Anybody have the 411 on Whiteface?

[road trip]

I'm heading there to ski on the 28th and 29th. Never been before... Aldo?

[Mcwop]

I went there a lot while in college. Our nickname for the place is "iceface". I graduated in 1990, maybe they have better grooming now.

[Aldo]

Hmmn, don't know much about the winter out there, my experience is all in the summer.

But, isn't there some young christian ripper who posts occasionally who drops big air there, and may also be down with the ladies? Is he still around? Or perhaps the last Popov binge did him in...

Come over to Magic instead.

[laseranimal]

When its good, Its REALLY good, when its bad, well its horrific.

Great steeps, bring the GS or downhill boards and make sure you've got the edges dialed. Layer up and bring a set of low light goggles because it can get BRUTAL up at the summit. No bumps to speak of, and the marked gladed areas are somewhat of a letdown, but if you want to rack up some serious vertical this is the place to do it, lack of liftlines is a definate plus as is the Village of Lake Placid. My favorite is a small italian resteraunt on Main Street Called Jimmy's 21, they hand make all of their pasta. There is LOTS of good BC to be had for sure, never sampled the goods myself but you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out where to go. Basically, if you manage to hit Whiteface after its snowed, or when it gets warm enough to soften up it can be one of the best mountains on the east coast, but when its windy and -30 before you add the windchill its just not a fun experience

edit, when I ment steeps I meant vertical, most of the mountain isn't as steep as it apears to be from the parking lot

[road trip]

Originally posted by Aldo
But, isn't there some young christian ripper who posts occasionally who drops big air there, and may also be down with the ladies? Is he still around? Or perhaps the last Popov binge did him in...

Ha! I remember that thread.. pretty funny. POST 1 for said individual: "hi, I rip and ski BC up near Whiteface. Any huck less than 20' is for pussies."

Thanks, Laser... hoping that this system that is going to drench Jersey on Christmas might just bring snow up there. In looking at pics and trail maps, I'm jonesin' to ski "The Slides".

Bringing the Bandit X and the V-Pro... both freshly tuned!

[laseranimal]

Originally posted by road trip
In looking at pics and trail maps, I'm jonesin' to ski "The Slides".

never going to happen so keep dreaming, the slides, well they are avalanche slides and therefore need perfect snow conditions to get opened, I was talking to a patroler friend of mine and well first off they get really sick of all of us JONGs asking when the slides are going to open but here are the conditions required to get them open. About 2.5 feet of base for coverage of the rocks and then they need to make sure that there isn't a freeze thaw cycle, thats what happend last year, we had lots of snow then an ice storm which made it impossible to get a good bond between the new and old snow. Then they need about 6-8 inches on top of the base to make it skiable and fill in the icefalls.

SOOOOOO I wouldn't expect them to be opened until march or april is my guess. If you REALLY feel the need to ski the slides this early, your best bet is to skin up the Vetrans Highway on the backside of the mountain and drop in from there. I'm not what anyone would consider skilled backcountry skier but your going to need EVERYTHING you would take with you to go backcountry skiing and the risks are there, go with someone who knows what they're doing with probe becon and shovel. Ski patrol probably will give you a hard time but there really isn't anything they can legally do to you since you're accessing state lands from a state highway. But if your REALLY jonesning to ski some BC terrain, High Peaks Cyclery in town I THINK may be doing some guided BC tours this year give em a call and find out (518) 523-3764

anything else I can help you with shoot me a PM and I'll give you the lowdown on what to do if you get skunked by the weather.......which has been known to happen

[road trip]

Yeah.. while I am jonesin' to ski the slides, I do know that there would be no chance in hell that they would be open until at least late February... and then, only with a prayer.

Thanks again... I'll let you know how it was come the 31st!

[CantDog]

HardCoreSnowRider, where there hell did he go? He was funny.

[laseranimal]

Originally posted by CantDog
HardCoreSnowRider, where there hell did he go? He was funny.

my guess is that he crawled back with his buddies over at http://www.rsn.com/community/usnyskpl/forum.html[/URL] after taking his beatdown from a bunch of real skiers and not just state workers screwing around on the taxpayers $$$

[CantDog]

Its nice to go look at the RSN forums every now and then, and realize how much they suck. they really do suck.

[skier0178]

Have The Slides ever been open and has anyone ever takin' turns on them? I used to live out east and skied Whiteface a couple time but never saw anyone skiing the "BC of Whiteface"

[laseranimal]

Originally posted by CantDog
Its nice to go look at the RSN forums every now and then, and realize how much they suck. they really do suck.

and then they wonder why they all get shut down and banned, I have never seen a worse forum in my whole life, at least at epic they may be anal instructor types but at least its all about skiing. RSN is just about which 12 year old thinks he's cooler then the other 12 year olds out there