At its best, spring skiing means sunny skies, warm temps and light clothing, soft snow, and for those over 21, lots of beer. However, it also means that the end is near.
I’m primarily a downstate skier and my home mountains, Mountain Creek and Hunter, are closed. At this time of year, my options are north. This year my family headed to Whiteface for Easter.
It’s an awesome mountain in the springtime. With tons of sustained vertical, no cat tracks to get stuck in, and High Peaks views, it doesn’t get any better. I had an amazing Easter weekend skiing The Face.
Saturday wasn’t looking that great to start. It was wet and rainy and the Cloudsplitter Gondola was living up to its name, disappearing out of sight into the soup. We rode the gondola until we saw that the Little Whiteface Double was spinning and that it was snowing along its entire upper mountain route.
After the rain let up below, we skied the Facelift since its runs had already softened up. After lunch, the sun came out and we took most of our laps off the Little Whiteface Double.
We were disappointed that the summit didn’t open on Saturday, but there was plenty of good spring skiing on Little Whiteface. The snow at the base was funky and we stayed on the upper mountain.
Sunday was epic. The sun was out all day and the snow was soft and great. It was too warm to ride in the gondola, so we stuck to the chairs for most of the day. We started off Little Whiteface on Excelsior to the bottom of the gondola, then back for seconds.
We shed layers and got on the Facelift. On our second lap we saw the Summit Quad loading. It was on. We were going to the top!
For me Whiteface feels like the closest thing to western skiing in the east. When you’re on the summit it feels like you are on the top of the world. The views are absolutely stunning and the summit is near tree line, so it feels more open. I love looking down at Little Whiteface and seeing everyone skiing and looking like ants.
Skyward and Paron’s both required some sidestepping near the top. I love both these runs, and it was worth the portage to get to them.
After lunch we got back on the Facelift and headed to the top. Skyward and Paron’s and then Mountain Run, Upper Northway, Essex, and Excelsior kept us happy all afternoon. We finish up in style back on the summit with a run on Skyward, and then Paron’s top-to-bottom to end the day.
The mountain’s hard core reputation is for real: vast amounts of vertical and expert terrain make great skiing. A spring day at Whiteface is something that every New York skier should experience. It is second to none.
Yeah Sunday was great. I know they are talking about opening up this coming weekend but I would be more than satisfied if sunday was the last day. Forecast for this weekend isn’t looking to good.
Hey dude, your head is going to explode when you make it out west. I’ve enjoy your posts this year keep up the good work. You got to make it to Tuckerman ravine when you can. Ski-on
How old are you? You write in a mature voice with the perspective of a veteran skier. Great job. I visited Whiteface about a month ago for the first time in many years and loved it, including those terrific Adirondack High Peaks views. I agree with you – nobody should pass judgment on Whiteface until they’ve skied/ridden it in the spring. Smart call heading to Whiteface at Eastertime.
I’m 15.
Very well written piece. Have had many great spring days there.
Nice piece snoloco and welcome to blog. Y’all got to click on that last picture to see that T-shirt up close – way cool.
Thank you for your excellent editing work Harvey.
Snoloco, nice piece. Keep developing your voice, if possible write about stuff not related to skiing too. Keep it up.
Very inspiring, Sno.
If the lift-served doesn’t make it till next week I’ll take a lot of solace in the final post of the season having been served from the Top of NY (at least as far as resorts are concerned).
It was a complicated and great season.
Sno, great trip report, Sunday was perfect. Nice soft bumps on upper and lower skyward. Whiteface may have issues esp. weather related but the spring season is usually awesome just wish Lookout Mt. wasn’t shutdown.
Kid, you have alot of fans on this site, count me in! Karl’s so right, Your gonna love the West.
Your parents are saints for driving you everywhere.
I do have a couple questions, how do you pay for skiing, and what possible careers / dream jobs do you see for yourself? Get up to Tuckerman sometime, and ski the only bumpline I ever loved, Hillmans Highway.