Whiteface/Lake Placid, NY: Weekend of 12.20.08

jamesdeluxe

jamesdeluxe

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Staff member
Instead of those annoying individual TRs of multi-day trips, I'll pack everything into one thread.

Left NJ at 6:30 before the front hit and drove up to LP on dry roads and no traffic. Just as we arrived late morning, it started dumping. Not sure how much we'll get -- they're saying 6-8" -- but at the very least, it won't be Iceface tomorrow. Apparently, the bullseye of this storm is over the Catskills. The big'un in the ADKs is supposed to be Sunday night's storm.

Lots of people mulling about Lake Placid, which gets *lots* of mileage out of the '32 and '80 Olympics. Funny, you go to SLC and you'd never guess that the city had hosted the games a few years ago. The ice rink in particular has become a pilgrimage site for hockey players, and there are tons of them here, all dressed identically in their team colors for a tournament. I was at the big 1980 game against the Russians and still remember the patriotic fury when the clock ran out.

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Nice. LP is so photogenic, especially at Christmas.

Got to love a town where you can buy a flexible flyer on Main Street.

I for one anxiously await your report for tomorrow. :D
 
So last night, we headed out in a pretty fierce snowstorm to the Van Hoevenburg Olympic Center where ORDA has the bobsled and luge facilities -- the only place in North America, I was told, where the public can take a ride ($75). I'm a real pansy when it comes to roller coasters (equilibrium issues), but I felt I had to do this, since so few people can claim to have been in a bobsled.

Claude in Training:
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Starting Gate:
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The whole thing goes by pretty fast and the first few seconds you're like, "yeah, big deal," and then you hit a series of turns that reach 5Gs.
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You have to hold on really tight and I was certain that I was going to get decapitated by the ice flying by my head. As I got out at the finish line, they said that my face was white, and I'm inclined to believe it. The driver said we hit a top speed of 55 mph -- plenty fast for me -- but that they can reach 80 mph in real competitions.

Then, my wife, who loves roller coasters, took her ride. She loved it, called me a big fairy, and wanted to go again.

They're reporting 20 inches of new snow at the summit, 14 at the base and it's dry, drier, driest.
\:D/
 
You couldn't get me on one of those things. :shock:

You go boy. I got 14" here too.

Remember:

:worthless:
 
The snow report from this morning was legit: 20 on the upper mountain and 14 on the lower half. But if you stayed on the open trails all day, you wouldn't have known it. Apparently, Monday's all-day gusher did a real job on Whiteface, liquidating the base in the woods and turning the on-piste into cement.

The dump that we got was so dry and soft, it didn't do much of a job covering the nastiness underneath on the groomed runs, but if you ventured into the "reserved powder zones," it was pure $$$. I had my old Chubbs (rock skis) with me, so I was able to attack the pow without worrying about hitting any geologic features underneath, which happened a few times, but nothing major.

Great day, and Juliet was psyched to try out her new Rossi B4s on a suitable surface. They're calling for snow all day tomorrow, with heavy accumulations especially tomorrow night so we'll be driving home in a blizzard.

Snowdog:
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My Warm-Up Run on Lower Cloudspin:
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Me on Upper Parkway:
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Juliet on Lower Parkway:
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Sweet photos James. Love the Drapers Drop and the View. Would like to post those on my blog with your permission.

Sounds like we may have gotten the same depth of snow but ours had more moisture.

I'll PM ya.
 
rfarren":33lwrswg said:
Have they opened up lookout mountain yet?
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From the Whiteface podcast on 12/19:

Whiteface Coca Cola Snowcast for December 19, 2008 - 19-12-2008 (7.81 MB)
Today we discuss the fact that it is a huge POWDER day rolling in. yahoo i say to that!! we also talk about Professor Joe Conto's homemade hot chocolate...holy mackeral it was delicious. Snowmaking begins on Lookout on Sunday.

Obviously under these conditions, it doesn't have to wait for snowmaking. From what WF regulars have posted it didn't sound like it was open yet. I'm no whiteface expert by a long shot but based on terrain I think it would be hard to poach without a lift.

James?
 
Last night, Whiteface's CEO said the exact same thing... snowmaking begins on Sunday. Given the (alleged) big kahuna storm coming in today, I don't see how it won't be open on Monday, Tuesday latest. Sorry for the "alleged," but you never know. Given the almost total misread of Friday's storm -- three days out, Whiteface called for 15-20 inches, it was downgraded to as little as 3-5 inches on Thursday, and we ended up with the original forecast.

Harvey, how early do you get up? :-k

Looking forward to groomerizing with Sharon and crew.
 
=D> =D> =D>

It's plunking here and I am in front of a computer. :roll:

Probably taking a day of work tomorrow, but won't be going far and staying local for my 1st day in December (my shopping is done). Suppose to go to a Funeral Parlour tomorrow night. :( Neighbour in his early 40s, two school age girls like mine, died after coming back from playing hockey. This one hits close to home.

Yep, you never know when your season is over, permanently. :( :( :( (sorry for the downer folks -- don't wait for retirement to live life).
 
Guys , nice pics of LP and Whiteface , hope that Christmas eve storm stays as snow in your area. North of the St . Lawrence should be ok . Patrick , terrible news about the guy in his 40's , man that does hit home. With all the new snow ,took out the X country skis and made some night time decents in local ravines . You gotta enjoy every day .
 
Skied today with Sharon and her friends in yet another storm. Winds closed the summit quad and eventually the gondola as well. We found some soft spots on Parkway and Wilderness, but ice was a problem on the steeper pitches and the woods still weren't quite ready.

Great to meet Sharon, and as I had surmised, she was smooth (as was her friend Pam). They ripped through the nasty stuff like it wasn't even there. Wish I could say the same for myself.
 
After James and Juliet left on Sunday, the snow kept dumping and piling up. Conditions were getting better and better. We skied in the 10th Mtn Division Glades and the bike trail. Snow was knee deep. We managed to avoid all submerged obstacles in there quite well. The snow filling in nicely in the High Country Glade as well. I looked at Upper Empire and thought about poaching it, but since it is so steep I thought it may not be wise and it was nearly 4pm. We ducked a few ropes, but I can't remember what trails they were. We had some nice deep powder throughout the afternoon. We skied until the final bell and toasted with UBUs at the Cloudspin Lounge.

Today we got up early and got to the mountain at 8:30 in hopes of fresh deep snow.

The wind was ripping and snow was swirling everywhere. All lifts were on windhold. None of us wanted to wait and see if they will run the lifts and then brave the frigid lift rides, so we turned around and decided to go xc skiing on the Jack Rabbit Trail instead. Conditions in the woods were beautiful and it was a nice way to keep warm and still enjoy skiing.

Our friends DJ and Carolyn waited for the lifts to spin, because they bought liftopia.com lift tickets which are only good for the day that you request. They felt that the tickets were bought and they were not going to eat them. They said the mountain was windbuffed. Lots of glare ice followed by deep drifts. They took 4 runs and called it a day.

It was a pleasure to meet James and Juliet.

Whiteface was fun, but I gotta say, I really do like Gore much better. Much more variety.

I need to charge my camera battery so I can upload some photos. Check back later.
 
3.5 weeks after our trip there, the natural snow trails on Little Whiteface and Lookout still aren't open, nor are a couple off the summit lift.

Tough times.
 
I predict Whiteface will rock this weekend. (Did they get new snow last night?)

Should be above zero by then too.

Post it up for us who are stuck down here.
 
Harvey44":d258sdnl said:
I predict Whiteface will rock this weekend. (Did they get new snow last night?)

Should be above zero by then too.

Post it up for us who are stuck down here.
Click to expand...

Actually I got my dates all screwed up. I'll be heading up not this weekend, but rather next weekend.
 
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