Whiteface Conditions

[Tjf1967]

Must be the weather. Their mileage has been shrinking... There more than one way to skin a cat

 

[capecodbeach]

Old guy considering going to Whiteface for my first visit ever. Have been skiing Gore on a weekly basis but always staying lower mountain due to my ability and age. At Gore I ski Sunway, Lower Sunway, and the trails off the NEW Bear Cub Quad. Bear Cub Quad has been my go to lift because I can lap the lower mountain green trails and feel like a real skier. Well as luck would have it Bear Cub Quad is listed as closed on Gore Snow Report for tomorrow (Wed 2/7). Would trails off the Falcon Flyer at Bear Den Lodge be comparable to my easy trails at Gore? It is another 40 minutes north for me so I do not want to waste a trip if the trails are not easy enough? Or maybe I could try Gore again on Thursday or Friday. I assume the Bear Den Lodge will be open with parking and food?

 

[Deez]

Bears Den is open..parking, food, rentals, restaurant and a store. Falcon Flyer services very easy green trails. Not sure how they compare to Gore but are easy green.
The Notch lift also services green trails....the Notch has two "get offs" (not sure the proper term)...if you take the Notch get off at the first stop. The first has the easiest part of the trail.
You can take The Notch and Falcon Flyer from Bears Den.

 

[D.B. Cooper]

It may be a little late, but here are pictures from last weekend. It looks like it's going to be a different story this weekend.

 

[junior]

It warmed up to 48 degrees today, resulting in some pretty fun spring conditions. Skyward was great, cloudspin has a thin cover and a lot of patches right now but that was a lot of fun as well. Hoping for colder temps and some more snow the next couple of weeks.

 

[Deez]

Saturday was pretty good - soft snow, spring skiing- mounded up and rough by the end of the day.
Today was hard, fast, icy. Some trails the skis chattered and vibrated - i didn't last long.
Both days top of summit and Little Whiteface - windy and pea soup - cloudy, low visibility - but on Excelsior once you hit the Northway trail the clouds/fog was over.
They are blowing snow on Wilmington trail with the plans to open Lookout Mtn for February break.

The glades and the side of the trails took a beating with the warm weather - some sketchy bare spots.

 

[Deez]

Drove by the mountain...10:00 and all parking lots full...they were squeezing in at the top of the road...any available spot had a car in it.

 

[capecodbeach]

Bears Den is open..parking, food, rentals, restaurant and a store. Falcon Flyer services very easy green trails. Not sure how they compare to Gore but are easy green.
The Notch lift also services green trails....the Notch has two "get offs" (not sure the proper term)...if you take the Notch get off at the first stop. The first has the easiest part of the trail.
You can take The Notch and Falcon Flyer from Bears Den.

Thank you for your reply... I am coming off Covid followed by a Covid rebound so I will soon be heading north to Gore again. BUT I do want to make the trip further north to Bear Den Lodge sometime in early March. After that I head to Florida to de-rust my golf swing.
Just spent some time understanding the NOTCH lift. Mid exit looks fine. In fact maybe the Trip to the Mid Mountain NOTCH Lodge might be doable. I have searched Youtube for some personal videos of the trails down fro Falcon Flyer and Notch. Not a whole lot to be found. I did find one for Flying Squirrel. Any tips for what mix of trails I might research on YouTube? How about videos of the inside of the Notch Lodge or Bear Den? Discussions I have found seem to say parking at Bear Den will never be a problem mid week, once we get past school vacation week. I know to check the SNOW REPORTS for lifts operating. Do Falcon and Notch usually BOTH run daily, even mid week? Thanks

 

[Deez]

Skied Sunday 8:30 am -11:00 am. The goal was to get there early, get a couple of hours in and leave....Gondola packed, Facelist wasn't that bad, Little Whiteface and Lookout Mtn were practically no lines ....at 11:00 skied down to Bear's Den, Falcon Flyer was packed, The Notch wasn't too bad ..but words cannot describe the mass of humanity ....it was like the zombies in World War Z when they stormed the wall. They have sufficient bag storage in Bear Den (IMHO) but bags everywhere, people everywhere, hyper ventilation occurring, anxiety induced crowd phobia coming on ...... My son and I got on our street boots and left, I can't even describe getting out of the parking lot - just like zombies, vehicles swarmed my truck preventing proper exit - it was madness. I yelled at my son, shut the windows ! They're trying to get in ! Biting at the windows, trying to open the doors .....we ran a few over on the way out .... but man ...we got out ! We pulled on to 86 and sweet freedom was sung ! The smell and sounds of fresh air - WE WERE FREE !

The skiing wasn't bad that early at all - i didn't find the upper lift lines crowed or the trails congested.
Wilmington Trail at 9:00 was totally sweet and hard packed but not icy ....10:30 Wilmington Trail a lot of it was blown off and it was icy. Even my son who is waaaaay better skier than me said it was in rough shape. That's been my experience with Wilmington Trail it gets blown off \ skied off very quickly.

Echoing some people on the other threads ----i will skip this weekend next year usually the second weekend of Presidents Week isn't that bad ?? - i guess we will find out

 

[Cork]

Really good conditions today and a bonus of Lookout Below opening with sweet turns!!
Kudos to the WF snowmakers!!
The whole mountain skied great today, great grooming, and sunshine!