Whiteface Conditions

[Face4Me]

I don't know about 12" ... but it was a decent morning for a while ... Fortunately, the winds didn't affect lift ops this morning ... Above the Face Lift, things were pretty good all morning ... From Summit Express down was a different story ... it got skied off and blown off pretty quickly, but all in all, it was a good first day for me.

As a side note ... The new "Bear Lift" ... only one question about this ... are they planning to install a magic carpet or something to get people over to it, or will there be a shuttle bus to take you over there?

 

[tirolski]

... The new "Bear Lift" ... only one question about this ... are they planning to install a magic carpet or something to get people over to it, or will there be a shuttle bus to take you over there?

Explaination why they moved it.

 

[Face4Me]

I understand what they were trying to do, it just doesn't look like it's going to be easy to get to from the lodge, particularly from the lower level of the lodge by the rental shop, but maybe they'll be able to do something with grading the snow somehow. From what I had originally been told, I was under the impression that the base terminal was going to be closer to where the old Mixing Bowl base terminal was.

From the hill, skiing/riding back to it will be fine.

 

[Face4Me]

One more thing ... They were blowing snow on Paron's Run. With the favorable temps forecast for this week, and assuming they keep the guns running up there, it's hard to imagine that not being available for next weekend.

 

[snoloco]

Snowmaking upgrade paying off? This would have to be the earliest the summit has opened.

 

[D.B. Cooper]

Skied Saturday also. Pretty good for opening weekend. As is usually the case early on, it will take a few passes with the cat to have a consistent surface. I was impressed with the number of guns going but couldn't tell the plan. There were some lower down on Paron's, some lower down on Draper's, a couple on Wolf. Strangely, as they dont require compressed air, the pole mounted fan guns on Tower 10 hill and Summit Express weren't working.

The completed mid station looks good. It will take my lifetime to get the character of the old mid station. I doubt anyone will notice the downstairs seating.

If tables in the solarium aren't put back, I don't know where everyone is going to sit.

There are new safety bars on Face Lift. Apparently someone thinks each leg has to be appropriately segmented with a fucking bar. And two annoying straps that, if not pulled down, continually knock you in the head, acting as a Chinese water torture. Safety at all costs, sanity included.

 

[MarzNC]

There are new safety bars on Face Lift. Apparently someone thinks each leg has to be appropriately segmented with a fucking bar. And two annoying straps that, if not pulled down, continually knock you in the head, acting as a Chinese water torture. Safety at all costs, sanity included.

That sort of safety bar drove the adults at Alta nuts when they were installed a while back. It's another reason many locals don't bother to put the bar down at all. The goal is to keep little kids from sliding underneath a bar that is down. Often someone will tie the strap in a knot. That's annoying for me because as a short adult, I use it to pull the bar down.

The choice was between the short bars or full footrests. Footrests add weight and cost, so those were ruled out by Alta Lifts.

 

[snoloco]

There are new safety bars on Face Lift. Apparently someone thinks each leg has to be appropriately segmented with a fucking bar. And two annoying straps that, if not pulled down, continually knock you in the head, acting as a Chinese water torture. Safety at all costs, sanity included.

Those are Doppelmayr's child friendly safety bars. The Lightning Quad at Belleayre has them too. Since small children can't back all the way in the chair, the idea is to put something between their legs so they can't slide out from under the bar. Skytrac and Leitner-Poma also have their own systems that do the same thing, and ORDA has both. ORDA is installing child friendly safety bars on all new lifts and seems to be retrofitting them onto existing lifts too. Leitner-Poma's system can be installed without replacing the bars, which was done on Gore's two high speed quads. Oddly, Burnt Ridge only has the child restraints on the middle seats, while the Adirondack Express has them on every seat. Same with High Peaks, which had them from the day it opened. As an adult, and having been on lifts with all 3 systems. I find Leitner-Poma's system the least bothersome, and Skytrac's system the most bothersome. Doppelmayr's system is somewhere in the middle.

 

[Moe]

I generally stay away from being critical of Whiteface when the inevitable pipe explosion happens at the beginning of every season. I understand that the infrastructure is old and it is a very demanding system.

That being said I can't help but "smell a rat" over the lack of blowing on Little Whiteface and specifically Mountain Run. It is usually the first up. I hope I'm wrong and this is just a different snowmaking pattern. But.....

 

[NorEaster27]

Thought whiteface blowing past Saturday was most I ever saw, heard they were rolling 100 guns