Sharon
New member
Ya never really know what to expect from Whiteface. It's an odd mountain. Most of the trails have an eastern aspect. It gets a lot of wind and doesn't hold snow very well.
But this weekend conditions were perfectly springlike. Frozen up in the morning and ripening corn around 10am (earlier on the lower mountain as soon as the sun hits it and a tad later on the summit). The Summit trails skied beautifully after 11. Skyward started off groomed and firm, and was skied up by the traffic as the snow softened throughout the day. Cloudspin opened a bit later, it was ungroomed and sported some open bare areas but with plenty of snow to get around.
Overall Skyward and Wilderness has the best snow and coverage. Other trails had rocks and bare spots to avoid, not to mention ponds of pooled water to negotiate. These spring obstacles were not much of a hindrance. I did not hit one rock and only had to do serious navigating at the stop of Skyward, whose entrance got skied down to the rock. It was a challenge to get on that trail, but once past the rock band all was good.
I skied 3 days with a variety of friends. Some of my core Gore telemark posse were there. We attempted some off-piste which was exciting and challenging but I wouldn't call it good skiing. The High Country Glade was technically open...no rope...but we ran out of snow and it was required to ski on non-snow surfaces towards the bottom. It was fun to connect the white ribbons, but eventually the white ran out and we were forced to ski over a downed tree and/or leaves.
We skied Essex, even though it was closed and sported a lot of rock. Blaise's Bluff was a challenge too, as it was hard bumps with death cookies, sticks and rocks. But it was a fun diversion.
We skied with my friend's daughter and her posse of telemark chicks from SUNY Plattsburgh. We also skied with some friends who only skied once a year and still have old boots and skinny skies. They had fun. We took some green runs with the novice skiers and we took the novices on blue runs even with their protest. After a few spills there were still plenty of grins.
As we were finishing our day up on saturday, the brilliant sunshine faded and the clouds rolled in. Suddenly it was raining...then snowing, big fat wet flakes. This continued for a while until we had 2" of slushy snow on the ground. We were hopeful that there was more up on the mountain. I ended up skiing an unplanned third day.
What we thought might be 5" of nice fresh snow was actually 2" of creamed cheese when untracked. Once tracked it turned into cottage cheese. And as it got skied more it became piles of cottage cheese. Very sticky and weird first thing in the morning. We got fresh turns on Thruway and Drapers and a few others spots we sniffed out. The summit was socked in most of the morning so we didn't bother even trying to find fresh snow up there. By the time the clouds parted to allow for enough visibility, the trails were tracked, but again Skyward skied very well as did Cloudspin.
The best skiing was on the previously groomed trails that, when softened, skied like cream of wheat.
The Snoedown concert thing was a big disappointment. They hired the gestapo to frisk all concert goers. My friend got busted for bringing in chapstick, it was Trader Joe's hemp chapstick. No one else had to give up their lip protection, but my friend was forced to either put it in his car or throw it out. Another friend as well as many others were arrested for minor infringements, which was more of a hassle than anything, as pot is decriminalized here in NY, though one of my friend's is now wondering if his career may be in jeopardy as a result of his relaxed state at a mellow rock concert interrupted by a local cop. The whole thing left a bad taste. The music was ok. Nothing to write home about, though Little Feat was fun and our favorite band of the event. We ended up going just on friday. On saturday we gave our wristbands to the Plattsburgh girls. They enjoyed it more than us oldfolks would. This will be the last time we go. It could have been a nice event but ORDA and Lake Placid and NY's finest had nothing else to do but make it unpleasant for us and make it so that we don't want to go back there. This was one of the most peaceful crowds. The excessive police presence was unnessary. They could have saved a lot of money by reducing the force by half, and they could have made a lot more money if they didn't bum out so many people who will no longer go back there. I don't know what the point of excessive security is in such a situation. It wasn't terrorists they were after. I never felt as though I was in danger. I never saw anyone acting out of control. I never saw anyone doing anything that I would be worried about. If I had children, I would not feel uncomfortable letting them be there. I saw a few families there. It was a very safe environment and would have been safer and less threatening if there wasn't such a presence. I've been to a lot of concerts, and this one had a very mellow crowd that did not deserve such treatment.
This was not a dirtbag crowd. Yeah, some patchouli and pot, but for the most part, these are upstate NY folks...many professional people, and many people who came up for a winter festival. Mostly young folks (mid-20s) and some older folks (many in their 40s and some in their 50s). As visitors/tourists/guests of Lake Placid, we were not treated very well by the authorities and will unlikely go back there (except to visit our friends in North Elba...just outside the L Placid village boundary).
But this weekend conditions were perfectly springlike. Frozen up in the morning and ripening corn around 10am (earlier on the lower mountain as soon as the sun hits it and a tad later on the summit). The Summit trails skied beautifully after 11. Skyward started off groomed and firm, and was skied up by the traffic as the snow softened throughout the day. Cloudspin opened a bit later, it was ungroomed and sported some open bare areas but with plenty of snow to get around.
Overall Skyward and Wilderness has the best snow and coverage. Other trails had rocks and bare spots to avoid, not to mention ponds of pooled water to negotiate. These spring obstacles were not much of a hindrance. I did not hit one rock and only had to do serious navigating at the stop of Skyward, whose entrance got skied down to the rock. It was a challenge to get on that trail, but once past the rock band all was good.
I skied 3 days with a variety of friends. Some of my core Gore telemark posse were there. We attempted some off-piste which was exciting and challenging but I wouldn't call it good skiing. The High Country Glade was technically open...no rope...but we ran out of snow and it was required to ski on non-snow surfaces towards the bottom. It was fun to connect the white ribbons, but eventually the white ran out and we were forced to ski over a downed tree and/or leaves.
We skied Essex, even though it was closed and sported a lot of rock. Blaise's Bluff was a challenge too, as it was hard bumps with death cookies, sticks and rocks. But it was a fun diversion.
We skied with my friend's daughter and her posse of telemark chicks from SUNY Plattsburgh. We also skied with some friends who only skied once a year and still have old boots and skinny skies. They had fun. We took some green runs with the novice skiers and we took the novices on blue runs even with their protest. After a few spills there were still plenty of grins.
As we were finishing our day up on saturday, the brilliant sunshine faded and the clouds rolled in. Suddenly it was raining...then snowing, big fat wet flakes. This continued for a while until we had 2" of slushy snow on the ground. We were hopeful that there was more up on the mountain. I ended up skiing an unplanned third day.
What we thought might be 5" of nice fresh snow was actually 2" of creamed cheese when untracked. Once tracked it turned into cottage cheese. And as it got skied more it became piles of cottage cheese. Very sticky and weird first thing in the morning. We got fresh turns on Thruway and Drapers and a few others spots we sniffed out. The summit was socked in most of the morning so we didn't bother even trying to find fresh snow up there. By the time the clouds parted to allow for enough visibility, the trails were tracked, but again Skyward skied very well as did Cloudspin.
The best skiing was on the previously groomed trails that, when softened, skied like cream of wheat.
The Snoedown concert thing was a big disappointment. They hired the gestapo to frisk all concert goers. My friend got busted for bringing in chapstick, it was Trader Joe's hemp chapstick. No one else had to give up their lip protection, but my friend was forced to either put it in his car or throw it out. Another friend as well as many others were arrested for minor infringements, which was more of a hassle than anything, as pot is decriminalized here in NY, though one of my friend's is now wondering if his career may be in jeopardy as a result of his relaxed state at a mellow rock concert interrupted by a local cop. The whole thing left a bad taste. The music was ok. Nothing to write home about, though Little Feat was fun and our favorite band of the event. We ended up going just on friday. On saturday we gave our wristbands to the Plattsburgh girls. They enjoyed it more than us oldfolks would. This will be the last time we go. It could have been a nice event but ORDA and Lake Placid and NY's finest had nothing else to do but make it unpleasant for us and make it so that we don't want to go back there. This was one of the most peaceful crowds. The excessive police presence was unnessary. They could have saved a lot of money by reducing the force by half, and they could have made a lot more money if they didn't bum out so many people who will no longer go back there. I don't know what the point of excessive security is in such a situation. It wasn't terrorists they were after. I never felt as though I was in danger. I never saw anyone acting out of control. I never saw anyone doing anything that I would be worried about. If I had children, I would not feel uncomfortable letting them be there. I saw a few families there. It was a very safe environment and would have been safer and less threatening if there wasn't such a presence. I've been to a lot of concerts, and this one had a very mellow crowd that did not deserve such treatment.
This was not a dirtbag crowd. Yeah, some patchouli and pot, but for the most part, these are upstate NY folks...many professional people, and many people who came up for a winter festival. Mostly young folks (mid-20s) and some older folks (many in their 40s and some in their 50s). As visitors/tourists/guests of Lake Placid, we were not treated very well by the authorities and will unlikely go back there (except to visit our friends in North Elba...just outside the L Placid village boundary).
