Whiteface Conditions

[Campgottagopee]

Side note, if I'm in line for a stopped lift and see a ski doo approaching, I'm the first one gone.

 

[SIAWOL]

What does bother me, is the Groundhog Day effect. It seems like every time you go to the mountain, there's some kind of issue with something ... it could be a lift issue, a snow-making issue, a staffing issue, a power problem ... whatever.

Whiteface was always a little "rough around the edges", and in a lot of ways, that was part of its appeal. ORDA is clearly trying to move away from that image, and I'm fine with that, but the reality is, they still have a very long way to go.

Full disclosure: I'm a Gore homer....and Gore has it's own set of issues. Maybe I've just figured how to deal with them.

We do get up to WF a couple times/year for a change of scenery. Almost always early Feb or later. Overall skiing has been good for us and we've had some fun days. But there's always a handful of "little" things that annoy me every time we go. At the risk of coming across too "first world problem-y" and whiny:

• parking---rarely anyone directing traffic till you're in the actual lot. Do I park on the access road? Do I keep going and hope bottom lot is open? If it's not, where do I turn around?
• walking from the lot to the lodge. The bridge is cool. But the walk just bugs me for some reason---especially as you basically walk right thru the drop off area and are dodging cars
• gondi loading a tad too far to walk down to, but too close to justify putting the skis on for 3 seconds.
• Or you walk uphill to the face lift
• shortage of shelves/hooks in the base lodge
• lockers downstairs have sloped top...so you can't set anything on top of them
• the gondi never seems to load until 830a. Not 8:20. Not 8:25. Not 8:29.....8:30
• the trees....sure they can be fun. But seems like they weren't cut low enough so there's lots of little ankle biters poking up. And the double fall line of cloudsplitter/10th...like Chati I dislike always having to cut over as Im going downhill. And Cloud/10th is like the same thing
• less gondi cars than Gore. Snoloco probably has the stats, but that's true, right? The old gondis had those dang windows that never stayed propped open. At least the new ones don't have that problem
• a couple beautiful lift lines that are technically off limits.
• higher elevation=dense pine tree stands. Less opportunity to poke around and explore
• the old olympic buildings around the hill---just so decrepit. they put some cool signs on them listing the medal winners and such, but they couldn't fix the door hanging on by 1 hinge?
• All the trail intersections---constantly looking left, right, left again.
• A bazillion stairwells in the base lodge

Yes--I do have a list of things I do like about WF, so it's not all negative. Long, ripping cruisers. The commitment to bump runs. Upper mountain lifts move OK. The learning center--while separated--is pretty cool. Mid lodge patio. Legit terrain park. Hosting some big time race events.

 

[Face4Me]

Wow ... That's quite a list.

While I don't necessarily disagree with any of your points, none of those bother me, except this one ...

a couple beautiful lift lines that are technically off limits.

It's definitely a bummer that Whiteface doesn't allow the lift lines to be skied ... The Summit Quad, Lookout Triple and Freeway lift lines are all particularly inviting!!! Not sure if the 25 mile trail limit is a factor here or not. I may have skied one or two of these, or maybe it was just a dream.

 

[Face4Me]

Wow ... That's quite a list.

While I don't necessarily disagree with any of your points, none of those bother me, except this one ...

a couple beautiful lift lines that are technically off limits.

It's definitely a bummer that Whiteface doesn't allow the lift lines to be skied ... The Summit Quad, Lookout Triple and Freeway lift lines are all particularly inviting!!! Not sure if the 25 mile trail limit is a factor here or not. I may have skied one or two of these, or maybe it was just a dream.

 

[D.B. Cooper]

Full disclosure: I'm a Gore homer....and Gore has it's own set of issues. Maybe I've just figured how to deal with them.

We do get up to WF a couple times/year for a change of scenery. Almost always early Feb or later. Overall skiing has been good for us and we've had some fun days. But there's always a handful of "little" things that annoy me every time we go. At the risk of coming across too "first world problem-y" and whiny:

• parking---rarely anyone directing traffic till you're in the actual lot. Do I park on the access road? Do I keep going and hope bottom lot is open? If it's not, where do I turn around?
• walking from the lot to the lodge. The bridge is cool. But the walk just bugs me for some reason---especially as you basically walk right thru the drop off area and are dodging cars
• gondi loading a tad too far to walk down to, but too close to justify putting the skis on for 3 seconds.
• Or you walk uphill to the face lift
• shortage of shelves/hooks in the base lodge
• lockers downstairs have sloped top...so you can't set anything on top of them
• the gondi never seems to load until 830a. Not 8:20. Not 8:25. Not 8:29.....8:30
• the trees....sure they can be fun. But seems like they weren't cut low enough so there's lots of little ankle biters poking up. And the double fall line of cloudsplitter/10th...like Chati I dislike always having to cut over as Im going downhill. And Cloud/10th is like the same thing
• less gondi cars than Gore. Snoloco probably has the stats, but that's true, right? The old gondis had those dang windows that never stayed propped open. At least the new ones don't have that problem
• a couple beautiful lift lines that are technically off limits.
• higher elevation=dense pine tree stands. Less opportunity to poke around and explore
• the old olympic buildings around the hill---just so decrepit. they put some cool signs on them listing the medal winners and such, but they couldn't fix the door hanging on by 1 hinge?
• All the trail intersections---constantly looking left, right, left again.
• A bazillion stairwells in the base lodge

You are totally right! The problem is the lack of attention to detail. WF has lots of projects that get 85% done, but worse, none of them seem integrated. Businesses should be their own greatest proponent to the outside and their own worst critic on the inside. The "inside" portion doesn't exist.

The Olympic buildings are down right embarrassing. I think it would be cool to ski through the start building, with pictures and memorabilia throughout.

 

[JTG]

Full disclosure: I'm a Gore homer....and Gore has it's own set of issues. Maybe I've just figured how to deal with them.

We do get up to WF a couple times/year for a change of scenery. Almost always early Feb or later. Overall skiing has been good for us and we've had some fun days. But there's always a handful of "little" things that annoy me every time we go. At the risk of coming across too "first world problem-y" and whiny:

• parking---rarely anyone directing traffic till you're in the actual lot. Do I park on the access road? Do I keep going and hope bottom lot is open? If it's not, where do I turn around?
• walking from the lot to the lodge. The bridge is cool. But the walk just bugs me for some reason---especially as you basically walk right thru the drop off area and are dodging cars
• gondi loading a tad too far to walk down to, but too close to justify putting the skis on for 3 seconds.
• Or you walk uphill to the face lift
• shortage of shelves/hooks in the base lodge
• lockers downstairs have sloped top...so you can't set anything on top of them
• the gondi never seems to load until 830a. Not 8:20. Not 8:25. Not 8:29.....8:30
• the trees....sure they can be fun. But seems like they weren't cut low enough so there's lots of little ankle biters poking up. And the double fall line of cloudsplitter/10th...like Chati I dislike always having to cut over as Im going downhill. And Cloud/10th is like the same thing
• less gondi cars than Gore. Snoloco probably has the stats, but that's true, right? The old gondis had those dang windows that never stayed propped open. At least the new ones don't have that problem
• a couple beautiful lift lines that are technically off limits.
• higher elevation=dense pine tree stands. Less opportunity to poke around and explore
• the old olympic buildings around the hill---just so decrepit. they put some cool signs on them listing the medal winners and such, but they couldn't fix the door hanging on by 1 hinge?
• All the trail intersections---constantly looking left, right, left again.
• A bazillion stairwells in the base lodge

Yes--I do have a list of things I do like about WF, so it's not all negative. Long, ripping cruisers. The commitment to bump runs. Upper mountain lifts move OK. The learning center--while separated--is pretty cool. Mid lodge patio. Legit terrain park. Hosting some big time race events.

I guess I have one item to add to your (EXTREMELY whiny ) list.......WF has the worst f@&cking WIFI of any business anywhere on the planet. Really, come on....

 

[JTG]

Wow ... That's quite a list.

While I don't necessarily disagree with any of your points, none of those bother me, except this one ...

It's definitely a bummer that Whiteface doesn't allow the lift lines to be skied ... The Summit Quad, Lookout Triple and Freeway lift lines are all particularly inviting!!! Not sure if the 25 mile trail limit is a factor here or not. I may have skied one or two of these, or maybe it was just a dream.

They aren’t trails....they are glades! Isn’t that how Gore gets around some of the mileage limit issue?

 

[3dogs]

SIAWOL, I have a solution to some of you issues,
Bear Den. Have parked and used lodge all season.

 

[Face4Me]

They aren’t trails....they are glades! Isn’t that how Gore gets around some of the mileage limit issue?

I was reading something earlier this morning about this ... there seems to be some disagreement on this topic between ORDA and the Adirondack Council ... not sure where they ever landed on that.

 

[Face4Me]

The Olympic buildings are down right embarrassing. I think it would be cool to ski through the start building, with pictures and memorabilia throughout.

Yeah ... It would be nice if they could do something about this. I wonder if they could get some kind of grant or something like that to use towards preserving that history.