moe ghoul Posted February 20, 2008 Report Share Posted February 20, 2008 T - 15 hours Just got done putting the Rocketbox on the roofrack, luckily I didn't hit any snafus with the Toureg's rack system. It's waaaaaaay too complicated, but it's secure. I just looked at Whiteface's website and the Empire State Winter Games commence this weekend, so we're pumped to see some ski jumping, Luge and downhill action if time permits. Looks like they're forecasting a fresh sprinkling of Pow tonite and for the next few days. Oh, myyyyy!!!! http://www.empirestategames.org/winter/ I'm bringing my 35mm with a zoom lens and will try to take better quality shots of some of the events as well as the mountain. I'll post a few TRs with my Treo, so they'll be short, but shweeeeeet! Hope the Pokes pick up some snow Wed. for your skiin' pleasure. I'll be curious to find out how aggressively they make snow this week at yer fave hill. Happy trails, y'all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted February 20, 2008 Report Share Posted February 20, 2008 If you have good edges and sturdy legs Whiteface is an outrageously good mountain. Have fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phillycore Posted February 20, 2008 Report Share Posted February 20, 2008 Enjoy.... look forward to the TR's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbike-ski Posted February 20, 2008 Report Share Posted February 20, 2008 cool...have a good one! we're thinking aboout heading up for Easter weekend Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toast21602 Posted February 20, 2008 Report Share Posted February 20, 2008 sounds like it should be a good time. take some good pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moe ghoul Posted February 20, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2008 Not sure about the Slides, the last 2 years I went up in Feb they were closed. Summit is open, so the wind hasn't been too bad. All packed and ready to go, my friend is trying to stealth his way outta the office as I type, so I'm hopin' to hit the road within the hour. Just chillin, scalpin' a few trades on the short side and watching the Weather Channel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Law Posted February 21, 2008 Report Share Posted February 21, 2008 Just go in through the state park if you really want to ski the slides, they don't own the actual land so there isn't jack sh@t they are going to do. Be safe I think it is slides 3 & 4 that get lots of frozen waterfalls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirfrancisbacon9 Posted February 21, 2008 Report Share Posted February 21, 2008 (edited) i just got back yesterday, conditions were fantastic, especially at opening times. oh and brookside park is possibly in the best shape ever. summit was ok, the wind blew the good stuff away or to the sides...cant wait to go back up this weekend :rock -yea, slides 3 and 4 are gnarly...you can easily see them on the way up the summit quad, if u want to do those 2, bring ice skates instead of skis Edited February 21, 2008 by sirfrancisbacon9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moe ghoul Posted February 25, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2008 TR from Whiteface: Wednesday: Picked up my buddy @ 30th Street Station @ 1PM and pulled into Lake Placid at 7PM, a new record for us. Stopped at Cunningham's ski shop to check on some Voekl demos for my buddy. Checked in at the Towne house lodge, set up the room, set up the bar , then walked down to the Carribean Cowboy Grille for calamari, cajun burgers and mega cocktails. Crashed by midnite. Thursday: Up at 6AM, -6 degrees, made breakfast in the room, headed for the mountain. Disabled parking placard meant VIP parking in front of base lodge and $10/day locker rental meant no shlepping of equipment . Picked up our 3 day passes and passport for winter game events. First run was up the cloudsplitter gondola at 8:40AM, sun was coming out, and we did 6 runs on Exelsior, Approach and Essex. Conditions were packed powder, with fresh manmade. A few icy spots as the day progressed, but overall an 8 outta 10. The good news was we had little to no wind, so underarmor, fleece, vest and jacket was plenty warm. Glove liners and boot heaters were a big help. The glades on the mountain were mostly unskiiable or closed due to thick icy crust and lack of fresh snow, ( they got heavy rain last Monday that did major damage). We managed to poach a run under the Little Whiteface lift, but passed on a second run due to icy conditions. We skied the diamonds on Little Whiteface and headed for Boule's Bistro (midstation) for some heat and an early light lunch. Then proceeded to the Summit Quad. In my past 4 trips to this mountain, I had NEVER seen them make snow on Skyward. They started making snow Thursday morning and let the guns run until at least Friday nite/Saturday AM. Blue skies, bright sun and ankle deep fresh made for some great skiing and we spent the remaining afternoon on Upper Skyward, Parons Run and the various lower runs back to the Summit Lift. Crowds were neglible, we did a total of 8 summit runs, then shot down to the base, did one final gondola ride and finished on Parkway back to the Base lodge. Then up to Cloudsplitter lounge for beers, cigars and hangin on the deck by the fire pit. Left the lodge around 5PM and headed back to Lake Placid. Fred dropped off the Voekl demos (they were 170's) and told the rep he didn't like them, they were too short. They exchanged a few comments, and I thought for sure we'd be walking outta Cunningham's in 5 minutes. 30 minutes later, Fred walks out with a pair of 177 Voekl Unlimited's for a cool 780$. OH MYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!! Needless to say, he was chompin at the bit to test out the new toys on Friday. We headed back to the room, cleaned up and headed over to the Adironback Steakhouse & Brewery for Prime Rib and mega cocktails. Even bumped into a few aquaintances and partied there til about 9:30, then headed ovr to Zig Zag's to trounce some coeds at foosball and flirt with the Jaegermeister gals . Left there around midnite and crashed as the snow began to fall. Friday: Woke up to a few inches of fresh around 5AM, whipped up some sausage, egg, bacon and swiss croissants (amazingly good for nuked food) and got to the mountain by 8. Temp was single digits, overcast with light steady snow that continued throughout the day. Took the gondola up and beelined our way to the summit quad, hitting a bump run on Lower Cloudspin that was covered with about 3 inches of fresh Po, but pretty icy underneath. Took the Summit Quad up and were stoked to to see the snow guns blasting away on Skyward. We did 6 top to bottom runs and stuck with the Gondola, cuz 8 people jammed into a little box provides some killer insulation. We did a few variations off of Paron's Run, hitting Upper Northway and the 10th Mountain Division Glades, but only on the periphery, where fresh show and some drift added up to decent enough conditons to stay outta trouble. Crowds were most noticeable on the flats and merges on the bottom half of the mountain, and the flats in many places were all ice. The crews did a great job putting down snow and mother nature lent a hand so by Friday afternoon, the cover was much improved going into the weekend. We did a repeat at Boule's Bistro for lunch, clam chowder and paninis juiced us up for the afternoon and we stayed on the Summit quad: no crowds, great snow, ungroomed, mucho fun. Legs were toast by 2:30, so we called it quits, and headed to the bar for a few pints. Dinner was at a new place, Stephano's Italian (formerly Cameron's, we wept silently that it closed, great burgers) and I ordered a Bombay martini. The gal behind the bar gave me a blank look and then told me the other server was a great bartender and would hook me up. So this mousy little blonde comes over and I order my Bombay martini. She asks me if I want it Sweet or dry? Huh? Yea, she said, sweet vermouth or dry vermouth! ROLFMAO!!!!!! I told her if anyone ordered a gin martini with sweet vermouth she should refuse to make it and throw them out!!!! Anyway, I taught her how to make it, we ate some halfway decent pasta dishes, and scratched the place off the list. We finished out the night at our fave bar, The Cottage on Mirror Lake and proceeded to close the place. We'll keep this post PG-13. Nuf said. Sat: Got a later start, same routine, and got on the mountain by 9:15AM. Overcast skies gave way to major sun and blue skies. We warmed up on Mountain Run which was nicely groomed, and did about 8 runs off of little whiteface lift before heading over to the Summit Quad. Temps were in the teens and rising, and the snow was fast like the previous 2 days. When we got to the summit, we snapped off some pics. On the way up it was overcast, but at the top it was clear and sunny and we could look down at the cloud cover. Breathtaking view, for sure. Upper Skyward was 6 inches of manmade on many parts of the slope, with what appeared to be minimal grooming, if any. MAybe moving some of the piles around, if that. We hooked up with 2 Whiteface instructors who invited us to run with them. Tom, the senior instructor was working on certifying Amy as an instructor, so it was kinda cool to watch that process and we made 2 Summit runs with them before they split. The Slides were not open, they rarely are, and they weren't poachable by any stretch of the imagination. The falls were solid yellow ice, exposed, and we didn't see a soul out there the whole time. Not even tracks. We pretty much avoided the lower half of the mountain due to the crowds. I had a coupla close calls with a few kids and it made sense to stay on the upper sections. We saw no one skiing the glades on the mountain, and steered clear. We're too old to be test pilots. Additionally, they had Nastar set up for the Empire games, so Boreen was pretty much off limits, as was Parkway. We rapped it up with a final run from the Gondola back to base lodge, pints by the firepit, chillin with Anne the bartender and her whacky hairdo, then back to Lake Placid. Dinner at Lisa G's, which for the price, has some great chow. Had this Turkey Roulade with an apple, beets, pecan and brie stuffing, fried parsnip chips, pureed parsnips and gravy. Kickass! We proceeded back to The Cottage for cognac and cigars outside by the lake, firepit and gas stove to keep us warm and watched the dogsled ride on Mirror Lake before heading into the bar. Closed it down and hung with some staffers after hours, then wobbled back to the room by 2AM. Sun: Slept in til 7, packed, finished off bananas, apples, cereal, powerade, coffee, etc and checked out by 9AM. Headed over to the Ski jump facility, but there was no activity there until Tuesday. Headed over to the Bobsled run, and we just missed the luge, they had a medal ceremony as we arrived. Snapped a few pics, checked out the cross country facility and wathced the Biathlon comp for a few minutes. Then we headed out on 73 and saw lotsa rock and ice climbers gearing up along the road. Even saw a few bravehearts about halfway up solid ice faces. Pretty impressive. Pretty insane. Pulled into King of Prussia by 4:20, unloaded Fred's gear, had a cocktail, and then we went to my house to end the grand tour. Another great trip, good memories, and no regrets Can't wait until next year, can't wait until J-hole......T-13 days !! PS. I got some decent pics, even deleted my previous album to create more space, but the pics are too big and PASR won't upload em. I'll try to post em on MySpace, unless someone can suggest a way to configure the pic size so that they are uploadable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa Posted February 25, 2008 Report Share Posted February 25, 2008 Glad that you had such a wonderful time. Two things. First, that turkey with brie sounds delicious. I love all things brie. Second, I find it amusing that you do not have cocktails, you have "mega cocktails." I can't argue with that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moe ghoul Posted February 25, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2008 PPS. Whiteface's expansion project, Lookout Mountain ,is opening for the '08-'09 season. Trails are cut, cleared and graded, rock was blasted and the lifts go up this summer. 4 mile intermediate trail and some new diamonds are gonna kick it up a notch. Apparently some of the trails are old logger trails from the 1940's. Psyche! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moe ghoul Posted February 25, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2008 Glad that you had such a wonderful time. Two things. First, that turkey with brie sounds delicious. I love all things brie. Second, I find it amusing that you do not have cocktails, you have "mega cocktails." I can't argue with that. It was deeee lish. I'm going to try and replicate it at home. Mega = many, not giant gulp size, lol. I posted the pics on MySpace, I have no idea if it's accessible, but here's the URL http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?...albumId=1508908 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moe ghoul Posted February 25, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2008 Nice report!!!! Wow you guys partied like rockstars...minus the hookers and blow..lol I like the shot of you on your blackberry.. Thanks, cell reception on the mountain was decent, but sucked in our room, so I didn't bother posting a TR while there. Besides, I hate using that tiny ass keyboard. Cuts into my social time I'm keeping an eye on the weather up there, they are getting more snow today thru Wed, and if conditions are ripe, we may try to pull off another trip in April. Just found out I have family coming in from overseas after my J-hole trip, so I had to 86 Schweitzer this AM. We're trying to plan a trip to Elk for Friday, but the guys I want to stay with in Timber Trails have issues with my ski partner (2 of them are ex- skihouse mates from years ago), so I'm in purgatory trying to figure out how to make a trip on the cheap and not hurt anyone's feelings. I may just stay local and hit Blue this week. I'm looking at midweek as a possibility, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RidgeRacer Posted March 3, 2008 Report Share Posted March 3, 2008 Just reading this....very nice TR...I really want to get up there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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