<I>(Note from the Administrator: This report was originally posted on 2/16/00. Due to our move to new servers, the date and time attributed to this post is incorrect.)</I> <BR> <BR> After a truly awesome day at Smuggler's with the Swampfest II gang I had the most sincere intentions to try to get to MRG for the festivities. The sheer exhaustion factor of being on the road from 6:00AM till almost 10:00PM just took too much out of me. My pain racked body woke me up at 3:00AM and I had extreme difficulty trying to sleep. By noon I began to feel like suffering the 20 minute drive enough to try a little hair of the dog. <BR> <BR>I got there right before 1:00 and they tried to wave me into the farthest parking lot out near Rt. 86. I smiled and passed the guide and headed up to Kids Kampus and found the lot only 2/3 full. By 1:15 I was on the gondi and when I got off at the top of Little Whiteface I could see people going down the upper part of Cloudspin. I cruised over to the summit quad and jumped on immediately as there was literally no one in line. The whole upper part of Skyward is closed off and being set up for the downhill races of the Goodwill Games later this Thursday and Friday. Upper Cloudspin has a radical double fall line quite similar to upper liftline on Smugglers. It was all hard set up "frozen McSludge" as Renson calls it but definitely edgeable. The lower part actually had the fall line reversed due to high center from ungroomed snowmaking so I could work my left leg on the upper part and right leg equally on the lower. Niagara headwall was just plain glazed and I used a lot of the tactics I have been practicing in Vermont lately to navigate a tight, and I mean tight,line down the right side just kissing the trees with the tails on each turn. <BR> <BR>For the second run I did the same thing basically but varied the sides to explore for better lines. At least everything was covered and you sure didn't hit anything but holding an edge was tiring on the foot arches. I had noticed upper Northway was open and decided to try that back on Little Whiteface but changed my mind hoping upper Mckenzie would be open. I headed down the Approach and found the top still roped off so went down upper Wilderness and cut over to Lower Mckenzie. Basically the whole Mountain was hard manmade with very little loose surface anywhere. We can't blame it on freeze cycles since it has been cold steadily for quite some time so it must be all due to heavy traffic and brutal grooming. I went back up and did upper Northway and found it likewise although I could tell it hadn't been groomed since it was first blown so the hard surface must also have a lot to do with the water content of the guns I guess. <BR> <BR>I scooted back over to the summit and tried Follies into Peron's and actually found this to be some of the least stiff surface so far. I got one more run off the summit and did Peron's all the way, Excelsior to Boreen and over to Kids Kampus to end up at just before 4:00. So I had a relaxing 12,000 ft of vert. cruising over 2 1/2 hrs to loosen up a little to get ready for the next time out. I don't know where all the people were that belonged to all the vehicles because the upper mountain was very uncrowded. They must have been doing only Gondola full runs or hanging out on the lower mt. It was good to relax and cruise at my own pace and not be chasing others constantly and worried about holding people up. I still can't wait to get back to Vermont though, It definitely gets addicting. <BR> <BR>No sign of activity over in the slides. I get the feeling by looking that it's probably a lot like the very top of upper liftline at Smugglers. That being bare, windscoured and rocky. Maybe this snow coming down right now will stay if it gets a little damp sleet to hold it in place and set a base. I really want to get another shot at them now that my limited skills have.
Whiteface, NY 2/13/00
- Thread starter Jimski
- Start date