feb 2013

Whiteface, Oct 2016
I parked, then hiked along the stream and up to the old mid-mountain lodge for a view of fall colors

 

[capecodbeach]

I was out of skiing for 20+ years. Kids went off to college and then on to careers. Left poor dad with no one to ski with... plus skiing day tickets got expensive, equipment needed upgrading. Gone were the Mobil 3 deals where 3 fill ups got you a reduced price day of skiing at local mountains! Our daughter spent 10+ years in Oregon... as she would say skiing REAL mountains, with REAL powder. When she moved back East she lost interest. But our 10 year old grandson has gotten both of us back into skiing. After 1 year snowboarding, we converted him back to skiing! His mom was always a strong skier so it was like riding a bike for her. Not so much for me. But I am happy to ski the lower mountain trails while they take on the whole mountain. Biggest conflict now is travel team baseball. Who knew baseball could be a 12 month sport here in Upstate NY. Three seasons of games and now a winter season of conditioning. Hopefully I can salvage some days of skiing together. Skiing is conditioning, right?

 

[MarzNC]

Skiing is conditioning, right?

Yes and no. Depends on the type of skiing. But don't want to derail this Conditions thread. You can check out some of what I learned about ski conditioning after knee rehab in 2012 here: https://over50skifitness.blogspot.com/ .

I was out of skiing for 20+ years.

I was an intermediate skier with only two seasons in middle school on straight skis. Didn't ski for 10 years and only sporadically while working, only on blue groomers. Investing in lessons and time for practice made a difference . . . after my daughter was better than I was by age 11. Ski school in VA over holiday weekends and at Alta during spring breaks paid off for her.

 

[Peter Minde]

Yes and no. Depends on the type of skiing. But don't want to derail this Conditions thread. You can check out some of what I learned about ski conditioning after knee rehab in 2012 here: https://over50skifitness.blogspot.com/ .


I was an intermediate skier with only two seasons in middle school on straight skis. Didn't ski for 10 years and only sporadically while working, only on blue groomers. Investing in lessons and time for practice made a difference . . . after my daughter was better than I was by age 11. Ski school in VA over holiday weekends and at Alta during spring breaks paid off for her.

As a former personal trainer, I'd call a lot of those moves prehab rather than conditioning. What the blogger calls and airborne lunge, I would call a single leg squat. A great move. Any unilateral exercise - lunges, split squat, rear foot elevated split squat, or single leg squat - are worth doing. They work the muscles that help you balance and stabilize as well as prime movers like quads.