C1erArt Posted March 7, 2016 Report Share Posted March 7, 2016 Lived up to its name - ice face. The 6-10" of snow predicted for Wednesday turned out to be an inch of ice, but overall things were not too bad. Mountain Run, Wilderness, Essex, Upper Northway and Thruway were frozen granular with just enough icy spots to be sure you stayed on your edges. Likewise they had the top of the women's downhill (Upper Skyward) open to a cross over to the Niagara (men's downhill) and Victoria headwalls. Lower Skyward under the Summit Quad (chair 6) was closed (as well as the slides and lookout mountain - haven't skied either of them and don't think I ever will do the slides). Upper Skyward and Niagara were nice and fast (one of the few times I've seen Niagara without icy bumps), but Victoria was a mess of ice and blown snow piles. They were blowing a lot of snow (got down to -2 one night), but didn't see a groomer all week. The blue under the Face Lift (upper Valley) down to the mid-station lodge got pretty messy with whales, bumps, and ice. Unfortunately the way Whiteface is laid out all the Big Whiteface traffic funneled to Victoria and the blue Little Whiteface to Upper Valley. Mid-station lodge was the usual sun-tan hangout. No lift lines anywhere, except a couple of 5 minute lines at the Gondola. The mountain run chair didn't open until Saturday so we had to go all the way down when skiing Little Whiteface. My skis were pretty sharp, but I got a base grind at the Mountain for Saturday that made a lot of difference on the ice. I guess they know what it takes to get skis ready for the slopes there. We stayed at the KOA just up the road. We stayed there a few times in the 80's but the owners sold to new owners that wintered in California. The current owners took over last February and are renting out small heated cabins as well as camper spots all winter. Pretty quiet during the week, but the cabins filled up on the weekend. We were there in our truck camper (our new heated mattress pad worked great) and the kids and their cousins were in one of the cabins. Back in the day we used to stay in a ramshackle bar/lodge (Steinhoffs) that is closed now - the owner's son was on the race team and when he graduated they shut it down and left. Great ambiance. Kids did the bobsled and spent a few evenings in town. We left early today (Sunday) and my son and his wife took a few runs down Mountain Run before it got too crowded. Sounds like he had a great time: Needless to say, my top speed was about half that. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrilledSteezeSandwich Posted March 7, 2016 Report Share Posted March 7, 2016 Nice report? Was there enough natural snow for tree skiing?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C1erArt Posted March 7, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2016 No, no natural snow at all. Even cross-country was closed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tarponhead Posted March 8, 2016 Report Share Posted March 8, 2016 I get it if there were any bumps you would have to be crazy to run them. But was mountain run pod bumped up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C1erArt Posted March 9, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2016 Everything was flat except a mogul race course set up on Wilderness, and some stuff right at the snow guns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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