D.B. Cooper
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2020
Apparently windy at the top, at least according to a patroller I spoke with. Also heard some grumblings about lack of lifties.
Whiteface Conditions
- Thread starter NYSkiBlog
- Start date
Not bragging, but I say "thank you" nearly everytime I get on a lift, for what’s that worth.
Face4Me
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2020
VERY windy at higher elevations today. Someone I know almost got blown off the Face Lift right before the unloading area ... wind came down on top of his skis and almost pulled him right off the chair. They shut it down shortly after that.
I went to the top of the Freeway chair for one run ... the section of Mountain Run where you traverse across from the Freeway chair was completely wind-scoured. Traversed over to Wilderness ... the top of that was more of the same ... continued across to McKenzie ... the middle section was awesome ... the snow had all blown in on skier's left ... but from 1900 Road and below, big bumps with wind scoured crust in between.
Another rough day at the Face.
snoloco
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2021
I wonder what the lines looked like. I'm not sure if it was done, but I believe the right thing to do this year on days when lift operations are likely to be limited, is to allow people to change or cancel their pre purchased tickets. It improves safety by preventing overcrowding in lift lines for the open lifts, or in the lodges. The lodges simply can't accommodate everyone who needs to warm up on these super cold days.
Face4Me
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2020
Finally!!! A good day a Whiteface!
After getting skunked the last three days, I decided to try one more time. Instead of going over first thing, I waited at home and watched the new mid-station webcam. I had been told yesterday that they were planning to run the Little Whiteface chair today. Once I was able to confirm via the webcam that they were in fact loading that chair, I headed over. (More on this below)
Conditions were excellent on everything I skied. Good, East coast packed powder, with some loose granular on top was the order of the day. The only real issue today was visibility. The entire time I was there, the summit was in the clouds. Visibility was very poor up there. There were very few people riding to the top, and I was skiing alone. Given the lack of people and the poor visibility, I decided not to try Skyward. (Without going into details, I had a very nasty fall a couple of years ago. Fortunately, I wasn't skiing alone, and one of the guys I was with was able to help me ... Ever since then, I'm a LOT more cautious when I ski alone, about putting myself into situations where I could possibly not be found for a while.) The snow on Paron's Run was excellent, so it was a lot of fun, in spite of the bad visibility. Upper Wilderness was also really good.
I only skied for about 2 and a half hours, but this was by far my best day of the season.
Regarding the Little Whiteface chair ... Normally, Whiteface doesn't run the Little Whiteface chair during the week, relying on the gondola to provide access to the top of Little Whiteface. Typically, the Freeway chair is operating during the week, so for those who want to be able to ski Mountain Run, Lower Wilderness and Lower McKenzie, you can ride that chair. If however, you want to get back to the top of Little Whiteface to have access to that part of the mountain, you're stuck going down to the gondola and riding that back up. In a normal year, this is a nuisance, but it's not the "end of the world".
In the COVID-19 world, however, the problem with this is that the gondola is only operating at about 25 - 50% capacity (8 person cabins are only typically carrying fewer than 4 passengers), meaning very long lines & waits to get back to the top. It seems to me, they would be MUCH better off running the Little Whiteface chair instead of the gondola, if they can't run both due to staffing issues or economics. At least the Little Whiteface chair would be able to run at close to 100% of its capacity. This would be a much better solution, because as it stands now, there's almost no point to skiing Whiteface right now if the Little Whiteface chair is not running.
After getting skunked the last three days, I decided to try one more time. Instead of going over first thing, I waited at home and watched the new mid-station webcam. I had been told yesterday that they were planning to run the Little Whiteface chair today. Once I was able to confirm via the webcam that they were in fact loading that chair, I headed over. (More on this below)
Conditions were excellent on everything I skied. Good, East coast packed powder, with some loose granular on top was the order of the day. The only real issue today was visibility. The entire time I was there, the summit was in the clouds. Visibility was very poor up there. There were very few people riding to the top, and I was skiing alone. Given the lack of people and the poor visibility, I decided not to try Skyward. (Without going into details, I had a very nasty fall a couple of years ago. Fortunately, I wasn't skiing alone, and one of the guys I was with was able to help me ... Ever since then, I'm a LOT more cautious when I ski alone, about putting myself into situations where I could possibly not be found for a while.) The snow on Paron's Run was excellent, so it was a lot of fun, in spite of the bad visibility. Upper Wilderness was also really good.
I only skied for about 2 and a half hours, but this was by far my best day of the season.
Regarding the Little Whiteface chair ... Normally, Whiteface doesn't run the Little Whiteface chair during the week, relying on the gondola to provide access to the top of Little Whiteface. Typically, the Freeway chair is operating during the week, so for those who want to be able to ski Mountain Run, Lower Wilderness and Lower McKenzie, you can ride that chair. If however, you want to get back to the top of Little Whiteface to have access to that part of the mountain, you're stuck going down to the gondola and riding that back up. In a normal year, this is a nuisance, but it's not the "end of the world".
In the COVID-19 world, however, the problem with this is that the gondola is only operating at about 25 - 50% capacity (8 person cabins are only typically carrying fewer than 4 passengers), meaning very long lines & waits to get back to the top. It seems to me, they would be MUCH better off running the Little Whiteface chair instead of the gondola, if they can't run both due to staffing issues or economics. At least the Little Whiteface chair would be able to run at close to 100% of its capacity. This would be a much better solution, because as it stands now, there's almost no point to skiing Whiteface right now if the Little Whiteface chair is not running.
snoloco
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2021
I believe this was actually done the Thursday and Friday before MLK Weekend. They didn't run the gondola and ran the LWF chair instead. It is more efficient because it splits the out of base traffic and the traffic lapping the upper mountain. That way the Facelift and LWF chair are evenly utilized. If the gondola is running, then both try to ride that, causing a line, while the Facelift is mostly empty.
The problem with this is that the gondola is their main lift and if they don't run it, they're going to get lots of complaints. We go through this issue every spring of which lift is better to run. It makes more sense to run LWF, but they often end up running the gondola for the reason I mentioned.
The problem with this is that the gondola is their main lift and if they don't run it, they're going to get lots of complaints. We go through this issue every spring of which lift is better to run. It makes more sense to run LWF, but they often end up running the gondola for the reason I mentioned.
ADKmike
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2020
Modernizations? They currently seem pretty modern. What’s that all about
