Whiteface, NY 12/27/99

[Jimski]

<I>(Note from the Administrator: This report was originally posted on 12/29/99. Due to our move to new servers, the date and time attributed to this post is incorrect.)</I> <BR> <BR>After a mandatory post holiday dump run of dire necessity, I arrived around 11 AM and found cars parked all the way out to rt 86 and all the lots up the access road pretty much full. With the limited terrain I knew it was going to be tight on the trails. I "snuck" up to my favorite starting location of kids kampus where I could park within 500 yards of the lodge and picked out my Elans as choice (gamble) for the day's conditions. After booting up I went to ride the cable tow to the access trail and found a humongous line of toddlers and junior instructors so I just walked up along side and managed to pass at least four tow riders in the process. Thoroughly warmed up, I opened my jacket and headed over to what I thought would be a quick jump on the gondola. I thought it peculiar that there was no line and was amazed to find out they weren't loading and on wind hold. Now I had to trudge up to the base of the triple and an understandably huge line to ride up to midstation. Now I was really warm and didn't think to put on a face mask or extra sweater. BEEEEG mistake! With a base temperature of around 5 degrees that seemed quite lovely in itself, there suddenly became a noticeable difference with wind around 30 MPH in the face. I jumped off at midstation and stashed my pack and thought I would jump the summit double to get to the top of little Whiteface. Only the Mt. Run double was operating so it was not possible to access the trails from the top which now included all of Excelsior and Lower Cloudspin that had been recently blown. They had the guns blowing on Mt. Run and nothing had been groomed yet. With face mask on, goggles, helmet and jacket zipped up tight around the neck I headed up the double. The only problem was on the inhale through the nose hole in the mask my nostrils would freeze closed. First run down Mt. Run was unbelievable. Tons of fresh manmade powder made it very sweet. Well, maybe nutra sweet. In and out, around the guns, jump the hoses; those little Elans were in hog heaven. The spray was not wet and it was dispersed enough that it didn't sting or freeze on anything like goggles or ski bottoms. Half way down my second run I heard a guy I know yell at me from the lift. When I got to the bottom I decided to wait for him and took off my helmet to cool down a little. When he got there I nonchantly popped my helmet back on and the wind whipped the chin strap around and hit me right square in the right eye. One contact lens is now lost somewhere in the white expanse of the mountain. With conditions as sweet as they were and crowds and lifts as busy as they were, I never considered going back to the vehicle for my glasses. I finished the day in howling winds, swirling drifting snow, the terrain virtually shifting under my feet, cloudy hazy, flat light and one eye to navigate with. Talk about a rush. They finally decided to open the gondola and I took a run all the way to the base and found(of course)a humongous line. After about 20 minutes of shuffling along freezing worse than riding a chair face first into the wind, I hopped a ride to the top. The only place I ever encountered worse wind was getting off the tram at Jay once and getting blown right into a snowbank. Upper Excelsior was clackity clack solid wind blown ice down to the first turn but then the fresh manmade was drifted and scattered so I could find good edging the rest of the way down. Super side cut skis in 163cm do not function at all on solid ice no matter how sharp the edges are. With no trail resistance to dig into, they don't flex and ride on the very front and rear tips of the edges. The effect is to free fall for whatever way gravity takes you and hope there is something to dig into before you hit a tree or snowretaining fence or someone else. With an 11 meter turning radius you don't need much along the side of a trail to survive. Lower cloudspin was pretty much the same. I could easily pick a route down and find good snow to turn in. At this point my hands were getting real cold so I stopped at midstation for lunch. With the full glass windows all the way around and the electric ceiling hung heaters blasting and wall to wall people it is usually very warm in there. Yesterday I had to put a sweater on inside to eat lunch. After lunch I took a few more runs down Mt. Run and one more trip up the gondola(same line length) and did the other side of lower cloudspin and although I was definitely warm enough the combination of the cold, flat light and wind and one eye had me on the road by 3 o'clock. I stopped off at the eye doctors and guess what; my prescription had run out by 30 days and they couldn't flat out order me another lens. I have to get an exam so they can order me another lens. It might be here by Friday, but in case it doesn't I have an alternative plan. I am going to remove the left lens from an old pair of glasses that still have my current prescription and use them with the one contact under my goggles. If the glass lens frosts over I'll still have one functioning eye. I can be pretty creative when it comes to not losing ski time.