As the summer comes to a close Whiteface is wrapping up a busy off-season making a variety of improvements and changes to snowmaking, trails and lodges.
Snowmaking and Grooming
This summer Whiteface made it’s biggest investment to date in efficient fan and tower guns. Working with NYSERDA and NYSEG grants and incentives the mountain will be adding a variety of hardware to the arsenal.
Fan guns by HKD and TechnoAlpin will be placed in key locations on Summit Express, Victoria, and the top of Boreen chute. Further management is currently working out the final details on the purchase of over 100 new HKD Impulse guns to be placed around the mountain.
In addition a new Pisten Bully PB 400 Park Pro will be added to the fleet of groomers. The Park Pro is essentially a standard snow cat that can articulate tillers and blades more than a standard groomer. It will be used in the park and across the mountain.
Trail Improvements
Mountain Ops is doing work on the Hickock hill and Marble Pitch areas of Wilmington trail, taking down the top of each slope to even out the grade.
In addition they are burying the powerline on Upper Valley. This will allow the widening of the trail below the 1900 road where it starts to get steep and narrow on the inside of the lift towers.
Lodges and Structures
The Kids Kampus Lodge is getting a makeover and a new name to reflect the fact that beginners can be adults too. The improved Bear Den Lodge will be at the center of a list of improvements including two new restrooms in the ticket area, more cafeteria seating and a full-sized retail shop. The rentals and nursery have switched locations so now you do not have to exit the lodge to get to the cafeteria.
In addition the entrance deck and the magic carpet are both being enclosed and all trails in the Bear Den area are being renamed.
All new furniture is slated for the Cloudspin Lounge and other changes/upgrades will add floor space and cooking capacity.
The old ticket booth in the base lodge is being enclosed and converted to add more changing capacity and seasonal lockers.
More snowmaking = good. It would be so awesome if they could add snowmaking to more trails, make more snow on all the trails that they have the capability to do so, and have better conditions to further debunk the iceface name.
I’m encouraged by the huge amount of investment in energy efficiency across the northeast. I mean yeah it makes total sense, but a lot of things that make sense don’t take off. Props to Whiteface, and the other ski areas doing this. And double props to the energy companies that are underwriting the effort.
This is really fantastic and should help the mountain address windblown areas. The fan guns on Victoria will help keep snow there and keep the trail from being its slick self on crowded days.
I would love to see those fan guns installed on the top of Mountain Run/Parkway where the wind tends to blow the snow off the top.
These new guns can make a huge difference this year.