Does Whiteface have good skiing over Christmas break?

[BigK75]

Hey Guys:

I need some advice. I am new here my Claude and I live in Kitchener, Ontario. I have been two Lake Placid twice in the past two years but have always gone in February/March timeframe. The conditions have always been fantastic. This year I work for a company that shutdowns over the Christmas holidays so I booked a weeks vacation with friends from Dec 27-Jan 2 in Lake Placid. I see the weather outside and I am getting nervous that most of WF will not be open when I go down there in late Dec. Can anyone comment on what theirs thoughts are for late Dec skiing. If you have past experience I would not mind hearing that as well.

Thanks,

Claude

 

[Face4Me]

Of course it goes without saying, it all depends on the weather ... oh well, I guess I did say it after all.

Anyway, the last two seasons, things have started off pretty slow, but have picked up nicely in mid December. Whiteface management knows they have to put on a good "show" for the holiday week, so they'll do all they can to get things open as quickly as possible. I think Skyward opened the day before Christmas last year. You can go back through some of the trip reports on this forum from last December to get an idea of how things were going.

If you're looking to ski any of the glades, you'll probably be out of luck for Christmas week, though you never know ... maybe we'll get hit with a big early season storm.

The snowmaking pattern usually goes something like this: They start with Excelsior down to Upper Valley to the mid-station lodge. Weather depending, they continue down Lower Valley back to the base. Once that's built up, they usually get Essex and Lower Cloudspin open next. From there, they'll move to Mountain Run, and possibly Approach. After that, they'll probably move on to Broadway (for the park) and Boreen, for the easy way down to the base. They'll also be adding Kids Kampus and some of the other lower mountain trails as weather permits. Once they get a good part of the lower mountain open, they've been moving to the Wilmington Trail next. They may also work on Paron's Run and Skyward at the same time.

Unless there's some significant help from Mother Nature, don't expect any of the following to be open for Christmas week: Upper Cloudspin, Upper Northway, Upper Mackenzie, Lower Skyward, Lookout Below, Lower Parkway, and Upper Wilderness. Lower Wilderness, Lower Mackenzie may be open with thin cover by Christmas week, but they probably will not have done any snowmaking there before Christmas.

They need about two solid weeks of good, sustained cold weather to get most of the mountain open. If the weather gets cold, and stays cold, by around December 10, you should be in relatively good shape for Christmas week.

 

[Endoftheline]

Claude, I generally agree with Face4me but there is another issues that I would like to address. With limited trails open and big Holiday crowds the conditions tend to go downhill by about noon. (ICY) So if you want the better snow you should be on the hill for opening bell and plan on calling it by just after lunch. Dealing with the NY/NJ metro skiers can also be a challenge. On the other hand we may get lucky and have the whole mountain open with nice soft well groomed snow, I can always dream.

 

[x10003q]

Dealing with the NY/NJ metro skiers can also be a challenge.

Can we stop with this nonsense? When I ski I do not see any way to identify skiers and boarders on the slopes. Here's a little FYI - most of the people I know who ski go to Gore, southern VT up to Killington or the Catskills for their weekend and holiday fun.

 

[CMR]

Can we stop with this nonsense? When I ski I do not see any way to identify skiers and boarders on the slopes. Here's a little FYI - most of the people I know who ski go to Gore, southern VT up to Killington or the Catskills for their weekend and holiday fun.

+1

As a NY metro area person (formerly from Albany), I do not encounter such "challenging" skiers at Gore and Whiteface. Ever. This stereotype is such BS. Most metro area people that I meet at these ski areas are fun, avid skiers. I suspect the founder of this great site, apparently from Jersey, would agree.

Back on topic. My avatar shows what WF looked like in Early December 2008. We had a great early season that year. Hoping for another. Otherwise we'll be doing some of the kid hikes from another thread.