Ok, so Whiteface… I’ve heard some call it “Iceface.” I’ve heard it’s got the most vertical in the east. Both have truth to them.
I had never been to Whiteface before this past weekend. Just the thought of going got me so stoked. I checked the maps and conditions before going, and that got me even more excited. I found out that Whiteface has “slides,” basically backcountry chutes that you need to hike to from the summit. Couple that with a forecast calling for snow day and night, and my stoke level was almost through the roof.
The first day we rode was Saturday. Saturdays are crowded, but that’s every ski mountain. Straight away it was obvious, Whiteface is huge. It makes Tremblant look small, but that’s because Whiteface is all about vertical. The mountain is tall, not really wide. Tremblant may be shorter in height, but it’s wider and longer. Whiteface is steeper. There’s hardly any flat sections (at least where I rode) and your legs constantly need to work hard to lay into fast turns. By the end of our second day, I really noticed this. Saturday was also pretty icy, living up to the mountain’s reputation. By noon conditions started to deteriorate and winds started gusting over 50 miles per hour. We appreciated the ol’ gondola even more because of that. Still, somehow they were able to keep all the lifts open.
On Sunday, we woke up to four to six inches of powder. We got out there as early as possible, which is 8:30 a.m. It was empty! Every trail for the first few hours had untouched powder. The Cloudsplitter glade was definitely the trail of the day for me. I really dig tree riding (and mogul riding) and the amount of powder in those woods made it heavenly. Whiteface also had some cool park features. For the larger jumps, you had to be cooking. I knuckled one pretty bad the day before so I stuck to smaller jumps for working on 1s and 3s. The small stuff was sick too. They even had a mini half pipe which was super fun to rip. The ice started to show up this day also, but not until later in the day. Even then, there was less of it and plenty of powder to aim for.
All in all, I loved Whiteface. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a chance to hit any of the slides since they were closed. I’d love to go back on a real powder day and see what’s up. I was able to get pretty comfortable with my switch riding and 180s though, so I left feeling pretty damn accomplished. I’d love to go back for a week or something. This season still has some good time left in it so hopefully I get to post some other “first impressions” before everything melts! Must go west..
Alternate Rush 